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 July 26, 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 week’s list features two great works of fiction. Colson Whitehead’s Cool Machine, the final installment in his Harlem Trilogy series, follows Ray Carney, a furniture salesman caught between the honest life he’s built and the criminal underworld he once knew. In Ocean Vuong’s The Emperor of Gladness, nineteen-year-old Hai is saved from a suicide attempt by an elderly widow, Grazina. When Hai becomes her caretaker, the two form an unexpected bond that reshapes the direction of his life.
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
- Cool Machine, Colson Whitehead, Doubleday, $30
- The Calamity Club, Kathryn Stockett, Spiegel & Grau, $35
- The Correspondent, Virginia Evans, Crown, $28
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
- Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump, Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, Simon & Schuster, $34
- Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage, Belle Burden, the Dial Press, $30
- London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family’s Search for Truth, Patrick Radden Keefe, Doubleday, $35
- The Land and Its People: Essays, David Sedaris, Little, Brown and Company, $30
- Lessons from Cats for Surviving Fascism, Stewart “Brittlestar” Reynolds, Grand Central Publishing, $13
TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION
- The Odyssey, Homer and Emily Wilson (translator), Norton, $18.95
- Theo of Golden, Allen Levi, Atria Books, $20
- Atmosphere, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Ballantine Books, $20
- Dungeon Crawler Carl, Matt Dinniman, Ace, $20
- The Emperor of Gladness, Ocean Vuong, Penguin Books, $20
TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION
- A Marriage at Sea, Sophie Elmhirst, Riverhead Books, $20
- All About Love: New Visions, bell hooks, William Morrow, $17.99
- The Year of Magical Thinking, Joan Didion, Vintage, $18. Check out Alta’s Didion Issue.
- Raising Hare: A Memoir, Chloe Dalton, Vintage, $21
- Too L.A.: Letters Never Sent (but Some Were), Eve Babitz and Lili Anolik (editor), New York Review Books, $18.95. Read Alta’s review.
Northern California
HARDCOVER FICTION
- Whistler, Ann Patchett, Harper, $30
- Yesteryear, Caro Claire Burke, Alfred A. Knopf, $30
- Cool Machine, Colson Whitehead, Doubleday, $30
- The Calamity Club, Kathryn Stockett, Spiegel & Grau, $35
- The Correspondent, Virginia Evans, Crown, $28
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
- Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump, Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, Simon & Schuster, $34
- The Land and Its People: Essays, David Sedaris, Little, Brown and Company, $30
- Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage, Belle Burden, the Dial Press, $30
- London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family’s Search for Truth, Patrick Radden Keefe, Doubleday, $35
- 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
- The Odyssey, Homer and Emily Wilson (translator), Norton, $18.95
- Dungeon Crawler Carl, Matt Dinniman, Ace, $20
- Project Hail Mary (movie tie-in), Andy Weir, Ballantine Books, $22
- The Emperor of Gladness, Ocean Vuong, Penguin Books, $20
TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION
- A Marriage at Sea, Sophie Elmhirst, Riverhead Books, $20
- Raising Hare: A Memoir, Chloe Dalton, Vintage, $21
- The Reverse Centaur’s Guide to Life After AI: How to Think About Artificial Intelligence—Before It’s Too Late, Cory Doctorow, MCD, $18. Watch the Alta event with the author.
- Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Milkweed Editions, $22
- The Wisdom of the Odyssey: Twenty-Four Life Lessons from Homer’s Epic, Phil Cousineau, New World Library, $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.
