If you’re keeping track, you might notice that we’ve added a couple of books to our fourth annual Noteworthy list, our salute to California authors whose books during the past year helped shape conversations, attracted considerable attention from critics and readers alike, made powerful statements and delivered unique reading experiences.
In 2024, there were so many books by California authors whose influence reached beyond the region and reverberated across the nation that we had to increase the list from 10 to 12 to get an accurate reflection of the Noteworthy titles we covered.
Of course, awards and “best of” lists are never perfect representations of all that books mean to readers. At the same time, each year certain authors and the books they’ve published strike a chord that resonates deeply for many readers and impacts the culture at large. Our news group’s editors selected these Noteworthy works for how they connected, enlightened, provoked, entertained and inspired us. For that, we celebrate them.
Percival Everett
“James”
“James” was everywhere — dubbed by many a “modern masterpiece.” Percival Everett, a Distinguished Professor of English at USC, won the National Book Award for fiction for his novel reimagining Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” from the point of view of the enslaved character Jim. But that was only one of the laurels the book received: It also was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, shortlisted for The Booker Prize and was the Kirkus Prize winner. “James” made the list of the year’s best books in the New York Times Book Review, LA Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Economist, TIME and more.
Percival Everett, the author of more than 30 books, won the National Book Award in fiction for “James,” a retelling of Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” (Photo credit Michael Avedon / Courtesy of Doubleday)Danzy Senna
“Colored Television”
USC professor Danzy Senna is married to Percival Everett, and she had her own Noteworthy success in 2024 with “Colored Television.” Her novel was not only a national bestseller but also was a “Good Morning America” Book Club pick, a Washington Post Top 10 Book of the Year and a New York Times Notable Book. Of her dramedy about the fight between making art and selling out, Senna told our correspondent, “I lean into the reality of American culture and describe what I notice.”
Danzy Senna is the author most recently of the novel “Colored Television.” (Photo credit Dustin Snipes / Courtesy of Riverside)Jason de León
“Soldiers and Kings”
For seven years Jason de León, a professor of anthropology and Chicano studies at UCLA and the executive director of the Undocumented Migration Project, followed a group of human smugglers who were being paid to bring willing migrants across the southern border. The galvanizing result was “Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling,” winner of the 2024 National Book Award for nonfiction. It also was selected as best book of 2024 by TIME and the Boston Globe, an NPR Book We Love and a New York Times Notable Book.
Jason De León, a professor of anthropology and Chicano studies at UCLA and the executive director of the Undocumented Migration Project, spent years researching his latest book, “Soldiers and Kings: Survival and Hope in the World of Human Smuggling.” (Photo credit Michael Wells / Courtesy of Viking)Rachel Kushner
“Creation Lake”
Award-winning Los Angeles writer Rachel Kushner hit the zeitgeist with “Creation Lake,” about a disgraced FBI agent sent to infiltrate a commune of activists in France’s countryside who may be planning to disrupt a government initiative that would destroy their way of life. The novel was an instant bestseller and made the 2024 best book lists of the New York Times, The Atlantic, Vulture, NPR, Vogue, Washington Post, Chicago Public Library, The Economist and others. What’s more, the book was longlisted for the National Book Award and the Pen Faulkner Award, and shortlisted for the Booker Prize
Rachel Kushner is the author of “Creation Lake.” (Photo credit Chloe Aftel / Courtesy of Simon & Schuster)Alex Espinoza
“The Sons of El Rey”
The New Yorker named this epic about three generations of Mexican wrestlers one of its recommended books of 2024, calling it “an affecting exploration of masculinity, familial and cultural inheritance, and all the ways that love can be hidden and revealed.” The bestselling novel by UC Riverside English professor Alex Espinoza also made the longlist for the 2025 Andrew Carnegie Medal in Fiction and was a finalist for the New American Voices Award.
Alex Espinoza, the Tomás Rivera Endowed Chair of Creative Writing at UC Riverside, is the author of the new novel, “The Sons of El Rey.” (Photo by Cat Gwynn / Courtesy of Simon & Schuster)Venita Blackburn
“Dead in Long Beach, California”
Los Angeles writer Venita Blackburn earned serious attention for her first novel, “Dead in Long Beach, California” — a New York Times Book Review Notable Book of 2024, one of NPR’s 2024 Books We Love, and longlisted for the 2024 Joyce Carol Oates Prize. “I knew it was going to be about loss because I was writing it during the pandemic,” Blackburn told our correspondent. It was this period of great transition, giving up on a way of being and also thinking that you can somehow get it again. There’s this illusion that we just have to wait it out, and we’ll be back to whatever normal was. But there’s no going back. Nothing is going to ever be what it was in 2019 and all the years before.”
