Product Description

Fly-fish the pristine waters of the Owens River. Step up to the microphone in a California honky-tonk. Surf the biggest waves California has ever seen. Mingle with ducks in an urban oasis. Roller skate through L.A.'s Union Station. See California through the eyes of 27 of the state's finest writers in this delicious travel and adventure anthology. All of the contributors to MY CALIFORNIA donated their work so proceeds of this book can benefit the beleaguered California Arts Council, an agency forced to suspend school writing and arts education programs in 2003. The arts council has earmarked money from MY CALIFORNIA for writing programs for children statewide. Join contributors Pico Iyer, Michael Chabon, Thomas Steinbeck, Dana Gioia, Matt Warshaw, Patt Morrison, T. Jefferson Parker, Edward Humes, Mark Arax, Deanne Stillman, Rubén Martínez, Percival Everett, Kathi Kamen Goldmark, Mary Mackey, Gerald Haslam, Aimee Liu, D.J. Waldie, Héctor Tobar, Firoozeh Dumas, devorah major, Carolyn See, Chryss Yost, Anh Do, Derek M. Powazek, Daniel Weintraub, David Kipen, and Veronique de Turenne in a good read for a good deed!!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #65622 in Books
• Published on: 2004-06
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 204 pages

Los Angeles Times, August 1, 2004, Jonathan Kirsch review
"...each of the contributors manages to transcend the thoroughly respectable genre of travel writing to achieve something more exalted."

Santa Barbara News-Press, July 4,2004
"My California is both a good book and a good idea."

Author Ray Bradbury
"These 27 essays prove once again that California is the Golden State."

Customer Reviews

For the Californian--or sociologist-- in your life.
A neighbor (in Long Beach, California) loaned her copy to us--my husband was born in Long Beach--and we went out and bought copies as Christmas presents for the native Californians in our extended family. It's a book of nostalgia and confirmation for them--"I remember that! Yes, it was just like that!"--and one of sociological interest for anyone who likes people and wants to be invited into the lives and homes of a broad spectrum of the ingredients in our state melting pot.

I'm not sure I'd call all the authors "great writers" but most of them were comfortable with words.

Jessica Shaver Renshaw,
Author, Compelling Interests,
Gianna: Aborted and Lived to Tell About It

Interesting and beautifully wriiten
I really liked this book! There are many essays written in it, each one about a different area of California. It's really upbeat and interesting, and the authors are top authors who write beautifully. It's fascinating to read about times and places in California that I didn't know about. All the stories are modern stories, in that they are about growing up in California within the last forty years or so.
This book flows very quickly, and before you know it, you've finished it and wish there were more!

MY CALIFORNIA:JOURNEYS BY GREAT WRITERS
This is the book selected by the City of Long Beach,CA for their 'One book read by all' 2006,or something like that.It's a GREAT choice!.