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 15, 2023.
Leigh Bardugo, the Los Angeles–based author of the Shadow and Bone trilogy, which has been adapted into a Netflix series, is on the list this week with a new novel. Hell Bent, Bardugo’s highly anticipated sequel to Ninth House, follows Alex Stern, whose quiet life in L.A. is upended as she attempts to rescue a soul out of hell. And Dacher Keltner, a UC Berkeley professor and consultant to Pixar’s Inside Out, joins the nonfiction rankings with Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life. Keltner’s book examines the emotion we call awe and how it can shape our view of our surroundings.
For a full list of titles and categories, visit the California Independent Booksellers Alliance.
Southern California
HARDCOVER FICTION
- Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin, Knopf, $28
- Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus, Doubleday, $29
- Horse, Geraldine Brooks, Viking, $28
- Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver, Harper, $32.50
- Trust, Hernan Diaz, Riverhead Books, $28
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
- Spare, Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, Random House, $36
- 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
- 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 Maid, Nita Prose, Ballantine Books, $18
- The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Washington Square Press, $17
- It Starts with Us, Colleen Hoover, Atria Books, $17.99
- The Silent Patient, Alex Michaelides, Celadon Books, $17.99
- It Ends with Us, Colleen Hoover, Atria Books, $16.99
TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION
- All About Love: New Visions, bell hooks, William Morrow, $16.99
- The January 6th Report, Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol et al., Celadon Books, $17.99
- Meditations: A New Translation, Marcus Aurelius and Gregory Hays (translator), Modern Library, $11
- The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion, Vintage, $17
- Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Milkweed Editions, $20
Northern California
HARDCOVER FICTION
- Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus, Doubleday, $29
- Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver, Harper, $32.50
- Hell Bent, Leigh Bardugo, Flatiron Books, $29.99
- Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin, Knopf, $28
- Horse, Geraldine Brooks, Viking, $28
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
- Spare, Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, Random House, $36
- The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times, Michelle Obama, Crown Publishing Group, $32.50
- Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life, Dacher Keltner, Penguin Press, $28
- An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us, Ed Yong, Random House, $30
- I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette McCurdy, Simon & Schuster, $27.99
TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION
- The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Washington Square Press, $17
- The Maid, Nita Prose, Ballantine Books, $18
- It Ends with Us, Colleen Hoover, Atria Books, $16.99
- The Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller, Ecco, $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 January 6th Report, Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol et al., Celadon Books, $17.99
- Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence, Anna Lembke, MD, Dutton, $18
- The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom, Don Miguel Ruiz and Janet Mills, Amber-Allen Publishing, $12.95
Source: California Independent Booksellers Alliance
