Alta Journal’s California Bestsellers List (November 7, 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 November 3, 2024.

Get ready to dive into two new titles that have recently joined the bestsellers list. First is Louise Penny’s The Grey Wolf, the 19th installment in the Chief Inspector Gamache mystery series. In this thrilling novel, Armand Gamache, the head of homicide on the Québec provincial police force, is reluctantly drawn into a sinister case after a series of strange events unfolds, including the discovery of a mysterious list, the triggering of an intruder alarm, and the disappearance of a coat. But if you’re in the mood for nonfiction, don’t miss STEM for All: How to Connect, Create, and Cultivate STEM Education for All Learners, by Leena Bakshi McLean. McLean, founder and executive director of the learning nonprofit STEM4Real, provides a comprehensive road map for K–12 teachers for introducing STEM curricula to their classrooms.

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. The Grey Wolf, Louise Penny, Minotaur Books, $30
3. Playground, Richard Powers, W.W. Norton & Company, $29.99
4. The Waiting: A Ballard and Bosch Novel, Michael Connelly, Little, Brown and Company, $30. Read Alta’s coverage of Connelly’s work here.
5. James, Percival Everett, Doubleday, $28. Read an excerpt in Alta.

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

1. Be Ready When the Luck Happens: A Memoir, Ina Garten, Crown, $34
2. The Message, Ta-Nehisi Coates, One World, $30
3. Patriot, Alexei Navalny, Knopf, $35
4. Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering, Malcolm Gladwell, Little, Brown and Company, $32
5. Sonny Boy, Al Pacino, Penguin Press, $35

TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION

1. The Vegetarian, Han Kang and Deborah Smith (translator), Hogarth, $17
2. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin, Vintage, $19
3. Blackouts, Justin Torres, Picador, $20. Read the Alta review.
4. My Brilliant Friend (HBO tie-in edition), Elena Ferrante and Ann Goldstein (translator), Europa Editions, $17. Read more about the HBO series in Alta.
5. North Woods, Daniel Mason, Random House Trade Paperbacks, $18. Read the Alta review.

TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION

1. The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession, Michael Finkel, Vintage, $18
2. The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, Bessel van der Kolk, MD, Penguin Books, $19
3. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, Yuval Noah Harari, Harper Perennial, $25.99
4. The Backyard Bird Chronicles, Amy Tan, Knopf, $35
5. STEM for All: How to Connect, Create, and Cultivate STEM Education for All Learners, Leena Bakshi McLean, Jossey-Bass, $30

Northern California

HARDCOVER FICTION

1. The Grey Wolf, Louise Penny, Minotaur Books, $30
2. Playground, Richard Powers, W.W. Norton & Company, $29.99
3. Intermezzo, Sally Rooney, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $29
4. The Waiting: A Ballard and Bosch Novel, Michael Connelly, Little, Brown and Company, $30. Read Alta’s coverage of Connelly’s work here.
5. James, Percival Everett, Doubleday, $28. Read an excerpt in Alta.

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

1. The Message, Ta-Nehisi Coates, One World, $30
2. Patriot, Alexei Navalny, Knopf, $35
3. Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI, Yuval Noah Harari, Random House, $35
4. Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering, Malcolm Gladwell, Little, Brown and Company, $32
5. War, Bob Woodward, Simon & Schuster, $32

TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION

1. The Vegetarian, Han Kang and Deborah Smith (translator), Hogarth, $17
2. North Woods, Daniel Mason, Random House Trade Paperbacks, $18. Read the Alta review.
3. Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver, Harper Perennial, $21.99
4. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin, Vintage, $19
5. Fourth Wing, Rebecca Yarros, Red Tower Books, $20.99

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 Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017, Rashid Khalidi, Metropolitan Books, $19.99
4. The Truths We Hold: An American Journey, Kamala Harris, Penguin, $20
5. Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America, Heather Cox Richardson, Penguin Books, $18

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.