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 December 18, 2022.
With the holiday season upon us, the bestsellers list is a great place to look for last-minute gifts. For the aspiring writer on your list, The Artist’s Way, by Julia Cameron, is an essential guide to unlocking creativity. And for those who like to entertain, festive meals can be easily prepared with Ina Garten’s Go-To Dinners: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook. The cookbook—for beginners and experts alike—offers tips on how to make each dish look and taste its best. Happy holidays!
For a full list of titles and categories, visit the California Independent Booksellers Alliance.•
Southern California
HARDCOVER FICTION
- Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus, Doubleday, $29
- Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver, Harper, $32.50
- Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin, Knopf, $28
- The Passenger, Cormac McCarthy, Knopf, $30. Read the Alta review
- A World of Curiosities, Louise Penny, Minotaur Books, $29.99
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
- The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times, Michelle Obama, Crown Publishing Group, $32.50
- I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette McCurdy, Simon & Schuster, $27.99
- Go-To Dinners: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, Ina Garten, Clarkson Potter, $35
- A Book of Days, Patti Smith, Random House, $28.99
- Cinema Speculation, Quentin Tarantino, Harper, $35
TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION
- The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Washington Square Press, $17
- It Starts with Us, Colleen Hoover, Atria Books, $17.99
- It Ends with Us, Colleen Hoover, Atria Books, $16.99
- The Thursday Murder Club, Richard Osman, Penguin Books, $17
- Cloud Cuckoo Land, Anthony Doerr, Scribner, $20
TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION
- All About Love: New Visions, bell hooks, William Morrow, $16.99
- Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Essays, Joan Didion, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $17
- Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law, Mary Roach, W.W. Norton & Company, $16.95
- The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, Julia Cameron, TarcherPerigee, $17
- All About Me! My Remarkable Life in Show Business, Mel Brooks, Ballantine Books, $20
Northern California
HARDCOVER FICTION
- Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver, Harper, $32.50
- Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus, Doubleday, $29
- Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin, Knopf, $28
- Horse, Geraldine Brooks, Viking, $28
- The Passenger, Cormac McCarthy, Knopf, $30. Read the Alta review
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
- The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times, Michelle Obama, Crown Publishing Group, $32.50
- An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us, Ed Yong, Random House, $30
- A Book of Days, Patti Smith, Random House, $28.99
- Go-To Dinners: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, Ina Garten, Clarkson Potter, $35
- What If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions, Randall Munroe, Riverhead Books, $30
TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION
- Cloud Cuckoo Land, Anthony Doerr, Scribner, $20
- The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Washington Square Press, $17
- It Starts with Us, Colleen Hoover, Atria Books, $17.99
- The Thursday Murder Club, Richard Osman, Penguin Books, $17
- The Best American Short Stories 2022, Andrew Sean Greer and Heidi Pitlor (editors), Mariner Books, $17.99
TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION
- Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Milkweed Editions, $20
- 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
- All About Me! My Remarkable Life in Show Business, Mel Brooks, Ballantine Books, $20
Source: California Independent Booksellers Alliance
