We can’t wait to dive into this fresh crop of Bay Area reads, from historical novels by Kate Schatz and Ayelet Waldman, to print celebrations of local institutions like Hardly Strictly Bluegrass and City Lights, to a new memoir from California Governor Gavin Newsom.
Where the Girls Were, by Kate Schatz
Feminist author Kate Schatz’s “Rad Women” book series has been an eye-catcher at bookstores and libraries for years. Her new historical novel set in 1960s San Francisco is a timely exploration of a moment in history when the sexual revolution collided with the limits of reproductive rights. When 17-year-old Elizabeth “Baker” Phillips leaves behind her bright future at Stanford for a love affair with an SF hippie named Wiley, she finds herself pregnant and without many options. Soon she is living in an old Victorian house converted into a home for unwed mothers, where she finds her voice in a world that would prefer she stay silent. // $29, Penguin Random House
Coyoteland, by Vanessa Hua
From the bestselling Bay Area author of A River of Stars and Forbidden City, Coyoteland is set in a suburb in the hills east of Berkeley where a series of scandals during an escalating fire season are set off when a Chinese American family moves into the community. Ingrid Rojas Contreras says, "Vanessa Hua’s writing is clear, forward, totally propulsive, and in Coyoteland she attunes her colossal talent to unveiling the deep frailties and intricacies of an affluent community in the Bay Area beset with coyote attacks… Wise and wholly addicting to read, the largest pleasure." // $29, Macmillan
Brand New Beat: The Wild Rise of Rolling Stone Magazine, by Peter Richardson
This new portrait of Rolling Stone Magazine takes readers inside the counterculture magazine at its inception and during its formative early years in San Francisco. Founded in 1967, the magazine and its editors delved deep into the politics and culture of the time, nurtured young writers like Cameron Crowe and Greil Marcus, and used the appeal of popular music to cover historic events from a unique perspective. Peter Richardson is the author of books about Hunter S. Thompson and the Grateful Dead, and his essays appear in publications like The Nation, The New Republic, and the Los Angeles Times. // $28, University of California Press
A Perfect Hand, by Ayelet Waldman
Berkeley author Waldman explores new literary ground in this humorous historical novel exploring class, gender, love, and subterfuge between a lady’s maid and her clandestine lover, set in the country estates of 19th century England. Alice Lockey, the daughter of a tenant farmer, wonders how to manipulate hearts when a visiting servant captures her interest. Library Journal says, “Waldman speaks in a graceful, authentic voice about Victorian England’s lifestyles, horrors, and frivolities. She honors women’s empowerment while relishing the tropes of the romance genre.” // $28, Penguin Random House
The Social Circle, by Sophie Wan
When Maggie Tang receives an invitation to a 10 year reunion of the major social media platform she co-founded with friends at UC Berkeley in 2005, she’s not sure she wants to revisit the past. In this dual-narrative novel, Han, a UC Berkeley grad herself and author of Women of Good Fortune, writes about love, friendship, and business in the early days of the internet—and the new truths uncovered when former friends and colleagues reunite on a private island in Norway. “Irresistibly readable. Recommended for those who love the ripped-from-the-headlines feel of Taylor Jenkins Reid,” says Booklist. //$30, Harper Collins
The Last Human Bear, by Greg Sarris
Inspired by the Native women elders around whom acclaimed author and professor Greg Sarris grew up, The Last Human Bear is an epic story that follows Mary, a Native Pomo woman who comes of age in 1930s California, as she makes sense of her family while rumors spread about her. If her stepmother taught Mary, who learns how to pass between Native and white societies, how to become a Human Bear, a shapeshifter who can menace and poison enemies, is she fated to do harm? Greg Sarris lives in Sonoma County and is an enrolled member of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria. He is currently serving his seventeenth consecutive elected term as chairman of the tribe. // $30, Heyday
A Feather and a Fork: 125 Intertribal Dishes from an Indigenous Food Warrior, by Crystal Wahpepah
Chef Crystal Wahpepah's new cookbook builds on her efforts to tell the little-known history of Oakland’s tight-knit Native American communities, which were relocated from reservations across the country to the San Francisco Bay area in the 1950s. A Feather and a Fork includes 125 recipes developed in collaboration with ethnobotanist and food sovereignty advocate Linda Black Elk to explore how food rooted in the oldest Indigenous traditions can heal bodies and restore foodways. Seasonal recipes include sweet blue cornbread with huckleberry compote, bison roast with chokeberry rub, three sisters veggie bowls, and more. // $35, Penguin Random House
Troika: Three Generations, Three Days, and a Very American Road Trip, by Irena Smith
Bay Area writer Irena Smith’s (The Golden Ticket: A Life in College Admissions Essay) new memoir braids the narrative of a three-day California Central Coast road trip with three generations of women with an exploration of motherhood, memory, and migration. The trip encompasses winter storms, TV binges, and story-telling, moving between heartbreak and hilarity—as the best road trips do. // $18, She Writes Press
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass: The Big Twang!
