Here Are Current Bestsellers at Southern California’s Independent Bookstores

Published on May 4, 2026

Number One in Hardcover Fiction: The Correspondent: Virginia Evans, published by Crown.

Here is the SoCal Indie Bestsellers List, brought to you by IndieBound and the California Independent Booksellers Alliance, for the sales week ending Sunday,April 26, 2026. This list is based on reporting from the independent booksellers of Southern California, the California Independent Booksellers Alliance, and IndieBound. For an independent bookstore near you, visit IndieBound.org.

HARDCOVER FICTION

  1. The Correspondent
    Virginia Evans, Crown, $28, 9780593798430
  2. Yesteryear (Indies Introduce)
    Caro Claire Burke, Knopf, $30, 9780593804216
  3. Go Gentle
    Maria Semple, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, $30, 9798217176632
  4. Transcription
    Ben Lerner, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $25, 9780374618599
  5. Heart the Lover
    Lily King, Grove Press, $28, 9780802165176
  6. Lost Lambs
    Madeline Cash, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $28, 9780374619237
  7. The Keeper
    Tana French, Viking, $32, 9780593493465
  8. Kin
    Tayari Jones, Knopf, $32, 9780525659181
  9. American Fantasy
    Emma Straub, Riverhead Books, $30, 9798217046850
  10. The Correspondent: Deluxe Edition
    Virginia Evans, Crown, $35, 9798217398713
  11. The Night We Met (Indie Exclusive Edition)
    Abby Jimenez, Forever, $30, 9781538780688
  12. Atmosphere
    Taylor Jenkins Reid, Ballantine Books, $30, 9780593158715
  13. Kill Dick
    Luke Goebel, Red Hen Press, $26.95, 9781636284651
  14. Vigil
    George Saunders, Random House, $28, 9780525509622
  15. The News from Dublin: Stories
    Colm Tóibín, Scribner, $29, 9781476785141

HARDCOVER NONFICTION

  1. London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family’s Search for Truth
    Patrick Radden Keefe, Doubleday, $35, 9780385548533
  2. Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage
    Belle Burden, The Dial Press, $30, 9780593733318
  3. One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This
    Omar El Akkad, Knopf, $28, 9780593804148
  4. Famesick: A Memoir
    Lena Dunham, Random House, $32, 9780593129326
  5. Young Man in a Hurry: A Memoir of Discovery
    Gavin Newsom, Penguin Press, $30, 9781984881939
  6. A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness
    Michael Pollan, Penguin Press, $32, 9781984881991
  7. Planet Money: A Guide to the Economic Forces That Shape Your Life
    Alex Mayyasi, Hosts of NPR’s Planet Money, W. W. Norton & Company, $29.99, 9781324078777
  8. The Permission Mission: Reclaiming the Power to Trust Your Own Voice
    Dr. Cindy McGovern, Ideapress Publishing, $28.95, 9781646872411
  9. Lessons from Cats for Surviving Fascism
    Stewart Reynolds, Grand Central Publishing, $13, 9781538778005
  10. The Best Dog in the World: Essays on Love
    Alice Hoffman (Ed.), Scribner, $22, 9781668209028
  11. Everybody’s Fly: A Life of Art, Music, and Changing the Culture
    Fab 5 Freddy, Viking, $32, 9780593834909
  12. Good Writing: 36 Ways to Improve Your Sentences
    Neal Allen, Anne Lamott, Avery, $27, 9798217046959
  13. The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World
    Robin Wall Kimmerer, John Burgoyne (Illus.), Scribner, $20, 9781668072240
  14. The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness
    Jonathan Haidt, Penguin Press, $30, 9780593655030
  15. The Beginning Comes After the End (Independent Bookstore Edition): Notes on a World of Change
    Rebecca Solnit, Haymarket Books, $19.95, 9798888908785

TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION

  1. Project Hail Mary (Movie Tie-In)
    Andy Weir, Ballantine Books, $22, 9798217299461
  2. Theo of Golden
    Allen Levi, Atria Books, $20, 9781668236512
  3. Dungeon Crawler Carl
    Matt Dinniman, Ace, $20, 9780593820254
  4. The God of the Woods
    Liz Moore, Riverhead Books, $19, 9780593418925
  5. Martyr!
    Kaveh Akbar, Vintage, $20, 9780593685778
  6. The Lion Women of Tehran
    Marjan Kamali, Gallery Books, $18.99, 9781668036594
  7. Remarkably Bright Creatures
    Shelby Van Pelt, Ecco, $19.99, 9780063204164
  8. I Who Have Never Known Men
    Jacqueline Harpman, Transit Books, $16.95, 9781945492600
  9. Audition
    Katie Kitamura, Riverhead Books, $18, 9780593852347
  10. The Road to Tender Hearts
    Annie Hartnett, Ballantine Books, $20, 9780593873465
  11. Heated Rivalry
    Rachel Reid, Carina Press, $18.99, 9781335534637
  12. Hamnet
    Maggie O’Farrell, Vintage, $19, 9781984898876
  13. The Bell Jar
    Sylvia Plath, Harper Perennial Modern Classics, $17.99, 9780060837020
  14. The City and Its Uncertain Walls
    Haruki Murakami, Vintage, $19, 9780593687840
  15. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
    Gabrielle Zevin, Vintage, $19, 9780593466490

TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION

  1. The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War
    Erik Larson, Crown, $22, 9780385348768
  2. Raising Hare: A Memoir
    Chloe Dalton, Vintage, $21, 9780593689004
  3. The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession
    Michael Finkel, Vintage, $18, 9781984898456
  4. Be Ready When the Luck Happens: A Memoir
    Ina Garten, Crown, $22, 9780593800027
  5. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants
    Robin Wall Kimmerer, Milkweed Editions, $22, 9781571313560
  6. All About Love: New Visions
    bell hooks, William Morrow Paperbacks, $16.99, 9780060959470
  7. On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century
    Timothy Snyder, Crown, $14, 9780804190114
  8. Everything Now: Lessons from the City-State of Los Angeles
    Rosecrans Baldwin, Picador, $19, 9781250849199
  9. I’m Glad My Mom Died
    Jennette McCurdy, Simon & Schuster, $19.99, 9781982185831
  10. Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale: My Father Bleeds History
    Art Spiegelman, Pantheon, $18, 9780394747231
  11. Hyperpolitics: Extreme Politicization without Political Consequences
    Anton Jäger, Verso, $19.95, 9781836742074
  12. A Walk in the Park: The True Story of a Spectacular Misadventure in the Grand Canyon
    Kevin Fedarko, Scribner, $22, 9781501183065
  13. Didion and Babitz
    Lili Anolik, Scribner, $20, 9781668065495
  14. The White Album: Essays
    Joan Didion, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $18, 9780374532079
  15. The Memory Palace: True Short Stories of the Past
    Nate DiMeo, Random House Trade Paperbacks, $23, 9780593446164

MASS MARKET

  1. 1984
    George Orwell, Signet, $12, 9780451524935
  2. Mistborn: The Final Empire
    Brandon Sanderson, Tor, $10.99, 9781250318541
  3. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
    Douglas Adams, Del Rey, $9.99, 9780345391803
  4. Slaughterhouse-Five
    Kurt Vonnegut, Dell, $9.99, 9780440180296
  5. Dune
    Frank Herbert, Ace, $10.99, 9780593640340
  6. Dune Messiah
    Frank Herbert, Ace, $9.99, 9780593098233
  7. Hyperion
    Dan Simmons, Spectra, $11, 9780553283686
  8. A Raisin in the Sun
    Lorraine Hansberry, Vintage, $8.95, 9780679755333
  9. Siddhartha
    Hermann Hesse, Bantam, $8.99, 9780553208849
  10. Animal Farm
    George Orwell, Signet, $12, 9780451526342

