Staff Recommendations

Nicholas Beyelia

  • Book cover for Read Me, Los Angeles

    Read Me, Los Angeles

    by Orphan, Katie

    July 13, 2020

    Call Number: 810.9 O74

    Read me, L. A.: a book lover’s celebration of Los Angeles by Katie Orphan explores L.A.’s literary heritage and the people, places and events that gave it life. Orphan, a writer and manager of a local bookstore, has written a book that is ostensibly marketed as a literary tour guide of the city, but functions as a paean to Los Angeles’ portfolio of literary assets and the writers who lovingly contributed to it.The book’s central focus is exploring the work of both contemporary and long-departed writers who made Los Angeles a central character within their stories. It alternates... Read Full Review

  • Book cover for The big goodbye : Chinatown and the last years of Hollywood

    The big goodbye : Chinatown and the last years of Hollywood

    by Wasson, Sam

    April 6, 2020

    Call Number: 791.1 C539Wa

    Sam Wasson, a Los Angeles writer specializing in film and theater, has written a book that examines the making of Roman Polanski’s film, Chinatown.  This book stands as the most comprehensive examination of the film’s production, and will please cinephiles, as well as others.  Wasson focuses on four men, who were pivotal to the development of the film: writer Robert Towne; producer Robert Evans; actor Jack Nicholson; and director Roman Polanski. Wasson contends that these four men shaped the creative and intellectual life of the film, constructing one of the most... Read Full Review

  • Book cover for Dreamers and schemers : how an improbable bid for the 1932 Olympics transformed Los Angeles from dusty outpost to global metropolis

    Dreamers and Schemers: How an Improbable Bid for the 1932 Olympics Transformed Los Angeles From Dusty Outpost to Global Metropolis

    by Siegel, Barry

    January 21, 2020

    Call Number: 796.321 O53 1932 Si

    This book follows the machinations of Los Angeles real estate mogul William May Garland as he attempts to bring the 1932 Olympic Games to Los Angeles. Barry Siegel, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and UC Irvine Professor, rewards the reader with an enjoyable account of a winsome individual with a dogged determination to bring an international spotlight to a city that was still struggling for recognition. William Garland, like most early Angelenos, was a transplant, in this case from Maine. He arrived in Los Angeles around 1890 and became involved with the real estate business which segued... Read Full Review

  • Book cover for Fay Wray and Robert Riskin : a Hollywood memoir

    Fay Wray and Robert Riskin : a Hollywood memoir

    by Riskin, Victoria,

    July 8, 2019

    Call Number: 812.09 R595

    Fay Wray and Robert Riskin: A Hollywood Memoir is a meticulous and heartfelt account of the lives of the titular couple that was written by their daughter, Victoria Riskin. The book is a traditional biography, however the author’s relationship to the subjects gives the book resonance and depth that few show business bios can approach.The book is structured so each chapter alternates its focus between Riskin and Wray before it leads up to their meeting and marriage in the 1940s. It then follows Wray’s efforts to support her family following Riskin’s death in 1955. Along the way, we... Read Full Review

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