Latest news with #L.A.TimesBookClub
Los Angeles Times
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Grappling with identity: An AAPI Heritage Month reading list
I'm Aaron, a former sportswriter currently wrapping up a graduate degree at USC, and these days I love to read about pretty much anything other than sports — thrillers, books about transit and urban planning, and stories with a protagonist who is grappling with their identity. The last of those has been part of my literary world since I was at least 12, when, as part of my seventh-grade creative writing elective, I wrote a memoir titled 'Jasian,' as in Jewish and Asian. My dad is a native of the Upper West Side of Manhattan, my mom immigrated to the U.S. during the Vietnam War, and as a racially ambiguous kid growing up in Houston, I often corrected classmates who mistook me for Latino. With this being the first full week of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, I'm using my L.A. Times Book Club debut to highlight some of my favorite books about Asian identity, many of which unpack feelings I've felt a lot more elegantly than I did in 'Jasian.' I also interview the owner of Bel Canto Books, a Filipina-led bookstore in Long Beach. We talk about upcoming AAPI month events at her store, her favorite books featuring Asian protagonists, and new releases she's looking forward to. In Rachel Khong's 'Real Americans,' Nick Chen is a Chinese American teenager who looks completely white and feels isolated growing up in rural Washington with his single, Chinese mother, Lily, who he believes is hiding something about his past. This intergenerational family story with a sci-fi twist is about identity, inheritance and how much control we all actually have in controlling our destinies. 'Almost Brown,' a memoir by Charlotte Gill, the daughter of an English mother and Indian father, unpacks the tensions that can exist in a mixed-race family featuring parents with different worldviews and children searching for their own sense of self. As someone who's felt more connected with my Vietnamese identity as I've gotten older, this story of reconciliation and understanding resonated with me. You've probably already read 'Crying in H Mart' — and if you haven't, correct that — but I'd be remiss not to include it here. Like author Michelle Zauner, I lost my mother to cancer, a disease that hung over my relationship with my mom for much of my childhood and into my early 20s, when she died. But I've learned that my relationship with her and the Vietnamese heritage she gave me can continue to evolve even though my mom has passed — a lesson Zauner beautifully shares in this bestselling memoir. If you're like me and enjoy satire and cringe moments, then you'll fly through R.F. Kuang's 'Yellowface,' a thriller about a woman who steals the manuscript of her dead Asian American friend and passes it off as her own, navigating cancel culture and racial politics along the way. I also want to share a few reported books I enjoyed: (Please note: The Times may earn a commission through links to whose fees support independent bookstores.) Mark Whitaker's new book, 'The Afterlife of Malcolm X: An Outcast Turned Icon's Enduring Impact on America,' tells two stories on parallel tracks, according to Chris Vognar's review: a cultural history that touches on Malcolm X's appeal to disparate groups, and a legal thriller about the three men imprisoned for assassinating the Black nationalist leader in 1965. Whether you're an architecture buff or just someone who appreciates the beauty of old L.A., check out the West Hollywood Denenberg Fine Arts Gallery's exhibit showcasing Robert Landau's new book, 'Art Deco Los Angeles.' The son of L.A. gallerist Felix Landau, Robert began taking photos for his latest book on a Hasselblad in the 1970s. 'I was responding visually and emotionally to places I grew up going to,' Landau tells The Times. 'Frasier' actor Kelsey Grammer's sister Karen was kidnapped, raped and murdered on July 1, 1975, just two weeks shy of her 19th birthday. But 'Karen: A Brother Remembers,' which came out Tuesday, is not a grief book, but a life book, an examination of the siblings' lives together and how Kelsey's sister stays with him nearly 50 years after dying. Laura Mills writes for the Times about two new books that explore women's role in culture and the backlash it inspires: Sophie Gilbert's 'Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves' and Tiffany Watt Smith's 'Bad Friend: How Women Revolutionized Modern Friendship.' Gilbert explores how early 2000s media sold sex as a liberating act for women of this generation, when in reality it became closer to the opposite. Smith examines the centuries-long effort to control female friendship. This week, we talk with Jhoanna Belfer, the owner of Long Beach's Bel Canto Books. The Filipina-led indie booksellers, which focus on celebrating works