Alta Journal’s California Bestsellers List (September 28, 2022)

Alta Journal brings you the bestselling titles at independent bookstores across Northern and Southern California for the week ending September 25, 2022—with reporting from the California Independent Booksellers Alliance.

Making the list this week is Andrew Sean Greer’s Less Is Lost, a sequel to his Pulitzer Prize–winning Less. Reviewed by Alta, the novel continues the story of Arthur Less, a middle-aged gay man called to adventure. Also debuting this week is Spirits of San Francisco: Voyages Through the Unknown City, by Alta contributor Gary Kamiya and artist Paul Madonna. This book offers an eloquent exploration of San Francisco’s iconic and lesser-known sites.

For a full list of titles and categories, visit the California Independent Booksellers Alliance.•

Southern California

HARDCOVER FICTION

Alta

1. Fairy Tale, Stephen King, Scribner, $32.50
2. Lucy by the Sea, Elizabeth Strout, Random House, $28
3. The Bullet That Missed, Richard Osman, Pamela Dorman Books, $27
4. Lessons, Ian McEwan, Knopf, $30
5. The Marriage Portrait, Maggie O’Farrell, Knopf, $28

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

Alta

1. I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette McCurdy, Simon & Schuster, $27.99
2. The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017–2021, Peter Baker and Susan Glasser, Doubleday, $32
3. Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Henry Holt and Co., $28.99
4. Dinners with Ruth: A Memoir on the Power of Friendships, Nina Totenberg, Simon & Schuster, $27.99
5. Crying in H Mart: A Memoir, Michelle Zauner, Knopf, $26.95

TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION

Alta

1. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Washington Square Press, $17
2. Verity, Colleen Hoover, Grand Central Publishing, $16.99
3. Circe, Madeline Miller, Back Bay Books, $16.99
4. The Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller, Ecco, $17.99
5. It Ends with Us, Colleen Hoover, Atria Books, $16.99

TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION

Alta

1. Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Milkweed Editions, $20
2. All About Love: New Visions, bell hooks, William Morrow, $16.99
3. Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law, Mary Roach, W.W. Norton & Company, $16.95
4. The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, Bessel van der Kolk, MD, Penguin Books, $19
5. My Body, Emily Ratajkowski, Metropolitan Books, $16.99

Northern California

HARDCOVER FICTION

Alta

1. Lucy by the Sea, Elizabeth Strout, Random House, $28
2. Less Is Lost, Andrew Sean Greer, Little, Brown, $29. Read the Alta review
3. The Bullet That Missed, Richard Osman, Pamela Dorman Books, $27
4. Fairy Tale, Stephen King, Scribner, $32.50
5. Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus, Doubleday, $29

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

Alta

1. I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette McCurdy, Simon & Schuster, $27.99
2. The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017–2021, Peter Baker and Susan Glasser, Doubleday, $32
3. What If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions, Randall Munroe, Riverhead Books, $30
4. Solito: A Memoir, Javier Zamora, Hogarth Press, $28
5. Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Henry Holt and Co., $28.99

TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION

Alta

1. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Washington Square Press, $17
2. It Ends with Us, Colleen Hoover, Atria Books, $16.99
3. Verity, Colleen Hoover, Grand Central Publishing, $16.99
4. The Sentence, Louise Erdrich, Harper Perennial, $18
5. Still Life, Sarah Winman, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, $17

TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION

Alta

1. Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law, Mary Roach, W.W. Norton & Company, $16.95
2. The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, Bessel van der Kolk, MD, Penguin Books, $19
3. All About Love: New Visions, bell hooks, William Morrow, $16.99
4. Spirits of San Francisco: Voyages Through the Unknown City, Gary Kamiya and Paul Madonna (illustrator), Bloomsbury Publishing, $18
5. Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Milkweed Editions, $20

Source: California Independent Booksellers Alliance

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