Adults - Books about California

Updated March 21, 2026
Drag items up and down to your preferred order then select the "Save Order" button.
The golden gate
Chua, Amy
Paper Book
Amy Chua's debut novel, The Golden Gate, is a sweeping, evocative, and compelling historical thriller that paints a vibrant portrait of a California buffeted by the turbulent crosswinds of a world at war and a society about to undergo massive change. In Berkeley,...
Wild : from lost to found on the Pacific Crest Trail
Strayed, Cheryl
Paper Book
NATIONAL BEST SELLER * Oprah's Book Club 2.0 selection. * A powerful, blazingly honest memoir: the story of an eleven-hundred-mile solo hike that broke down a young woman reeling from catastrophe--and built her back up again. A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of the...
East of Eden
Steinbeck, John
Paper Book
Soon to be a Netflix series starring Florence Pugh The masterpiece of Steinbeck's later years--at once a family saga and a modern retelling of the Book of Genesis A Penguin Classic In his journal, Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck called...
My first summer in the Sierra
Muir, John
Paper Book
Describing his spiritual awakening amid the mountains and valleys of central California, John Muir's My First Summer in the Sierra is, like Walden, one of the seminal texts in the literature of the American environment. It is presented here with an introduction by writer and activist...
Disney's land : Walt Disney and the invention of the amusement park that changed the world
Snow, Richard
Paper Book
A propulsive history chronicling the conception and creation of Disneyland, the masterpiece California theme park, as told like never before by popular historian Richard Snow. One day in the early 1950s, Walt Disney stood looking over 240 acres of farmland in Anaheim, California,...
Valley of genius : the uncensored history of Silicon Valley, as told by the hackers, founders, and freaks who made it boom
Fisher, Adam
Ebook
"This is the most important book on Silicon Valley I've read in two decades. It will take us all back to our roots in the counterculture, and will remind us of the true nature of the innovation process, before we tried to tame it with slogans and buzzwords." -- Po Bronson, #1 New York Times...
Freeman's California
Freeman, John
Ebook
"A necessary piece in a literary California collection" with new work from Tommy Orange, Rabih Alamdeddine, Mai Der Vang, Jennifer Egan, and others ( Los Angeles Times). From immigration rights to climate change, California has been ground zero...
The Circle : a novel
Eggers, Dave.
Paper Book
A bestselling dystopian novel that tackles surveillance, privacy and the frightening intrusions of technology in our lives--a "compulsively readable parable for the 21st century" (Vanity Fair).  When Mae Holland is hired to work for the Circle, the world's most...
The Maltese falcon
Hammett, Dashiell
Audiobook
Archer, Sam Spade's partner, is hot on a case, & it is Spade's obligation to find the killer, for "When a man's partner is killed, he is supposed to do something about it." In his search both for the murderer & for the Maltese Falcon, a statue rumored to be of incalculable value, Spade runs mortal...
The guncle : a novel
Rowley, Steven
Paper Book
Patrick, or Gay Uncle Patrick (GUP, for short), has always loved his niece, Maisie, and nephew, Grant. That is, he loves spending time with them when they come out to Palm Springs for weeklong visits. However, tragedy strikes and Patrick suddenly finds himself taking on the role of primary guardian....
Oil! : a novel
Sinclair, Upton
Ebook
First published in 1927, "Oil!" is an unflinching portrayal of greed and betrayal by Pulitzer Prize winning author Upton Sinclair. Famous for his groundbreaking work "The Jungle", which exposed the horribly unsafe conditions in the American meatpacking industry, Sinclair turned his critical eye...
The Joy Luck Club
Tan, Amy
Paper Book
In 1949 four Chinese women, recent immigrants to San Francisco, begin meeting to eat dim sum, play mahjong and talk. United in shared unspeakable loss and hope, they call themselves the Joy Luck Club. With wit and sensitivity, Amy Tan examines the sometimes painful, often tender, and always deep...

Library staff! You can create and contribute to lists. Contact your catalog administrator or log in here.