Alta Journal ’s California Bestsellers List (May 28, 2026)

With reporting from the California Independent Booksellers Alliance, Alta Journal highlights the bestselling books at independent bookstores across Northern and Southern California for the week ending May 24, 2026. This list includes bestselling fiction, nonfiction, and new releases, offering a snapshot of current book trends, popular authors, and must-read titles across California’s literary scene.

This month’s bestsellers list highlights two new May releases. In Michael Connelly’s Ironwood, Detective Sergeant Stilwell, who is stationed on Catalina Island, is drawn into a dangerous drug operation when a late-night sting goes violently sideways. In Peter Wohlleben’s The Hidden Life of Trees, the author argues that trees are social beings: communicating with their offspring and sharing nutrients with neighboring trees that are struggling.

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

Southern California

HARDCOVER FICTION

1. Yesteryear, Caro Claire Burke, Alfred A. Knopf, $30
2. The Correspondent, Virginia Evans, Crown, $28
3. John of John, Douglas Stuart, Grove Press, $28
4. The Things We Never Say, Elizabeth Strout, Random House, $29
5. Ironwood, Michael Connelly, Little, Brown and Company, $32. Watch the California Book Club event with the author.

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

1. Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage, Belle Burden, the Dial Press, $30
2. Famesick: A Memoir, Lena Dunham, Random House, $32
3. London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family’s Search for Truth, Patrick Radden Keefe, Doubleday, $35
4. Make Believe: On Telling Stories to Children, Mac Barnett, Little, Brown and Company, $20
5. One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This, Omar El Akkad, Alfred A. Knopf, $28

TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION

1. Theo of Golden, Allen Levi, Atria Books, $20
2. Project Hail Mary (movie tie-in), Andy Weir, Ballantine Books, $22
3. Dungeon Crawler Carl, Matt Dinniman, Ace, $20
4. Remarkably Bright Creatures, Shelby Van Pelt, Ecco, $19.99
5. Angel Down, Daniel Kraus, Atria Books, $18

TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION

1. Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI, Karen Hao, Penguin Books, $20
2. The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder, David Grann, Vintage, $21
3. All About Love: New Visions, bell hooks, William Morrow, $17.99
4. On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, Timothy Snyder, Crown, $14
5. Things in Nature Merely Grow, Yiyun Li, Picador, $18

Northern California

HARDCOVER FICTION

1. Yesteryear, Caro Claire Burke, Alfred A. Knopf, $30
2. The Correspondent, Virginia Evans, Crown, $28
3. The Things We Never Say, Elizabeth Strout, Random House, $29
4. John of John, Douglas Stuart, Grove Press, $28
5. The Calamity Club, Kathryn Stockett, Spiegel & Grau, $35

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

1. London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family’s Search for Truth, Patrick Radden Keefe, Doubleday, $35
2. Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage, Belle Burden, the Dial Press, $30
3. Make Believe: On Telling Stories to Children, Mac Barnett, Little, Brown and Company, $20
4. How to Rule the World: An Education in Power at Stanford University, Theo Baker, Penguin Press, $32
5. Liar’s Kingdom: How to Stop Trump's Deceit and Save America, Andrew Weissmann, Little, Brown and Company, $29

TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION

1. Theo of Golden, Allen Levi, Atria Books, $20
2. Project Hail Mary (movie tie-in), Andy Weir, Ballantine Books, $22
3. Remarkably Bright Creatures, Shelby Van Pelt, Ecco, $19.99
4. Dungeon Crawler Carl, Matt Dinniman, Ace, $20
5. James, Percival Everett, Vintage, $20. Read Alta’s feature on the book and the author.

TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION

1. Raising Hare: A Memoir, Chloe Dalton, Vintage, $21
2. Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI, Karen Hao, Penguin Books, $20
3. All About Love: New Visions, bell hooks, William Morrow, $17.99
4. Things in Nature Merely Grow, Yiyun Li, Picador, $18
5. The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate—Discoveries from a Secret World, Peter Wohlleben, Greystone Books, $18.95

Source: California Independent Booksellers Alliance

Elizabeth Casillas

Elizabeth Casillas is an associate editor at Alta Journal. A graduate of California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, she has previously written for the Poly Post and Enspire Magazine.