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 December 10, 2023.
With the holidays fast approaching, the clock is ticking on your gift list. Here at Alta, we think a book makes the perfect present every time. Check out our holiday shopping guide to find book ideas for every genre and every reader. Struggling to find something for your celebrity-obsessed family member? This week’s bestsellers list includes memoirs from two music legends. Barbra Streisand’s recent memoir, My Name Is Barbra, delves into the iconic singer’s professional and personal endeavors, tracing her journey from Brooklyn to Broadway. And in The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, Paul McCartney shares the stories behind the songs and offers an honest account of life during Beatlemania.
For a full list of titles and categories, visit the California Independent Booksellers Alliance.•
Southern California
HARDCOVER FICTION
- Tom Lake, Ann Patchett, Harper, $30
- The Fraud, Zadie Smith, Penguin Press, $29
- The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, James McBride, Riverhead Books, $28
- Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus, Doubleday, $29
- Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver, Harper, $32.50
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
- Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning, Liz Cheney, Little, Brown, $32.50
- My Name Is Barbra, Barbra Streisand, Viking, $47
- Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism, Rachel Maddow, Crown, $32
TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION
- Trust, Hernan Diaz, Riverhead Books, $17
- A Court of Thorns and Roses, Sarah J. Maas, Bloomsbury Publishing, $19
- Babel, R.F. Kuang, Harper Voyager, $20
- The Thursday Murder Club, Richard Osman, Penguin Books, $18
- All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr, Scribner, $18.99
TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION
- Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI (movie tie-in edition), David Grann, Vintage, $18
- All About Love: New Visions, bell hooks, William Morrow, $16.99
- The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017, Rashid Khalidi, Picador, $19.99
- An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us, Ed Yong, Random House, $20
- Everything I Know About Love: A Memoir, Dolly Alderton, Harper Perennial, $18.99
Northern California
HARDCOVER FICTION
- Lessons in Chemistry, Bonnie Garmus, Doubleday, $29
- The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, James McBride, Riverhead Books, $28
- Tom Lake, Ann Patchett, Harper, $30
- The Fraud, Zadie Smith, Penguin Press, $29
- Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver, Harper, $32.50
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
- Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning, Liz Cheney, Little, Brown, $32.50
- The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder, David Grann, Doubleday, $30
- Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism, Rachel Maddow, Crown, $32
- How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen, David Brooks, Random House, $30
- My Name Is Barbra, Barbra Streisand, Viking, $47
TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION
- Trust, Hernan Diaz, Riverhead Books, $17
- The Thursday Murder Club, Richard Osman, Penguin Books, $18
- A Court of Thorns and Roses, Sarah J. Maas, Bloomsbury Publishing, $19
- The Midnight Library, Matt Haig, Penguin Books, $18
- All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr, Scribner, $18.99
TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION
- Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI (movie tie-in edition), David Grann, Vintage, $18
- Solito: A Memoir, Javier Zamora, Hogarth, $18
- Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Milkweed Editions, $20
- An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us, Ed Yong, Random House, $20
- The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, Paul McCartney, Liveright, $30
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.
