Alta Journal brings you the bestselling titles at independent bookstores across Northern and Southern California for the sales week ending September 4, 2022—with reporting from the California Independent Booksellers Alliance.
Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law, by Mary Roach, is on the list this week, covering the ways humans interact with wildlife and how to minimize conflicts. California has its fair share of problematic contact with wildlife, with reports on wolves, hogs, and wild horses. Katherine Blunt’s California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric—and What It Means for America’s Power Grid also made the bestsellers list. Those who want to know more about the West’s history with fires should check out William Deverell’s piece on growing up around wildfires as well as The Cold Canyon Fire Journals, by Robin Lee Carlson, a book about the effects of wildfires on specific habitats in California.
For a full list of titles and categories, visit the California Independent Booksellers Alliance.•
Southern California
HARDCOVER FICTION
- Carrie Soto Is Back, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Ballantine Books, $28
- Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus, Doubleday, $29
- Heat 2, Michael Mann and Meg Gardiner, William Morrow & Company, $28.99
- The Ink Black Heart, Robert Galbraith, Mulholland Books, $32
- Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin, Knopf, $28
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
- I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette McCurdy, Simon & Schuster, $27.99
- Crying in H Mart: A Memoir, Michelle Zauner, Knopf, $26.95
- Bad City: Peril and Power in the City of Angels, Paul Pringle, Celadon Books, $29.99
- The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life, Mark Manson, Harper, $26.99
- Happy-Go-Lucky, David Sedaris, Little, Brown, $29
TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION
- The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Washington Square Press, $17
- Love on the Brain, Ali Hazelwood, Berkley, $17
- It Ends with Us, Colleen Hoover, Atria Books, $16.99
- Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, $18
- Verity, Colleen Hoover, Grand Central Publishing, $16.99
TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION
- All About Love: New Visions, bell hooks, William Morrow & Company, $16.99
- The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, Bessel van der Kolk, MD, Penguin Books, $19
- Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law, Mary Roach, W.W. Norton & Company, $16.95
- Meditations: A New Translation (revised), Marcus Aurelius, Modern Library, $11
- Just Kids, Patti Smith, Ecco, $16.99
Northern California
HARDCOVER FICTION
- Carrie Soto Is Back, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Ballantine Books, $28
- The Ink Black Heart, Robert Galbraith, Mulholland Books, $32
- Horse, Geraldine Brooks, Viking, $28
- Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus, Doubleday, $29
- Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin, Knopf, $28
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
- Crying in H Mart: A Memoir, Michelle Zauner, Knopf, $26.95
- California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric—and What It Means for America’s Power Grid, Katherine Blunt, Portfolio, $29
- I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette McCurdy, Simon & Schuster, $27.99
- Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones, James Clear, Avery, $27
- The High Sierra: A Love Story, Kim Stanley Robinson, Little, Brown, $40
TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION
- The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Washington Square Press, $17
- It Ends with Us, Colleen Hoover, Atria Books, $16.99
- Verity, Colleen Hoover, Grand Central Publishing, $16.99
- Where the Crawdads Sing, Delia Owens, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, $18
- Circe, Madeline Miller, Back Bay Books, $16.99
TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION
- Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law, Mary Roach, W.W. Norton & Company, $16.95
- All About Love: New Visions, bell hooks, William Morrow & Company, $16.99
- Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Milkweed Editions, $20
- Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest, Suzanne Simard, Vintage, $17
- How to Focus, Thich Nhat Hanh and Jason DeAntonis (illustrator), Parallax Press, $9.95
Source: California Independent Booksellers Alliance
