This is TNT’s annual holiday season round up of new books by local authors and new books on subjects of interest to our local community. For more local books published earlier this year, check out our summer reads list at www.topanganewtimes.com. We are always happy to consider new books for this feature. Email us at [email protected]
Lil, story told by Topanga resident Barbara Altman, and written by Kari Linebury and Barbara Altman.
Lil chronicles the heartwarming and remarkable life of Lillian Barbara Haisman-Huffman, who turned a Depression-era childhood of adversity and loss into a life of determination and joy.
Barbara Altman is the daughter of filmmaker Robert Altman, and Lil’s granddaughter. She shared Lil’s story with authors Dana Chandler and Kari Linebury—identical twins who are lifelong friends of Altman, and who wrote this account of Lil’s life.
Lil’s mother died during the birth of Lil’s youngest sister. Her father and one of her brother’s died not long after in a car crash. Lil was left to look after the family and the family farm. She was just 15. She persevered, and eventually succeeded in her dream of opening a restaurant, where she could cook and share the recipes she had learned from her own mother and grandmother, recipes Barbara Altman learned from her Lil when she was a child.
“I want women to know how strong they can become just knowing the history of where they came from and how far we have come,” Altman writes. “I’m so proud of my grandma. She inspired me to pick up my own life as I draw strength from her.”
“There is something about this story that just had to be told to the masses,” write the authors.
“No matter what our circumstance, there is always hope, a place to look up. There is healing and happiness within the adversity and beyond…”
This is the story of an American life, simply told, but compelling and inspiring. www.kdresources.org
The Last Survivor: Not A Bedtime Story, by Theao Lavanja Dorfman
Theao Lavanja Dorfman is a nine-year-old Topanga resident who describes himself as, “a world traveler, part time musician and sometimes artist, who enjoys having lots of fun surfing, climbing, swimming and playing with new and old friends.” This is his first novella, and we’re impressed with his grasp of dramatic storytelling. The Last Survivor is a cautionary tale about a boy who has to face his fears—tigers, snakes and spiders—and survive them after a truly remarkable series of disasters, including a plane crash in the jungles of Sumatra. Although the subtitle warns that this is not a bedtime story, we confess we enjoyed the darkness and danger, although, parents of young children be warned: peaceful conflict resolution is not part of the plot. The book is adequately illustrated with AI images, but the author’s own illustrations at the back are the real highlight, and they are wonderfully dynamic. All proceeds from this book will be donated to TCEP—the Topanga Coalition for Emergency Preparedness. The Last Survivor is available as a paperback or as an ebook on Amazon.
The Goblin Harp, by Suzanne Guldimann
Topanga New Times editor Suzanne Guldimann (that’s me) has also written a new book this year. The Goblin Harp is a contemporary fantasy adventure about a young girl who has always wanted to play the Irish harp. Shortly after her family moves to Maine, she receives the harp of her dreams for her twelfth birthday, but this isn’t an ordinary instrument and it may hold the key to an old and potentially deadly mystery on her new island home. The Goblin Harp is Suzanne’s first novel. It’s available on Amazon as a paperback or ebook. www.westofthemoonbooks.com
An Urban Odyssey: A Critic’s Search for the Soul of Cities and Self, by Sam Hall Kaplan
Sam Hall Kaplan is a longtime Malibu resident and activist as well as having had a seven-decade career in media and urban planning. An Urban Odyssey is an autobiography and a critique of urban planning, beginning with Kaplan’s earliest memories of communal space on the stoop of the Brooklyn apartment house that was his childhood home. Kaplan recounts his experiences as a journalist, teacher, media consultant, and urban planner, with a focus on how people shape the urban landscape. There are anecdotes here on what life was like in the New York Times newsroom when print journalism was at its apex, reflections on his cross-country drive to Los Angeles, where he went to work for the Los Angeles Times in the late 1970s and a first-person account of the devastating 2018 Woolsey Fire, that the author experienced at his home in Malibu. This is an engaging and highly readable memoir, written with the author’s characteristic acerbic wit. Whether or not one agrees with the author’s views on urban planning, his book offers a look at an extraordinary life, well lived. www.academicstudiespress.com
The State of Fire: Why California Burns, by Obi Kaufmann
State of Fire is a beautiful book, filled with Kaufmann’s hand-drawn maps, and sensitive watercolor illustrations of wildlife and fire-following wildflowers. It is also a surprisingly hopeful one. Kaufmann tackles the history and complexities of fire ecology from a naturalist’s perspective, viewing it as regenerative rather than devastating—an essential force of nature that has shaped the California landscape for thousands of years. Kaufmann asked how we can learn to live with fire, not how we can prevent it, and he has seen first hand how devastating fire can be. “It is easy to imagine that twenty-first-century wildfire is symbolic of some grand failure,” Kaufmann writes. “Or to assume that California’s evergreen development has reached a limit, and that society’s relationship with the more-than-human world needs a grand reset. Both ideas may indeed be true. Whatever the case may be, my tour of WNRA [ Whiskeytown National Recreation Area in the burn scar of the massive 2018 Carr fire] made it startling clear that California’s ecology and biodiversity have an ancient, profound, and fecund relationship with human fire on the land. The relationship between anthropogenic fire and the character of California’s living landscape is so intrinsic that without it, California would not be California.” www.heydaybooks.com
Also On View: Unique and Unexpected Museums of Greater Los Angeles, by Todd Lerew, photographs by Ryan Schude
Todd Lerew is Director of Special Projects for the Library Foundation of Los Angeles, curating exhibitions and programs in support of the Los Angeles Public Library. He also composes experimental music and is the inventor of the Quartz Cantabile, an unusual instrument that converts heat into sound. In Also on View, Lerew visits 64 of some of Los Angeles’ most unusual and diverse museums.
