{"id":135344,"date":"2026-01-16T00:09:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T00:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/135344\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T00:09:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T00:09:10","slug":"bestselling-books-in-california-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/135344\/","title":{"rendered":"Bestselling Books in California"},"content":{"rendered":"

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 January 11, 2026. <\/p>\n

This week\u2019s nonfiction bestsellers include personal stories and research-dense texts. Sounds Like a Cult podcast host Amanda Montell returns with her third book The Age of Magical Overthinking, an essay collection that blends memoir with science writing, examining the power of our interior lives. And in Firestorm, MSNBC national reporter Jacob Soboroff describes his reporting on the Palisades fire and its aftermath. The thought-provoking book also explores strategies to avoid similar catastrophes in the future.<\/p>\n

For a full list of titles and categories, visit the California Independent Booksellers Alliance<\/a>.\u2022<\/p>\n

Southern CaliforniaHARDCOVER FICTION\"books,<\/p>\n

Alta<\/p>\n

What We Can Know<\/a>, Ian McEwan, Knopf, $30Heart the Lover<\/a>, Lily King, Grove Press, $28The Correspondent<\/a>, Virginia Evans, Crown, $28James<\/a>, Percival Everett, Doubleday, $28. Read an excerpt<\/a> in Alta.The First Time I Saw Him<\/a>, Laura Dave, Scribner, $29HARDCOVER NONFICTION\"books,<\/p>\n

Alta<\/p>\n

A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck<\/a>, Sophie Elmhirst, Riverhead Books, $28Bread of Angels: A Memoir<\/a>, Patti Smith, Random House, $30One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This<\/a>, Omar El Akkad, Knopf, $28Firestorm: The Great Los Angeles Fires and America\u2019s New Age of Disaster<\/a>, Jacob Soboroff, Mariner Books, $30The Let Them Theory: A Life-Changing Tool That Millions of People Can\u2019t Stop Talking About<\/a>, Mel Robbins and Sawyer Robbins, Hay House, $29.99TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION\"books,<\/p>\n

Alta<\/p>\n

Heated Rivalry<\/a>, Rachel Reid, Carina Press, $18.99Dungeon Crawler Carl<\/a>, Matt Dinniman, Ace, $20Hamnet<\/a>, Maggie O\u2019Farrell, Vintage, $19Project Hail Mary<\/a>, Andy Weir, Ballantine, $22Game Changer<\/a>, Rachel Reid, Carina Press, $18.99TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION\"books,<\/p>\n

Alta<\/p>\n

The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality<\/a>, Amanda Montell, Atria\/One Signal Publishers, $19I’m Glad My Mom Died<\/a>, Jennette McCurdy, Simon and Schuster, $19.99Fight Oligarchy<\/a>, Bernie Sanders, Crown, $14.99On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century<\/a>, Timothy Snyder, Crown, $12How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen<\/a>, David Brooks, Random House Trade Paperbacks, $20Northern CaliforniaHARDCOVER FICTION\"books,<\/p>\n

Alta<\/p>\n

The Correspondent<\/a>, Virginia Evans, Crown, $28Heart the Lover<\/a>, Lily King, Grove Press, $28What We Can Know<\/a>, Ian McEwan, Knopf, $30Dog Show: Poems<\/a>, Billy Collins and Pamela Sztybel (illustrator), Random House, $20The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny<\/a>, Kiran Desai, Hogarth, $32HARDCOVER NONFICTION\"books,<\/p>\n

Alta<\/p>\n

A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck<\/a>, Sophie Elmhirst, Riverhead Books, $28Good Things: Recipes and Rituals to Share with People You Love<\/a>, Samin Nosrat, Random House, $45Bread of Angels: A Memoir<\/a>, Patti Smith, Random House, $30One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This<\/a>, Omar El Akkad, Knopf, $28The Let Them Theory: A Life-Changing Tool That Millions of People Can\u2019t Stop Talking About<\/a>, Mel Robbins and Sawyer Robbins, Hay House, $29.99TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION \"books,<\/p>\n

Alta<\/p>\n

Heated Rivalry<\/a>, Rachel Reid, Carina Press, $18.99Hamnet<\/a>, Maggie O\u2019Farrell, Vintage, $19Project Hail Mary<\/a>, Andy Weir, Ballantine, $22The God of the Woods<\/a>, Liz Moore, Riverhead Books, $19Dungeon Crawler Carl<\/a>, Matt Dinniman, Ace, $20TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION\"books,<\/p>\n

Alta<\/p>\n

Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art<\/a>, James Nestor, Riverhead Books, $20I’m Glad My Mom Died<\/a>, Jennette McCurdy, Simon and Schuster, $19.99The Age of Magical Overthinking: Notes on Modern Irrationality<\/a>, Amanda Montell, Atria\/One Signal Publishers, $19Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants<\/a>, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Milkweed Editions, $20On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century<\/a>, Timothy Snyder, Crown, $12<\/p>\n

Source: California Independent Booksellers Alliance<\/a><\/p>\n

Related Stories\"Headshot<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With reporting from the California Independent Booksellers Alliance, Alta Journal brings you a list of the bestselling titles…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135345,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[46733,12788,46735,46736,46742,647,7,46728,46734,9,8,46743,69086,46737,69085,46738,46740,46744,46739,69084,46741],"class_list":["post-135344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-alta-bestseller-list","tag-alta-journal","tag-bestselling-books","tag-book-recommendations","tag-book-roundup","tag-books","tag-california","tag-california-bestsellers","tag-california-books","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-fiction-bestsellers","tag-game-changer-by-rachel-reid","tag-independent-bookstores","tag-james-by-percival-everett","tag-literary-california","tag-new-book-releases","tag-nonfiction-bestsellers","tag-southern-california-bestsellers","tag-the-first-time-i-saw-him-by-laura-dave","tag-top-books"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135344\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}