Review: ‘Becoming Los Angeles’ Nails The City In Ways Big and Small, as Only D.J. Waldie Can
By Nathan Deuel
FROM: Los Angeles Times
It’s so easy to write very badly about Los Angeles. Just ask the New York Times, or consult the work of any number of day-tripping feature writers, novelists and memoirists. The list of essential books that get L.A. right is short but it definitely includes D.J. Waldie’s classic 1992 memoir, “Holy Land.” Anchored in Lakewood, where Waldie is a lifelong resident and a city administrator, it was an artful and original cry of suburban pain. Nearly three decades later, he’s out with an essay collection, “Becoming Los Angeles,” which makes that short list of classics just a little bit longer.
Julian E. Zelizer & Burning Down the House at Book Soup – Crowdcast Online Event
The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books is opening a virtual chapter this year amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Asha Grant was always a bookworm. As a little girl growing up in Inglewood, she spent hours poring over stories like Debbie Allen’s “Dancing in the Wings,” Sandra Cisneros’ “The House on Mango Street” and Veronica Chambers’ “Marisol and Magdalena.” Her parents were delighted, but also frustrated by how challenging it was to find stories about young Black children.
The Chicanx residents of the Eastside (Boyle Heights and East L.A.) have done more than make it a vibrant neighborhood. Mexican Independence Day celebrations and parade, Dia de Los Muertos, Mariachi Plaza, tamales at Christmas, the theatre Casa 0101, street venders, Chicano murals, the Chicano Blow Outs in the late 1960s—they’ve played a significant role in shaping the culture and personality of Los Ángeles.
The Gathering Summer Book Club Event via Zoom Online 
Pizza Girl, Jean Kyoung Frazier’s explosive debut novel, everything changes on a Wednesday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. Our nameless narrator is eighteen, pregnant, and feeling adrift as she stumbles through her days as a Los Angeles pizza delivery driver, all the while grieving the death of her alcoholic father and avoiding the smothering ministrations of her loving mother and boyfriend. When a suburban housewife named Jenny Hauser calls in with a peculiar order for a pepperoni and pickle pizza, Pizza Girl’s collision with Jenny sends her tailspinning into a psychosexual obsession with dangerous consequences.
An open letter to the white members of Writers Blok:
Dig Deep: Virtual Storytime via South Pasadena Library Online – Kids Event
Los Angeles Literature 