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 16, 2023.
With bookish weekends ahead (the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books in the next few days and Bay Area Book Festival coming up in early May), take some time with this week’s list to tap into your artistic side and recharge. New Mexico author Julia Cameron’s decades-old The Artist’s Way uses affirmations, quotes, and tasks to help readers remove any obstacles restricting their creative processes. Also on the list is Built to Move: The Ten Essential Habits to Help You Move Freely and Live Fully. This is a self-help book by Kelly and Juliet Starrett, a California couple focused on improving people’s quality of life through regular physical exercises.
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
- Romantic Comedy, Curtis Sittenfeld, Random House, $28
- I Have Some Questions for You, Rebecca Makkai, Viking, $28. Read the Alta review
- Hello Beautiful, Ann Napolitano, Dial Press, $28
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
- Poverty, by America, Matthew Desmond, Crown, $28
- Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones, James Clear, Avery, $27
- Sweet Enough: A Dessert Cookbook, Alison Roman, Clarkson Potter, $35
- I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette McCurdy, Simon & Schuster, $27.99
- I Swear: Politics Is Messier Than My Minivan, Katie Porter, Crown, $28
TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION
- Daisy Jones & the Six, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Ballantine Books, $17
- The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Washington Square Press, $17
- The Last Thing He Told Me, Laura Dave, Marysue Rucci Books, $17.99
- The Candy House, Jennifer Egan, Scribner, $17.99
- Sea of Tranquility, Emily St. John Mandel, Vintage, $17
TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION
- Crying in H Mart: A Memoir, Michelle Zauner, Vintage, $17
- 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
- The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom, Don Miguel Ruiz and Janet Mills, Amber-Allen Publishing, $12.95
- The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, Julia Cameron, TarcherPerigee, $19
Northern California
HARDCOVER FICTION
- Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus, Doubleday, $29
- Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin, Knopf, $28
- Hello Beautiful, Ann Napolitano, Dial Press, $28
- Romantic Comedy, Curtis Sittenfeld, Random House, $28
- Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver, Harper, $32.50
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
- Poverty, by America, Matthew Desmond, Crown, $28
- I Swear: Politics Is Messier Than My Minivan, Katie Porter, Crown, $28
- The Creative Act: A Way of Being, Rick Rubin, Penguin Press, $32
- Sweet Enough: A Dessert Cookbook, Alison Roman, Clarkson Potter, $35
- Built to Move: The 10 Essential Habits to Help You Move Freely and Live Fully, Kelly Starrett and Juliet Starrett, Knopf, $28
TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION
- The Candy House, Jennifer Egan, Scribner, $17.99
- The Last Thing He Told Me, Laura Dave, Marysue Rucci Books, $17.99
- The Lincoln Highway, Amor Towles, Penguin Books, $19
- Daisy Jones & the Six, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Ballantine Books, $17
- Sea of Tranquility, Emily St. John Mandel, Vintage, $17
TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION
- Crying in H Mart: A Memoir, Michelle Zauner, Vintage, $17
- Braiding Sweetgrass for Young Adults: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Milkweed Editions, $20
- 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
- The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity, David Graeber and David Wengrow, Picador, $25
Source: California Independent Booksellers Alliance
