Alta Journal’s California Bestsellers List (April 12, 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 April 9, 2023.

The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books takes place Saturday, April 22, and Sunday, April 23, at the University of Southern California. This fantastic event will feature more than 500 writers, poets, and musicians, some of whom are on this week’s list. Pick up Laura Dave’s novel The Last Thing He Told Me before her panel with Jennifer Garner and Lorraine Ali on the Apple TV+ adaptation of this thrilling story. And don’t forget to read Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, a novel partly set in Venice Beach, in advance of author Gabrielle Zevin’s conversation with Samantha Melbourneweaver. Alta will be at the festival as well. We’re hosting a scavenger hunt and two days of book signings, which will include five past California Book Club authors and two upcoming ones. Please stop by booth #111 and say hello!

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

Southern California

HARDCOVER FICTION

1. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin, Knopf, $28
2. Romantic Comedy, Curtis Sittenfeld, Random House, $28
3. Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus, Doubleday, $29
4. Hello Beautiful, Ann Napolitano, Dial Press, $28
5. Birnam Wood, Eleanor Catton, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $28

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

1. I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette McCurdy, Simon & Schuster, $27.99
2. Sweet Enough: A Dessert Cookbook, Alison Roman, Clarkson Potter, $35
3. The Creative Act: A Way of Being, Rick Rubin, Penguin Press, $32
4. Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones, James Clear, Avery, $27
5. Poverty, by America, Matthew Desmond, Crown, $28

TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION

1. Daisy Jones & the Six, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Ballantine Books, $17
2. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Washington Square Press, $17
3. The Candy House, Jennifer Egan, Scribner, $17.99
4. The Last Thing He Told Me, Laura Dave, Marysue Rucci Books, $17.99
5. Sea of Tranquility, Emily St. John Mandel, Vintage, $17

TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION

1. Crying in H Mart: A Memoir, Michelle Zauner, Vintage, $17
2. All About Love: New Visions, bell hooks, William Morrow, $16.99
3. The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity, David Graeber and David Wengrow, Picador, $25
4. The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself, Michael A. Singer, New Harbinger Publications, $18.95
5. Meditations: A New Translation, Marcus Aurelius, Modern Library, $11

Northern California

HARDCOVER FICTION

1. Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus, Doubleday, $29
2. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin, Knopf, $28
3. Hello Beautiful, Ann Napolitano, Dial Press, $28
4. Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver, Harper, $32.50
5. Romantic Comedy, Curtis Sittenfeld, Random House, $28

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

1. Poverty, by America, Matthew Desmond, Crown, $28
2. The Creative Act: A Way of Being, Rick Rubin, Penguin Press, $32
3. Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the World, Malcolm Harris, Little, Brown, $36. Read the Alta review
4. Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones, James Clear, Avery, $27
5. Sweet Enough: A Dessert Cookbook, Alison Roman, Clarkson Potter, $35

TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION

1. Daisy Jones & the Six, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Ballantine Books, $17
2. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Washington Square Press, $17
3. Sea of Tranquility, Emily St. John Mandel, Vintage, $17
4. The Candy House, Jennifer Egan, Scribner, $17.99
5. The Lincoln Highway, Amor Towles, Penguin Books, $19

TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION

1. Crying in H Mart: A Memoir, Michelle Zauner, Vintage, $17
2. All About Love: New Visions, bell hooks, William Morrow, $16.99
3. Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence, Anna Lembke, MD, Dutton, $18
4. The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity, David Graeber and David Wengrow, Picador, $25
5. Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Milkweed Editions, $20

Source: California Independent Booksellers Alliance

Elizabeth Casillas

Elizabeth Casillas is an assistant editor at Alta Journal. A graduate of California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, she has previously written for the Poly Post and Enspire Magazine.