I have been trying to read through the entire set of the National Geographic Directions series. However, our library only had four of them so I have been doing Inter-Library Loans for the others. Next month, Suzanne's Non-fiction challenge read topic is going to be travel. I am going to try to read two of this series for that challenge since these are really long essays - averaging about 200 pages at the most for each volume. Los Angeles: People, Places and the Castle on the Hill by A. M. Homes is one of those titles. It is one of the best I have read from this series. I don't know who A. M. Homes is (each place featured in the series is a favorite spot of a well known author) so don't think she is all that well known, but she certainly writes well. The author wrote about growing old in Los Angeles where everybody has to stay permanently young. She wrote about a doctor who preforms bris and she uses this vehicle to write about pretentious society people and the need to stay "hot" in the biz. She wrote about a trip she took to Palm Springs because it was home to so many stars, and the result was a very interesting essay on travel. She also wrote about her struggle with fear of flying. I found that part of the essay to be very well done. All-in-all, a book I would highly recommend for people who like to read about places and how people live in those places. ( )