California Popular Books
California Biography & Facts
California ( KAL-ih-FORN-yə, -FOR-nee-ə) is a state in the Western United States, lying on the American Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and the Mexican state of Baja California to the south. With over 38.9 million residents across a total area of approximately 163,696 square miles (423,970 km2), it is the most populous U.S. state, the third-largest U.S. state by area, and the most populated subnational entity in North America. The Greater Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay areas in California are the nation's second and fifth-most populous urban regions respectively. Greater Los Angeles has over 18.7 million residents and the San Francisco Bay Area has over 9.6 million residents. Los Angeles is the state's most populous city and the nation's second-most populous city. San Francisco is the second-most densely populated major city in the country. Los Angeles County is the country's most populous county, and San Bernardino County is the nation's largest county by area. Sacramento is the state's capital city. California's economy is the largest of any state within the United States, with a $3.6 trillion gross state product (GSP) as of 2022. It is the largest sub-national economy in the world. If California were a sovereign nation, it would rank as the world's fifth-largest economy as of 2022, just ahead of India and the United Kingdom, as well as the 37th most populous. The Greater Los Angeles area and the San Francisco area are the nation's second- and fourth-largest urban economies ($1.0 trillion and $0.6 trillion respectively as of 2020). The San Francisco Bay Area Combined Statistical Area had the nation's highest gross domestic product per capita ($106,757) among large primary statistical areas in 2018, and is home to four of the world's ten largest companies by market capitalization and four of the world's ten richest people. Slightly over 84 percent of the state's residents 25 or older hold a high school degree, the lowest high school education rate of all 50 states. Prior to European colonization, California was one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse areas in pre-Columbian North America, and the indigenous peoples of California constituted the highest Native American population density north of what is now Mexico. European exploration in the 16th and 17th centuries led to the colonization of California by the Spanish Empire. In 1804, it was included in Alta California province within the Viceroyalty of New Spain. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821, following its successful war for independence, but was ceded to the United States in 1848 after the Mexican–American War. The California Gold Rush started in 1848 and led to dramatic social and demographic changes, including the depopulation of indigenous peoples in the California genocide. The western portion of Alta California was then organized and admitted as the 31st state on September 9, 1850, as a free state, following the Compromise of 1850. Notable contributions to popular culture, ranging from entertainment, sports, music, and fashion, have their origins in California. The state also has made substantial contributions in the fields of communication, information, innovation, education, environmentalism, entertainment, economics, politics, technology, and religion. California is the home of Hollywood, the oldest and one of the largest film industries in the world, profoundly influencing global entertainment. It is considered the origin of hippie counterculture, blue jeans, the internet, the personal computer, Barbie, skateboarding, Mission burritos, and the fortune cookie, among other inventions. The San Francisco Bay Area and the Greater Los Angeles Area are widely seen as the centers of the global technology and U.S. film industries, respectively. California's economy is very diverse. California's agricultural industry has the highest output of any U.S. state, and is led by its dairy, almonds, and grapes. With the busiest ports in the country (Los Angeles and Long Beach), California plays a pivotal role in the global supply chain, hauling in about 40% of all goods imported to the United States. The state's extremely diverse geography ranges from the Pacific Coast and metropolitan areas in the west to the Sierra Nevada mountains in the east, and from the redwood and Douglas fir forests in the northwest to the Mojave Desert in the southeast. Two-thirds of the nation's earthquake risk lies in California. The Central Valley, a fertile agricultural area, dominates the state's center. California is well known for its warm Mediterranean climate along the coast and monsoon seasonal weather inland. The large size of the state results in climates that vary from moist temperate rainforest in the north to arid desert in the interior, as well as snowy alpine in the mountains. Droughts and wildfires are an ongoing issue for the state. Etymology The Spaniards gave the name Las Californias to the peninsula of Baja California (in modern-day Mexico). As Spanish explorers and settlers moved north and inland, the region known as California, or Las Californias, grew. Eventually it included lands north of the peninsula, Alta California, part of which became the present-day U.S. state of California. A 2017 state legislative document states, "Numerous theories exist as to the origin and meaning of the word 'California,'" and that all anyone knows is the name was added to a map by 1541 "presumably by a Spanish navigator." The name most likely derived from the mythical island of California in the fictional story of Queen Calafia, as recorded in a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián by Castilian author Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. This work was the fifth in a popular Spanish chivalric romance series that began with Amadís de Gaula. Queen Calafia's kingdom was said to be a remote land rich in gold and pearls, inhabited by beautiful Black women who wore gold armor and lived like Amazons, as well as griffins and other strange beasts. In the fictional paradise, the ruler Queen Calafia fought alongside Muslims and her name may have been chosen to echo the Muslim title caliph, used for Muslim leaders. Know ye that at the right hand of the Indies there is an island called California, very close to that part of the Terrestrial Paradise, which was inhabited by black women without a single man among them, and they lived in the manner of Amazons. They were robust of body with strong passionate hearts and great virtue. The island itself is one of the wildest in the world on account of the bold and craggy rocks. Official abbreviations of the state's name include CA, Cal., Calif., and US-CA. History Indigenous California was one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse areas in pre-Columbian North America. Historians generally agree that there were at least 300,000 people living in California prior to European colonization. The indigenous peoples of Calif.... Discover the California popular books. Find the top 100 most popular California books.
