I like Lisa See a lot, though I haven't read any of her recent books. (If you like her, check out Anchee Min, too -- she hasn't written a single book I haven't loved.)
Love this post! Just off the top of my head 'On the Road' by Jack Kerouac spends a good part of its wordcount in the Bay Area. There's also 'The Maltese Fiction' if you're in more of a hardboiled mood!
Oooh, I’ll be reading this for sure. Love the legacy of SF. Sadly, the city is in such decline. Hope it recovers as it’s one of the most iconic urban locales on the planet.
I love your focus on books set in San Francisco, a city I called home for a number of years and visit often. Amy Tan’s Joy Luck club is a huge favorite, as is Lisa See, many of whose books I’ve read and enjoyed. A See novel I particularly like is The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, which, if I remember correctly, has a San Francisco connection at the end, though it mostly takes place in a remote tea-growing village in China. On Gold Mountain, her book about her family’s multigenerational and intermarried history in California, is also fascinating.
What a terrific theme! I loved being reminded of See's and Tan's books but also loved learning about The Nature of Fragile Things and The Bohemians. I love books that bring us closer to a place and time.
I like Lisa See a lot, though I haven't read any of her recent books. (If you like her, check out Anchee Min, too -- she hasn't written a single book I haven't loved.)
Funny that we both posted about historical fiction set in SF today. Have you read VERA by Carol Edgarian?
Love this post! Just off the top of my head 'On the Road' by Jack Kerouac spends a good part of its wordcount in the Bay Area. There's also 'The Maltese Fiction' if you're in more of a hardboiled mood!
Great list, Gayla!
'I Hotel' by Karen Tei Yamashita is a (largely) SF-based novel I'd recommend.
Oooh, I’ll be reading this for sure. Love the legacy of SF. Sadly, the city is in such decline. Hope it recovers as it’s one of the most iconic urban locales on the planet.
I love your focus on books set in San Francisco, a city I called home for a number of years and visit often. Amy Tan’s Joy Luck club is a huge favorite, as is Lisa See, many of whose books I’ve read and enjoyed. A See novel I particularly like is The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, which, if I remember correctly, has a San Francisco connection at the end, though it mostly takes place in a remote tea-growing village in China. On Gold Mountain, her book about her family’s multigenerational and intermarried history in California, is also fascinating.
Loved Fragile Things! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I miss Northern California. No matter how many times I visited San Francisco it was always like a new adventure.
I love The Joy Luck Club! I also enjoyed her book called The Valley of Amazement. I recommend it. :)
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17383934-the-valley-of-amazement
What a terrific theme! I loved being reminded of See's and Tan's books but also loved learning about The Nature of Fragile Things and The Bohemians. I love books that bring us closer to a place and time.