Alta Journal’s California Bestsellers List (March 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 March 12, 2023.

With the switch to daylight saving upon us, perhaps we ought to use one of this week’s bestsellers to reevaluate our relationship with time. Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock, by Jenny Odell—check out our author interview—brings readers a new way of thinking about time. Odell encourages us to disconnect from the structure of our society and instead use natural cues to live our days. We might also rekindle our sense of awe with Katherine May’s Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age. May shares stories from her life and explores just how important the natural world is to all of us.

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. I Have Some Questions for You, Rebecca Makkai, Viking, $28. Read the Alta review
3. Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver, Harper, $32.50
4. Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus, Doubleday, $29
5. A Day of Fallen Night, Samantha Shannon, Bloomsbury Publishing, $35

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

Alta

1. The Creative Act: A Way of Being, Rick Rubin, Penguin Press, $32
2. Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age, Katherine May, Riverhead Books, $26
3. I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette McCurdy, Simon & Schuster, $27.99
4. The Greatness Mindset: Unlock the Power of Your Mind and Live Your Best Life Today, Lewis Howes, Hay House, $26.99
5. It’s OK to Be Angry About Capitalism, Bernie Sanders, Crown, $28

TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION

Alta

1. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Washington Square Press, $17
2. Daisy Jones & the Six, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Ballantine Books, $17
3. The Candy House, Jennifer Egan, Scribner, $17.99
4. The Paris Apartment, Lucy Foley, William Morrow, $18.99
5. The Maid, Nita Prose, Ballantine Books, $18

TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION

Alta

1. All About Love: New Visions, bell hooks, William Morrow, $16.99
2. Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Essays, Joan Didion, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $17
3. These Precious Days: Essays, Ann Patchett, Harper Perennial, $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. Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Milkweed Editions, $20

Northern California

HARDCOVER FICTION

Alta

1. Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus, Doubleday, $29
2. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin, Knopf, $28
3. Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver, Harper, $32.50
4. Old Babes in the Wood: Stories, Margaret Atwood, Doubleday, $30
5. I Have Some Questions for You, Rebecca Makkai, Viking, $28. Read the Alta review

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

Alta

1. Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock, Jenny Odell, Random House, $28.99. Read the Alta interview
2. The Creative Act: A Way of Being, Rick Rubin, Penguin Press, $32
3. Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones, James Clear, Avery, $27
4. It’s OK to Be Angry About Capitalism, Bernie Sanders, Crown, $28
5. Spare, Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, Random House, $36

TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION

Alta

1. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Washington Square Press, $17
2. The Candy House, Jennifer Egan, Scribner, $17.99
3. Daisy Jones & the Six, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Ballantine Books, $17
4. The Maid, Nita Prose, Ballantine Books, $18
5. It Ends with Us, Colleen Hoover, Atria Books, $16.99

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. The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, Bessel van der Kolk, MD, Penguin Books, $19
4. Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, Isabel Wilkerson, Random House, $20
5. Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence, Anna Lembke, MD, Dutton, $18

Source: California Independent Booksellers Alliance

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