by women and people of color, started as a pop-up book club in 2018 and now has three locations: a standalone bookstore on the 4th Street corridor/Retro Row; a bookstore inside a Filipinx-led collaborative workspace in Bixby Knolls; and a mini bookstore inside Steel Cup Cafe. This Q&A has been edited for length and clarity. What events is Bel Canto Books hosting for AAPI month? What are some of your favorite books featuring Asian protagonists? One of my favorite writers is Lisa Ko. Her first book, 'The Leavers,' was about a mom who's a nail shop technician and an immigrant in New York's Chinatown. She goes to work one day and never comes home. And her son has to grapple with what happened and try to figure out how to live, since he's 10 or 12 when she first disappears. Lisa Ko has a new book called 'Memory Piece' that just came out in paperback. It's phenomenal. Writers obviously are writing about what's percolating in their minds and in the world that they're in, and 'Memory Piece' really reflects our current world. In the book, the government has become incredibly authoritarian, everyone is surveilled, and these three friends are trying to figure out how to live their lives and still make sense and find meaning. The last one I would mention is Ocean Vuong's new novel, 'The Emperor of Gladness,' which drops next week. I got to read an early copy, and it's stunning. It's my favorite of his work so far, which is a very high bar. He just gets better and better with every book. What new releases are you looking forward to? 'Coffee Shop in an Alternate Universe' by C.B. Lee is a cozy, queer fantasy about two young women who meet in a coffee shop. They don't realize that they're crossing into each other's different worlds. One world is not magical, and the other one is. It has tons of fun cafe drinks and monsters that they have to defeat. A local author, Elise Bryant, has a second book coming out in her PTA moms murder mystery series: It's called 'The Game Is Afoot.' It's super fun if you either have kids in elementary school or you have ever known a PTA mom. It's very juicy and gossipy and fun. The last one I'll call out is 'Moderation' by Elaine Castillo, a Filipina American writer whom I love. The protagonist is a content moderator, which sounds very benign. But she takes you into the deep, dark depths of what moderation actually can be, or horrifyingly probably is, with these people having to flag and kick out folks on the internet. You can find Bel Canto Books at their standalone shop located 2106 E. 4th St., Long Beach; in Kubo LB at 3976 Atlantic Ave., Long Beach; and inside Steel Cup Café at 2201 N. Lakewood Blvd. Suite E, Long Beach. That's all from me for now! I look forward to sharing more books with you all soon!
Los Angeles Times
19-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
A book lover's guide to the Festival of Books
Welcome to the L.A. Times Book Club newsletter. Honestly, for bibliophiles, is there a better weekend in spring than late April at the L.A. Times Festival of Books? The temps will be in the 70s, authors will be giving keynote speeches or participating in panel discussions, and the USC campus will be filled with merchants selling everything from books (and books and books) and comfy T-shirts to pretty notebooks and lusciously scented candles for your reading nook. This year's fest, the 30th annual edition, takes place the weekend of April 26 and 27. Bring your walking shoes and a tote bag for all the goodies you'll pick up as you wander between stages, merchant booths and panels featuring a stupendous lineup of world-class writers. Celebrity watchers will be in for a treat as Hollywood stars such as Josh Gad, Wil Wheaton, Wilmer Valderamma, Ben Falcone, comedian Chelsea Handler and the rock musician Peter Wolf will all be talking about their new books. The festival will be like an unending dessert table of the biggest names in the book world. Authors from the romance, fantasy (and romantasy!), sci-fi and horror spaces will appear alongside leaders in the literary fiction and nonfiction worlds talking about topics ranging from politics to nature to law enforcement to cooking. Want to find out more? Here is the complete schedule of events for you to peruse. And an insider tip: The Festival of Books app is available so that you can reserve tickets to special events or hear from your favorite author. Make sure to check out the family activities all weekend geared toward young readers. Here are a few of the Saturday panels I can't wait to stop by. I'll cover the Sunday panels in the next edition of the newsletter, so make sure to check your inbox next week. First up, a panel that I'm moderating: 'Sisterhood in Contemporary Fiction,' with Lisa See, Lynn Steger Strong, and Caoilinn Hughes. We'll be talking about women's relationships with their closest friends, who — sometimes — are also sisters. As books and