With reporting from the California Independent Booksellers Alliance, Alta Journal brings you a list of the bestselling titles at independent bookstores across Northern and Southern California for the week ending June 22, 2025.

The summer heat wave is an indicator of climate change—and a reminder to do our part for the planet. To learn more, check out Abundance, by Derek Thompson and Ezra Klein. Using easy-to-follow language, the authors lay out big issues and offer ideas for change, including thoroughly researched chapters on clean energy and the housing crisis. Rebecca Solnit explores similar themes in her new essay collection, No Straight Road Takes You There. This thoughtful anthology weaves together reflections on climate change, feminism, and the power of hope in uncertain times.

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

Southern California

HARDCOVER FICTION

books, southern california bestsellers, hardcover fiction
Alta
  1. Atmosphere: A Love Story, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Ballantine Books, $30
  2. The Emperor of Gladness, Ocean Vuong, Penguin Press, $30
  3. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil, V.E. Schwab, Tor Books, $29.99
  4. James, Percival Everett, Doubleday, $28. Read an excerpt in Alta.
  5. Great Big Beautiful Life, Emily Henry, Berkley, $29

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

books, southern california bestsellers, hardcover nonfiction
Alta
  1. Abundance, Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, Avid Reader Press, $30
  2. The Let Them Theory: A Life-Changing Tool That Millions of People Can’t Stop Talking About, Mel Robbins and Sawyer Robbins, Hay House, $29.99
  3. Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection, John Green, Crash Course Books, $28
  4. Steve Martin Writes the Written Word: Collected Written Word Works by Steve Martin, Steve Martin, Grand Central Publishing, $30
  5. One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This, Omar El Akkad, Knopf, $28

TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION

books, southern california bestsellers, trade paperback fiction
Alta
  1. All Fours, Miranda July, Riverhead Books, $19. Read the Alta review.
  2. Remarkably Bright Creatures, Shelby Van Pelt, Ecco, $19.99
  3. The Ministry of Time, Kaliane Bradley, Avid Reader Press, $18.99
  4. Martyr!, Kaveh Akbar, Vintage, $18. Watch the author speak at a California Book Club event.
  5. I Who Have Never Known Men, Jacqueline Harpman and Ros Schwartz (translator), Transit Books, $16.95

TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION

books, southern california bestsellers, trade paperback nonfiction
Alta
  1. On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, Timothy Snyder, Crown, $12
  2. The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder, David Grann, Vintage, $21
  3. The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, Bessel van der Kolk, MD, Penguin Books, $19
  4. The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook, Hampton Sides, Vintage, $19
  5. The Friday Afternoon Club: A Family Memoir, Griffin Dunne, Penguin Books, $21. Read Alta’s excerpt and review.

Northern California

HARDCOVER FICTION

books, northern california bestsellers, hardcover fiction
Alta
  1. The Emperor of Gladness, Ocean Vuong, Penguin Press, $30
  2. Atmosphere: A Love Story, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Ballantine Books, $30
  3. James, Percival Everett, Doubleday, $28. Read an excerpt in Alta.
  4. My Friends, Fredrik Backman, Atria Books, $29.99
  5. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil, V.E. Schwab, Tor Books, $29.99

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

books, northern california bestsellers, hardcover nonfiction
Alta
  1. Abundance, Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, Avid Reader Press, $30
  2. The Let Them Theory: A Life-Changing Tool That Millions of People Can’t Stop Talking About, Mel Robbins and Sawyer Robbins, Hay House, $29.99
  3. The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World, Robin Wall Kimmerer and John Burgoyne (illustrator), Scribner, $20
  4. The Book of Alchemy: A Creative Practice for an Inspired Life, Suleika Jaouad, Random House, $30
  5. Is a River Alive?, Robert Macfarlane, W.W. Norton & Company, $31.99

TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION

books, northern california bestsellers, trade paperback fiction
Alta
  1. Remarkably Bright Creatures, Shelby Van Pelt, Ecco, $19.99
  2. Martyr!, Kaveh Akbar, Vintage, $18. Watch the author speak at a California Book Club event.
  3. The Ministry of Time, Kaliane Bradley, Avid Reader Press, $18.99
  4. All Fours, Miranda July, Riverhead Books, $19. Read the Alta review.
  5. The Covenant of Water, Abraham Verghese, Grove Press, $22

TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION

books, northern california bestsellers, trade paperback nonfiction
Alta
  1. On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, Timothy Snyder, Crown, $12
  2. No Straight Road Takes You There: Essays for Uneven Terrain, Rebecca Solnit, Haymarket Books, $16.95. Read the Alta review.
  3. The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder, David Grann, Vintage, $21
  4. The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession, Michael Finkel, Vintage, $18
  5. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Milkweed Editions, $20

Source: California Independent Booksellers Alliance

Headshot of Elizabeth Casillas
Elizabeth Casillas

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.