Number One in Hardcover Fiction:The Secret of Secrets:Dan Brown,
published byDoubleday.
Here is the SoCal Indie Bestsellers List, brought to you by IndieBound and the California Independent Booksellers Alliance, for the sales week ending Sunday,September 21, 2025. 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
- The Secret of Secrets – Dan Brown, Doubleday, $38, 9780385546898
- My Friends – Fredrik Backman, Atria Books, $29.99, 9781982112820
- Katabasis (Deluxe Limited Edition) – R. F. Kuang, Harper Voyager, $35, 9780063021471
- The Academy – Elin Hilderbrand, Shelby Cunningham, Little, Brown and Company, $30, 9780316567855
- Culpability – Bruce Holsinger, Spiegel & Grau, $30, 9781954118966
- Among the Burning Flowers – Samantha Shannon, Bloomsbury Publishing, $29.99, 9781639736010
- Clown Town – Mick Herron, Soho Crime, $29.95, 9781641297264
- The Shattering Peace – John Scalzi, Tor Books, $29.99, 9780765389190
- Wild Dark Shore – Charlotte McConaghy, Flatiron Books, $28.99, 9781250827951
- The Emperor of Gladness – Ocean Vuong, Penguin Press, $30, 9780593831878
- Buckeye – Patrick Ryan, Random House, $30, 9780593595039
- The Wilderness – Angela Flournoy, Mariner Books, $30, 9780063318779
- Hemlock & Silver – T. Kingfisher, Tor Books, $28.99, 9781250342034
- Later Days – Chip Jacobs, Rare Bird Books, $28, 9781644284926
- James – Percival Everett, Doubleday, $28, 9780385550369
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
- All the Way to the River: Love, Loss, and Liberation – Elizabeth Gilbert, Riverhead Books, $35, 9780593540985
- The Book of Sheen: A Memoir – Charlie Sheen, Gallery Books, $35, 9781668075289
- Good Things: Recipes and Rituals to Share with People You Love – Samin Nosrat, Random House, $45, 9781984857781
- We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution – Jill Lepore, Liveright, $39.99, 9781631496080
- Art Work: On the Creative Life – Sally Mann, Abrams Press, $35, 9781419780714
- The Let Them Theory: A Life-Changing Tool That Millions of People Can’t Stop Talking About – Mel Robbins, Sawyer Robbins, Hay House LLC, $29.99, 9781401971366
- Night People: How to Be a DJ in ’90s New York City – Mark Ronson, Grand Central Publishing, $29, 9781538741115
- Mother Mary Comes to Me – Arundhati Roy, Scribner, $30, 9781668094716
- Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America – Robert B. Reich, Knopf, $30, 9780593803288
- Poems & Prayers – Matthew McConaughey, Crown, $29, 9781984862105
- Separation of Church and Hate: A Sane Person’s Guide to Taking Back the Bible from Fundamentalists, Fascists, and Flock-Fleecing Frauds – John Fugelsang, Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster, $29.99, 9781668066898
- Lessons from Cats for Surviving Fascism – Stewart Reynolds, Grand Central Publishing, $13, 9781538778005
- Abundance – Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson, Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster, $30, 9781668023488
- I Regret Almost Everything: A Memoir – Keith McNally, Gallery Books, $29.99, 9781668017647
- History Matters – David McCullough, Simon & Schuster, $27, 9781668098998
TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION
- The Ministry of Time – Kaliane Bradley, Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster, $18.99, 9781668045152
- Project Hail Mary – Andy Weir, Ballantine, $22, 9780593135228
- The Frozen River – Ariel Lawhon, Vintage, $18, 9780593312070
- The City and Its Uncertain Walls – Haruki Murakami, Vintage, $19, 9780593687840
- Tell Me Everything – Elizabeth Strout, Random House Trade Paperbacks, $18, 9780593446119
- The Safekeep – Yael van der Wouden, Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster, $18.99, 9781668034354
- Martyr! – Kaveh Akbar, Vintage, $18, 9780593685778
- Red Rising – Pierce Brown, Del Rey, $18, 9780345539809
- The Lion Women of Tehran – Marjan Kamali, Gallery Books, $18.99, 9781668036594
- Starter Villain – John Scalzi, Tor Books, $18.99, 9781250879394
- The Best Short Stories 2025: The O. Henry Prize Winners – Edward P. Jones (Ed.), Vintage, $19, 9780593689608
- The Life Impossible – Matt Haig, Penguin, $19, 9780593489291
- The Thursday Murder Club – Richard Osman, Penguin, $18, 9781984880987
- All the Colors of the Dark – Chris Whitaker, Crown, $19, 9780593798898
- The Alchemist – Paulo Coelho, HarperOne, $17.99, 9780062315007
TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION
- All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me – Patrick Bringley, Simon & Schuster, $18.99, 9781982163310