libraries increasingly come under attack, the panel 'One Page at a Time' feels essential. Those on the front lines of the book wars will talk about their experiences and provide audience members with advice on how to protect their own communities and school libraries. Jason De León, Jessica Pishko and Jesse Katz focus on the humanity of those members of our culture who have been targeted for inhumane treatment in the panel 'Undocumented: The Price of the Promised Land.' Katz is also a finalist for a L.A. Times Book Prize for his book, 'The Rent Collectors.' Kiese Laymon, whose memoir, 'Heavy,' was on our list of the '30 Best nonfiction books of the past 30 years, will present his new children's book, 'City Summer, Country Summer,' about joy among a group of friends in the South. Also on the schedule: Noted voting rights activist Stacey Abrams speaks about 'Stacey Speaks Up,' her children's book about a determined little girl who speaks against injustice. The panel 'Journey to the HEA: Tackling Big Topics in Romance' explores romantic territory in which happily ever after (HEA) comes only after a lot of plot-twisting obstacles. (On Saturday alone, three hot panels on romance are enough to rev up our hearts.) More information on tickets, schedule and participants is available at the Festival of Books website. Downloading the app will keep you up to date on festival surprises and schedule changes. The L.A. Times Book Prizes will be awarded in a public ceremony on Friday, April 25 at 7 p.m. at Bovard Auditorium at USC. Special awards will go to Pico Iyer, Emily Witt and poet Amanda Gorman. Prizes will be given in categories such as fiction, current events, poetry, mystery, biography, history, young adult, science fiction, sciences, audiobooks and graphic novels/comics. The Art Seidenbaum award for debut fiction will also be given out. The winners are sure to represent a stunning assortment of books that have topped best-seller and year-end lists. (Please note: The Times may earn a commission through links to whose fees support independent bookstores.) Phew. As if there weren't enough to chew on with the upcoming festival, the books world has continued to make news. Here are some of the top stories in the lit world: 1996 was the year that the festival debuted, and Carolyn Kellogg explains how it turned out to be a momentous year for the books industry. Poetry remains an exciting place where lyrical wordsmiths turn truth into art. The legendary Cave Canem organization has become an incubator for some of the finest Black American poets of the past 30 years. As Reginald Dwayne Betts observes, 'If there was a centrifugal force in American letters over the last 25 years, it is undeniable that it has been Cave Canem.' Those who love the classic mystery writers Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie have reason to rejoice: Britbox debuted Christie's 'Towards Zero,' a sexy mystery about an adulterous tennis star, his dower aunt (played by Anjelica Huston), and a depressed detective played by the Welsh actor Matthew Rhys. After two episodes, I'm hooked. Over on the CW, actor David Thewlis plays Sherlock Holmes to Blu Hunt's Amelia Rojas in 'Sherlock and Daughter.' After her mother is murdered, young Amelia journeys from America to join her father, the noted detective, in solving her mother's homicide. Blackstone Publishing, a vibrant press in southern Oregon, has been my go-to for 'Belfast Noir,' a genre that sets its crimes during the Troubles or under the civil war's lingering shadows. Among the Blackstone authors is Adrian McKinty, who topped the bestseller lists with 'The Chain' and 'The Island.' But the series I love features Det. Sean Duffy, whose presence as a Catholic with the Royal Ulster Constabulary is a constant source of tension. Book 8, 'Hang on, St. Christopher,' was released in early March. On the other side of the country, Manhattan's Soho Press offers an off-kilter mystery that is un-baaaa-lievable but so much fun. In 'Three Bags Full' , Irish author Leonie Swann sets a mystery in a farmyard. As a farmer lies dying, his flock of sheep is mobilized to solve his murder and bring the killer to justice. (Trust me on this. You'll want to check it out.) There's a lot of bad news out there, so here are some bookish delights that have made me smile in recent days: The United States Postal Service debuted stamps in honor of Marjorie Wise Brown's 'Goodnight Moon.' I'm betting most parents will be able to identify — from repetitive memory — the text that goes along with each scene. Here's a handy guide to the newest literary genres sure to join romantasy, cli-fi, and spicyTok on next year's hot list. Writer Elon Green talks about people mistaking him for the other Elon. In one Michigan community, a human chain helped a small bookstore transport its entire inventory, one book at a time, to its new location. See you at the festival!