Known for her short stories, Venita Blackburn’s debut novel is “Dead in Long Beach, California.” (Photo credit Virginia Barnes / Courtesy of Farrar, Straus and Giroux)Rachel Khong
“Real Americans”
A New York Times bestseller, a Read with Jenna Book Club pick, and winner of a Goodreads Choice Award, this compulsively readable novel considers the implications of gene therapy and American identity, and poses these questions: What makes us who we are? And how inevitable are our futures? Rachel Khong, who lives in Los Angeles, is also the author of the award-winning novel “Goodbye, Vitamin.”
Rachel Khong says her new novel “Real Americans” explores issues society still faces. (Photo credit Andria Lo / Courtesy of Knopf)Obi Kaufmann
“The State of Fire”
In the wake of the catastrophes in January, artist and author Obi Kaufmann’s meditation on California’s relationship to fire shot up the bestseller lists. “The State of Fire,” which had been published in September, met the moment like no other. “Making the case to rethink California’s approach to fire — highlighting its importance for biodiversity, habitat and soil chemistry — the book explores ancient and modern concepts of fire stewardship, best practices for the wildland urban interface, and an alternate look at the legacy of Smokey Bear,” wrote SCNG books editor Erik Pedersen.
“The State of Fire: Why California Burns” by Author and illustrator Obi Kaufmann. (Book cover courtesy of Obi Kaufmann/Heyday; Photo by Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)Nicola Yoon
“One of Our Kind”
Last year our correspondent Michael Schaub named “One of Our Kind” a don’t-miss new release. The first adult novel by bestselling YA writer Nicola Yoon, it’s a thriller about a wealthy Black family in LA searching for a place to call home. “I didn’t know I was going to write a book for adults until I was writing the book,” Yoon said in an interview we published. A National Book Award finalist, a Michael L. Printz Honor Book recipient, and a Coretta Scott King New Talent Award winner, Yoon was the first Black woman to hit No. 1 on the New York Times Young Adult bestseller list.
Nicola Yoon, best known for “Everything, Everything” and “The Sun is Also a Star,” also authored, “One of Our Kind.” (Courtesy of Knopf)Thomas Fuller
“The Boys of Riverside: A Deaf Football Team and a Quest for Glory”
Look at how our columnist Jim Alexander described this book: “A group of deaf kids and deaf coaches are united in belief, steeled by adversity, and fueled by toughness and the idea that as long as they have each other, that’s all that matters.” Writer Thomas Fuller, based in the Bay area, didn’t win awards for “The Boys of Riverside,” but he should have. Author Andy Martino noted, rightly, that it’s “an oasis of positivity in a divided America.”
Thomas Fuller is the author of “The Boys of Riverside: A Deaf Football Team and a Quest for Glory.” (Photo credit Sophie Fuller / Courtesy of Doubleday)Don Winslow
“City in Ruins”
Don Winslow’s new crime thriller, “City In Ruins,” wraps up the Danny Ryan trilogy and his writing career. Winslow announced several years ago that he would retire from writing to focus on political activism now. (Photo by Robert_Gallagher / Courtesy of William Morrow)An instant bestseller, Don Winslow’s “City in Ruins” was the final installment of the Danny Ryan gangland trilogy, which Stephen King called something to “equal ‘The Godfather.’” As Winslow told our reporter Peter Larsen, it also marked a turning point for the writer, who owns a home in San Diego County: After 25 books, most of them crime novels, many of them acclaimed, Winslow was done. “City In Ruins,” is his final book, period.
Moon Zappa
“Earth to Moon”
In its starred review, Publisher’s Weekly noted that Moon Zappa’s “unvarnished prose and resolve to capture the difficult and beautiful parts of her upbringing with equal clarity elevates this above other memoirs by the children of celebrities.” In “Earth to Moon,” Zappa, daughter to legendary, iconoclastic musician Frank Zappa and his second wife Gail, tells not just the story of surviving childhood in a home with no limits and no guidance, but captures a corner of cultural history in poignant, unforgettable ways.
In the memoir “Earth to Moon” Moon Zappa chronicles the ups and downs of growing up as the daughter of famed musician Frank Zappa. (Photo by Kim Max/Cover image courtesy HarperCollins)More ‘Books & Art’
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