Alta Journal’s California Bestsellers List (December 14, 2022)

Alta Journal brings you a list of the bestselling titles at independent bookstores across Northern and Southern California for the week ending December 11, 2022, with reporting from the California Independent Booksellers Alliance.

The second of Pulitzer Prize–winning author Cormac McCarthy’s two related volumes debuts on the list this week. Stella Maris, reviewed by Alta, is a candid look at grief and longing. Also making its first appearance in our rankings is Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures, by biologist Merlin Sheldrake. The author provides insight into the role of fungi in life’s processes while covering everything from yeast to psychedelics; for more, check out fungi in furniture and fashion.

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

Southern California

HARDCOVER FICTION

Alta

1. Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver, Harper, $32.50
2. Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus, Doubleday, $29
3. A World of Curiosities, Louise Penny, Minotaur Books, $29.99
4. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin, Knopf, $28
5. Stella Maris, Cormac McCarthy, Knopf, $26. Read the Alta review

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

Alta

1. The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times, Michelle Obama, Crown Publishing Group, $32.50
2. I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette McCurdy, Simon & Schuster, $27.99
3. A Book of Days, Patti Smith, Random House, $28.99
4. Go-To Dinners: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, Ina Garten, Clarkson Potter, $35
5. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, Charlie Mackesy, HarperOne, $22.99

TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION

Alta

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

TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION

Alta

1. These Precious Days: Essays, Ann Patchett, Harper Perennial, $18
2. All About Me! My Remarkable Life in Show Business, Mel Brooks, Ballantine Books, $20
3. Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Milkweed Editions, $20
4. Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law, Mary Roach, W.W. Norton & Company, $16.95
5. Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds & Shape Our Futures, Merlin Sheldrake, Random House, $18

Northern California

HARDCOVER FICTION

Alta

1. Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver, Harper, $32.50
   
2. Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus, Doubleday, $29
3. A World of Curiosities, Louise Penny, Minotaur Books, $29.99
4. Stella Maris, Cormac McCarthy, Knopf, $26. Read the Alta review
5. Horse, Geraldine Brooks, Viking, $28

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

Alta

1. The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times, Michelle Obama, Crown Publishing Group, $32.50
2. An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us, Ed Yong, Random House, $30
3. A Book of Days, Patti Smith, Random House, $28.99
4. Go-To Dinners: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, Ina Garten, Clarkson Potter, $35
5. I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette McCurdy, Simon & Schuster, $27.99

TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION

Alta

1. Cloud Cuckoo Land, Anthony Doerr, Scribner, $20
2. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Washington Square Press, $17
3. It Starts with Us, Colleen Hoover, Atria Books, $17.99
4. The Thursday Murder Club, Richard Osman, Penguin Books, $17
5. The Best American Short Stories 2022, Andrew Sean Greer and Heidi Pitlor (editors), Mariner Books, $17.99

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. Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law, Mary Roach, W.W. Norton & Company, $16.95
3. All About Love: New Visions, bell hooks, William Morrow, $16.99
4. All About Me! My Remarkable Life in Show Business, Mel Brooks, Ballantine Books, $20
5. These Precious Days: Essays, Ann Patchett, Harper Perennial, $18

Source: California Independent Booksellers Alliance

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