Los Angeles Times
05-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Pack these books for Coachella: Your music festival reading lineup
Calling all bookworms! Welcome to the L.A. Times Book Club newsletter. I'm Meg. I write shut up and read, a book newsletter. I'm also on BookTok. It's festival season. And no, I don't just mean The Times' Festival of Books happening at the end of the month (see you at my panel…?). I'm also talking about Coachella and, unfortunately, Stagecoach. Whether you're heading out to Indio, or enjoying the annual exodus of Angelenos, here are some books that give Coachella Valley vibes. As usual, you'll also find the latest in lit news below, plus, we hop on the phone with the Best Bookstore in Palm Springs. Bikini Kill frontwoman and third-wave feminist punk icon Kathleen Hanna looks back on her life with introspection and candor in 'Rebel Girl.' She unburies trauma, writing frankly about personal traumas, including sexual assaults she survived as a teen and young woman, and reflects on how she made it out to the other side. When I was 18, I went to Coachella. I should have been at home reading Sarvenaz Tash's 'Three Day Summer.' Tash reimagines 1969 Woodstock for the YA crowd, focusing on the budding romance between teens Michael and Cora against the backdrop of Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and the Grateful Dead. Before the Yuma tent, there was bloghouse. 'Never Be Alone Again' by Lina Abascal is an essential text on an under-documented era of music. Featuring a foreword by A-track, and interviews with everyone from Flosstradamus to Steve Aoki, this book is a time capsule that will have you scrolling through the Cobrasnake's archive and yearning for illegal MP3s. 'The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test' by Tom Wolfe. Because, duh. 'A Visit from the Goon Squad' by Jennifer Egan is a structural marvel. Egan time travels across 40 years in her postmodern Pulitzer Prize-winning book, passing the baton among 13 protagonists, zig-zagging her way through the story of music mogul Bennie Salazar, his klepto assistant Sasha, and a cast of kooky characters. Reading this book for the first time is a transcendent experience. Taylor Jenkins Reid's 'Daisy Jones and the Six,' obviously. This list wouldn't be complete without the historical fiction novel loosely inspired by Fleetwood Mac. Told as an oral history, the book weaves together interviews from the band members spanning nearly five decades. When you're done, binge-watch the television adaptation starring Riley Keough. 'The Final Revival of Opal & Nev' by Dawnie Walton follows a fictional iconic and interracial Afropunk rock duo, Opal Jewel and Nev Charles, who are on the brink of reuniting for the first time in over 40 years. Covering their reunion is Sunny, a Black journalist who has a personal connection to Opal, and is determined to land the tell-all story behind the pair. Walton's debut novel feels so authentic that I guarantee you will be double- and triple-checking that these characters aren't based on real people. Don't say I didn't warn you. Forty years after Woodstock, co-creator Michael Lang and author Holly George-Warren wrote the seminal text for the festival. 'The Road to Woodstock' gives readers more than a behind-the-scenes look, it gives them backstage access, from finding Max Yasgur's farm that would ultimately host the fest, to negotiating with the Who and landing Jimi Hendrix — even if it cost an extra couple thousand dollars. Lollapalooza's impact cannot be understated. That's the argument convincingly made in 'Lollapalooza: The Uncensored Story of Alternative Rock's Wildest Festival' by Richard Bienstock and Tom Beaujour. In their oral history, the pair interview hundreds of artists, tour founders and Lollapalooza organizers, among others. In a review for The Times, Marc Ballon calls the account a 'fun, dishy and surprisingly moving read.' (Please note: The Times may earn a commission through links to whose fees support independent bookstores.) Even warriors and queens, and warrior queens, risk it all for love. Join me — and legendary romantasy authors Melissa de la Cruz, Kristen Ciccarelli, Rachel Howzell Hall and Amalie Howard — at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books for a discussion on