literary california Archives

A BOOK REVIEW OF D.J. WALDIE’S 2004 NONFICTION COLLECTION WHERE ARE WE NOW: NOTES FROM LOS ANGELES

If you’re like me, the name D.J. Waldie immediately evokes L.A. suburbs and the unique prose “blocks” writing style that he used in his most famous work, Holy Land (1995), to represent the layout of that tract housing. However, in his 2004 collection of essays composed over a decade, Where Are We Now: Notes from Los Angeles, Waldie wrenches himself from Lakewood, CA and attends to Los Angeles with a bird’s eye historical and geographical view. Is the result as successful as Holy Land, which is considered quintessential wider-L.A. region reading? Read on to find out.

Reader Lifestyle

Visit These 10 SoCal Literary Landmarks

10/09/201802/24/2023
by Hannah Huff

THE BEST SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA DESTINATIONS FOR CHEAP BOOKS, VIBRANT POETRY, AND LITERARY INSPIRATION

Southern California — land of murky mauve smog twilight, wildlife neighbors prowling and howling at their loss, the time-altering flows of heavy traffic and tight parking, sea foam cleaned beaches, palpitating concert halls, brick and amber-sheen-wood buildings clashing with glass monoliths, walls transfigured by colorful calligraphy, creativity pickled for preservation amid suburban dearths, bustle and lethargy sitting kitty-corner, and art floating particulate amid the brume of all of this — is chock-full of bookish things to do, if you know where to go. In a region this sprawling, you’re not likely to simply stumble upon these places, so whether you’re just visiting, or reside on this U.S. west coast wedge, use this list of SoCal literary landmarks as a map to the literature that thrives beside the Pacific.

DJ Waldie’s ‘Where Are We Now’ Finds LA’s Pulse

A BOOK REVIEW OF D.J. WALDIE’S 2004 NONFICTION COLLECTION WHERE ARE WE NOW: NOTES FROM LOS ANGELES

Visit These 10 SoCal Literary Landmarks

THE BEST SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA DESTINATIONS FOR CHEAP BOOKS, VIBRANT POETRY, AND LITERARY INSPIRATION