The Reading List: L.A. Authors. L.A. Topics. September '10 Books

Brady, Brady, Brady: The Complete Story of The Brady Bunch as Told by the Father/Son Team Who Really Know
(Running Press, hardcover, $25)
By Sherwood Schwartz and Lloyd J. Schwartz
Here’s a story of a lovely show, including insider details about development and working with the cast as well as 50 rare photographs.
Out: Sept. 1 

Murder in Vein
(Midnight Ink Books, paperback, $15)
By Sue Ann Jaffarian
In this latest “Fang-in-Cheek Mystery,” the L.A. author (and paralegal) weaves a tale about a street-smart L.A. waitress who is saved by vampires from a vicious attack.
Out: Sept. 1 

The Perfection Point: Sport Science Predicts the Fastest Man, the Highest Jump, and the Limits of Athletic Performance
(HarperCollins, hardcover, $27)
By John Brenkus
How long can a human hold his breath? What is the highest dunk or the heaviest bench press? Armed with hard data, the host of ESPN’s Sport Science goes in search of human possibilities.
Out: Sept. 1 

The Queen of Patpong: A Poke Rafferty Thriller
(William Morrow, hardcover, $25)
By Timothy Hallinan
Poke has finally married his live-in girlfriend, Rose, but her past returns to haunt both of them in this novel about Bangkok’s
sex workers.
Out: Sept. 1 

The Very Best of Recipes for Health: 250 Recipes and More from the Popular Feature on NYTimes.com
(Rodale, hardcover, $35)
By Martha Rose Shulman
The LA-based food writer has been bringing readers healthy recipes in her NYTimes.com column for years, and now you can have them all, like asparagus and herb frittata, quinoa salad with lime ginger dressing and shrimp, and even tofu cheesecake.
Out: Sept. 1 

Climatopolis: How Our Cities Will Thrive in the Hotter Future
(Basic Books, hardcover, $27)
By Matthew E. Kahn
The UCLA professor describes how to adapt to our inevitably
hotter future.
Out: Sept. 7

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Hearing Loss
(Alpha, paperback, $19)
Edited by William Luxford, Jennifer Derebery, and Karen Berliner
Even if you don’t have hearing impairment yourself, you may have a child with ear infections or swimmer’s ear or a family member with hearing loss, and this authoritative guide from L.A.’s House Clinic is full of helpful hints.
Out: Sept. 7 

The Great American Stickup: How Reagan Republicans and Clinton Democrats Enriched Wall Street While Mugging Main Street
(Nation Books, paperback, $16)
By Robert Scheer
The great crash of 2008 wasn’t the result of extraordinary circumstances, but rather was the result of decades of lobbyist-inspired deregulation in Washington D.C., says the long-time Los Angeles Times columnist and Truthdig Editor-in-Chief.
Out: Sept. 7 

The Hilliker Curse: My Pursuit of Women
(Alfred A. Knopf, hardcover, $25)
By James Ellroy
The L.A. Confidential author details his relationship with the ghost that most haunts him: his mother (who was murdered when he was a child). See the September issue of Los Angeles magazine for Editor-at-Large Amy Wallace’s profile of Ellroy, “The Ladies Man.”
Out: Sept. 7 

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe
(Pantheon, hardcover, $24)
By Charles Yu
A time-machine repairman helps travelers who get stuck in time and must navigate the disturbing terrain of his own past in this debut by the National Book Foundation “5 Under 35” award winner. See our full review in the September issue of Los Angeles magazine.
Out: Sept. 7 

I Can Make You Confident: The Power to Go for Anything You Want
(Sterling, hardcover, $23)
By Paul McKenna
He has taught us how to stop smoking, lose weight, and sleep better, and now the West Hollywood self-help guru wants to help make us more self-assured.
Out: Sept. 7 

Old Jews Telling Jokes: 5,000 Years of Funny Bits and Not-So-Kosher Laughs
(Villard, paperback, $15)
By Sam Hoffman and Eric Spiegelman
Culled from the website of the same name, this book gives
good schtick.
Out: Sept. 7 

Superbaby: 12 Ways to Give Your Child a Head Start in the First 3 Years
(Sterling, hardcover, $25)
By Jenn Berman
The L.A. psychotherapist and author follows up her popular A to Z Guide to Raising Happy, Confident Kids (2007) with a primer for those crucial first three years.
Out: Sept. 7 

Third World America: How Our Politicians are Abandoning the Middle Class and Betraying the American Dream
(Crown, hardcover, $24)
By Arianna Huffington
The American middle class is going to hell in a hand-basket (because of a deteriorating economy, educational system, and infrastructure), but the editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post (and part-time L.A. resident) has a few ideas (as usual) about what can be done to save it.
Out: Sept. 7

Pick Yourself Up: Dorothy Fields and the American Musical
(Oxford University Press, hardcover, $28)
By Charlotte Greenspan
“On the Sunny Side of the Street,” “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love,” and “The Way You Look Tonight” were just a couple of the more than 400 songs for which she wrote lyrics, and this volume offers the first full-length portrayal of the groundbreaking
lyricist’s life.
Out: Sept. 9 

