Dear readers, At loose ends last night on my first visit to San Francisco, I spent a few happy hours at City Lights Bookstore, which has the good sense to stay open until 10 p.m. Talk about luxurious. I was especially eager to see its selection of Bay Area authors, since the store’s publishing imprint released one of my all-time favorite novels of Los Angeles, Elizabeth Stromme’s “Joe’s Word.” (Read it; it is deliriously good.) Tommy Orange, Alice Walker, Alice Waters (her memoir is great), John Steinbeck, the Beats — I knew the most obvious writers associated with the area. But who were the hidden gems? I asked the employee behind the cash register to suggest offbeat recommendations if any came to mind, and wandered off to browse. A few minutes later the cashier appeared with a scribbled list of names — a queer romance author, a local professor, a poet, a novelist. I didn’t recognize the final name on the list. Who was it? “Oh, that’s me,” the reply came. Something tells me Lawrence Ferlinghetti, the store’s founder and a poet in his own right, would have been very pleased. Needless to say, the Book Review’s own guide, by the Oakland-based novelist Leila Mottley, was also a godsend. Should you ever find yourself in the Bay Area, be sure to keep it handy. See you next time. Like this email? We hope you’ve enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times.
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