Elizabeth Casillas
Elizabeth Casillas is Alta Journal’s editorial assistant. A recent graduate of California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, she has previously written for the Poly Post and Enspire Magazine.

Alta Journal’s California Bestsellers List (February 1, 2023)
This week’s bestselling titles include Cinema Speculation by Quentin Tarantino, Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid, and How to Love by Thich Nhat Hanh.

Alta Journal’s California Bestsellers List (January 25, 2023)
This week’s bestselling titles include The Creative Act by Rick Rubin, How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix, and The Half Known Life by Pico Iyer.

Alta Journal’s California Bestsellers List (January 18, 2023)
This week’s bestselling titles include Trust by Hernan Diaz, Spare by Prince Harry, and The January 6th Report.

Alta Journal’s California Bestsellers List (January 11, 2023)
This week’s bestselling titles include Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor, The Maid by Nita Prose, and Dopamine Nation by Anna Lembke.

Alta Journal’s California Bestsellers List (January 4, 2023)
This week’s bestselling titles include A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny, Babel by R.F. Kuang, and The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion.

Alta Journal’s California Bestsellers List (December 21, 2022)
This week’s bestselling titles include Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver, Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr, and All About Love by bell hooks.

Alta Journal’s California Bestsellers List (December 14, 2022)
This week’s bestselling titles include Fuzz by Mary Roach, The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy, and Circe by Madeline Miller.

‘Gordo’ and the Backbone of California
The December CBC selection, Jaime Cortez’s short story collection, Gordo, portrays the conditions under which migrant workers live, as well as the strenuous work they perform in the agricultural industry.

Alta Journal’s California Bestsellers List (December 7, 2022)
This week’s bestselling titles include A World of Curiosities by Louise Penny, Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro, and It Starts with Us by Colleen Hoover.

Alta Journal’s California Bestsellers List (November 30, 2022)
This week’s bestselling titles include A Book of Days by Patti Smith, The Light We Carry by Michelle Obama, All About Me! by Mel Brooks, and two titles from the Best American Series.

Alta Journal’s California Bestsellers List (November 16, 2022)
This week’s bestselling titles include Foster by Claire Keegan, Cinema Speculation by Quentin Tarantino, and The Song of the Cell by Siddhartha Mukherjee.

Alta Journal’s California Bestsellers List (November 9, 2022)
This week’s bestselling titles include Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry, The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Shehan Karunatilaka, and These Precious Days by Ann Patchett.

Alta Journal’s California Bestsellers List (November 2, 2022)
This week’s bestselling titles include Go-To Dinners: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook by Ina Garten, Oldest Los Angeles by Mimi Slawoff, and Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet by Thich Nhat Hanh.

Alta Journal’s California Bestsellers List (October 26, 2022)
This week’s bestselling titles include Liberation Day by George Saunders, The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man by Paul Newman, and It Starts with Us by Colleen Hoover.

Alta Journal’s California Bestsellers List (October 19, 2022)
This week’s bestselling titles include When Women Lead by Julia Boorstin, Adrift by Scott Galloway, and The Myth of Normal by Gabor Maté with Daniel Maté.

Within a Mexican Kitchen
As you finish Natalia Molina’s A Place at the Nayarit, our October CBC selection, check out these four food podcasts, which discuss Mexican cuisine recipes, tips, and tricks.

Alta Journal’s California Bestsellers List (October 12, 2022)
This week’s bestselling titles include Life’s Work: A Memoir by David Milch, Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America by Maggie Haberman, and The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman.

‘A Place at the Nayarit’ Opens a Portal to Home
In this newsletter, we look at how Natalia Molina’s work of history, the October California Book Club pick, explores food as a doorway into Mexican culture.

Alta Journal’s California Bestsellers List (October 5, 2022)
This week’s bestselling titles include Gay Bar: Why We Went Out by Jeremy Atherton Lin, The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik, and Profiles in Ignorance: How America’s Politicians Got Dumb and Dumber by Andy Borowitz.

Alta Journal’s California Bestsellers List (September 28, 2022)
This week’s bestselling titles include Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout, Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization by Neil deGrasse Tyson, and The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017–2021 by Peter Baker and Susan Glasser.

Alta Journal’s California Bestsellers List (September 21, 2022)
This week’s bestselling titles include Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir, Holding the Line: Inside the Nation’s Preeminent US Attorney’s Office and Its Battle with the Trump Justice Department by Geoffrey Berman, and Dinners with Ruth: A Memoir on the Power of Friendships by Nina Totenberg.

Alta Journal’s California Bestsellers List (September 14, 2022)
This week’s bestselling titles include Fairy Tale by Stephen King, The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell, and A Visible Man by Edward Enninful.

Deep Dive into Pick’s Disease
In September’s California Book Club selection, The Swimmers by Julie Otsuka, a dementia similar to Alzheimer’s makes an appearance.

Alta’s Summer 2022 Intern Tells All
From the desk of our West Covina bureau chief.

Alta Journal’s California Bestsellers List (September 7, 2022)
This week’s bestselling titles include Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson, and The Ink Black Heart by J.K. Rowling—under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.

Alta Journal’s California Bestsellers List (August 31, 2022)
This week’s bestselling titles include Babel by R.F. Kuang, Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood, and Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley.

Alta Journal’s California Bestsellers List (August 24, 2022)
This week’s bestselling titles include The World’s Worst Assistant by Sona Movsesian, I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy, and Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel.

Alta Journal’s California Bestsellers List (August 17, 2022)
This week’s bestselling titles include Heat 2 by Michael Mann and Meg Gardiner, Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear, and The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom by Don Miguel Ruiz.

Turning the Telescope
After you finish Rabih Alameddine’s The Wrong End of the Telescope, our August CBC selection, check out these five titles that deliver a poignant look into the refugee experience.

Alta Journal’s California Bestsellers List (August 10, 2022)
This week’s bestselling titles include Mercury Pictures Presents by Anthony Marra, The Last White Man by Mohsin Hamid, and Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney.

Alta Journal’s California Bestsellers List (August 3, 2022)
This week’s bestselling titles include Verity by Colleen Hoover, The It Girl by Ruth Ware, and Do the Work! An Antiracist Activity Book by W. Kamau Bell and Kate Schatz.

Alta Journal’s California Bestsellers List (July 27, 2022)
This week’s bestselling titles include Portrait of an Unknown Woman by Daniel Silva, The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and They Want to Kill Americans: The Militias, Terrorists, and Deranged Ideology of the Trump Insurgency by Malcolm Nance.