Best Seller California Books of 2024
-
The Grapes of Wrath
John Steinbeck & Robert DeMottThe Pulitzer Prizewinning epic of the Great Depression, a book that galvanizedand sometimes outragedmillions of readers.First published in 1939, Steinbeck’s Pulitzer Prizewinning e...
-
Loose Ends
D. D. VandykeBOOK ONE of the California Corwin P.I. Mystery SeriesContains the bonus story Off The Leash a California Corwin Short Story"This is a real page turner and hard to put down. The ch...
-
Blue Labyrinth
Douglas Preston & Lincoln ChildWhen a longtime enemy shows up dead on Pendergast's doorstep, the murder investigation leads him into his own dark past as a vengeful killer waits in the shadows. It begins with mu...
-
The Last Thing He Told Me
Laura DaveDon’t miss the #1 New York Times bestselling blockbuster and Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick that’s sold over 2 million copies–now an Apple TV+ limited series starring Jennifer Ga...
-
Storm Prey
John SandfordWhen a simple robbery turns deadly, the thieves close in on the only witness: Lucas Davenport's wife...
-
The Four Winds
Kristin Hannah"The Bestselling Hardcover Novel of the Year."Publishers WeeklyFrom the numberone bestselling author of The Nightingale and The Great Alone comes a powerful American epic about lov...
-
The Valley of Amazement
Amy TanAmy Tan’s The Valley of Amazement is a sweeping, evocative epic of two women’s intertwined fates and their search for identity, that moves from the lavish parlors of Shanghai court...
-
The Promise
Robert CraisElvis Cole and Joe Pike are joined by Suspect heroes LAPD K9 Officer Scott James and his German shepherd, Maggie, in this heartstopping thriller from #1 New York Tim...
-
Redeeming Love
Francine Rivers#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE The classic story that has captured the hearts of millions worldwide: a tragically wounded soul, the man called to marry he...
-
The Cinderella Murder
Mary Higgins Clark & Alafair BurkeIn this collaboration between “Queen of Suspense” Mary Higgins Clark and bestselling author Alafair Burke, “the snappy pace, layered characters, and many plot surprises will keep r...
-
The Mountains of California
John MuirThe Mountains of California is the culmination of the ten years Muir spent in the Sierra Nevadas, studying every crag, crook, and valley with great care and contemplation.
-
Hideaway
Nora Roberts"Reading Hideaway is like a mini vacation, as Roberts transports you from the sundrenched mountains of Big Sur to the rolling hills of Ireland to the bustling streets of New York C...
-
The Silver Star
Jeannette WallsFrom the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Glass Castle and Hang the Moon, Jeannette Walls’s gripping novel "transports us with her powerful storytelling...contemplates t...
-
The Dutch House
Ann PatchettPulitzer Prize Finalist | New York Times Bestseller | A Read with Jenna Today Show Book Club Pick | A New York Times Book Review Notable Book |...
-
Malibu Rising
Taylor Jenkins ReidNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Read with Jenna Book Club Pick as Featured on Today From the author of Carrie Soto Is Back, Daisy Jones & The Six, and The Seven Husbands of Ev...
-
The Language of Flowers
Vanessa DiffenbaughNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The Victorian language of flowers was used to convey romantic expressions: honeysuckle for devotion, asters for patience, and red roses for love....
-
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Maya AngelouHere is a book as joyous and painful, as mysterious and memorable, as childhood itself. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings captures the longing of lonely children, the brute insult of...
-
The Sentry
Robert CraisPrivate investigators Joe Pike and Elvis Cole get doublecrossed in this twisty, gripping New York Times bestseller that will have readers on the edge of their seats.When gangb...
-
California Girls
Susan MalleryThe California sunshine’s not quite so bright for three sisters who get dumped in the same week…Finola, a popular LA morningshow host, is famously upbeat until she’s blindsided on ...
-
Odd Apocalypse
Dean Koontz“Koontz gives [Odd Thomas] wit, good humor, a familiarity with the dark side of humanityand moral outrage.”USA Today Once presided over by a Roaring ’20s Hollywood mogul, th...
-
Power Play
Danielle Steel#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERIn Northern California two successful CEOs are both indispensable to their growing companies’ futures. Both are brilliant at the power game. But the dif...
-
Stories I Only Tell My Friends
Rob LoweActor Rob Lowe's memoir presents a wryly funny and surprisingly moving account of an extraordinary life lived almost entirely in the public eye.A teen idol at fifteen, an internati...
-
A Is for Alibi
Sue GraftonWhen Laurence Fife was murdered, few mourned his passing. A prominent divorce attorney with a reputation for singleminded ruthlessness on behalf of his clients, Fife was also rumor...