revolutionary romance. Tickets required. In early 2020, Albert Jones was sitting in his cell on San Quentin's death row as he had every day for nearly three decades, when reports of a mysterious respiratory illness started to circulate. Through it all, Jones kept detailed journals chronicling his anxiety over catching the 'killer virus.' And when he did contract COVID, he recounted his agonizing recovery. Now, a Sonoma County bookseller who sees Jones' collected works as a rare glimpse into one of America's most notorious cell blocks is selling some of his writing and prison memorabilia at a New York City book fair. Krysten Ritter was on vacation in Mexico 13 years ago when a man on a bike approached her. He was looking for his partner who vanished without a trace. In her new novel, which she co-wrote with Lindsay Jamieson, she takes that incident and turns it into a 'hall of distorted mirrors' thriller called 'Retreat.' At 50, Chelsea Handler has it all, including her sixth No. 1 New York Times bestseller, 'I'll Have What She's Having.' 'I'm so proud of myself for never falling into getting married or having a baby when I know those things aren't natural to who I am,' she tells The Times. In Kevin Nguyen's gripping novel, the U.S. government sets up internment camps for citizens of Vietnamese ancestry following a wave of terrorist attacks. Lauren LeBlanc reviews 'My Documents' for The Times. This week we hopped on the phone with Paul Bradley Carr, Silicon Valley journalist turned co-owner of the Best Bookstore in Palm Springs. Carr and his partner Sarah Lacy relocated to Palm Springs in 2019. To their dismay, there was no bookstore in town. So in 2022, they opened their own. Though Carr says at his age the ideas of festivals 'exhaust' him, the Coachella Valley local offers up a recommendation for both festival revelers — and avoiders. What are the most popular titles at your store lately? The No. 1 thing that's been flying off the shelves is this Facebook book, 'Careless People.' That's just selling by the bucketload. Since Facebook tried to stop it, we can't keep it in stock. That book was not going to do well. ... [Now] everybody wants this book. And then the other one in Palm Springs is 'The Guncle' by Steven Rowley, which just keeps selling. We sold more than a thousand copies. It won the Thurber Prize last year. It's set in Palm Springs. It's a deeply funny book, but also about grief. It's got something for everyone. 'The Snowbirds' by Christina Clancy has just started flying as well, which just came out a couple of weeks ago. What are upcoming titles you're excited about? The No. 1 I'm most excited about is my own book. It's called 'The Confessions.' … It's really a book about how we trust technology with all of our secrets and what happens if technology decides to confess them all on our behalf. It's the AI thriller for people who definitely don't want to read an AI thriller. I'm also very much looking forward to 'Notes to John,' the Joan Didion book about the letters that she wrote to her husband about her therapy sessions. It's a collection of those. It's wild. Vauhini Vara's new book, 'Searches.' Her sister died and she got ChatGPT to write an article about it to figure out the connection between humanity and technology and how technology can help us deal with human things. And this is the book spinoff where she explores human consciousness and technology consciousness. It's a really surreal book. On the mystery side, 'Fair Play' by Louise Hegarty is f— amazing. … It's a really modern, interesting, bizarre take on the murder mystery. I'm only about halfway through, but I cannot wait for this book to be in store. It's brilliant. Can you recommend a book that gives festival energy? I'm 45 years old [laughs]. The idea of festivals just exhausts me. I want to stay at home with a book and not go to a festival. But I understand the premise of your question. I would stay at home and I would read Sarah Tomlinson's 'The Last Days of the Midnight Ramblers,' which is a brilliant book about fame and fandom and rock stars. It's the novel for if you have read 'Daisy Jones and the Six' and you're wondering what else to read. The Best Bookstore in Palm Springs is located at 180 E. Tahquitz Canyon Way, Palm Springs 92262 See you in the stacks — or on Goodreads!
