Alta Journal’s California Bestsellers List (February 15, 2023)

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 February 12, 2023.

It’s a great week to be a California Book Club author! Two of our wordsmiths appear in Northern California’s trade paperback fiction category. Julie Otsuka makes the list with The Swimmers, our September 2022 selection. This powerful novel, which is centered on a community swimming pool, is told from multiple points of view as it explores life and destiny. And our March 2023 author, Isabel Allende, makes the list with Violeta, a story that spans 100 years. (This book is also in the Southern California section.)

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

Southern California

HARDCOVER FICTION

Alta

1. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin, Knopf, $28
2. Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus, Doubleday, $29
3. How to Sell a Haunted House, Grady Hendrix, Berkley, $28
4. Victory City, Salman Rushdie, Random House, $30
5. Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver, Harper, $32.50

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

Alta

1. Spare, Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, Random House, $36
2. The Creative Act: A Way of Being, Rick Rubin, Penguin Press, $32
3. I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette McCurdy, Simon & Schuster, $27.99
4. Love, Pamela: A Memoir of Prose, Poetry, and Truth, Pamela Anderson, Dey Street Books, $30
5. 8 Rules of Love: How to Find It, Keep It, and Let It Go, Jay Shetty, Simon & Schuster, $28.99

TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION

Alta

1. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Washington Square Press, $17
2. The Silent Patient, Alex Michaelides, Celadon Books, $17.99
3. Circe, Madeline Miller, Back Bay Books, $16.99
4. Violeta, Isabel Allende, Ballantine Books, $18
5. Daisy Jones & the Six, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Ballantine Books, $17

TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION

Alta

1. All About Love: New Visions, bell hooks, William Morrow, $16.99
2. The Nineties: A Book, Chuck Klosterman, Penguin Books, $18
3. The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, Bessel van der Kolk, MD, Penguin Books, $19
4. Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Milkweed Editions, $20
5. The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom, Don Miguel Ruiz and Janet Mills, Amber-Allen Publishing, $12.95

Northern California

HARDCOVER FICTION

Alta

1. Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus, Doubleday, $29
2. Victory City, Salman Rushdie, Random House, $30
3. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin, Knopf, $28
4. Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver, Harper, $32.50
5. Horse, Geraldine Brooks, Viking, $28

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

Alta

1. Spare, Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, Random House, $36
2. The Creative Act: A Way of Being, Rick Rubin, Penguin Press, $32
3. I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette McCurdy, Simon & Schuster, $27.99
4. Unraveling: What I Learned About Life While Shearing Sheep, Dyeing Wool, and Making the World’s Ugliest Sweater, Peggy Orenstein, Harper, $27.99
5. 8 Rules of Love: How to Find It, Keep It, and Let It Go, Jay Shetty, Simon & Schuster, $28.99

TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION

Alta

1. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Washington Square Press, $17
2. The Maid, Nita Prose, Ballantine Books, $18
3. Violeta, Isabel Allende, Ballantine Books, $18
4. It Ends with Us, Colleen Hoover, Atria Books, $16.99
5. The Swimmers, Julie Otsuka, Anchor Books, $16

TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION

Alta

1. All About Love: New Visions, bell hooks, William Morrow, $16.99
2. Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Milkweed Editions, $20
3. Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence, Anna Lembke, MD, Dutton, $18
4. The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, Bessel van der Kolk, MD, Penguin Books, $19
5. We Don’t Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Modern Ireland, Fintan O’Toole, Liveright Publishing, $20

Source: California Independent Booksellers Alliance

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