From the Skateboarding Hall of Fame in Simi to the Museum of Jurassic Technology in Culver City, and the Los Angeles Street Lighting Museum, this fascinating collection of collections—large and small—presents a microcosm of Los Angeles’ vibrant, eccentric and sometimes elusive cultural history. There is enough material here to fuel dozens of museum field trips. It’s clear Lerew loves his subject. He presents each museum, no matter how small or quirky with zeal and affection. Photographer Ryan Schude’s images invite the reader to take a closer look at the wonderful—and often strange—treasures on display. https://www.lapl.org/angelcitypress
I Promise You I’ll Be Home: Korean War Letters of a U.S. Marine, by Al Martinez, edited by Sara S. Hodson
Award-winning Los Angeles Times journalist Al Martinez was a longtime resident of Topanga Canyon. After his death, his papers went to the Huntington Library. Researcher and writer Sara S. Hodson has spent years studying and transcribing Martinez’ letters home from the Korean War.
This book chronicles Martinez’ wartime experiences in his own words, with commentary by Hodson that helps the modern reader better understand what was happening during this violent and bloody but now mostly forgotten conflict. Even as a young man, Martinez was a perceptive, observant and dynamic writer. Once the letters are introduced—Martinez wrote almost every day to his wife for the duration of his time in the Marines—it’s hard to put this book down. Hodson deserves applause for bringing this story back to life.It deserves to be told. This isn’t just a good book, it’s an important one. https://mcfarlandbooks.com
Awake For Ever in a Sweet Unrest, by Chuck Rosenthal
Chuck Rosenthal lives in Topanga and is the author of five non fiction works and 14 novels, including his most recent: Awake For Ever in a Sweet Unrest. He’s a Romantic writer with a capital R, as opposed to writer of romances, and this book revolves around the Romantic poets and a young woman in Los Angeles who finds a way to open the door to their era and their lives in the basement of a storied bookstore. It’s a dark, dreamlike book that treats time and history, fluidly, shifting back and forth, but it is also deeply rooted in contemporary Los Angeles. Rosenthal clearly loves his subject and is knowledgeable about it. This is a book that will be of most interest to those who already know and love the Romantic poets and artists of the nineteenth century, but it is an engaging read and could be a thoughtful introduction to that period for anyone who enjoys contemporary magical realism.
The California Sky Watcher: Understanding Weather Patterns and What Comes Next, by William A. Selby
Selby, a Santa Monica resident who was born in Long Beach and grew up in Santa Ana, describes himself as a lifelong “weather nut.” He shares his love and fascination with the weather in his new book, The California Sky Watcher. “I was fortunate to remain curious and determined to pursue that curiosity,” he writes. Selby taught geography and earth science for many years at Santa Monica College and has been a researcher for the National Weather Service, but his book—while densely packed—does not read like the typical textbook. Instead, the author explains California’s weather phenomena with passion and with a gift for explaining complex natural processes with examples that are easy for those of us who are not scientists to understand. The California Sky Watcher is illustrated throughout with helpful diagrams and many photographs, some of them strikingly beautiful as well as interesting. This is a great addition to the bookshelf of any California naturalist or outdoor enthusiast, but it’s also a thoughtful book that warns of the impacts of climate change on California’s famed weather and how those changes will affect life here moving forward. https://www.heydaybooks.com
Chilla Gorilla and Lanky Lemur’s Journey to the Heart, by Kimberly Snyder and Jon Bier, illustrated by Donald Wu
Topanga resident and New York Times bestselling author Kimberly Snyder’s latest book is a children’s introduction to meditation. Chilla Gorilla and Lanky Lemur’s Journey to the Heart, written by Snyder and her husband Jon Bier, and illustrated by Donald Wuis a friendly, gentle exploration of how mindfulness can help transcend intense emotions like anger and anxiety to help discover joy, tranquility and inner peace. A wise and kindly gorilla embraces the role of mentor for his young lemur friend, teaching some of the basic tenets of Buddhism in an intuitive and relatable way. This book is equally soothing for children and parents.
Snyder shares that Chilla Gorilla was inspired by her husband, while Lanky Lemur is modeled on their eldest child, Emerson. Emerson writes, “When Mama started teaching us how to tune into our hearts, our whole family became happier and calmer (well, calm some of the time! My brother and I love to have fun!)” https://mysolluna.com/chillagorillabook
California Houses: Creativity in Context, by Michael Webb
Michael Webb is the author of numerous books on architecture in general, and California architecture in particular. His latest coffee table book, California Houses: Creativity in Context, is especially fun. Many of the houses presented here are the work of younger architects. They have incorporated concepts like harvesting rain water and making maximum use of natural light and ventilation, energy conservation and earthquake and wildfire resistance—elements of interest to many Topanga residents—but they are also imaginative and unusual and always interesting. Webb’s examples come from all over the state—the spaceship-like “Wave House” on the cover is right here on Pacific Coast Highway at La Costa Beach.
Go Gently: Actionable Steps to Nurture Yourself and the Planet, by Bonnie Wright
TNT contributor Jill Cotu introduced us to this book when she covered LA Climate Week in Topanga, in October. Bonnie Wright is an actress and filmmaker, an environmental activist, and a Santa Monica Mountains resident. Her book is an inspirational, positive guide to living a little lighter on the land.In Jill’s words: Go Gently is a guide for sustainability at home that offers simple, tangible steps toward reducing our environmental impact by looking at what we consume and the waste we create, as well as how to take action for environmental change. The title reflects Bonnie Wright’s belief that the best way to change our planet and ourselves is through a gentle approach, rather than a judgmental one. This is a book of do’s rather than don’ts. It’s also an invitation to Wright’s followers to join her on this journey to sustainability. www.gogently.earth