Los Angeles Times
22-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
The 10 best memoirs of the 2020s, from Mariah Carey to Michelle Zauner
Calling all bookworms! Welcome to the L.A. Times Book Club newsletter. Calling all bookworms! Welcome to the L.A. Times Book Club newsletter. I'm Meg. I write shut up and read, a book newsletter. I'm also on BookTok. I just flew through Amy Griffin's 'The Tell.' Her memoir — a powerful investigation of repressed memories, sexual trauma and the quest for perfection — took me less than two days to finish. Instead of walking to the gym, I took the train, just so I could have more time to read. Then I picked up Lauren Christensen's 'Firstborn.' My waking hours were at the mercy of the memoir, a moving account of the loss of her first child, Simone. I fought off sleep to keep reading and when I awoke, the book was the first thing I reached for. I turn to the stories of other people's lives to make sense of my own. There's no memoir I won't read, except for Melania Trump's. I'm a glutton for the juicy celebrity tell-all, but there is nothing like being surprised by an unexpected or unknown author. As we approach the decade's halfway mark, I thought I'd share some of my favorite memoirs from the past 5 years, as well as the titles I'm looking forward to getting my hands on this year. 'The Meaning of Mariah Carey' is best experienced as an audiobook. Carey's memoir is an incisive deep dive into her elusive persona. Come for the reflections on her long-spanning career — and the true account of her rags-to-riches story — but stay for Mimi bursting sporadically into song. André Leon Talley's 'The Chiffon Trenches' is also a wonderful audio experience. His distinctive voice oozes charisma and authority, and his front row seat to the fashion world provides 50 years' worth of stories—about Karl Lagerfeld, Diana Vreeland, and of course, Anna Wintour. Dr. Michele Harper pulls back the curtain on life as an emergency room physician in her debut memoir, 'The Beauty in Breaking.' Through her patients, Harper discovers how to heal, all while contending with the racism and sexism in an overwhelmingly white and male-dominated profession. 'Minor Feelings,' Cathy Park Hong's book of essays, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Memoir. In her collection, Park Hong blends cultural criticism and memoir to examine the covert racism that is pervasive in our country. Her work is a celebration of her identity as an Asian American artist and a call to question white colonialist notions. A member of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe, Elissa Washuta unpacks the commodification of Native American spirituality in 'White Magic.' Through layered essays, Washuta explores the effects of colonialism on sacred practices, as well as her heritage, and her struggles with men, drugs and alcohol — and how magic runs through it all. When I first read 'Crying in H Mart' by Michelle Zauner, I stayed up all night to finish, and I wept the whole way through. In her debut memoir, Zauner (who performs under the alias Japanese Breakfast) celebrates mother Chongmi's life, and mourns her early death. Zauner's tender tribute — and reckoning of who she is without her mother — is transformative. Suleika Jaouad's 'Between Two Kingdoms' is one of those memoirs that will knock the wind out of you. Jaouad's world turns upside down when she receives a leukemia diagnosis at 23. Four years later, she has survived, but is unsure of how to reenter the world, so she set out on a 100-day road trip to find out. My copy of 'In Love' by Amy Bloom is stained with fat teardrops. After Brian Ameche, Bloom's husband, receives an Alzheimer's diagnosis, he decides to end his life on his own terms. Bloom details their journey to Switzerland, where a nonprofit offers legal suicide, and paints us full vignettes of their love story along the way. Ina Garten's 'Be Ready When the Luck Happens' is a a four-course meal — plus dessert. Garten's words sing off the page. Reading her memoir makes you feel like you're in the kitchen with her, and Jeffrey! Getting a glimpse into Garten's life story is fascinating, and her cheerful demeanor and can-do attitude will galvanize you to chase your dreams. 'Grief Is For People' by Sloane Crosley grapples with the complexities of loss. She shared a piece of advice in an opinion piece she wrote for The Times in 2024: 'Give the grieving person a reprieve from the interrogation, the lion's share of which they will conduct themselves. Give them this for the same reason you would offer to do their dishes or run their errands: so they can get some rest.' Honorable mentions: (Please note: The Times may earn a commission through links to whose fees support independent bookstores.) Anyone who's anyone is going to be at The Times' Festival of Books next month, including National Book Award winner Percival Everett, 'Wicked' director Jon M. Chu and aughts pop icon Joanna 'Jojo' Levesque. Scheduled for April 26 and 27, the 30th anniversary of the annual literary festival brings more than 550 storytellers to the USC campus across seven outdoor stages and 15 indoor venues. Itching for a mystery? Here are the four best crime novels to read right now, taking you everywhere from Alaska to Maine to Kaua'i to Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer is pressing pause on his press tour for his new book following his vote to move forward with Republican spending legislation last week. In 'A Better Ending,' James Whitfield Thomson looks back on the events of summer 1974, when his younger sister Eileen died at the age of 27 from a gunshot wound to the chest. His sister's death was quickly ruled a suicide, although it bore all the hallmarks of murder. There have been so many noteworthy memoirs released in the last five years, and the next five promise to make this a decade filled with notable works. Here are 10 due out in 2025 we can't wait to read. See you in the stacks — or on Goodreads!
