Alta Journal ’s California Bestsellers List (October 3, 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 29, 2024.

Two new releases make the bestsellers list this week. First is Sally Rooney’s Intermezzo, which explores the complexities of grief and family dynamics. The novel follows Peter and Ivan, two brothers navigating the aftermath of their father’s death and their strained relationship. Next is Richard Powers’s Playground, a sweeping novel about friendship and the fragility of the environment. It centers on four characters: Rafi and Todd, whose friendship begins in high school because of a shared passion for chess, and Ina and Evie, who, along with Rafi, work on the remote island of Makatea in French Polynesia.

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

Southern California

HARDCOVER FICTION

1. Intermezzo, Sally Rooney, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $29
2. James, Percival Everett, Doubleday, $28. Read an excerpt in Alta.
3. Playground, Richard Powers, W.W. Norton & Company, $29.99
4. The Empusium: A Health Resort Horror Story, Olga Tokarczuk and Antonia Lloyd-Jones (translator), Riverhead Books, $30
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. A Return to Common Sense: How to Fix America Before We Really Blow It, Leigh McGowan, Atria/One Signal Publishers, $29.99
3. On Freedom, Timothy Snyder, Crown, $32
4. Something Lost, Something Gained: Reflections on Life, Love, and Liberty, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Simon & Schuster, $29.99
5. The Creative Act: A Way of Being, Rick Rubin, Penguin Press, $32

TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION

1. Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver, Harper Perennial, $21.99
2. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin, Vintage, $19
3. The Bee Sting, Paul Murray, Picador, $20
4. Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir, Ballantine Books, $20
5. The Midnight Library, Matt Haig, Penguin Books, $18

TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION

1. The Truths We Hold: An American Journey, Kamala Harris, Penguin, $20
2. The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession, Michael Finkel, Vintage, $18
3. The Backyard Bird Chronicles, Amy Tan, Knopf, $35
4. The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, Bessel van der Kolk, MD, Penguin Books, $19
5. The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017, Rashid Khalidi, Metropolitan Books, $19.99

Northern California

HARDCOVER FICTION

1. Intermezzo, Sally Rooney, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $29
2. Tell Me Everything, Elizabeth Strout, Random House, $30
3. Playground, Richard Powers, W.W. Norton & Company, $29.99
4. All Fours, Miranda July, Riverhead Books, $29. Read the Alta review.
5. James, Percival Everett, Doubleday, $28. Read an excerpt in Alta.

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

1. Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI, Yuval Noah Harari, Random House, $35
2. On Freedom, Timothy Snyder, Crown, $32
3. Something Lost, Something Gained: Reflections on Life, Love, and Liberty, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Simon & Schuster, $29.99
4. The Creative Act: A Way of Being, Rick Rubin, Penguin Press, $32
5. The Art of Power: My Story As America’s First Woman Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, Simon & Schuster, $30

TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION

1. Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver, Harper Perennial, $21.99
2. Fourth Wing, Rebecca Yarros, Red Tower Books, $20.99
3. The Best Short Stories 2024: The O. Henry Prize Winners, Amor Towles (editor) and Jenny Minton Quigley (editor), Vintage, $19
4. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin, 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 Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession, Michael Finkel, Vintage, $18
3. The Truths We Hold: An American Journey, Kamala Harris, Penguin, $20
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.