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 22, 2023.
Two suspenseful novels appear on the list this week. The first is The Shards, by Bret Easton Ellis, reviewed by Alta. Ellis’s narrative reveals the evil lurking beneath a privileged lifestyle in 1980s Los Angeles. The second is Alex Michaelides’s debut, The Silent Patient. Reminiscent of Agatha Christie, Michaelides explores the connection between patient and doctor and the lengths to which a person will go to uncover the truth.
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
- Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin, Knopf, $28
- How to Sell a Haunted House, Grady Hendrix, Berkley, $28
- The Shards, Bret Easton Ellis, Knopf, $30. Read the Alta review
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
- Spare, Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, Random House, $36
- The Creative Act: A Way of Being, Rick Rubin, Penguin Press, $32
- The Half Known Life: In Search of Paradise, Pico Iyer, Riverhead Books, $26
- 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
TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION
- The Maid, Nita Prose, Ballantine Books, $18
- The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Washington Square Press, $17
- Circe, Madeline Miller, Back Bay Books, $16.99
- 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
- Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Essays, Joan Didion, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $17
- The January 6th Report, Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol et al., Celadon Books, $17.99
- All About Me! My Remarkable Life in Show Business, Mel Brooks, Ballantine Books, $20
- The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, Bessel van der Kolk, MD, Penguin Books, $19
Northern California
HARDCOVER FICTION
- Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus, Doubleday, $29
- Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin, Knopf, $28
- Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver, Harper, $32.50
- Hell Bent, Leigh Bardugo, Flatiron Books, $29.99
- Babel, R.F. Kuang, Harper Voyager, $27.99
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
- Spare, Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, Random House, $36
- The Creative Act: A Way of Being, Rick Rubin, Penguin Press, $32
- 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
- An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us, Ed Yong, Random House, $30
TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION
- The Maid, Nita Prose, Ballantine Books, $18
- The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Washington Square Press, $17
- The Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller, Ecco, $17.99
- It Starts with Us, Colleen Hoover, Atria 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 Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, Bessel van der Kolk, MD, Penguin Books, $19
- The January 6th Report, Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol et al., Celadon Books, $17.99
- Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Milkweed Editions, $20
- 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