CHILDREN'S ILLUSTRATED

  1. For the Fans! (KPop Demon Hunters): Official Storybook (Little Golden Book)
    Golden Books (Illus.), Golden Books, $6.99, 9798217233977
  2. Decoy Saves Opening Day
    Shohei Ohtani, Michael Blank, Fanny Liem (Illus.), HarperCollins, $21.99, 9780063460775
  3. Kitty Caterpillar
    Annabeth Bondor-Stone, Connor White, Brigette Barrager (Illus.), Balzer + Bray, $18.99, 9781250392893
  4. Where the Wild Things Are
    Maurice Sendak, Harper, $21.99, 9780060254926
  5. Chirri & Chirra, Among the Cherry Blossoms
    Kaya Doi, Enchanted Lion, $16.99, 9781592704828
  6. Mei Mei The Bunny
    Laufey, Lauren O’Hara (Illus.), Penguin Workshop, $18.99, 9798217051748
  7. Dragons Love Tacos
    Adam Rubin, Daniel Salmieri (Illus.), Dial Books, $18.99, 9780803736801
  8. Richard Scarry’s Cars and Trucks Touch-and-Trace
    Richard Scarry, Random House Books for Young Readers, $10.99, 9780593808337
  9. If We Were Dogs
    Sophie Blackall, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, $18.99, 9780316581721
  10. Dream Animals
    Emily Winfield Martin, Random House, $9.99, 9780553521900

CHILDREN'S INTEREST

  1. The Escape Game
    Marissa Meyer, Tamara Moss, G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, $22.99, 9798217006120
  2. Impossible Creatures
    Katherine Rundell, Ashley Mackenzie (Illus.), Yearling, $11.99, 9780593809891
  3. Captain Underpants: The First Epic Manga
    Dav Pilkey, Motojiro (Illus.), Graphix, $14.99, 9781546151210
  4. A Fishboy Named…Sashimi
    Dan Santat, Roaring Brook Press, $8.99, 9781250360007
  5. KPop Demon Hunters: The Movie in Comics: The Official Retelling in Comic Form
    Random House Books for Young Readers, $14.99, 9798217234301
  6. A Wolf Called Fire
    Rosanne Parry, Mónica Armiño (Illus.), Greenwillow Books, $9.99, 9780063415140
  7. The Poisoned King (Impossible Creatures #2)
    Katherine Rundell, Ashley Mackenzie (Illus.), Knopf Books for Young Readers, $19.99, 9780593809907
  8. James and the Giant Peach
    Roald Dahl, Quentin Blake (Illus.), Viking Books for Young Readers, $8.99, 9780142410363
  9. The House Saphir
    Marissa Meyer, Feiwel & Friends, $19.99, 9781250320957
  10. Troubling Tonsils! (Jasper Rabbit’s Creepy Tales!)
    Aaron Reynolds, Peter Brown (Illus.), Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, $13.99, 9781665961080

CHILDREN'S SERIES

  1. Diary of a Wimpy Kid
    Jeff Kinney, Harry N. Abrams
  2. Dog Man
    Dav Pilkey, Graphix
  3. Wings of Fire
    Tui T. Sutherland, Scholastic
  4. The Hunger Games
    Suzanne Collins, Scholastic Press
  5. Baby-Sitters Club Graphix
    Ann M. Martin, Arley Nopra (Illus.), Graphix
  6. Caraval
    Stephanie Garber, Flatiron Books
  7. Percy Jackson and the Olympians
    Rick Riordan, Hyperion
  8. Warriors Graphic Novels
    Erin Hunter, Natalie Riess (Illus.), Sara Goetter (Illus.), HarperAlley
  9. Once Upon a Broken Heart
    Stephanie Garber, Flatiron Books
  10. Magic Tree House
    Mary Pope Osborne, Sal Murdocca (Illus.), Random House Books for Young Readers