Pasadena choosing a book

For the third year, the Pasadena Public Library is selecting a book for its "One City, One Story" program. Star-News editor Larry Wilson had the short list of prospects in his Sunday column:

• Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros.
• Easter Island by Jennifer Vanderbes.
• Jamesland by Michelle Huneven.
• The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.
• The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri.
• The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenger.

Hat tip to The Elegant Variation

Incidentally, a new book about neighboring Altadena sets a new higher bar for books published by a local historical society, far as I'm concerned. Altadena: Between Wilderness and City is thorough and gorgeously printed. It was written by Michele Zack and designed by Chuck and Bernadette Soter, and is on sale at Vroman's. Half the press run has already sold, apparently.

Also: Chris Nichols, assistant editor at Los Angeles magazine and a mover in the Los Angeles Conservancy's Modern Committee, is finishing a book on the architect Wayne McAllister. It's coming from Gibbs Smith. McAllister designed the landmark Bob's Big Boy in Toluca Lake (Burbank to purists) and other drive-ins, and on the early Las Vegas strip he did the El Rancho Vegas, the Sands and the Fremont. Nichols' website on McAllister focuses, however, on the extravagant Prohibition-era Agua Caliente resort in Tijuana that the designer received the commission for at the age of 19. McAllister died in 2000 at 92.