With reports from the California Independent Booksellers Alliance, Alta-Journal brings you a list of the best-selling titles in independent bookstores in Northern and Southern California for the week ending August 4, 2024.

Two books with strong female protagonists are on the bestseller list this week. In Sarah Manguso’s new novel LiarJane meets John – a seemingly perfect man by Jane’s standards. But their marriage falls apart when Jane focuses on her career. (Interested readers should definitely check out: Alta‘S questions and answers with Manguso for further insights into Liar.) Also on the list is My brilliant friend by Elena Ferrante (translated by Ann Goldstein). In this 2011 novel, two girls – Elena and Lila – form a friendship that develops as the pair grow into women and eventually become mothers.

A complete list of titles and categories can be found in the California Independent Booksellers Alliance.•

Southern California

BOUND BALANCE SHEET

1. JamesPercival Everett, Doubleday, $28. Read a abstract In Alta.
2. All fourMiranda July, Riverhead Books, $29. Read the Alta review.
3. The God of the ForestLiz Moore, Riverhead Books, $30
4. LiarSarah Manguso, Hogarth, $28. Read one Questions and answers about the author In Alta.
5. Long Island CompromiseTaffy Brodesser-Akner, Random House, $30

HANGING NON-FICTION BOOK

1. The Creative Act: A Way of BeingRick Rubin, Penguin Press, $32
2. Autocracy, Inc.: The dictators who want to rule the worldAnne Applebaum, Doubleday, $27
3. The Friday Afternoon Club: A Family MemoirGriffin Dunne, Penguin Press, $30. Read a abstract In Alta.
4. The Anxious Generation: How Childhood Restructuring Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental IllnessJonathan Haidt, Penguin Press, $30
5. The Demon of Unrest: A saga of hubris, heartbreak and heroism at the beginning of the civil warErik Larson, crown, $35

PAPERBACKBOOK

1. Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrowGabrielle Zevin, vintage, $19
2. A courtyard of thorns and rosesSarah J. Maas, Bloomsbury Publishing, $19
3. My Brilliant Friend (HBO Edition)Elena Ferrante and Ann Goldstein (translator), Europa Editions, $17. Read more about the HBO series In Alta.
4. Only for summerAbby Jimenez, Forever, $17.99
5. This summer will be differentCarley Fortune, Berkley Books, $19

Paperbacks, non-fiction

1. The Chronicles of Backyard BirdsAmy Tan, button, $35
2. The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime and a Dangerous ObsessionMichael Finkel, vintage, $18
3. All about love: New visionsBell Hook, William Morrow, $16.99
4. The Hundred Years’ War against Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017Rashid Khalidi, Metropolitan Books, $19.99
5. Hillbilly Elegy: Memories of a family and culture in crisisJ.D. Vance, Harper, $18.99

Northern California

BOUND BALANCE SHEET

1. JamesPercival Everett, Doubleday, $28. Read a abstract In Alta.
2. The womenKristin Hannah, St. Martin’s Press, $30
3. All fourMiranda July, Riverhead Books, $29. Read the Alta review.
4. The God of the ForestLiz Moore, Riverhead Books, $30
5. sandwichCatherine Newman, Harper, $26.99

HANGING NON-FICTION BOOK

1. Autocracy, Inc.: The dictators who want to rule the worldAnne Applebaum, Doubleday, $27
2. The Creative Act: A Way of BeingRick Rubin, Penguin Press, $32
3. The Demon of Unrest: A saga of hubris, heartbreak and heroism at the beginning of the civil warErik Larson, crown, $35
4. The Anxious Generation: How Childhood Restructuring Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental IllnessJonathan Haidt, Penguin Press, $30
5. Everything stays in the family: The Trumps and how we became like thatFred C. Trump III, Gallery Books, $30

PAPERBACKBOOK

1. Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrowGabrielle Zevin, vintage, $19
2. A courtyard of thorns and rosesSarah J. Maas, Bloomsbury Publishing, $19
3. Lady Tan’s Women’s CircleLisa See, Scribner, $18.99. Read a abstract In Alta.
4. The Stock Exchange: After the CompanyJohn Grisham, vintage, $18
5. My Brilliant Friend (HBO Edition)Elena Ferrante and Ann Goldstein (translator), Europa Editions, $17. Read more about the HBO series In Alta.

Paperbacks, non-fiction

1. The Chronicles of Backyard BirdsAmy Tan, button, $35
2. The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime and a Dangerous ObsessionMichael Finkel, vintage, $18
3. Hillbilly Elegy: Memories of a family and culture in crisisJ.D. Vance, Harper, $18.99
4. All about love: New visionsBell Hook, William Morrow, $16.99
5. Sweetgrass weaving: Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge and the teachings of plantsRobin Wall Kimmerer, Milkweed Editions, $20

Source: California Independent Booksellers Alliance

Elizabeth Casillas is an editorial assistant at Alta-JournalA graduate of California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, she previously wrote for Poly Posts And Enspire Magazine.