Bay City Books: New books from Bay Area Authors – October 2021

Memoir, fiction, and examinations of politics, labor, and energy feature in this month's picks.

New in Hardcover

Running Is a Kind of Dreaming : A Memoir

by J.M. Thompson, PhD (San Francisco, CA) (HarperOne, October 5)

A memoir about a young man’s descent into madness, and how running saved his life.

God Rest Ye, Royal Gentlemen

by Rhys Bowen (San Rafael) (Berkeley, October 5)

Georgie is back and hanging the stockings with care when a murder interrupts her Christmas cheer in this new installment in the Royal Spyness series.


Crossroads

by Jonathan Franzen (Santa Cruz)
(Farrar, Straus and Giroux, October 5)

A story unfolding on a single winter day, of a Midwestern family at a pivotal moment of moral crisis.

Heard-Hoard 

by Atsuro Riley (San Francisco)
(University of Chicago Press, October 6)

A vivid weavework rendering and remembering an American place and its people.


Electrify 

by Saul Griffith (San Francisco)
(MIT Press, October 12)

An optimistic–but realistic and feasible–action plan for fighting climate change while creating new jobs and a healthier environment: electrify everything.

Light on Fire: The Art and Life of Sam Francis

by Gabrielle Selz
(U.C. Press, October 19)

An in-depth biography of Sam Francis, the legendary American abstract painter who broke all the rules in his personal and artistic life.


Orwell’s Roses

by Rebecca Solnit (San Francisco)
(Viking, October 19)

A exploration of roses, pleasure, and politics, and a take on George Orwell as an avid gardener whose political writing was grounded in his passion for the natural world.

One Fair Wage: Ending Subminimum Wage in America

by Saru Jayaraman (Berkeley)
(The New Press, October 19)

An examination of how the sub-minimum wage and the tipping system exploit society’s most vulnerable workers.


New in Paperback

The Prince of Mournful Thoughts and Other Stories

By Caroline Kim (Walnut Creek)
(University of Pittsburgh Press; September 28)

This Winner of the 2020 Drue Heinz Literature Prize explores what it means to be human through the Korean diaspora.


We Run the Tides

by Vendela Vida (Marin County)
(Ecco, October 12)

Female friendship, betrayal, and a mysterious disappearance set in the changing landscape of San Francisco.


All That Glitters

by Danielle Steel (San Francisco)
(Dell, October 26)

A young woman must overcome tremendous adversity in her quest to find herself and achieve real happiness.

This Time Next Year We’ll Be Laughing

by Jacqueline Winspear (San Anselmo)
(Soho, September 28)

A deeply personal memoir of the resilience of the author’s family in the face of war and privation.


At the Edge of the Haight

by Katherine Seligman (San Francisco)
(Algonquin, October 19th)

Maddy Donaldo, homeless at twenty, has made a family of sorts in the dangerous spaces of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park when she unwittingly witnesses the murder of a young homeless boy.

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