Best Poolside Reads for a Trip to LA
19/04/2019
Best Poolside Reads for a Trip to LA
Whether you’re poolside at The Peninsula, or simply mulling over your next trip to Beverly Hills, this top-drawer list of quintessentially California books will get you in an LA state of mind.
Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis
At the perky age of 21, a precocious Bret Easton Ellis had his debut novel Less Than Zero (1985) published by Simon & Schuster. Although most of his subsequent stories are set in and around New York, this bestselling cult classic takes place in the literary Brat Packer’s hometown of Los Angeles, following the story of 18-year-old Clay and his wealthy friends. This gritty, unflinching look at the hedonism of youth was narrated in a morally apathetic style that came to characterise Ellis’ work, and ultimately, rank him among America’s greatest C.20th writers.
This Book Will Save Your Life by A.M. Homes
Granta has a nose for sniffing out untapped talent, and Washington native AM Homes was no exception with her offbeat short stories, screenplays, and often polemical novels. This Book Will Save Your Life breaks from her usual form with the story of Richard Novak, a prosaic everyman: divorced, living alone in LA and comfortably wealthy from trading stocks. A health scare inspires him to start performing small, random acts of kindness to those around him, revealing what can happen if you open yourself up to the world. Feel-good fiction!
Hollywood Notebook by Wendy C Ortiz
Like dipping into someone’s private journal, Wendy Ortiz’ poetic memoir of her life in LA during her 20s and 30s, living out of a Hollywood studio apartment, is a rollercoaster of love, loss, and transformation. At once irreverent and sad, Hollywood Notebook is a love letter to the city she calls home, and will make you want to, not only visit LA, but move there.
Good Vibrations by Mike Love
Picture lying on the white sands of the West Coast, and what do you hear floating over the dunes? Why the dulcet harmonies of the Beach Boys, of course! Whether you’re a Pet Sounds purist, or a jaunty chart-hit enthusiast, you’ll agree there’s no band more classic Cali than the Beach Boys. With critically acclaimed films like Love & Mercy (2014) telling Brian Wilson’s side of the story, much-maligned cousin Mike Love decided it was his turn to spill all – get to the juicy details in his 2016 autobiography Good Vibrations.
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Immortalised by screen icon James Dean in Elia Kazan’s 1955 silver screen interpretation, East of Eden (1952) is considered to be John Steinbeck’s magnum opus. An epic interwoven tale of two families, the Trasks and the Hamiltons, living in California’s staggering Salinas Valley between the American Civil War and the end of WWI, the two principal characters, brothers Charles and Adam draw compelling parallels with Cain and Abel. An absolute must-read for anyone wanting to get to grips with the ‘giant of American letters’.
Whether you’re poolside at The Peninsula, or simply mulling over your next trip to Beverly Hills, this top-drawer list of quintessentially California books will get you in an LA state of mind.
Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis
At the perky age of 21, a precocious Bret Easton Ellis had his debut novel Less Than Zero (1985) published by Simon & Schuster. Although most of his subsequent stories are set in and around New York, this bestselling cult classic takes place in the literary Brat Packer’s hometown of Los Angeles, following the story of 18-year-old Clay and his wealthy friends. This gritty, unflinching look at the hedonism of youth was narrated in a morally apathetic style that came to characterise Ellis’ work, and ultimately, rank him among America’s greatest C.20th writers.
This Book Will Save Your Life by A.M. Homes
Granta has a nose for sniffing out untapped talent, and Washington native AM Homes was no exception with her offbeat short stories, screenplays, and often polemical novels. This Book Will Save Your Life breaks from her usual form with the story of Richard Novak, a prosaic everyman: divorced, living alone in LA and comfortably wealthy from trading stocks. A health scare inspires him to start performing small, random acts of kindness to those around him, revealing what can happen if you open yourself up to the world. Feel-good fiction!
Hollywood Notebook by Wendy C Ortiz
Like dipping into someone’s private journal, Wendy Ortiz’ poetic memoir of her life in LA during her 20s and 30s, living out of a Hollywood studio apartment, is a rollercoaster of love, loss, and transformation. At once irreverent and sad, Hollywood Notebook is a love letter to the city she calls home, and will make you want to, not only visit LA, but move there.
Good Vibrations by Mike Love
Picture lying on the white sands of the West Coast, and what do you hear floating over the dunes? Why the dulcet harmonies of the Beach Boys, of course! Whether you’re a Pet Sounds purist, or a jaunty chart-hit enthusiast, you’ll agree there’s no band more classic Cali than the Beach Boys. With critically acclaimed films like Love & Mercy (2014) telling Brian Wilson’s side of the story, much-maligned cousin Mike Love decided it was his turn to spill all – get to the juicy details in his 2016 autobiography Good Vibrations.
East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Immortalised by screen icon James Dean in Elia Kazan’s 1955 silver screen interpretation, East of Eden (1952) is considered to be John Steinbeck’s magnum opus. An epic interwoven tale of two families, the Trasks and the Hamiltons, living in California’s staggering Salinas Valley between the American Civil War and the end of WWI, the two principal characters, brothers Charles and Adam draw compelling parallels with Cain and Abel. An absolute must-read for anyone wanting to get to grips with the ‘giant of American letters’.