Alta Journal’s California Bestsellers List (January 22, 2026)

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 January 18, 2026.

This week, check out two novels that explore family dynamics. In Hamnet, author Maggie O’Farrell offers a speculative reimagining of Shakespeare’s life following the death of his son, Hamnet. The novel also traces the creative journey that resulted in Hamlet. In Lost Lambs by Madeline Cash, three daughters struggle with the dissolution of their parent’s marriage, falling into toxic relationships and destructive behaviors.

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

Southern California

HARDCOVER FICTION

1. The Correspondent, Virginia Evans, Crown, $28
2. Heart the Lover, Lily King, Grove Press, $28
3. Lost Lambs, Madeline Cash, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $28
4. What We Can Know, Ian McEwan, Knopf, $30
5. The First Time I Saw Him, Laura Dave, Scribner, $29

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

1. Bread of Angels: A Memoir, Patti Smith, Random House, $30
2. 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
3. A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck, Sophie Elmhirst, Riverhead Books, $28
4. 1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History—and How It Shattered a Nation, Andrew Ross Sorkin, Viking, $35
5. Firestorm: The Great Los Angeles Fires and America’s New Age of Disaster, Jacob Soboroff, Mariner Books, $30

TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION

1. Heated Rivalry, Rachel Reid, Carina Press, $18.99
2. Game Changer, Rachel Reid, Carina Press, $18.99
3. Hamnet, Maggie O’Farrell, Vintage, $19
4. The Long Game, Rachel Reid, Carina Press, $18.99
5. I Who Have Never Known Men, Jacqueline Harpman and Ros Schwartz (translator), Transit Books, $16.95

TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION

1. On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, Timothy Snyder, Crown, $12
2. Hidden Potential: The Science of Achieving Greater Things, Adam Grant, Penguin, $20
3. The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality, Amanda Montell, Atria/One Signal Publishers, $19
4. The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself, Michael A. Singer, New Harbinger, $18.95
5. Fight Oligarchy, Bernie Sanders, Crown, $14.99

Northern California

HARDCOVER FICTION

1. The Correspondent, Virginia Evans, Crown, $28
2. Heart the Lover, Lily King, Grove Press, $28
3. Dog Show: Poems, Billy Collins and Pamela Sztybel (illustrator), Random House, $20
4. The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, Kiran Desai, Hogarth, $32
5. What We Can Know, Ian McEwan, Knopf, $30

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

1. Bread of Angels: A Memoir, Patti Smith, Random House, $30
2. 1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History—and How It Shattered a Nation, Andrew Ross Sorkin, Viking, $35
3. Always Remember: The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, the Horse and the Storm, Charlie Mackesy, Penguin Life, $27
4. One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This, Omar El Akkad, Knopf, $28
5. Good Things: Recipes and Rituals to Share with People You Love, Samin Nosrat, Random House, $45

TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION

1. Heated Rivalry, Rachel Reid, Carina Press, $18.99
2. Hamnet, Maggie O’Farrell, Vintage, $19
3. The Long Game, Rachel Reid, Carina Press, $18.99
4. Game Changer, Rachel Reid, Carina Press, $18.99
5. Dungeon Crawler Carl, Matt Dinniman, Ace, $20

TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION

1. On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, Timothy Snyder, Crown, $12
2. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Milkweed Editions, $20
3. Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art, James Nestor, Riverhead Books, $20
4. I'm Glad My Mom Died, Jennette McCurdy, Simon and Schuster, $19.99
5. Fight Oligarchy, Bernie Sanders, Crown, $14.99

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.