This new photo-heavy tome celebrates 25 years of San Francisco’s beloved free music festival, capturing the vibes of the iconic Golden Gate Park event through the lenses of Jay Blakesberg and other talented photographers. Featuring a heartfelt foreword by Emmylou Harris and an afterword by Steve Earle, the book also includes interviews and essays by Aidin Vaziri, Frances Dinkelspiel, Sylvie Simmons, and Tricia Hellman Gibbs. // $80, HSB
Art, Craft, Color: Brighten Your Life with Projects in Every Color of the Rainbow, by Lisa Solomon
Oakland artist and teacher Lisa Solomon’s Art, Craft, Color brings together art and practical hands-on techniques to 20 projects organized by color, from delicate pink paper flowers to bold red textile creations. For crafters of all levels, the book includes fabric and paper creations, painting projects, and a variety of crafty ways to bring color into your everyday life, balanced with essays on color theory and contributions from diverse artists. // $35, Hardie Grant
City Lights: Lawrence Ferlinghetti and the Biography of a Bookstore, by Gioia Woods
In 1953, a small retail space above a North Beach flower shop became the first-ever all paperback bookstore in the United States. More than 70 years later, City Lights Bookstore and Press continues to shape the way literature is produced and experienced. Professor Gioia Woods offers a deeply researched look into City Lights as sponsor of the Beat Movement and San Francisco Renaissance, home of the Pocket Poets series, and torchbearer for free speech movements. Jonah Raskin says, “Make no mistake. Woods is no flame thrower. She honors and respects City Lights and Ferlinghetti, as much if not more than any other fan or citizen of the world or fan. But she offers a new and radical perspective on Ferlinghetti and on the bookstore he co-founded in 1953 with Peter Martin.” // $60, University of Nevada Press
Young Man in a Hurry: A Memoir of Discovery, by Gavin Newsom
California Governor Gavin Newsom reflects on his life thus far in print for the first time, from his Bay Area childhood to his time as San Francisco mayor—when he made waves by violating state law in order to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples more than ten years before the Supreme Court made such unions legal—to his current role as governor during a time of intense regional and national politics. Kirkus Reviews says, “In this candid if carefully crafted memoir, Newsom revisits his fourth-generation San Francisco roots, lingering over the family mythology behind his political rise . . . An engaging portrait of resilience and drive, complicated by proximity to wealth and influence.” // $30, Penguin Random House
Unsung Heroines: 35 Women Who Changed the Bay Area, by Rae Alexandra
Drawn from journalist Rae Alexandra’s KQED Arts & Culture series, Rebel Girls from Bay Area History, Unsung Heroines is a collection of 35 short profiles celebrating the contributions of a diverse group of women from San Francisco, the East Bay, and the greater Bay Area who deserve our public recognition. Maxine Hong Kingston says, "A newspaper by and for Indigenous people. Immigrants and their descendants allowed to marry Americans. Free public toilets for women. Voting by mail. Saving the San Francisco Bay. Children getting breakfast. Children with disabilities attending school. Care for people with AIDS. Health centers. All this and more. The Bay Area would not be as civilized as it is without the brave work of the women in this book. At last, we can know them, and sing their praises." // $17, City Lights
