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 March 15, 2026.
Start your spring reading with two standout nonfiction titles. On the list is The Best Dog in the World, a heartfelt collection of essays edited by Alice Hoffman. Featuring the work of fourteen writers—including former California Book Club authors Isabel Allende and Amy Tan—the book brings together moving stories about beloved canines. Also featured this week is Liza Minnelli’s new memoir, Kids, Wait Till You Hear This! Over 400 pages, Minnelli reflects on her legendary parents, struggles with substance abuse, and remarkable artistic journey.
For a full list of titles and categories, visit the California Independent Booksellers Alliance.•
Southern CaliforniaHARDCOVER FICTION
Alta
The Correspondent, Virginia Evans, Crown, $28Kin, Tayari Jones, Alfred A. Knopf, $32Brawler: Stories, Lauren Groff, Riverhead Books, $29Heart the Lover, Lily King, Grove Press, $28Vigil, George Saunders, Random House, $28HARDCOVER NONFICTION
Alta
A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness, Michael Pollan, Penguin Press, $32Kids, Wait Till You Hear This!, Liza Minnelli, Grand Central Publishing, $36One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This, Omar El Akkad, Knopf, $28Young Man in a Hurry: A Memoir of Discovery, Gavin Newsom, Penguin Press, $30. Read the Alta review. Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage, Belle Burden, the Dial Press, $30TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION
Alta
Theo of Golden, Allen Levi, Atria Books, $20Dungeon Crawler Carl, Matt Dinniman, Ace, $20Remarkably Bright Creatures, Shelby Van Pelt, Ecco, $19.99Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir, Ballantine, $22Heated Rivalry, Rachel Reid, Carina Press, $18.99TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION
Alta
Raising Hare: A Memoir, Chloe Dalton, Vintage, $21I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jennette McCurdy, Simon and Schuster, $19.99All About Love: New Visions, bell hooks, William Morrow, $16.99The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality, Amanda Montell, Atria/One Signal Publishers, $19The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom, Don Miguel Ruiz and Janet Mills, Amber-Allen Publishing, $18Northern CaliforniaHARDCOVER FICTION
Alta
The Correspondent, Virginia Evans, Crown, $28Kin, Tayari Jones, Alfred A. Knopf, $32Heart the Lover, Lily King, Grove Press, $28Brawler: Stories, Lauren Groff, Riverhead Books, $29Judge Stone, Viola Davis and James Patterson, Little, Brown and Company, $32HARDCOVER NONFICTION
Alta
A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness, Michael Pollan, Penguin Press, $32Young Man in a Hurry: A Memoir of Discovery, Gavin Newsom, Penguin Press, $30. Read the Alta review. Kids, Wait Till You Hear This!, Liza Minnelli, Grand Central Publishing, $36One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This, Omar El Akkad, Knopf, $28The Best Dog in the World: Essays on Love, Alice Hoffman (editor), Scribner, $22TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION 
Alta
Theo of Golden, Allen Levi, Atria Books, $20Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir, Ballantine, $22Dungeon Crawler Carl, Matt Dinniman, Ace, $20Heated Rivalry, Rachel Reid, Carina Press, $18.99Hamnet, Maggie O’Farrell, Vintage, $19TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION
Alta
Raising Hare: A Memoir, Chloe Dalton, Vintage, $21The Beginning Comes After the End: Notes on a World of Change, Rebecca Solnit, Haymarket Books, $16.95. Watch the California Book Club event with the author. The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War, Erik Larson, Crown, $22All About Love: New Visions, bell hooks, William Morrow, $16.99On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, Timothy Snyder, Crown, $12
Source: California Independent Booksellers Alliance
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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.