Best Books About San Francisco

The first novel in the beloved Tales of the City series, Armistead Maupin’s best-selling San Francisco saga, and inspiration for the Netflix original series once again starring Laura Linney and Olympia Dukakis.Inspiration for the Netflix Limited Series, Tales of the CityA PBS Great American Read Top 100 PickFor almost four decades Armistead Maupin’...

One of the most highly regarded novels of 1986, Vikram Seth's story in verse made him a literary household name in both the United States and India.John Brown, a successful yuppie living in 1980s San Francisco meets a romantic interest in Liz, after placing a personal ad in the newspaper. From this interaction, John meets a variety of characters, e...

A runaway San Francisco Chronicle bestseller, Cool Gray City of Love is a one-of-a-kind book for a one-of-a-kind city. It's a love song in 49 chapters to an extraordinary place, taking 49 different sites around the city as points of entry and inspiration-from a seedy intersection in the Tenderloin to the soaring sea cliffs at Lands End. Encompassin...

What makes a place? Infinite City, Rebecca Solnit’s brilliant reinvention of the traditional atlas, searches out the answer by examining the many layers of meaning in one place, the San Francisco Bay Area. Aided by artists, writers, cartographers, and twenty-two gorgeous color maps, each of which illuminates the city and its surroundings as experie...

Let the rumbling cable car tell you the story! And what a story: From the crookedest street in the world to the Peking ducks in Chinatown, San Francisco is easily one of the world's most enchanting cities. Illustrator Miroslav Sasek captures both the breathtaking landscape and the cosmopolitan flavor of the City by the Bay in This is San Francisco....

Hello, World is an exciting book series that pairs early learning concepts with colorful, stylish illustrations of cities around the world. From the Golden Gate Bridge to seals to cable cars, there’s no shortage of bright, bold, and interesting things to count in San Francisco. Explore numbers through the best the city has to offer in this gorgeous...

Get ready to meet twenty of the most interesting, bizarre, colorful, and unforgettable characters to be found in the annals of the most interesting, bizarre, colorful, and unforgettable city in the world. Historian Charles F. Adams brings each personality to vivid life, describing in fascinating detail their strange contributions to the first centu...

Follow the fun adventures of the dog Larry, who after chasing down a donut, loses his owners and travels around the city's landmarks and cultural attractions before reuniting with his family. Filled with candy-colored retro illustrations, this book provides children with a dog's eye view of the City by the Bay. Among Larry's stops are such classic ...

Before you plan your family’s next excursion, get some help from a travel professional… and your kids! Kid’s Guide to San Francisco lets the kids help plan the trip and guides you as you explore this California destination. Inside you’ll find kid-tested tips on where to go, where to eat, what to see, and where to get the best souvenirs. Along the w...

This is the rollicking tale of the adventures of Charlie, the youngest cable car. Only sixty years old, he is tired of the same old rut. One night as he's puffing himself up Nob Hill, he hears a lot of excitement down below: Chinese New year! Suddenly, Charlie takes a right turn at Jackson Street, rather than the left he has taken for sixty years, ...