Los Angeles Times
08-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Omar El Akkad didn't think his memoir would ever get published. It's one of 2025's buzziest releases
Calling all bookworms! Welcome to the L.A. Times Book Club newsletter. I'm Meg. I write 'shut up and read,' a book newsletter. I'm also on BookTok. This week, we speak with Egyptian Canadian journalist-turned-author Omar El Akkad, whose memoir-manifesto 'One Day, Everyone Will Have Been Against This' came out on Feb. 25. We also look at recent news in the literary world before checking in with North Figueroa Bookshop. When the world doesn't make sense to El Akkad, he writes. In late October 2023, El Akkad started to sketch out his feelings about the bombardment of Gaza, and 'what it means to be someone like me living in this part of the world,' meaning someone who was born in Cairo, grew up in Doha, moved to Canada and now lives in rural Oregon — far from Palestine. By November, his editor encouraged him to start writing about it. The result was his nonfiction debut, which grapples with the empty promises of the West and his crumbling faith in its institutions as the Palestinian death toll rises. 'I didn't think it would get much traction at all,' says El Akkad, calling the buzz surrounding his book 'very surprising.' 'My suspicion is that if it's gained any traction, it's been because there is so much anger that I think has been bubbling up over the last year and a half, and this appears as a site for the venting of that anger,' he tells The Times. El Akkad has encountered both sides of that anger in the early days of his press tour, 'from some of the most thoughtful conversations that I've ever had around books and literature to some of the most antagonistic, combative, dismissive questioning sessions — and everything in between,' he says of his U.K. and Ireland tour. 'I guess that comes with the territory for a book like this.' Below, read our Q&A with the author, which has been edited for length and clarity. Who did you write this book for? I genuinely don't know. I was trying to contend with a sense of deep uncertainty relative to my own position here because I'm someone who, from a very young age, was oriented towards the West. ... It's the reason for so much of who I am. And then to be in this situation over the last year and a half of feeling completely unanchored from that leaves me in a place where I don't know who I am anymore. So I wasn't really thinking about somebody else, but I can say that almost all of the most passionate responses to this book, and I'm not saying good or bad, have come from people who have a similar sense of being unanchored. So many lines and passages stuck out to me, but I felt as though the following about the current state of U.S. politics summed up a sentiment that is shared by many. You write, 'One remarkable difference between the modern Western conservative and their liberal counterpart is that the former will gleefully sign their name onto the side of a bomb while the latter will just sheepishly initial it.' I'm curious what you think the Democratic Party is making of November's election and where you think they'll go from here. One of the things that has frustrated me the most about the immediate aftermath of this moment in domestic U.S. politics is just how little self-reflection there has been on the part of the one party institutionally capable of standing in the way of something like the Trump administration. I can't count the number of times that I've heard someone from this party say something along the lines of, 'Well, you didn't vote for us, so now you deserve this.' My sense is if that was your orientation from the beginning, then we were never allies. We were never concerned about mutual liberation or resistance to fascism. There was simply a kind of temporary adjacency of self-interest, and now that it's gone, everyone can go fend for themselves. It's been especially infuriating to have some people think that my frustration with mainstream democratic liberalism in this country is somehow an endorsement of the openly fascist administration we have now. I am furious that we got to this point, and I think any political party whose messaging is so inept and so out of touch with what its principal demographic is asking for that it would lose to such an administration has a desperate, desperate need to reflect on how that came to be, rather than blame an electorate for not being sufficiently enthusiastic. The thing that scares the hell out of me the most about the coming years is that we keep fluctuating between these democratic administrations that have such a huge gap between the performance of virtue and their pragmatic reality that people get disillusioned and don't vote for them, and then we get fascists in power. In your book, you write about the importance of active and negative resistance while also grappling with the effectiveness or use of that resistance. I'm wondering how you resist disillusionment and maintain hope right now. I know it seems like an incredibly hopeless book, but I also think of it as the most hopeful thing I've ever written. As