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 August 31, 2025.
Pick up two new works of fiction this week. In R.F. Kuang’s Katabasis, grad student Alice Law and her rival Peter Murdoch descend into hell to rescue their professor and the world’s greatest magician, Jacob Grimes. Their motive? Obtaining a letter of recommendation. In The Lion Women of Tehran, by Marjan Kamali, two young women fight to pursue their ambitions and preserve their friendship during a period of great political upheaval in Iran.
For a full list of titles and categories, visit the California Independent Booksellers Alliance.•
Southern California
HARDCOVER FICTION
- Katabasis (deluxe limited edition), R.F. Kuang, Harper Voyager, $35
- Atmosphere: A Love Story, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Ballantine Books, $30
- The Magician of Tiger Castle, Louis Sachar, Ace, $30
- An Inside Job, Daniel Silva, Harper, $32
- The Emperor of Gladness, Ocean Vuong, Penguin Press, $30
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
- The Creative Act: A Way of Being, Rick Rubin, Penguin Press, $32
- Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America, Robert B. Reich, Knopf, $30
- A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck, Sophie Elmhirst, Riverhead Books, $28
TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION
- Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir, Ballantine, $20
- All Fours, Miranda July, Riverhead Books, $19. Read the Alta review.
- Martyr!, Kaveh Akbar, Vintage, $18. Watch the author speak at a California Book Club event.
- Remarkably Bright Creatures, Shelby Van Pelt, Ecco, $19.99
- The Lion Women of Tehran, Marjan Kamali, Gallery Books, $18.99
TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION
- The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder, David Grann, Vintage, $21
- On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, Timothy Snyder, Crown, $12
- The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession, Michael Finkel, Vintage, $18
- Didion and Babitz, Lili Anolik, Scribner, $20. Read the Alta interview.
- Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity, David Lynch, Tarcher, $20
Northern California
HARDCOVER FICTION
- Katabasis (deluxe limited edition), R.F. Kuang, Harper Voyager, $35
- My Friends, Fredrik Backman, Atria Books, $29.99
- Atmosphere: A Love Story, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Ballantine Books, $30
- James, Percival Everett, Doubleday, $28. Read an excerpt in Alta.
- The Emperor of Gladness, Ocean Vuong, Penguin Press, $30
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
- Abundance, Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, Avid Reader Press, $30
- Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America, Robert B. Reich, Knopf, $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
- A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck, Sophie Elmhirst, Riverhead Books, $28
- The Creative Act: A Way of Being, Rick Rubin, Penguin Press, $32
TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION
- Remarkably Bright Creatures, Shelby Van Pelt, Ecco, $19.99
- Martyr!, Kaveh Akbar, Vintage, $18. Watch the author speak at a California Book Club event.
- Tell Me Everything, Elizabeth Strout, Random House Trade Paperbacks, $18
- Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir, Ballantine, $20
- The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, James McBride, Riverhead Books, $19
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
- Didion and Babitz, Lili Anolik, Scribner, $20. Read the Alta interview.
- The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession, Michael Finkel, Vintage, $18
- Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World, Anne Applebaum, Vintage, $18
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.
