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 June 1, 2025.
This weekend, immerse yourself in the work of two California authors. First up is Cultish, by Amanda Montell. In this gripping piece of nonfiction, Montell explores how groups ranging from Heaven’s Gate to the Church of Scientology use words to wield power. Also on the list is Abraham Verghese’s The Covenant of Water. This epic novel traces three generations of a family in Kerala, South India, beginning with a 12-year-old child bride and spanning decades, as her descendants contend with a peculiar family curse.
For a full list of titles and categories, visit the California Independent Booksellers Alliance.•
Southern California
HARDCOVER FICTION
- The Emperor of Gladness, Ocean Vuong, Penguin Press, $30
- Nightshade, Michael Connelly, Little, Brown and Company, $30. Watch the California Book Club event with the author.
- Great Big Beautiful Life, Emily Henry, Berkley, $29
- Never Flinch, Stephen King, Scribner, $32
- My Friends, Fredrik Backman, Atria Books, $29.99
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
- The Let Them Theory: A Life-Changing Tool That Millions of People Can’t Stop Talking About, Mel Robbins and Sawyer Robbins, Hay House, $29.99
- Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again, Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, Penguin Press, $32
- Abundance, Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, Avid Reader Press, $30
- The Book of Alchemy: A Creative Practice for an Inspired Life, Suleika Jaouad, Random House, $30
- The Creative Act: A Way of Being, Rick Rubin, Penguin Press, $32
TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION
- All Fours, Miranda July, Riverhead Books, $19. Read the Alta review.
- Problematic Summer Romance, Ali Hazelwood, Berkley, $20
- Remarkably Bright Creatures, Shelby Van Pelt, Ecco, $19.99
- Orbital, Samantha Harvey, Grove Press, $17
- Sandwich, Catherine Newman, Harper Perennial, $18.99
TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION
- On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, Timothy Snyder, Crown, $12
- The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder, David Grann, Vintage, $21
- The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, Julia Cameron, TarcherPerigee, $20
- All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me, Patrick Bringley, Simon & Schuster, $18.99
- Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism, Amanda Montell, Harper Perennial, $19.99
Northern California
HARDCOVER FICTION
- The Emperor of Gladness, Ocean Vuong, Penguin Press, $30
- James, Percival Everett, Doubleday, $28. Read an excerpt in Alta.
- Never Flinch, Stephen King, Scribner, $32
- Great Big Beautiful Life, Emily Henry, Berkley, $29
- My Friends, Fredrik Backman, Atria Books, $29.99
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
- Abundance, Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, Avid Reader Press, $30
- The Let Them Theory: A Life-Changing Tool That Millions of People Can’t Stop Talking About, Mel Robbins and Sawyer Robbins, Hay House, $29.99
- Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again, Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, Penguin Press, $32
- Mark Twain, Ron Chernow, Penguin Press, $45
- Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection, John Green, Crash Course Books, $28
TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION
- All Fours, Miranda July, Riverhead Books, $19. Read the Alta review.
- Remarkably Bright Creatures, Shelby Van Pelt, Ecco, $19.99
- Martyr!, Kaveh Akbar, Vintage, $18. Watch the author speak at a California Book Club event.
- The Covenant of Water, Abraham Verghese, Grove Press, $22
- The Ministry of Time, Kaliane Bradley, Avid Reader Press, $18.99
TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION
- On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, Timothy Snyder, Crown, $12
- The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder, David Grann, Vintage, $21
- No Straight Road Takes You There: Essays for Uneven Terrain, Rebecca Solnit, Haymarket Books, $16.95. Watch the California Book Club event with the author.
- The Backyard Bird Chronicles, Amy Tan, Knopf, $36. Register for the California Book Club event.
- Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Milkweed Editions, $20
Source: California Independent Booksellers Alliance
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.
