Alta Journal ’s California Bestsellers List (November 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 November 16, 2025.

With the holidays around the corner, it’s the perfect time to check out two cookbooks featured on this week’s bestsellers list. In Samin Nosrat’s Good Things, the Berkeley-based chef offers more than 125 of her favorite recipes, ranging from simple tomato soup to showstopping chicken dishes. Chef Alison Roman joins the bestsellers list with Something from Nothing, a guide to making the most of what’s already in your kitchen pantry. Roman shows how basic ingredients can turn into almost-effortless, delicious meals.

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

Southern California

HARDCOVER FICTION

1. The Strength of the Few, James Islington, Saga Press, $34
2. The Correspondent, Virginia Evans, Crown, $28
3. Heart the Lover, Lily King, Grove Press, $28
4. The Proving Ground, Michael Connelly, Little, Brown and Company, $32. Watch the California Book Club event with the author.
5. Brigands and Breadknives, Travis Baldree, Tor Books, $28.99

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

1. Bread of Angels: A Memoir, Patti Smith, Random House, $30
2. Lessons from Cats for Surviving Fascism, Stewart “Brittlestar” Reynolds, Grand Central Publishing, $13
3. The Uncool: A Memoir, Cameron Crowe, Avid Reader Press, $35
4. Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, Knopf, $35
5. Something from Nothing: A Cookbook, Alison Roman, Clarkson Potter, $37.99

TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION

1. The City and Its Uncertain Walls, Haruki Murakami and Philip Gabriel (translator), Vintage, $19
2. Hamnet, Maggie O’Farrell, Vintage, $19
3. The God of the Woods, Liz Moore, Riverhead Books, $19
4. Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir, Ballantine, $22
5. Martyr!, Kaveh Akbar, Vintage, $18. Watch the author speak at a California Book Club event.

TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION

1. Fight Oligarchy, Bernie Sanders, Crown, $14.99
2. On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, Timothy Snyder, Crown, $12
3. Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Joan Didion, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $18
4. The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession, Michael Finkel, Vintage, $18
5. Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity, David Lynch, Tarcher, $20

Northern California

HARDCOVER FICTION

1. The Strength of the Few, James Islington, Saga Press, $34
2. The Black Wolf, Louise Penny, Minotaur Books, $30
3. The Secret of Secrets, Dan Brown, Doubleday, $38
4. Heart the Lover, Lily King, Grove Press, $28
5. The Correspondent, Virginia Evans, Crown, $28

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

1. Bread of Angels: A Memoir, Patti Smith, Random House, $30
2. Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, Knopf, $35
3. Something from Nothing: A Cookbook, Alison Roman, Clarkson Potter, $37.99
4. 1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History—and How It Shattered a Nation, Andrew Ross Sorkin, Viking, $35
5. Good Things: Recipes and Rituals to Share with People You Love, Samin Nosrat, Random House, $45

TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION

1. The God of the Woods, Liz Moore, Riverhead Books, $19
2. Remarkably Bright Creatures, Shelby Van Pelt, Ecco, $19.99
3. The Mighty Red, Louise Erdrich, Harper Perennial, $19.99
4. The City and Its Uncertain Walls, Haruki Murakami and Philip Gabriel (translator), Vintage, $19
5. Playground, Richard Powers, W.W. Norton & Company, $19.99

TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION

1. The 2026 Old Farmer’s Almanac, Old Farmer’s Almanac, $10.95
2. On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, Timothy Snyder, Crown, $12
3. Fight Oligarchy, Bernie Sanders, Crown, $14.99
4. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Milkweed Editions, $20
5. Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts, Oliver Burkeman, Picador, $19

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.