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 July 9, 2023.
California author Emma Cline’s The Guest is on the list this week, bringing readers an enthralling novel of a young woman who, after being kicked out of her partner’s summer house, struggles to find her footing. She intends to spend five days crashing parties and sneaking into beach clubs until her lover’s Labor Day party, where she hopes to reconcile. Taking a more somber turn, Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian is also on the list this week. The novel tells the story of a runaway child who, in the 1850s, comes across a gang of vicious outlaws and is thrust into the midst of their chilling existence.
For a full list of titles and categories, visit the California Independent Booksellers Alliance.•
Southern California
HARDCOVER FICTION
- Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin, Knopf, $28
- The Covenant of Water, Abraham Verghese, Grove Press, $32
- Fourth Wing, Rebecca Yarros, Red Tower Books, $29.99
- Yellowface, R.F. Kuang, William Morrow, $30
- The Guest, Emma Cline, Random House, $28
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
- The Creative Act: A Way of Being, Rick Rubin, Penguin Press, $32
- The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder, David Grann, Doubleday, $30
- The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession, Michael Finkel, Knopf, $28
- On Our Best Behavior: The Seven Deadly Sins and the Price Women Pay to Be Good, Elise Loehnen, Dial Press, $28
- Pageboy: A Memoir, Elliot Page, Flatiron Books, $29.99
TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION
- Trust, Hernan Diaz, Riverhead Books, $17
- Days at the Morisaki Bookshop, Satoshi Yagisawa, Harper Perennial, $16.99
- The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Washington Square Press, $17
- Blood Meridian, or The Evening Redness in the West, Cormac McCarthy, Vintage, $17
- The Cat Who Saved Books, Sosuke Natsukawa, HarperVia, $18.99
TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION
- Happy-Go-Lucky, David Sedaris, Back Bay Books, $18.99
- Crying in H Mart: A Memoir, Michelle Zauner, Vintage, $17
- Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, David Grann, Vintage, $17
- All About Love: New Visions, bell hooks, William Morrow, $16.99
- Solito: A Memoir, Javier Zamora, Hogarth, $18
Northern California
HARDCOVER FICTION
- The Covenant of Water, Abraham Verghese, Grove Press, $32
- Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus, Doubleday, $29
- Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver, Harper, $32.50
- Yellowface, R.F. Kuang, William Morrow, $30
- Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin, Knopf, $28
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
- The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder, David Grann, Doubleday, $30
- The Creative Act: A Way of Being, Rick Rubin, Penguin Press, $32
- The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession, Michael Finkel, Knopf, $28
- Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones, James Clear, Avery, $27
- Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity, Peter Attia, MD, with Bill Gifford, Harmony, $32
TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION
- Trust, Hernan Diaz, Riverhead Books, $17
- The Midnight Library, Matt Haig, Penguin Books, $18
- The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Washington Square Press, $17
- Days at the Morisaki Bookshop, Satoshi Yagisawa, Harper Perennial, $16.99
- The Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller, Ecco, $17.99
TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION
- Solito: A Memoir, Javier Zamora, Hogarth, $18
- Happy-Go-Lucky, David Sedaris, Back Bay Books, $18.99
- Crying in H Mart: A Memoir, Michelle Zauner, Vintage, $17
- Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, David Grann, Vintage, $17
- All About Love: New Visions, bell hooks, William Morrow, $16.99
Source: California Independent Booksellers Alliance
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.
