Alta Journal brings you a list of the bestselling titles at independent bookstores across Northern and Southern California for the week ending November 13, 2022, with reporting from the California Independent Booksellers Alliance.
The author, historian, and MacArthur Fellow Mike Davis makes a posthumous appearance this week with his 1990 book, City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles. This refined work of social history investigates L.A.’s past and examines its economy, weighing the city’s allure and its shortcomings. Desert Star, by California Book Club author Michael Connelly, surfaces on the list one week after publication. This title follows characters Renée Ballard and Harry Bosch as they race to solve a decades-old case.
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
- Desert Star, Michael Connelly, Little, Brown, $29
- The Last Chairlift, John Irving, Simon & Schuster, $38
- Foster, Claire Keegan, Grove Press, $20
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
- Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story, Bono, Knopf, $34
- Go-To Dinners: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, Ina Garten, Clarkson Potter, $35
- I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette McCurdy, Simon & Schuster, $27.99
- Cinema Speculation, Quentin Tarantino, Harper, $35
- The Philosophy of Modern Song, Bob Dylan, Simon & Schuster, $45
TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION
- It Starts with Us, Colleen Hoover, Atria Books, $17.99
- It Ends with Us, Colleen Hoover, Atria Books, $16.99
- The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Washington Square Press, $17
- The Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller, Ecco Press, $17.99
- Cloud Cuckoo Land, Anthony Doerr, Scribner, $20
TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION
- All About Love: New Visions, bell hooks, William Morrow, $16.99
- The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, Bessel van der Kolk, MD, Penguin Books, $19
- City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles, Mike Davis, Verso, $21.95
- Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law, Mary Roach, W.W. Norton & Company, $16.95
- These Precious Days: Essays, Ann Patchett, Harper Perennial, $18
Northern California
HARDCOVER FICTION
- Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver, Harper, $32.50
- The Passenger, Cormac McCarthy, Knopf, $30. Read the Alta review
- Desert Star, Michael Connelly, Little, Brown, $29
- Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus, Doubleday, $29
- Horse, Geraldine Brooks, Viking, $28
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
- I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette McCurdy, Simon & Schuster, $27.99
- The Philosophy of Modern Song, Bob Dylan, Simon & Schuster, $45
- Go-To Dinners: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, Ina Garten, Clarkson Potter, $35
- Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story, Bono, Knopf, $34
- The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human, Siddhartha Mukherjee, Scribner, $32.50
TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION
- It Starts with Us, Colleen Hoover, Atria Books, $17.99
- Cloud Cuckoo Land, Anthony Doerr, Scribner, $20
- It Ends with Us, Colleen Hoover, Atria Books, $16.99
- The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Washington Square Press, $17
- The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida, Shehan Karunatilaka, W.W. Norton & Company, $18.95
TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION
- Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Milkweed Editions, $20
- The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, Bessel van der Kolk, MD, Penguin Books, $19
- All About Love: New Visions, bell hooks, William Morrow, $16.99
- These Precious Days: Essays, Ann Patchett, Harper Perennial, $18
- Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law, Mary Roach, W.W. Norton & Company, $16.95
Source: California Independent Booksellers Alliance