Anne Frank: The Anne Frank House Authorized Graphic Biography
(Hill and Wang, paperback, $17)
By Sid Jacobson and Ernie Colón
The pair who produced The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation (2006) has collaborated with the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam to create a complete account of the diarist’s life and ordeal.
Out: Sept. 14 

Logolicious
(Collins Design, paperback, $20)
By Peleg Top
This wee guide from an L.A. design veteran will make your name pop.
Out: Sept. 14 

Rock What You’ve Got: Secrets to Loving Your Inner and Outer Beauty from Someone Who’s Been There and Back
(Voice, hardcover, $23)
By Katherine Schwarzenegger
The USC communications major (and daughter of the governor) became interested in body image several years ago and currently blogs about self-esteem on the website for ABC’s Huge. In her first book, the twenty-year-old advises teens about loving your body and staying healthy.
Out: Sept. 14 

Tracy Anderson’s 30-Day Method: The Weight-Loss Kick-Start that Makes Perfection Possible
(Grand Central Publishing, hardcover, $26)
By Tracy Anderson
Gwyneth Paltrow, Courteney Cox and others rave about Anderson’s approach to exercise and diet. When the author first came to work-out with Paltrow, who contributes a forward to the book, she stripped Paltrow down and told Paltrow her post-baby “saddle bags” had to go. We don’t ever remember Paltrow’s saddle bags, but we’ll take her word for it.
Out: Sept. 20 

A Taste for Absinthe: 65 Recipes for Classic and Contemporary Cocktails
(Clarkson Potter, hardcover, $25)
By R. Winston Guthrie
Celebrity mixologist Eric Alperin of downtown’s The Varnish bar contributes to this volume that includes the history of the spirit as well as buying tips.
Out: Sept. 21 

There Are Many of Us
(McSweeney’s, hardcover, $35)
By Spike Jonze
The filmmaker’s short, I’m Here, which opened the 2010 Sundance Film Fesetival, is about a couple of robots who fall in love in L.A. This volume, which includes a DVD and CD, presents the making of the film.
Out: Sept. 21 

Tattoos & Tequila: To Hell and Back with One of Rock’s Most Notorious Frontmen
(Grand Central Publishing, hardcover, $28)
By Vince Neil with Mike Sager
Mötley Crüe’s lead singer confesses all the gritty details of his flamboyant and troubled life — from sex tapes with porn stars to the tragic death of his daughter.
Out: Sept. 23 

The World in 2050: Four Forces Shaping Civilization’s Northern Future
(Dutton Adult, hardcover, $27)
By Laurence C. Smith
Demographic trends, natural resource demands, climate change, and globalization are the biggies that will increase the prosperity of the Arctic rim nations and ravage those closer to the equator according to the UCLA geoscientist.
Out: Sept. 23 

The Frontier of Leisure: Southern California and the Shaping of Modern America
(Oxford University Press, hardcover, $30)
By Lawrence Culver
The region’s new, lavish resorts established American attitudes toward leisure in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, according to the Utah State professor.
Out: Sept. 24 

If You Lived Here, You’d Be Home Now
(Five Spot, paperback, $14)
By Claire LaZebnik
A young mother tries to escape her L.A. family’s shadow in this latest from the author of Knitting Under the Influence (2006).
Out: Sept. 27 

Anarchy Evolution: Faith, Science, and Bad Religion in a World Without God
(It Books, hardcover, $23)
By Greg Graffin
The lead singer of Bad Religion also has a Ph.D. from Cornell and teaches evolution at UCLA – this is his uniquely personal exploration of theory and theology.
Out: Sept. 28 

Dealbreaker: The Definitive List of Dating Offenses
(Running Press, paperback, $13)
By Dave Horwitz and Marisa Pinson
Soul patches, cucumber-melon body spray, and talking during movies are a few of the dating crimes that torpedo relationships right from the start for these Upright Citizens Brigade comics.
Out: Sept. 28 

Growing Up Laughing: My Story and the Story of Funny
(Hyperion, hardcover, $26)
By Marlo Thomas
She spent her childhood listening to George Burns, Bob Hope, Sid Caesar, Bob Newhart, and others at her dinner table with her father, Danny Thomas, while growing up in Beverly Hills. The actress’s memoir is filled with personal anecdotes (Milton Berle performed magic tricks at her backyard birthday parties) as well as interviews with contemporary comedians.
Out: Sept. 28 

I Do, Now What?: Secrets, Stories, and Advice from a Madly-in-Love Couple
(Ballantine Books, hardcover, $25)
By Giuliana Rancic and Bill Rancic
The co-stars of Style Network’s Giuliana & Bill talk about their real marriage after their fairy tale wedding.
Out: Sept. 28 

Rules for Radical Conservatives: Beating the Left at Its Own Game to Take Back America
(Ballantine Books, hardcover, $25)
By David Kahane
Like some kind of Stephen Colbert doppelganger, the author spoofs liberals in his column for National Review Online – and here he proposes how to fight back against ruthless “radicals.”
Out: Sept. 28 

The World is Bigger Now: An American Journalist’s Release from Captivity in North Korea. . . A Remarkable Story of Faith, Family, and Forgiveness
(Broadway, hardcover, $25)
By Euna Lee and Lisa Dickey
The documentary filmmaker and mother who was detained for five months in the East Asian country last year tells her harrowing tale.
Out: Sept. 28