Alta Journal’s California Bestsellers List (June 4, 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 31, 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.

Published just last month, these two books explore the experiences and relationships that shape a life in very different ways. In Matt Haig’s novel The Midnight Train, the recently deceased Wilbur boards a mysterious train that lets him revisit moments from his past. In the essay collection The Land and Its People, David Sedaris finds humor in the everyday absurdities of being human.

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 Midnight Train, Matt Haig, Viking, $30
5. Phoebe Berman’s Gonna Lose It, Brooke Averick, Crown, $28

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

1. The Land and Its People: Essays, David Sedaris, Little, Brown and Company, $30
2. Famesick: A Memoir, Lena Dunham, Random House, $32
3. Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage, Belle Burden, the Dial Press, $30
4. Make Believe: On Telling Stories to Children, Mac Barnett, Little, Brown and Company, $20
5. London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family’s Search for Truth, Patrick Radden Keefe, Doubleday, $35

TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION

1. Project Hail Mary (movie tie-in), Andy Weir, Ballantine Books, $22
2. Theo of Golden, Allen Levi, Atria Books, $20
3. Dungeon Crawler Carl, Matt Dinniman, Ace, $20
4. Remarkably Bright Creatures, Shelby Van Pelt, Ecco, $19.99
5. Great Big Beautiful Life, Emily Henry, Berkley, $20

TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION

1. Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI, Karen Hao, Penguin Books, $20
2. The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity, Julia Cameron, TarcherPerigee, $24. Read Alta’s feature on the book and the author.
3. Things in Nature Merely Grow, Yiyun Li, Picador, $18
4. The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession, Michael Finkel, Vintage, $18
5. The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, Bessel van der Kolk, MD, Penguin Books, $19

Northern California

HARDCOVER FICTION

1. Yesteryear, Caro Claire Burke, Alfred A. Knopf, $30
2. The Correspondent, Virginia Evans, Crown, $28
3. The Midnight Train, Matt Haig, Viking, $30
4. The Things We Never Say, Elizabeth Strout, Random House, $29
5. The Calamity Club, Kathryn Stockett, Spiegel & Grau, $35

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

1. The Land and Its People: Essays, David Sedaris, Little, Brown and Company, $30
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. Famesick: A Memoir, Lena Dunham, Random House, $32
5. How to Rule the World: An Education in Power at Stanford University, Theo Baker, Penguin Press, $32

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. Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI, Karen Hao, Penguin Books, $20
2. The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, Bessel van der Kolk, MD, Penguin Books, $19
3. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Milkweed Editions, $22
4. The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, Hcow They Communicate—Discoveries from a Secret World, Peter Wohlleben and Jane Billinghurst (translator), Greystone Books, $18.95
5. The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession, Michael Finkel, Vintage, $18

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.