disillusioned as I've become with all of the institutions of the West — political, academic, cultural — I've been so inspired by what people individually and in solidarity with one another are willing to risk to stand up and resist. I am a huge coward in almost every respect. I leach courage wherever I can get it, and I've leached it from so many different sources, from people I've never met who are sitting in their campus courtyard protesting and getting pepper sprayed for it, from people chaining themselves to the gates of weapons manufacturers, from Palestinians, from Palestinian journalists who have risked and sometimes given their lives to get news out about a slaughter. There is immense bravery in the world. There's immense courage, and the very least I can do sitting here in my nice safe home in rural Oregon where I don't have to worry about my neighborhood getting flattened or my bloodline getting wiped off the face of the earth is not give up on someone else's behalf. I've found a lot to be hopeful about from these people who are much, much braver than I, even though if I'm being honest, there's a lot of days where I wake up and I have no idea why I should get out of bed. The dejection after a year and a half of watching children get killed is not something I can just immediately dismiss. Your answer at the beginning of this interview really encapsulated who you were writing for and what it means now that it's out in the world, but I'm curious about how one reconciles any sort of success when the thing is so brutal. I am assuming ideally that you wouldn't want to write this book because you wouldn't want this to be happening. There is no personal metric of success for me with regards to this book, and I think a little bit about what it means to live through a moment like this knowing that you could largely ignore it without consequence if you live in this part of the planet and if you have the privileges that I happen to have. … To be perfectly honest with you, if someone forces me to think of a criteria of success for this book, it's either that it causes someone who previously had the privilege of not thinking about any of these things to start thinking about them or that it generates the kind of money that I can give to people who are actually doing the work, which I'm not doing, people who are actually on the front lines saving lives beyond those kinds of things. I don't know how to think about not just the success of this book but success as it relates to whatever's left of my literary career, and this goes back to what I was saying earlier: There's a lot of things that used to matter greatly to me that just don't anymore. Earlier you mentioned that there are other books out there that you think are worth reading. Would you mind sharing them with us? (Please note: The Times may earn a commission through links to whose fees support independent bookstores.) Ione Skye talks to The Times about her new memoir, 'Say Everything,' which details her early life and the sense of desperation for love that drove her into whirlwind romances with Matthew Perry, Anthony Kiedis and Robert Downey Jr., among others. From the Snow White-Rob Lowe debacle at the 1989 Oscars to the infamous 'Star Wars Holiday Special,' Bruce Vilanch tells us about his new book, 'It Seemed Like a Bad Idea at the Time,' which details his involvement in some of the most gloriously awful moments in the history of entertainment. If awards season is your favorite season, check out our interview with Daniel D'Addario, the Variety correspondent whose debut novel, 'The Talent,' follows five female actors vying for an Academy Award. He also gave us his thoughts on the tumultuous Oscar race that just came to an end. This week, we hop on the phone with North Figueroa Bookshop manager and buyer Amadeus Fuzz. Founded by independent publishers Unnamed Press and Rare Bird, North Fig focuses on indie titles, local authors and used books — and if they don't carry what you're looking for, Fuzz will help you find it. 'There's no competition between independent bookstores,' Fuzz says. 'It is all of us against Amazon. It's every small business against Amazon. And if I don't have the book, my job is to help you find the book that you're looking for.' What are the most popular titles at your store lately? I see more people buying books from Unnamed Press and Rare Bird, mostly because that's the quantity that we have available right now. 'A Certain Hunger' by Chelsea Summers is probably our bestselling book in the entire store. What are some of the upcoming releases that you're excited about as a reader? From Akashic Books, I just started reading 'Monument Eternal.' That's a rerelease from Alice Coltrane, the musician. She has an exhibit up right now at the Hammer and Akashic partnered with them to rerelease her book and it's incredible. Where is your favorite place to read? Tierra de la Culebra Park on Avenue 57 here in Highland Park. I go there to read, I go there to write, and I really love it there. North Figueroa Bookshop is located at 6040 N. Figueroa St., Los Angeles 90042. See you in the stacks — or on Goodreads!
