Red Carpet Fiction

In honor of the Oscar awards that took place this past Sunday, I thought I'd share some Hollywood drama in the fiction form. The following novels are set in Hollywood, California and cover various themes. From satire to mystery, these novels capture the Hollywood essence.

In Charles Bukowski's Hollywood, Henry Chinaski gets caught in celebrity Hollywood as he writes his screenplay, "The Dance of Jim Bean."
 
 
 
 
After a nervous breakdown, Maria Wyeth reminisces on her days as a frustrated actress in Joan Didion's Play it as it Lays.
 
 
 
 
What's Hollywood without its wild parties? In Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis, Clay finds himself in the California party scene, but after some disturbing events decides he needs to leave.
 
 
 
Based on true details from a 1947 unsolved murder, The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy is a page-turning mystery that will have you on the edge of your seat. Bucky Belichert is out to solve this brutal murder and investigates the whereabouts of his missing partner.
 
 
No other novel captures Hollywood like Nathanael West's 1939 classic, The Day of the Locust. Artist Todd Hackett works as a set and costume designer in Hollywood, while meeting a host of strange characters that he hopes to include in his painting, "The Burning of Los Angeles."
 

These titles can be requested by visiting the LEO catalog or contacting your local branch.