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 19, 2023.
This week’s list features a new history of Silicon Valley, by Malcolm Harris. His Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the World explores the “crimes” of capitalism that he says haunt Palo Alto; the book (read our review) also tracks the evolution of Northern California over a span of 150 years. Harris was born in Santa Cruz and raised in Palo Alto, and he provides readers with an intimate glimpse of growing up in the fabled Silicon Valley suburb while also charting its role in generating innovative companies and enormous wealth. Want to learn more? Check out the Silicon Valley women who helped create some of the most successful tech enterprises.
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
- Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin, Knopf, $28
- Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver, Harper, $32.50
- Victory City, Salman Rushdie, Random House, $30
- The Shards, Bret Easton Ellis, Knopf, $30. Read the Alta review
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
- The Creative Act: A Way of Being, Rick Rubin, Penguin Press, $32
- Spare, Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, Random House, $36
- Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy, James B. Stewart and Rachel Abrams, Penguin Press, $32
- I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette McCurdy, Simon & Schuster, $27.99
- 8 Rules of Love: How to Find It, Keep It, and Let It Go, Jay Shetty, Simon & Schuster, $28.99
TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION
- The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Washington Square Press, $17
- The Maid, Nita Prose, Ballantine Books, $18
- Violeta, Isabel Allende, Ballantine Books, $18
- Daisy Jones & the Six, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Ballantine Books, $17
- Love Poems, Pablo Neruda, New Directions, $11.95
TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION
- The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, Bessel van der Kolk, MD, Penguin Books, $19
- All About Love: New Visions, bell hooks, William Morrow, $16.99
- Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, Isabel Wilkerson, Random House, $20
- Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Milkweed Editions, $20
- Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence, Anna Lembke, MD, Dutton, $18
Northern 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
- Victory City, Salman Rushdie, Random House, $30
- Horse, Geraldine Brooks, Viking, $28
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
- Spare, Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, Random House, $36
- The Creative Act: A Way of Being, Rick Rubin, Penguin Press, $32
- Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the World, Malcolm Harris, Little, Brown, $36. Read the Alta review
- Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones, James Clear, Avery, $27
- The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse, Charlie Mackesy, HarperOne, $22.99
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
- Cloud Cuckoo Land, Anthony Doerr, Scribner, $20
- Daisy Jones & the Six, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Ballantine Books, $17
TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION
- Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, Isabel Wilkerson, Random House, $20
- 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
- Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Milkweed Editions, $20
- Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence, Anna Lembke, MD, Dutton, $18
Source: California Independent Booksellers Alliance
