Alta Journal’s California Bestsellers List (August 8, 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 August 4, 2024.

Two books featuring strong female leads hit the bestsellers list this week. In Sarah Manguso’s new novel, Liars, Jane meets John—a seemingly perfect man by Jane’s standards. But their marriage unravels as Jane’s attention shifts to her career. (Interested readers should be sure to check out Alta’s Q&A with Manguso for more insights on Liars.) Also on the list is My Brilliant Friend, by Elena Ferrante (translated by Ann Goldstein). In this 2011 novel, two girls—Elena and Lila—form a friendship that evolves as the pair grow into womanhood and, eventually, experience motherhood.

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

Southern California

HARDCOVER FICTION

1. James, Percival Everett, Doubleday, $28. Read an excerpt in Alta.
2. All Fours, Miranda July, Riverhead Books, $29. Read the Alta review.
3. The God of the Woods, Liz Moore, Riverhead Books, $30
4. Liars, Sarah Manguso, Hogarth, $28. Read an author Q&A in Alta.
5. Long Island Compromise, Taffy Brodesser-Akner, Random House, $30

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

1. The Creative Act: A Way of Being, Rick Rubin, Penguin Press, $32
2. Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World, Anne Applebaum, Doubleday, $27
3. The Friday Afternoon Club: A Family Memoir, Griffin Dunne, Penguin Press, $30. Read an excerpt in Alta.
4. The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, Jonathan Haidt, Penguin Press, $30
5. The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War, Erik Larson, Crown, $35

TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION

1. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin, Vintage, $19
2. A Court of Thorns and Roses, Sarah J. Maas, Bloomsbury Publishing, $19
3. My Brilliant Friend (HBO tie-in edition), Elena Ferrante and Ann Goldstein (translator), Europa Editions, $17. Read more about the HBO series in Alta.
4. Just for the Summer, Abby Jimenez, Forever, $17.99
5. This Summer Will Be Different, Carley Fortune, Berkley Books, $19

TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION

1. The Backyard Bird Chronicles, Amy Tan, Knopf, $35
2. The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession, Michael Finkel, Vintage, $18
3. All About Love: New Visions, bell hooks, William Morrow, $16.99
4. The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017, Rashid Khalidi, Metropolitan Books, $19.99
5. Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, J.D. Vance, Harper, $18.99

Northern California

HARDCOVER FICTION

1. James, Percival Everett, Doubleday, $28. Read an excerpt in Alta.
2. The Women, Kristin Hannah, St. Martin’s Press, $30
3. All Fours, Miranda July, Riverhead Books, $29. Read the Alta review.
4. The God of the Woods, Liz Moore, Riverhead Books, $30
5. Sandwich, Catherine Newman, Harper, $26.99

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

1. Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World, Anne Applebaum, Doubleday, $27
2. The Creative Act: A Way of Being, Rick Rubin, Penguin Press, $32
3. The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War, Erik Larson, Crown, $35
4. The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, Jonathan Haidt, Penguin Press, $30
5. All in the Family: The Trumps and How We Got This Way, Fred Trump, Gallery Books, $30

TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION

1. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin, Vintage, $19
2. A Court of Thorns and Roses, Sarah J. Maas, Bloomsbury Publishing, $19
3. Lady Tan’s Circle of Women, Lisa See, Scribner, $18.99. Read an excerpt in Alta.
4. The Exchange: After the Firm, John Grisham, Vintage, $18
5. My Brilliant Friend (HBO tie-in edition), Elena Ferrante and Ann Goldstein (translator), Europa Editions, $17. Read more about the HBO series in Alta.

TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION

1. The Backyard Bird Chronicles, Amy Tan, Knopf, $35
2. The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession, Michael Finkel, Vintage, $18
3. Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, J.D. Vance, Harper, $18.99
4. All About Love: New Visions, bell hooks, William Morrow, $16.99
5. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Milkweed Editions, $20

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.