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 February 4, 2024.
Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, and for some, that means leaning into all things romance, while others search for escape. Either way, the bestsellers list has you covered. Fans of #romantasy on BookTok will be familiar with A Court of Thorns and Roses, the first installment of Sarah J. Maas’s bestselling romance fantasy series, where you’ll meet beloved characters Feyre Archeron, Tamlin, and Lucien Vanserra in their mystical home, Prythian. If a nonfiction meditation on human connection is more appealing, try the classic All About Love: New Visions, by bell hooks. Over 13 chapters, the feminist icon examines how love is at the center of almost everything, not just romance.
For a full list of titles and categories, visit the California Independent Booksellers Alliance.•
Southern California
HARDCOVER FICTION
- House of Flame and Shadow, Sarah J. Maas, Bloomsbury Publishing, $32
- North Woods, Daniel Mason, Random House, $28. Read the Alta review.
- The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, James McBride, Riverhead Books, $28
- Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin, Knopf, $28
- Martyr!, Kaveh Akbar, Knopf, $28
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
- The Creative Act: A Way of Being, Rick Rubin, Penguin Press, $32
- How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen, David Brooks, Random House, $30
- Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones, James Clear, Avery, $27
- Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism, Rachel Maddow, Crown, $32
- The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder, David Grann, Doubleday, $30
TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION
- A Court of Thorns and Roses, Sarah J. Maas, Bloomsbury Publishing, $19
- Trust, Hernan Diaz, Riverhead Books, $17
- A Little Life, Hanya Yanagihara, Anchor, $18
- The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Washington Square Press, $17
- Circe, Madeline Miller, Back Bay Books, $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
- The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom, Don Miguel Ruiz and Janet Mills, Amber-Allen Publishing, $12.95
- Crying in H Mart: A Memoir, Michelle Zauner, Vintage, $17
- All About Love: New Visions, bell hooks, William Morrow, $16.99
- Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, Isabel Wilkerson, Random House, $20
Northern California
HARDCOVER FICTION
- House of Flame and Shadow, Sarah J. Maas, Bloomsbury Publishing, $32
- The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, James McBride, Riverhead Books, $28
- Martyr!, Kaveh Akbar, Knopf, $28
- North Woods, Daniel Mason, Random House, $28. Read the Alta review.
- Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin, Knopf, $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
- How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen, David Brooks, Random House, $30
- Oath and Honor: A Memoir and a Warning, Liz Cheney, Little, Brown, $32.50
- Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones, James Clear, Avery, $27
TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION
- A Court of Thorns and Roses, Sarah J. Maas, Bloomsbury Publishing, $19
- Trust, Hernan Diaz, Riverhead Books, $17
- Horse, Geraldine Brooks, Penguin, $19
- A Court of Mist and Fury, Sarah J. Maas, Bloomsbury Publishing, $19
- The Thursday Murder Club, Richard Osman, Penguin Books, $18
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
- The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017, Rashid Khalidi, Picador, $19.99
- All About Love: New Visions, bell hooks, William Morrow, $16.99
- 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
- Crying in H Mart: A Memoir, Michelle Zauner, Vintage, $17
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.
