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 11, 2024.

There are two new, enchanting books on the bestseller list that will delight you with every page you turn. The Bookstore: A History of the American Bookstore by Evan Friss. Beginning with Benjamin Franklin’s first bookstore in Philadelphia, the nonfiction book takes readers on a journey through two centuries of American bookstores. Friss, a history professor at James Madison University, based his research for the book on interviews, community records, letters, and diary entries. The mating by Casey McQuiston tells the fictional love story of Theo and Kit – former lovers and lifelong friends who now feel estranged. Due to poor planning, Theo and Kit must embark on a three-week European tour together and try to make their time together (somehow) less awkward.

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. The God of the ForestLiz Moore, Riverhead Books, $30
3. On all foursMiranda July, Riverhead Books, $29. Read the Alta review.
4. Long Island CompromiseTaffy Brodesser-Akner, Random House, $30
5. The womenKristin Hannah, St. Martin’s Press, $30

HANGING NON-FICTION BOOK

1. The Art of Power: My Story as America’s First Female Speaker of the House of RepresentativesNancy Pelosi, Simon & Schuster, $30
2. The Creative Act: A Way of BeingRick Rubin, Penguin Press, $32
3. The Friday Afternoon Club: A Family MemoirGriffin Dunne, Penguin Press, $30. Read a abstract In Alta.
4. The Demon of Unrest: A saga of hubris, heartbreak and heroism at the beginning of the civil warErik Larson, crown, $35
5. The Bookstore: A History of the American BookstoreEvan Friss, Viking, $30

PAPERBACKBOOK

1. Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrowGabrielle Zevin, vintage, $19
2. A courtyard of thorns and rosesSarah J. Maas, Bloomsbury Publishing, $19
3. The matingCasey McQuiston, St. Martin’s Griffin, $20
4. It ends with us (Media supplement)Colleen Hoover, Atria, $16.99
5. Lady Tan’s Women’s CircleLisa See, Scribner, $18.99. Read a abstract In Alta.

Paperbacks, non-fiction

1. The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime and a Dangerous ObsessionMichael Finkel, vintage, $18
2. The Chronicles of Backyard BirdsAmy Tan, button, $35
3. The body keeps track: Brain, mind and body in healing from traumaBessel van der Kolk, MD, Penguin Books, $19
4. The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher CreativityJulia Cameron, TarcherPerigee, $19
5. The White AlbumJoan Didion, FSG, $18

Northern California

BOUND BALANCE SHEET

1. JamesPercival Everett, Doubleday, $28. Read a abstract In Alta.
2. On all foursMiranda July, Riverhead Books, $29. Read the Alta review.
3. sandwichCatherine Newman, Harper, $26.99
4. The womenKristin Hannah, St. Martin’s Press, $30
5. The bright swordLev Grossman, Viking, $35

HANGING NON-FICTION BOOK

1. The Art of Power: My Story as America’s First Female Speaker of the House of RepresentativesNancy Pelosi, Simon & Schuster, $30
2. Autocracy, Inc.: The dictators who want to rule the worldAnne Applebaum, Doubleday, $27
3. The Demon of Unrest: A saga of hubris, heartbreak and heroism at the beginning of the civil warErik Larson, crown, $35
4. The Creative Act: A Way of BeingRick Rubin, Penguin Press, $32
5. The Anxious Generation: How Childhood Restructuring Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental IllnessJonathan Haidt, Penguin Press, $30

PAPERBACKBOOK

1. Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrowGabrielle Zevin, vintage, $19
2. A courtyard of thorns and rosesSarah J. Maas, Bloomsbury Publishing, $19
3. It ends with us (Media supplement)Colleen Hoover, Atria, $16.99
4. The matingCasey McQuiston, St. Martin’s Griffin, $20
5. The Midnight LibraryMatt Haig, Penguin Books, $18

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. Sweetgrass weaving: Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge and the teachings of plantsRobin Wall Kimmerer, Milkweed Editions, $20
4. All about love: New visionsBell Hook, William Morrow, $16.99
5. Crying at H Mart: A MemoryMichelle Zauner, Vintage, $17

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.