Great reading that provides a sense of the city, from the Traveler online Ultimate Travel Library.
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Dr. Seuss & Mr. Geisel: A Biography, by Judith & Neil Morgan (1996)
An upbeat biography of the bestselling La Jolla-based children’s book author, who viewed the world “through the wrong end of a telescope.”
I Cover the Waterfront, by Max Miller (1932)
A hard-drinking newspaper reporter canvasses the Depression-era harbor for vignettes on fishermen, brothels, and bootleggers. Written by a San Diego Sun columnist, the bestseller became a hit movie starring Claudette Colbert.
The Pump House Gang, by Thomas Wolfe (1968)
This collection of 15 essays is anchored by the titular story, named after lollygagging surfers who ride the waves at La Jolla’s Windansea Beach, capturing the counterculture generation in the process.
San Diego Legends: The Events, People, and Places That Made History, by Jack Scheffler Innis (2004)
The stories and characters that define San Diego, from mission-builder Father Junípero Serra to Wyatt Earp to millionaire C. Arnholt Smith’s rise and fall, with particular note paid to the development of San Diego Bay.
Under the Perfect Sun: The San Diego Tourists Never See, by Mike Davis, Kelly Mayhew, and Jim Miller (2003)
Dissects the city’s evolution over the past century, especially the military economy, its right-leaning political machinations, and the city’s power structure.
The Fallen, by T. Jefferson Parker (2006)
This riveting thriller follows a San Diego homicide detective trying to solve a murder set against widespread city corruption; named best mystery of 2006 by Southern California Booksellers Association.
Playback, by Raymond Chandler (1959)
The last completed Philip Marlowe (The Big Sleep) detective story, this vintage noir is set in a fictionalized La Jolla, where Chandler spent his last 13 years of life.
Ramona, by Helen Hunt Jackson (1884)
Perhaps the first novel about Southern California, the author—inspired by Uncle Tom’s Cabin—depicts the treatment of Native Americans during the rancho era. The romanticized book has had more than 300 reprints and was made into three movies and an opera.
Tijuana Straits, by Kem Nunn (2004)
Set in a surfer’s wasteland between San Diego and Tijuana, this moving novel encompasses many of the issues that define today’s border politics: crime, drugs, greed, and pollution, with American-owned maquiladora factories as a backdrop.
Two Years Before the Mast, by Richard Henry Dana, Jr. (1841)
Based on a diary Henry Dana, Jr. kept at sea, the book provides vivid descriptions of the California coast before the Gold Rush transformed the region, with noteworthy stops in Old Town and Point Loma.
