Alta Journal’s California Bestsellers List (September 19, 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 September 15, 2024.

This week, the excellence of California Book Club authors is on full display in the literary world and on the bestsellers list. James, the latest novel by Percival Everett, the CBC’s May 2023 author, was recently long-listed for a 2024 National Book Award for Fiction. The novel—an adaptation of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn—was also short-listed for the 2024 Booker Prize. Rachel Kushner, the CBC’s May 2021 author, received the same honors for her contemporary spy novel Creation Lake (read the Alta review). Finally, the CBC’s February 2024 author, Dave Eggers, received an O. Henry Prize for his short story “The Honor of Your Presence.” The piece was recently republished in The Best Short Stories 2024: The O. Henry Prize Winners, edited by Jenny Minton Quigley and Amor Towles.

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

Southern California

HARDCOVER FICTION

1. Creation Lake, Rachel Kushner, Scribner, $29.99. Read the Alta review.
2. The Life Impossible, Matt Haig, Viking, $30
3. Somewhere Beyond the Sea, TJ Klune, Tor Books, $28.99
4. All Fours, Miranda July, Riverhead Books, $29. Read the Alta review.
5. Tell Me Everything, Elizabeth Strout, Random House, $30

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

1. Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI, Yuval Noah Harari, Random House, $35
2. The Art of Power: My Story As America’s First Woman Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, Simon & Schuster, $30
3. The Creative Act: A Way of Being, Rick Rubin, Penguin Press, $32
4. I’m Still Here: A Dog’s Purpose Forever, Cathryn Michon and Seth Taylor (illustrator), Andrews McMeel Publishing, $19.99
5. How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen, David Brooks, Random House, $30

TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION

1. Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver, Harper Perennial, $21.99
2. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin, Vintage, $19
3. The Alchemist (25th-anniversary edition), Paulo Coelho, HarperOne, $17.99
4. A Court of Thorns and Roses, Sarah J. Maas, Bloomsbury Publishing, $19
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 Happy Hustle Version 2.0: 10 Alignments to Avoid Burnout and Achieve Blissful Balance, Cary Jack, Storybuilders Press, $15.99
2. The Backyard Bird Chronicles, Amy Tan, Knopf, $35
3. The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession, Michael Finkel, Vintage, $18
4. The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom, Don Miguel Ruiz and Janet Mills, Amber-Allen Publishing, $12.95
5. Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World, Naomi Klein, Picador, $20

Northern California

HARDCOVER FICTION

1. Tell Me Everything, Elizabeth Strout, Random House, $30
2. Creation Lake, Rachel Kushner, Scribner, $29.99. Read the Alta review.
3. The Life Impossible, Matt Haig, Viking, $30
4. James, Percival Everett, Doubleday, $28. Read an excerpt in Alta.
5. Somewhere Beyond the Sea, TJ Klune, Tor Books, $28.99

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

1. Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI, Yuval Noah Harari, Random House, $35
2. The Art of Power: My Story As America’s First Woman Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, Simon & Schuster, $30
3. Lovely One, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Random House, $35
4. The Creative Act: A Way of Being, Rick Rubin, Penguin Press, $32
5. I Heard There Was a Secret Chord: Music As Medicine, Daniel J. Levitin, W.W. Norton & Company, $32.50

TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION

1. Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver, Harper Perennial, $21.99
2. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin, Vintage, $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. The Best Short Stories 2024: The O. Henry Prize Winners, Amor Towles (editor) and Jenny Minton Quigley (editor), Vintage, $19
5. A Court of Thorns and Roses, Sarah J. Maas, Bloomsbury Publishing, $19

TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION

1. The Backyard Bird Chronicles, Amy Tan, Knopf, $35
2. The Truths We Hold: An American Journey, Kamala Harris, Penguin, $20
3. The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession, Michael Finkel, Vintage, $18
4. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Milkweed Editions, $20
5. All About Love: New Visions, bell hooks, William Morrow, $16.99

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.