Inspired by a list compiled by the Los Angeles' Zamorano Club in 1945, Stephen K. Tollefson chooses his "own non-definitive list of 'sort of lost novels about California.'"
These are not books just set in California -- California is a character in each. And for the most part, they delve into history rather than our present, although I think our past tells us a great deal about where we are today.
For the Zamarono 80 list, visit http://www.zamoranoclubla.org/zam80/.