Alta Journal ’s California Bestsellers List (July 24, 2025)

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 July 20, 2025.

Fall into spellbinding books this week—both published this month and brimming with eerie twists. The Bewitching, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, follows three women connected by a mysterious supernatural entity. As graduate student Minerva researches the life of author Beatrice Tremblay, she suspects that Tremblay’s vanished roommate may have been taken by the same witch who once haunted Minerva’s great-grandmother, Nana Alba, in Mexico. And in Here One Moment, by Liane Moriarty, a psychic on a flight from Hobart, Australia, to Sydney begins moving down the aisles, predicting how each passenger will die. No one believes her until months later, when the first death happens as predicted.

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

Southern California

HARDCOVER FICTION

1. An Inside Job, Daniel Silva, Harper, $32
2. Atmosphere: A Love Story, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Ballantine Books, $30
3. The Bewitching, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Del Rey, $29
4. James, Percival Everett, Doubleday, $28. Read an excerpt in Alta.
5. The Emperor of Gladness, Ocean Vuong, Penguin Press, $30

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

1. 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
2. A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck, Sophie Elmhirst, Riverhead Books, $28
3. Abundance, Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, Avid Reader Press, $30
4. The Mission: The CIA in the 21st Century, Tim Weiner, Mariner Books, $35
5. Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection, John Green, Crash Course Books, $28

TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION

1. Remarkably Bright Creatures, Shelby Van Pelt, Ecco, $19.99
2. Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir, Ballantine, $20
3. Martyr!, Kaveh Akbar, Vintage, $18. Watch the author speak at a California Book Club event.
4. All Fours, Miranda July, Riverhead Books, $19. Read the Alta review.
5. All the Colors of the Dark, Chris Whitaker, Crown, $19

TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION

1. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Milkweed Editions, $20
2. The Friday Afternoon Club: A Family Memoir, Griffin Dunne, Penguin Books, $21. Read Alta’s excerpt and review.
3. On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, Timothy Snyder, Crown, $12
4. The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook, Hampton Sides, Vintage, $19
5. The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession, Michael Finkel, Vintage, $18

Northern California

HARDCOVER FICTION

1. The Emperor of Gladness, Ocean Vuong, Penguin Press, $30
2. James, Percival Everett, Doubleday, $28. Read an excerpt in Alta.
3. My Friends, Fredrik Backman, Atria Books, $29.99
4. An Inside Job, Daniel Silva, Harper, $32
5. Atmosphere: A Love Story, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Ballantine Books, $30

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

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 Book of Alchemy: A Creative Practice for an Inspired Life, Suleika Jaouad, Random House, $30
4. A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck, Sophie Elmhirst, Riverhead Books, $28
5. Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection, John Green, Crash Course Books, $28

TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION

1. Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir, Ballantine, $20
2. Remarkably Bright Creatures, Shelby Van Pelt, Ecco, $19.99
3. Martyr!, Kaveh Akbar, Vintage, $18. Watch the author speak at a California Book Club event.
4. Here One Moment, Liane Moriarty, Crown, $19
5. All Fours, Miranda July, Riverhead Books, $19. Read the Alta review.

TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION

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. All About Love: New Visions, bell hooks, William Morrow, $16.99
4. The Backyard Bird Chronicles, Amy Tan, Knopf, $36. Register for the California Book Club event.
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 assistant editor at Alta Journal. A graduate of California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, she has previously written for the Poly Post and Enspire Magazine.