Bookshop Santa Cruz staff recommendation:

General Dumas’ story deserves epic operas and an acclaimed HBO series it’s so thrilling and adventurous. As the son of a Marquis and a Haitian slave, Dumas rose to the highest ranks of the French army and commanded the respect of nations. Reiss’ quest to uncover Dumas’ story is a joy to read and discovering the seeds of his son’s novels is an eye-opening pleasure. - Clara

Most of us walk through our daily lives without thinking too much about our mortality, but O’Farrell’s connection to life has been more tenuous than most. Over seventeen essays, she examines the experiences that have taught her how thin the membrane between life and death really is. Told in elegant prose that will resonate in your heart, this book is, ultimately, incredibly life-affirming. - Jess

A history and assessment of California’s (misguided) water distribution system and the population growth it has engendered, The Dreamt Land reads like an expansive, expertly crafted novel. Propelled by endless curiosity and the courage to go where his story leads, Arax captures the personalities and voices of farmers, land barons, developers, laborers, environmentalists, politicians, and consumers who depend on (and fight over) access to our state’s most precious natural resource, and details the shady dealings and political nonsense that determines who gets to profit from it. What Marc Reisner’s Cadillac Desert is to the Western United States, this book is to California—an imperative and timely work that will be around for decades to come. - Rico

Moraga is one of the most powerful voices of Xicana feminism. In this biography of her mother Elvira, she grapples with the struggles and erasure of women (especially of indigenous women) in the Mexican diaspora. Elvira is the strong, difficult backbone in Moraga’s life journey from the mixed-race Los Angeles household of her childhood to the hard-won “queer familia” of her present. A beautiful reclamation of language, memory, and culture. - Clara