It’s shaping up to be a California Book Club week on the bestsellers list, with several familiar names making an appearance. Amy Tan’s The Backyard Bird Chronicles, a journal she began in 2016 as a way to cope with the hatred and misinformation she saw online, continues to resonate with readers. September 2021 book club author, Rebecca Solnit, is also on the list with The Beginning Comes After the End, a collection of essays that urges readers to hold on to hope. And from past California Book Club guest Karen Russell comes The Antidote, a novel about a historic dust storm and its impact on the invented town of Uz.
For a full list of titles and categories, visit the California Independent Booksellers Alliance.•
Southern California
HARDCOVER FICTION
- The Correspondent, Virginia Evans, Crown, $28
- Kin, Tayari Jones, Alfred A. Knopf, $32
- Vigil, George Saunders, Random House, $28
- Heart the Lover, Lily King, Grove Press, $28
- Lost Lambs, Madeline Cash, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $28
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
- The Best Dog in the World: Essays on Love, Alice Hoffman (editor), Scribner, $22
- Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage, Belle Burden, the Dial Press, $30
- A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness, Michael Pollan, Penguin Press, $32
- You with the Sad Eyes: A Memoir, Christina Applegate, Little, Brown and Company, $32
- Young Man in a Hurry: A Memoir of Discovery, Gavin Newsom, Penguin Press, $30
TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION
- Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir, Ballantine, $22
- Theo of Golden, Allen Levi, Atria Books, $20
- Heated Rivalry, Rachel Reid, Carina Press, $18.99
- Dungeon Crawler Carl, Matt Dinniman, Ace, $20
- The Lion Women of Tehran, Marjan Kamali, Gallery Books, $18.99
TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION
- The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War, Erik Larson, Crown, $22
- Raising Hare: A Memoir, Chloe Dalton, Vintage, $21
- The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession, Michael Finkel, Vintage, $18
- All About Love: New Visions, bell hooks, William Morrow, $16.99
- The Beginning Comes After the End: Notes on a World of Change, Rebecca Solnit, Haymarket Books, $16.95. Watch the California Book Club event with the author.
Northern California
HARDCOVER FICTION
- The Correspondent, Virginia Evans, Crown, $28
- Kin, Tayari Jones, Alfred A. Knopf, $32
- Heart the Lover, Lily King, Grove Press, $28
- Vigil, George Saunders, Random House, $28
- Brawler: Stories, Lauren Groff, Riverhead Books, $29
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
- A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness, Michael Pollan, Penguin Press, $32
- Young Man in a Hurry: A Memoir of Discovery, Gavin Newsom, Penguin Press, $30
- The Best Dog in the World: Essays on Love, Alice Hoffman (editor), Scribner, $22
- Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage, Belle Burden, the Dial Press, $30
- Good Writing: 36 Ways to Improve Your Sentences, Neal Allen and Anne Lamott, Avery, $27
TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION
- Theo of Golden, Allen Levi, Atria Books, $20
- Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir, Ballantine, $22
- Hamnet, Maggie O’Farrell, Vintage, $19
- Heated Rivalry, Rachel Reid, Carina Press, $18.99
- The Antidote, Karen Russell, Vintage, $19. Watch the author in the California Book Club’s 2021 gathering.
TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION
- Raising Hare: A Memoir, Chloe Dalton, Vintage, $21
- The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War, Erik Larson, Crown, $2
- The Beginning Comes After the End: Notes on a World of Change, Rebecca Solnit, Haymarket Books, $16.95. Watch the California Book Club event with the author.
- The Backyard Bird Chronicles, Amy Tan, Knopf, $36. Read a recap of the California Book Club event.
- On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, Timothy Snyder, Crown, $12
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.
