SFPL One City One Book SelectionsLike this list

21 items

• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

  Angelou, Maya,

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  SFPL's Once City One Book #19 (2024) A deeply moving memoir which recounts Maya Angelou's first sixteen years with vivid, often painful memories of displacement, racism and trauma. Alternating with moments of fear and suffering, there are also…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Chinese Groove

  a Novel

  Ma, Kathryn,

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  SFPL's One City One Book #18 (2024) Kathryn Ma's Chinese Groove traces 18-year-old Shelley's immigration journey from China's Yunnan Province to San Francisco, where he confronts familial discord, cultural adaptation and personal aspirations while…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• This Is Ear Hustle

  Unflinching Stories of Everyday Prison Life

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  SFPL's Once City One Book #17 (2023) From the co-creators and co-hosts of the Peabody- and Pulitzer-nominated podcast comes this illuminating view of prison life, as told by presently and formerly incarcerated people.

• Know My Name

  a Memoir

  Miller, Chanel,

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  SFPL's Once City One Book #16 (2020-21) Chanel Miller’s breathtaking memoir “gives readers the privilege of knowing her not just as Emily Doe, but as Chanel Miller the writer, the artist, the survivor, the fighter” (The Wrap).

• There There

  Orange, Tommy, 1982-

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  SFPL's One City One Book #15 (2019) Tells a story of Native Americans living in the East Bay that is beautiful, funny, heartbreaking and urgently real.

• The Best We Could Do

  An Illustrated Memoir

  Bui, Thi,

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  SFPL's One City One Book #14 (2018) Explores the anguish of immigration and the lasting effects that displacement has on a child. Thi Bui documents her family’s daring escape after the fall of South Vietnam in the 1970s and the difficulties they…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Black Against Empire

  the History and Politics of the Black Panther Party

  Bloom, Joshua,

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  SFPL's One City One Book #13 (2017) A comprehensive history of the ideological underpinnings of the Black Panther Party: armed resistance, anti-imperialism, gender roles, the war in Vietnam and the draft, community service projects, and government…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Beautiful Chaos

  a Life in the Theater

  Perloff, Carey

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  SFPL's One City One Book #12 (2016) A behind-the-scenes perspective, including her intimate working experiences with well-known actors, directors, and writers.

• Season of the Witch

  Enchantment, Terror, and Deliverance in the City of Love

  Talbot, David, 1951-

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  SFPL's One City One Book #11 (2015) From the early days of the Summer of Love in the Haight, through years of murder and mayhem, the city evolved. Through extensive research and personal interviews, Talbot captures a 15-year history never before…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Tales of the City

  Maupin, Armistead

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  SFPL's One City One Book #10 (2014) This story about the denizens of the mythic apartment house at 28 Barbary Lane in San Francisco, is both a sparkling comedy of manners and an indelible portrait of an era that changed forever the way we live.

• Little Brother

  Doctorow, Cory

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  SFPL's One City One Book #9 (2013) Daring, exciting, and just bold enough to show us how to keep our freedoms safe. This is a provocative book, a timely book, and the San Francisco setting is just so satisfying.

• A Paradise Built in Hell

  the Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disasters

  Solnit, Rebecca,

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  SFPL's One City One Book #8 (2012) A masterwork of narrative nonfiction by a contemporary California writer reaches some surprising conclusions about our need for community and common purpose, which she argues are fundamental to democratic forms of…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Packing for Mars

  the Curious Science of Life in the Void

  Roach, Mary

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  SFPL's One City One Book #7 (2011) From the space shuttle training toilet to a crash test of NASA’s new space capsule (cadaver filling in for astronaut), Packing for Mars takes us on a surreally entertaining trip into the science of life in space…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Zeitoun

  Eggers, Dave

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  SFPL's One City One Book #6 (2010) A horrifying, compelling story of post-Katrina -- even more absorbing knowing what later happened to Zeitoun

• Alive in Necropolis

  Dorst, Doug

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  SFPL's One City One Book #5 (2009) Set in the city of Colma, it is a rollicking tale of policing the dead, with deceased citizens far outnumbering the living.

• West of Kabul, East of New York

  An Afghan American Story

  Ansary, Mir Tamim

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  SFPL's One City One Book #4 (2008) We travel at Ansary’s side, and he gives us rare access to Afghan culture— From the time of “old Afghanistan,” through Soviet rule and later, the Taliban.

• Cane River

  Tademy, Lalita

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  SFPL's One City One Book #3 (2007) Combines painstaking historical reconstruction with unforgettable storytelling.

• La hija de la chuparrosa

  una novela

  Urrea, Luis Alberto

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  SFPL's Once City One Book #2 (2006) Hummingbird's Daughter - Tells the story of Teresita, a young girl coming to terms with her destiny as a healer, who will grow into a revolution-inspiring Mexican "Joan of Arc."

• China Boy

  Lee, Gus

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  SFPL's One City One Book #1 (2005) This childhood story of being caught between cultures in 1950's San Francisco is both powerful and poignant

• One City One Book: San Francisco Public Library

  View on sfpl.org

  Annual citywide literary event that encourages members of the San Francisco community to read the same book at the same time and then discuss it in book groups and at events throughout the City.