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 June 14, 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.
Alta’s California Book Club authors make the bestsellers list this week with their latest releases. In Daughters of the Sun and Moon, Lisa See traces the lives of three Chinese women in 1870’s Los Angeles: Dove, trapped in an arranged marriage; Petal, sold in exchange for rice seed; and Moon, whose limp overshadows her intelligence. In Villa Coco, Andrew Sean Greer’s unnamed narrator moves to the Italian countryside to help a 92-year-old woman, Coco, catalog her villa’s collection of antiques and artwork, unexpectedly becoming entangled in the Baronessa’s final masterplan.
For a full list of titles and categories, visit the California Independent Booksellers Alliance.•
Southern California
HARDCOVER FICTION
- Whistler, Ann Patchett, Harper, $30
- Yesteryear, Caro Claire Burke, Alfred A. Knopf, $30
- Daughters of the Sun and Moon, Lisa See, Scribner, $29. Read Alta’s review.
- Land, Maggie O’Farrell, Alfred A. Knopf, $32
- The Midnight Train, Matt Haig, Viking, $30
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
- The Land and Its People: Essays, David Sedaris, Little, Brown and Company, $30
- London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family’s Search for Truth, Patrick Radden Keefe, Doubleday, $35
- Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage, Belle Burden, the Dial Press, $30
- All We Say: The Battle for American Identity—A History in 15 Speeches, Ben Rhodes, Random House, $35
- Famesick: A Memoir, Lena Dunham, Random House, $32
TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION
- Theo of Golden, Allen Levi, Atria Books, $20
- Project Hail Mary (movie tie-in), Andy Weir, Ballantine Books, $22
- Dungeon Crawler Carl, Matt Dinniman, Ace, $20
- The Midnight Library, Matt Haig, Penguin, $18
- The Odyssey, Homer and Emily Wilson (translator), Norton, $18.95
TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION
- The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, Bessel van der Kolk, MD, Penguin Books, $19
- The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession, Michael Finkel, Vintage, $18
- On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, Timothy Snyder, Crown, $12
- Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI, Karen Hao, Penguin Books, $20
- Raising Hare: A Memoir, Chloe Dalton, Vintage, $21
Northern California
HARDCOVER FICTION
- Whistler, Ann Patchett, Harper, $30
- Yesteryear, Caro Claire Burke, Alfred A. Knopf, $30
- Land, Maggie O’Farrell, Alfred A. Knopf, $32
- Villa Coco, Andrew Sean Greer, Doubleday, $30. Read Alta’s review.
- Daughters of the Sun and Moon, Lisa See, Scribner, $29. Read Alta’s review.
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
- The Land and Its People: Essays, David Sedaris, Little, Brown and Company, $30
- London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family’s Search for Truth, Patrick Radden Keefe, Doubleday, $35
- Crossroads: A Memoir in Baseball and Life, Dusty Baker, Crown, $32
- Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage, Belle Burden, the Dial Press, $30
- Make Believe: On Telling Stories to Children, Mac Barnett, Little, Brown and Company, $20
TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION
- Theo of Golden, Allen Levi, Atria Books, $20
- Project Hail Mary (movie tie-in), Andy Weir, Ballantine Books, $22
- Dungeon Crawler Carl, Matt Dinniman, Ace, $20
- Remarkably Bright Creatures, Shelby Van Pelt, Ecco, $19.99
- Angel Down, Daniel Kraus, Atria Books, $18
TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION
- Raising Hare: A Memoir, Chloe Dalton, Vintage, $21
- Is a River Alive?, Robert Macfarlane, W. W. Norton & Company, $19
- Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI, Karen Hao, Penguin Books, $20
- All About Love: New Visions, bell hooks, William Morrow, $17.99
- A Resistance History of the United States, Tad Stoermer, Steerforth, $19.95
Source: California Independent Booksellers Alliance
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.
