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 March 3, 2024.
Alta Journal’s California Book Club takes over the indie bestsellers list this week, with three of its authors and special guests nabbing top spots. The book club’s November 2021 author, Tommy Orange, returns with his new book, Wandering Stars—a highly anticipated sequel to his debut novel, There There. CBC special guest Rebecca Makkai graces the list with her campus novel I Have Some Questions for You (watch Makkai talk with Rabih Alameddine about his novel The Wrong End of the Telescope at the CBC’s August 2022 event). And upcoming CBC author Javier Zamora makes an appearance with his powerful memoir, Solito, our June pick.
For a full list of titles and categories, visit the California Independent Booksellers Alliance.•
Southern California
HARDCOVER FICTION
- The Women, Kristin Hannah, St. Martin’s Press, $30
- The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, James McBride, Riverhead Books, $28
- Wandering Stars, Tommy Orange, Knopf, $29. Read the Alta review.
- Fourth Wing, Rebecca Yarros, Red Tower Books, $29.99
- North Woods, Daniel Mason, Random House, $28. Read the Alta review.
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
- The Creative Act: A Way of Being, Rick Rubin, Penguin Press, $32
- Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection, Charles Duhigg, Random House, $30
- The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder, David Grann, Doubleday, $30
- Burn Book: A Tech Love Story, Kara Swisher, Simon & Schuster, $30
- Grief Is for People, Sloane Crosley, MCD, $27
TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION
- A Court of Thorns and Roses, Sarah J. Maas, Bloomsbury Publishing, $19
- Dune, Frank Herbert, Ace Books, $18
- I Have Some Questions for You, Rebecca Makkai, Penguin Books, $19. Read the Alta review.
- Trust, Hernan Diaz, Riverhead Books, $17
- The Midnight Library, Matt Haig, Penguin Books, $18
TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION
- All About Love: New Visions, bell hooks, William Morrow, $16.99
- The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, Julia Cameron, Tarcherperigee, $19
- The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017, Rashid Khalidi, Picador, $19.99
- Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI (movie tie-in edition), David Grann, Vintage, $18
- Just Kids, Patti Smith, Ecco Press, $18.99
Northern California
HARDCOVER FICTION
- Wandering Stars, Tommy Orange, Knopf, $29. Read the Alta review.
- The Women, Kristin Hannah, St. Martin’s Press, $30
- The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, James McBride, Riverhead Books, $28
- North Woods, Daniel Mason, Random House, $28. Read the Alta review.
- Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver, Harper, $32.50
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
- The Creative Act: A Way of Being, Rick Rubin, Penguin Press, $32
- Burn Book: A Tech Love Story, Kara Swisher, Simon & Schuster, $30
- The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder, David Grann, Doubleday, $30
- Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection, Charles Duhigg, Random House, $30
- Attack from Within: How Disinformation Is Sabotaging America, Barbara McQuade, Seven Stories Press, $35
TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION
- A Court of Thorns and Roses, Sarah J. Maas, Bloomsbury Publishing, $19
- Horse, Geraldine Brooks, Penguin, $19
- Trust, Hernan Diaz, Riverhead Books, $17
- Dune, Frank Herbert, Ace Books, $18
- The Midnight Library, Matt Haig, 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
- Solito: A Memoir, Javier Zamora, Hogarth, $18. Register for Zamora’s California Book Club event.
- 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
- 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.
