Alta Journal’s California Bestsellers List (January 25, 2024)

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 January 21, 2024.

This week, the bestsellers list features the recently published novel The Fury, by Alex Michaelides. Set on an island in Greece, the novel has all the ingredients of a classic mystery: an ex–movie star, a chorus of celebrity friends, a peculiar narrator, and—of course—a murder. For those who prefer thrills that are rooted in reality, the nonfiction book The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession, by Michael Finkel, is another gripping read. Finkel tells a tale of love and crime as he traces the prolific heists of art thief Stéphane Breitwieser and his girlfriend, Anne-Catherine Kleinklaus, around Europe.

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

Southern California

HARDCOVER FICTION

1. The Fury, Alex Michaelides, Celadon Books, $28.99
2. The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, James McBride, Riverhead Books, $28
3. North Woods, Daniel Mason, Random House, $28. Read the Alta review.
4. The Bee Sting, Paul Murray, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $30
5. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin, Knopf, $28

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

1. The Creative Act: A Way of Being, Rick Rubin, Penguin Press, $32
2. Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones, James Clear, Avery, $27
3. How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen, David Brooks, Random House, $30
4. The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession, Michael Finkel, Knopf, $28
5. Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism, Rachel Maddow, Crown, $32

TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION

1. A Court of Thorns and Roses, Sarah J. Maas, Bloomsbury Publishing, $19
2. Trust, Hernan Diaz, Riverhead Books, $17
3. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Washington Square Press, $17
4. The Midnight Library, Matt Haig, Penguin Books, $18
5. A Little Life, Hanya Yanagihara, Anchor, $18

TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION

1. All About Love: New Visions, bell hooks, William Morrow, $16.99
2. The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity (30th anniversary edition), Julia Cameron, TarcherPerigee, $19
3. Crying in H Mart: A Memoir, Michelle Zauner, Vintage, $17
4. The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017, Rashid Khalidi, Picador, $19.99
5. The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics (movie tie-in edition), Daniel James Brown, Penguin, $19

Northern California

HARDCOVER FICTION

1. The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, James McBride, Riverhead Books, $28
2. North Woods, Daniel Mason, Random House, $28. Read the Alta review.
3. Fourth Wing, Rebecca Yarros, Red Tower Books, $29.99
4. Iron Flame, Rebecca Yarros, Red Tower Books, $29.99
5. Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver, Harper, $32.50

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

1. The Creative Act: A Way of Being, Rick Rubin, Penguin Press, $32
2. Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning, Liz Cheney, Little, Brown, $32.50
3. How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen, David Brooks, Random House, $30
4. The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder, David Grann, Doubleday, $30
5. Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones, James Clear, Avery, $27

TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION

1. Trust, Hernan Diaz, Riverhead Books, $17
2. A Court of Thorns and Roses, Sarah J. Maas, Bloomsbury Publishing, $19
3. Horse, Geraldine Brooks, Penguin, $19
4. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Washington Square Press, $17
5. A Little Life, Hanya Yanagihara, Anchor, $18

TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION

1. Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI (movie tie-in edition), David Grann, Vintage, $18
2. The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics (movie tie-in edition), Daniel James Brown, Penguin, $19
3. The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom, Don Miguel Ruiz and Janet Mills, Amber-Allen Publishing, $12.95
4. The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017, Rashid Khalidi, Picador, $19.99
5. Crying in H Mart: A Memoir, Michelle Zauner, Vintage, $17

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.