Alta Journal’s California Bestsellers List (February 20, 2025)

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 February 16, 2025.

Two newly released novels, both centered on a woman’s journey, are already climbing the bestseller charts. First up is Three Days in June, by Anne Tyler. This novel offers a glimpse into three pivotal days in the life of Gail Baines, a socially awkward woman trying to keep her life together. On the day before her daughter’s wedding, Gail’s ex-husband unexpectedly reappears looking for a place to stay. To make matters more complicated, Gail’s daughter drops a shocking revelation about her soon-to-be husband, throwing everything into question. In Charlotte Wood’s Stone Yard Devotional, an unnamed narrator leaves her life in Sydney, Australia, and returns to her hometown in the country’s Monaro Plains, where she joins a small religious community. There, she confronts someone from her past, forcing her to contemplate grief, forgiveness, and the complexities of her own identity.

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. Three Days in June, Anne Tyler, Knopf, $27
4. Stone Yard Devotional, Charlotte Wood, Riverhead Books, $28
5. Small Things Like These, Claire Keegan, Grove Press, $20

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

1. The Let Them Theory: A Life-Changing Tool That Millions of People Can’t Stop Talking About, Mel Robbins, Hay House, $29.99
2. The Sirens’ Call: How Attention Became the World’s Most Endangered Resource, Chris Hayes, Penguin Press, $32
3. How We Learn to Be Brave: Decisive Moments in Life and Faith, Mariann Edgar Budde, Avery, $28
4. Memorial Days: A Memoir, Geraldine Brooks, Viking, $28
5. The Harder I Fight the More I Love You: A Memoir, Neko Case, Grand Central Publishing, $30

TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION

1. Martyr!, Kaveh Akbar, Vintage, $18. Watch the author speak at a California Book Club event.
2. Orbital, Samantha Harvey, Grove Press, $17
3. Fourth Wing, Rebecca Yarros, Red Tower Books, $20.99
4. Deep End, Ali Hazelwood, Berkley, $20
5. Good Material, Dolly Alderton, Vintage, $18

TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION

1. On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, Timothy Snyder, Crown, $12
2. The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, Julia Cameron, TarcherPerigee, $20
3. All About Love: New Visions, bell hooks, William Morrow, $16.99
4. The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession, Michael Finkel, Vintage, $18
5. The Backyard Bird Chronicles, Amy Tan, Knopf, $35

Northern California

HARDCOVER FICTION

1. James, Percival Everett, Doubleday, $28. Read an excerpt in Alta.
2. Onyx Storm (deluxe limited edition), Rebecca Yarros, Red Tower Books, $32.99
3. All Fours, Miranda July, Riverhead Books, $29. Read the Alta review.
4. The God of the Woods, Liz Moore, Riverhead Books, $30
5. Three Days in June, Anne Tyler, Knopf, $27

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

1. The Let Them Theory: A Life-Changing Tool That Millions of People Can’t Stop Talking About, Mel Robbins, Hay House, $29.99
2. The Sirens’ Call: How Attention Became the World’s Most Endangered Resource, Chris Hayes, Penguin Press, $32
3. The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World, Robin Wall Kimmerer and John Burgoyne (illustrator), Scribner, $20
4. How We Learn to Be Brave: Decisive Moments in Life and Faith, Mariann Edgar Budde, Avery, $28
5. Source Code: My Beginnings, Bill Gates, Knopf, $30

TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION

1. Martyr!, Kaveh Akbar, Vintage, $18. Watch the author speak at a California Book Club event.
2. Fourth Wing, Rebecca Yarros, Red Tower Books, $20.99
3. Orbital, Samantha Harvey, Grove Press, $17
4. The Frozen River, Ariel Lawhon, Vintage, $18
5. Deep End, Ali Hazelwood, Berkley, $20

TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION

1. On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, Timothy Snyder, Crown, $12
2. The Backyard Bird Chronicles, Amy Tan, Knopf, $35
3. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Milkweed Editions, $20
4. All About Love: New Visions, bell hooks, William Morrow, $16.99
5. The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession, Michael Finkel, Vintage, $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.