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 January 1, 2023.
California author David Arora debuts on the list with All That the Rain Promises and More: A Hip Pocket Guide to Western Mushrooms. Arora provides useful information on more than 200 edible and poisonous fungi. Also making its first appearance is Alex Michaelides’s debut novel, The Silent Patient. Following a criminal psychotherapist and a silent protagonist, this immersive thriller offers a suspenseful start to the new year.
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
- Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus, Doubleday, $29
- The Passenger, Cormac McCarthy, Knopf, $30. Read the Alta review
- Stella Maris, Cormac McCarthy, Knopf, $26. Read the Alta review
- Liberation Day: Stories, George Saunders, Random House, $28
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
- I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette McCurdy, Simon & Schuster, $27.99
- The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times, Michelle Obama, Crown Publishing Group, $32.50
- A Book of Days, Patti Smith, Random House, $28.99
- The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human, Siddhartha Mukherjee, Scribner, $32.50
- Crying in H Mart: A Memoir, Michelle Zauner, Knopf, $26.95
TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION
- The Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller, Ecco, $17.99
- The Silent Patient, Alex Michaelides, Celadon Books, $17.99
- The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Washington Square Press, $17
- It Starts with Us, Colleen Hoover, Atria Books, $17.99
- Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir, Ballantine Books, $20
TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION
- All About Love: New Visions, bell hooks, William Morrow, $16.99
- Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, Yuval Noah Harari, Harper Perennial, $24.99
- The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, Bessel van der Kolk, MD, Penguin Books, $19
- The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion, Vintage, $17
- The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom, Don Miguel Ruiz and Janet Mills, Amber-Allen Publishing, $12.95
Northern California
HARDCOVER FICTION
- Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver, Harper, $32.50
- Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus, Doubleday, $29
- A World of Curiosities, Louise Penny, Minotaur Books, $29.99
- Babel, R.F. Kuang, Harper Voyager, $27.99
- Horse, Geraldine Brooks, Viking, $28
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
- 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
- Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones, James Clear, Avery, $27
TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION
- The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Washington Square Press, $17
- It Ends with Us, Colleen Hoover, Atria Books, $16.99
- The Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller, Ecco, $17.99
- It Starts with Us, Colleen Hoover, Atria Books, $17.99
- Cloud Cuckoo Land, Anthony Doerr, Scribner, $20
TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION
- All About Love: New Visions, bell hooks, William Morrow, $16.99
- 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
- Getting Lost, Annie Ernaux and Alison L. Strayer (translator), Seven Stories Press, $18.95
- All That the Rain Promises and More: A Hip Pocket Guide to Western Mushrooms, David Arora, Ten Speed Press, $17.99
Source: California Independent Booksellers Alliance