-
The Wanted
Robert CraisTHE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERInvestigator Elvis Cole and his partner Joe Pike take on the deadliest case of their lives in the new masterpiece of suspense from #1 New York Timesbes...
-
East of Eden
John SteinbeckA masterpiece of Biblical scope, and the magnum opus of one of America’s most enduring authors, in a commemorative hardcover edition In his journal, Nobel Prize winner John St...
-
Bad Luck and Trouble
Lee ChildBONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Lee Child’s A Wanted Man. From a helicopter high above the empty California desert, a man is sent freefalling into the night…. In Chic...
-
California
Kevin Starr“A California classic . . . California, it should be remembered, was very much the wild west, having to wait until 1850 before it could force its way into statehood. so what tamed ...
-
Taken
Robert CraisThe search for a missing girl leads private investigators Elvis Cole and Joe Pike into the nightmarish world of human trafficking in this #1 New York Times bestseller from Robert C...
-
Tattoos on the Heart
Gregory Boyle“Destined to become a classic of both urban reportage and contemporary spirituality” (Los Angeles Times)Tattoos on the Heart is a series of parables about kinship and redemption fr...
-
Suspect
Robert CraisFrom the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Elvis Cole and Joe Pike series comes a thrilling novel featuring LAPD K9 Officer Scott James and his German shepherd, Magg...
-
Gone
James Patterson & Michael LedwidgeA crime lord has declared war on America. Only Detective Michael Bennett knows why.Manuel Perrine doesn't fear anyone or anything. A charismatic, ruthless strongman, he slaughters ...
-
The Girls
Emma ClineTHE INSTANT BESTSELLER An indelible portrait of girls, the women they become, and that moment in life when everything can go horribly wrongONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The W...
-
Inside Out
Demi MooreINSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERA Best Book of the Year: The New Yorker, The Guardian, The Sunday Times, The Daily Mail, Good Morning America, She ReadsFamed American actress D...
-
California
Edan LepuckiThe world Cal and Frida have always known is gone, and they've left the crumbling city of Los Angeles far behind them. They now live in a shack in the wilderness, working sidebysid...
-
Beyond Belief
Jenna Miscavige Hill & Lisa PulitzerJenna Miscavige Hill, niece of Church of Scientology leader David Miscavige, was raised as a Scientologist but left the controversial religion in 2005. In Beyond Belief, she shares...
-
Commonwealth
Ann Patchett“Exquisite. . .Commonwealth is impossible to put down.” New York Times#1 New York Times Bestseller | NBCC Award Finalist | New York Times Best Book of the...
-
California
Henry VizetellyThis book deals with the fictional account of one doctor's experiences in area in 1849. The story begins with the doctor's arrival in San Francisco, continues with him traveling to...
-
A Gambling Man
David BaldacciAloysius Archer, the straighttalking World War II veteran fresh out of prison, returns in this riveting #1 New York Times bestselling thriller from David Baldacci.The 195...
-
Cloud Atlas
David MitchellBy the New York Times bestselling author of The Bone Clocks | Shortlisted for the Man Booker PrizeA postmodern visionary and one of the leading voices in twentyfirstcentury fiction...
-
One True Loves
Taylor Jenkins ReidNow a major film! Author of the New York Times bestselling author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo Named a Best Book of Summer by Cosmopolitan InStyle Redbook Us Weekly P...
-
Chasing Fire
Nora RobertsIn this #1 New York Times bestseller, Nora Roberts delves into the world of elite firefighters who thrive on danger and adrenalinemen and women who wouldn’t know how to live life i...
-
California
Damian SmythA Californian Roadtrip, August 2013. From San Francisco, via Yosemite, LA, and Disney, all the way to the jewel of the San Diego coast, La Jolla. Saddle up.
-
The Women
Kristin HannahFrom the celebrated author of The Nightingale and The Four Winds comes The Womenat once an intimate portrait of coming of age in a dangerous time and an epic tale of a nation divid...
-
A Dangerous Man
Robert CraisA brilliant new crime novel from the beloved, bestselling, and awardwinning master of the genreand Joe Pike's most perilous case to date.Joe Pike didn't expect to rescue a woman th...
-
Eight Hundred Grapes
Laura DaveFROM THE AUTHOR OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER THE LAST THING HE TOLD MEHeralded as “impossible to put down” (Elle), and named a Best Book of the Summer by Glamour, Good Houseke...
-
Yes Please
Amy Poehler#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERDo you want to get to know the woman we first came to love on Comedy Central's Upright Citizens Brigade? Do you want to spend some time with the lady wh...
-
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet
Jamie FordNEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “An impressive, bitter, and sweet debut that explores the ageold conflicts between father and son, the beauty and sadness of what happened to Japane...
-
The Melody Lingers On
Mary Higgins ClarkA headlinemaking finance scandal and a breathtaking tale of deception collide in #1 New York Times bestselling author Mary Higgins Clark’s finest thriller yet.As the sole assistant...