For Fiction, David Baldacci regularly features DC settings in his novels. My aunt came to visit this Summer and she was so excited to be at the park in front of the White House, because it was a big scene in one of his books.

Baldacci was an attorney in DC before he bacame an author.

If you like murder mysteries try Margaret Truman

Anonymous wrote:Dinaw Mengestu's The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears is a great read set in 1970s Logan Circle.

This one, except that I think it's more like late 1990s Logan Circle. There's some reference to the Whole Foods on P St, or something like it, anyway. But absolutely worth a read, especially if you're at all familiar with the neighborhood.

Willie Morris, The Last of the Southern Girls.

completely agree about Katharine Graham's book; it's great.

Also read "The Woman at the Washington Zoo", a collection of essays by Marjorie Williams, an incredible author. Read anything by her, actually.

Dinaw Mengestu's The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears is a great read set in 1970s Logan Circle.

Fellow Travelers by Thomas Mallon.

Gore Vidal's "Lincoln" is excellent. I also agree with Katherine Graham's memiors. Avoid the Roosevelt granddaughter books "Murder at....", they're very generic.

jsteele wrote:If you are interested in fairly light reading, try books by George Pelecanos. Sometimes scenes in his novels take place right in my neighborhood. I also really like Gore Vidal's "Washington, DC".

For an even lighter read, try Kristen Gore's books. Quick, fun chick lit set in DC. I liked Sammy's Hill a lot.

Great thread, OP, and great suggestions, PPs. Here's another vote for Graham's autobiography, for The Known World (Jones) and anything by Pelecanos. I haven't read Rockville Pike, but Coll later wrote "Acceptance" -- about the college application process at a competitive public high school in the DC suburbs -- very entertaining, though a little contrived. If you like historical fiction, I would highly recommend Herman Wouk's "The Winds of War" and "War and Remembrance", a two-volume family saga of WWII set in DC and around the globe -- very engaging.