With reporting from the California Independent Booksellers Alliance, Alta Journal brings you a list of the bestselling titles at independent bookstores across Northern and Southern California for the week ending October 30, 2022.
On the list this week is the paperback edition of Rebecca Solnit’s Orwell’s Roses, a fresh exploration of politics and gardening by the California Book Club’s September 2021 author. Solnit examines George Orwell’s life in a new light, from his lesser-known journeys deep in the coal mines of England to his involvement with horticulture. The Passenger, by Cormac McCarthy, reviewed by Alta, is a thrilling new addition to the list. The novel—the first of two related volumes— follows Bobby Western as he explores the sunken wreckage of a plane and investigates a possible government cover-up.
For a full list of titles and categories, visit the California Independent Booksellers Alliance.•
Southern California
HARDCOVER FICTION
- Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver, Harper, $32.50
- The Passenger, Cormac McCarthy, Knopf, $30. Read the Alta review
- Our Missing Hearts, Celeste Ng, Penguin Press, $29
- Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin, Knopf, $28
- Liberation Day: Stories, George Saunders, Random House, $28
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
- Go-To Dinners: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, Ina Garten, Clarkson Potter, $35
- I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette McCurdy, Simon & Schuster, $27.99
- The Extraordinary Life of an Ordinary Man: A Memoir, Paul Newman, Knopf, $32
- Crying in H Mart: A Memoir, Michelle Zauner, Knopf, $26.95
- Solito: A Memoir, Javier Zamora, Hogarth Press, $28
TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION
- It Starts with Us, Colleen Hoover, Atria Books, $17.99
- It Ends with Us, Colleen Hoover, Atria Books, $16.99
- The Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller, Ecco Press, $17.99
- Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir, Ballantine Books, $20
- Malibu Rising, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Ballantine Books, $18
TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION
- The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, Bessel van der Kolk, MD, Penguin Books, $19
- Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Milkweed Editions, $20
- Oldest Los Angeles, Mimi Slawoff, Reedy Press, $20.95
- Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, Yuval Noah Harari, Harper Perennial, $24.99
- Orwell’s Roses, Rebecca Solnit, Penguin Books, $18
Northern California
HARDCOVER FICTION
- The Passenger, Cormac McCarthy, Knopf, $30. Read the Alta review
- Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver, Harper, $32.50
- Our Missing Hearts, Celeste Ng, Penguin Press, $29
- Liberation Day: Stories, George Saunders, Random House, $28
- Fairy Tale, Stephen King, Scribner, $32.50
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
- I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette McCurdy, Simon & Schuster, $27.99
- Go-To Dinners: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, Ina Garten, Clarkson Potter, $35
- The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture, Gabor Maté, MD, with Daniel Maté, Avery, $30
- What If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions, Randall Munroe, Riverhead Books, $30
- Solito: A Memoir, Javier Zamora, Hogarth Press, $28
TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION
- It Starts with Us, Colleen Hoover, Atria Books, $17.99
- Cloud Cuckoo Land, Anthony Doerr, Scribner, $20
- The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Washington Square Press, $17
- The Sentence, Louise Erdrich, Harper Perennial, $18
- Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir, Ballantine Books, $20
TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION
- Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Milkweed Editions, $20
- Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law, Mary Roach, W.W. Norton & Company, $16.95
- The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, Bessel van der Kolk, MD, Penguin Books, $19
- Zen and the Art of Saving the Planet, Thich Nhat Hanh, HarperOne, $17.99
- All About Love: New Visions, bell hooks, William Morrow, $16.99
