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Book Recommendations for General Fiction, set in California

Click on the buttons below to filter by subgenre/theme, time period and setting.
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Total Books Recommended: 211

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Genre: Fiction
Literary Fiction - 116
Historical Fiction - 22
Thrillers - 42
Mystery - 21
Romance/Love Stories - 12
Short Stories - 9
Speculative, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Alt. History - 10

Filter by Subgenre/Theme
Firsts
Debuts - 43
1st in Series - 8

Humor & Uplifting
Uplifting - 8
Humor & Satire - 13

Families
Generational Sagas - 33
Parenting & Families - 33

Ages & Stages
Adult Books From Child's Perspective - 6
Coming of Age - 46
Mid-Life Onwards - 9
Dealing with Loss - 37

Ethnicity
Books in Translation - 1
Immigrants & Expats - 35
Black Authors - 17
Latinx Authors - 4
Asian Authors - 33
Jewish Authors - 4
Middle-Eastern Authors - 2
Native and Indigenous Authors - 1

Gender & Sexuality
Female Friendships - 27
Strong Women - 57
LGBTQ+ - 19

Philosophy & Spiritual
Philosophical - 2
Religious or Spiritual Themes - 7

Magical or Supernatural
Magical or Supernatural - 10
Magical Realism - 4

Miscellaneous
Small Press Titles - 10
Books about Books - 6
Physical & Mental Differences - 22
Books About Animals - 5
War Related - 19
Nature & Environment - 10
Music and the Arts - 1
Activism & Volunteering - 2
Heroes - 1
LibraryReads Picks - 22

Number of Pages
400+ Pages - 10
250-400 Pages - 211
Less Than 250 Pages - 21

Filter by Time Period
Time Period
19th Century - 11
20th Century (multiple decades) - 25
Early 20th Century - 4
1920s & '30s - 4
1940s & '50s - 13
1960s & '70s - 14
1980s & '90s - 40
Contemporary - 102
The Future - 6
Across The Centuries - 2

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  • Colored Television
    Danzy Senna
    Hardcover: 09/03/2024
     
    A brilliant dark comedy about love and ambition, failure and reinvention, and the racial- identity-industrial ...
  • Time's Mouth
    Time's Mouth: A Novel
    Edan Lepucki
    Paperback: 08/06/2024
     
    From New York Times bestselling author Edan Lepucki comes an enthralling saga about family secrets that grow ...
  • There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven
    Ruben Reyes
    Hardcover: 08/06/2024
     
    An electrifying debut story collection about Central American identity that spans past, present, and future ...
  • The Golden Gate
    Amy Chua
    Paperback: 08/06/2024
     
    Amy Chua's debut novel, The Golden Gate, is a sweeping, evocative, and compelling historical thriller that ...
  • California Golden
    Melanie Benjamin
    Paperback: 08/06/2024
     
    Two sisters navigate the thrilling, euphoric early days of California surf culture in this dazzling saga of ...
  • Liars
    Liars: A Novel
    Sarah Manguso
    Hardcover: 07/23/2024
     
    A searing novel about being a wife, a mother, and an artist, and how marriage makes liars of us all—from...
  • Bury Your Gays
    Chuck Tingle
    Hardcover: 07/09/2024
     
    Bury Your Gays is a heart-pounding new novel from USA Today bestselling author Chuck Tingle about what it ...

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BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.