These are among the many new titles launched by Bay Space and Northern California writers, listed in alphabetical order by writer names:
(Courtesy Jean Shinoda Bolen)
(Courtesy Chiron)
“Ever Widening Circles & Mystical Moments: Autobiographical, Historical, Spiritual, Psychological & Political” by Jean Shinoda Bolen Chiron Publications, 318 pages, $59 (hardcover), $40 (paper), March 4, 2025
Dr. Jean Shinoda Bolen—a psychiatrist, Jungian analyst, scientific professor of psychiatry on the College of California San Francisco, Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Affiliation and extra—describes how occasions in her life (from her Japanese American household’s compelled relocation from California throughout World Warfare II to having eye surgical procedure at a younger age, to being seen as an “exotic other”) led her on a journey to pursue evaluation, medication and activism. Presently, on Instagram, she shares, “As an elder, a crone, an octogenarian, I observe that many of my contemporaries have contracted and withdrawn from public life. However, I am still here continuing to deepen and grow. I’m not done yet. This new book spans my almost nine-decade journey of what I lived through and how I became who I am: author, activist, psychiatrist, Jungian analyst, millionth circle advocate, friend, grandmother, wife, daughter, and more.”
(Barbara Boyle web site screenshot)
(Courtesy She Writes Press)
“Pinch Me: Waking Up in a 300-Year-Old Italian Farmhouse” by Barbara Boyle She Writes Press, 216 pages, $17.99, Feb. 11, 2025
Barbara Boyle, a former promoting govt in San Francisco, describes her adventures constructing a house in an previous barn in Europe, having moved from the Bay Space to Piemonte, Italy, in “Pinch Me: Waking Up in a 300-Year-Old Italian Farmhouse.” The memoir has been known as an up to date “twist on ‘Under the Tuscan Sun.’” Boyle calls it “a story filled with discoveries, disappointments, pleasures, frustrations and triumphs” (and with recipes!) a few journey that allowed her to see the world and herself, “through a different window.”
(Lewis Buzbee web site screenshot)
(Courtesy Palmetto Publishing)
‘Diver” by Lewis Buzbee Palmetto Publishing, 328 pages, $19, March 3, 2025
Lewis Buzbee, a longtime Bay Space author (for youngsters and adults) and bookseller, tells how a 12-year-old boy navigates his life, and recollections, after his father, a Navy deep-sea diver, dies of a coronary heart assault. Describing a California household within the Sixties, the novel “Diver” is not only about households, but additionally about army life in the course of the turbulent counterculture motion, and the methods impressionistic recollections can fail folks, but additionally assist and maintain them. On Litstack.com, one reader mentioned, “Buzbee has an uncanny knack for transporting his audience back in time until you can practically sense the familiarity of the memories as though they are your own.” Kirkus mentioned, “It’s an admirably meditative exploration of the depths and travails of a father-son relationship” and a “thoughtful and moving, but artfully unsentimental, depiction of a son’s love.”
Kevin Fagan (Courtesy Brant Ward)
(Courtesy Simon & Schuster)
“The Lost and the Found: A True Story of Homelessness, Found Family and Second Chances” by Kevin Fagan Atria/One Sign Publishers, 288 pages, $28.99, Feb. 11, 2025
The longtime San Francisco reporter, who has been homeless himself and who wrote the San Francisco Chronicle 2003 sequence “The Shame of the City,” for which he lived on the streets for six months, provides an in depth, character-driven work exploring entwined tragedies of homelessness and dependancy with statistics, insights and human tales. Two case research are forefront, with one taking a heartbreaking flip, however each giving homelessness a human face and containing hope and pleasure. “I wanted the hope to come through,” Fagan says. “Hope is always important.” Readers have mentioned, “Fagan is deeply passionate about what he does, which makes this that much better of a read. This is a must-read to get a glimpse into what homelessness can be like in the United States.”
Alexis Madrigal web site screenshot)
(Courtesy FSG x MCD)
“The Pacific Circuit: A Globalized Account of the Battle for the Soul of an American City” by Alexis Madrigal MCD x FSG, 384 pages, $32, March 18, 2025
Journalist Alexis Madrigal, an Oakland resident, proprietor of the Oakland Backyard Membership, cohost of KQED’s present affairs present “Forum” and contributing author at The Atlantic, particulars how “a logistical revolution that began in Oakland transformed urban America” in “The Pacific Circuit,” a quantity ensuing from years of reporting on Oakland, the tech business and the worldwide economic system. The guide describes connections between metropolis corridor politics, enterprise capital and hedge funds, and Silicon Valley’s beginnings and development utilizing the Port of Oakland for instance financial, environmental and cultural results attributable to many years of systemic segregation and an ongoing stress to advance know-how. Kirkus calls the guide “an incisive look at the invisible forces of consumption shaping not just a single city, but our world.”
(Marianna Marlowe web site screenshot)
(Courtesy She Writes Press)
“Portrait of a Feminist: A Memoir in Essays” by Marianna Marlowe She Writes Press, 288 pages, $17.99, Feb. 25, 2025
The Latina author, who earned a bachelor’s diploma from College of California, Berkeley and has a doctorate in Literary Research, says she “examines the tension in embracing feminism as a life philosophy and negotiating the sociocultural roles of daughter, scholar, wife and mother. ” In “Portrait of a Feminist,” she shares particulars about being the kid of a Catholic Peruvian mom and an atheist American father, about dwelling in California, Peru and Ecuador and tying her experiences to sociopolitical realities. In writing “Portrait of a Feminist,” in an interview printed on the web site Seize the Lapels, she mentioned, “I learned that personal experiences and small moments can be expanded to have much greater meaning than their original, individual impact.” Critics have known as “Portrait of a Feminist” “honest” and “confident” and have in contrast it to “Crying in H Mart” and “How to Raise a Feminist Son.”
(Courtesy www.barbarabutkus.com/mielelab.com)
(Courtesy Grand Central Publishing)
“Connecting Dots: A Blind Life” by Joshua A. Miele (with Wendell Jamieson) Grand Central Publishing, 304 pages, $39, March 4, 2025
Joshua A. Miele, a Berkeley resident, is a blind scientist who describes himself as an “inventor with decades of experience leading R&D teams in the creative use of mainstream technologies to yield effective accessibility solutions for education, employment, and entertainment.” In his memoir “Connecting Dots,” the MacArthur “Genius” shares how his household, buddies, academics and colleagues helped him dwell a dynamic life after being blinded at age 4 when a mentally unwell neighbor poured acid on his head. Readers have known as the guide “funny, moving, and absorbing” and “several wonderful books wrapped up into one … a science book, a romance, a riveting history of the disability movement, a book about New York, an advice book. And, of course, it’s a memoir—fascinating, honest, and inspirational in a delightfully un-sappy way.”
