writing los angeles is "a spanning anthology of writing about America's provocative city of dreams". Released a while ago, the book includes contributions from Simone de Beauvoir, Aldous Huxley, David Thomson, Jack Kerouac, Raymond Chandler, and Robert Towne, who reflects on the origins of his screenplay for the fine colour noir ode to the decadence of the city, Chinatown. I sampled the book (and especially this article) at Borders today. No plans or stimuli to buy the book (especially with the whopping price tag of $40), but it will make a good loan from the public library.