- On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century – Timothy Snyder, Crown, $12, 9780804190114
- Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI – Yuval Noah Harari, Random House Trade Paperbacks, $25, 9780593734230
- The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession – Michael Finkel, Vintage, $18, 9781984898456
- Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World – Anne Applebaum, Vintage, $18, 9780593471203
- The Friday Afternoon Club: A Family Memoir – Griffin Dunne, Penguin Books, $21, 9780593652848
- Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity: 10th Anniversary Edition – David Lynch, Tarcher, $20, 9780143130147
- Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants – Robin Wall Kimmerer, Milkweed Editions, $22, 9781571313560
- The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder – David Grann, Vintage, $21, 9780307742490
- How to Dream (Mindfulness Essentials #12) – Thich Nhat Hanh, Parallax Press, $10.95, 9781952692994
- Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution – Cat Bohannon, Vintage, $20, 9780345806208
- The 2026 Old Farmer’s Almanac – Old Farmer’s Almanac, $10.95, 9781961793682
- The Artist’s Way: 30th Anniversary Edition – Julia Cameron, TarcherPerigee, $24, 9780143129257
- The Psychology of Money: Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness – Morgan Housel, Harriman House, $19.99, 9780857197689
- How to Stand Up to a Dictator: The Fight for Our Future – Maria Ressa, Harper Perennial, $19.99, 9780063257528
MASS MARKET
- 1984 – George Orwell, Signet, $10.99, 9780451524935
- Hyperion – Dan Simmons, Spectra, $11, 9780553283686
- Mistborn: The Final Empire – Brandon Sanderson, Tor, $10.99, 9781250318541
- Animal Farm – George Orwell, Signet, $9.99, 9780451526342
- Jurassic Park – Michael Crichton, Ballantine, $10.99, 9780345538987
- Women Who Run With the Wolves – Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Ballantine, $9.99, 9780345409874
- The Brothers Karamazov – Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Signet, $8.95, 9780451530608
- The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams, Del Rey, $9.99, 9780345391803
- The Well of Ascension – Brandon Sanderson, Tor, $11.99, 9781250318572
- The Left Hand of Darkness – Ursula K. Le Guin, Ace, $10.99, 9780441478125
CHILDREN'S ILLUSTRATED
- Hansel and Gretel – Stephen King, Maurice Sendak (Illus.), HarperCollins, $26.99, 9780062644695
- Room on the Broom – Julia Donaldson, Axel Scheffler (Illus.), Dial Books, $9.99, 9780593110409
- If We Were Dogs – Sophie Blackall, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, $18.99, 9780316581721
- Good Night, Gorilla – Peggy Rathmann, G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, $8.99, 9780399230035
- Baby Pumpkin: Finger Puppet Book – Yu-Hsuan Huang (Illus.), Chronicle Books, $7.99, 9781797232782
- Little Blue Truck’s Halloween – Alice Schertle, Jill McElmurry (Illus.), Clarion Books, $13.99, 9780544772533
- Goodnight Moon – Margaret Wise Brown, Clement Hurd (Illus.), Harper, $10.99, 9780694003617
- Boo! Baa, La La La! – Sandra Boynton, Boynton Bookworks, $6.99, 9781534452831
- Peekaboo: Pumpkin – Camilla Reid, Ingela P. Arrhenius (Illus.), Candlewick Press, $9.99, 9781536229813
- I Spy Spooky Night – Jean Marzollo, Walter Wick (Illus.), Cartwheel Books, $14.99, 9781338353136
CHILDREN'S INTEREST
- Troubling Tonsils! (Jasper Rabbit’s Creepy Tales!) – Aaron Reynolds, Peter Brown (Illus.), Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, $13.99, 9781665961080
- The Poisoned King (Impossible Creatures #2) – Katherine Rundell, Ashley Mackenzie (Illus.), Knopf Books for Young Readers, $19.99, 9780593809907
- Impossible Creatures – Katherine Rundell, Ashley Mackenzie (Illus.), Yearling, $11.99, 9780593809891
- Pocket Bear – Katherine Applegate, Feiwel & Friends, $17.99, 9781250904362
- By Invitation Only – Alexandra Brown Chang, Margaret K. McElderry Books, $19.99, 9781665972437
- The Skull: A Tyrolean Folktale – Jon Klassen, Candlewick, $19.99, 9781536223361
- The Vale – Abigail Hing Wen, Yuna Cheong (Illus.), Brandon Wu (Illus.), Third State Books, $19.95, 9798890130310
- Howl’s Moving Castle Deluxe Limited Edition – Diana Wynne Jones, Greenwillow Books, $24.99, 9780063416468
- Restart – Gordon Korman, Scholastic Press, $6.99, 9781338053807
- Guts: A Graphic Novel – Raina Telgemeier, Graphix, $12.99, 9780545852500
CHILDREN'S SERIES
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid – Jeff Kinney, Harry N. Abrams
- Dog Man – Dav Pilkey, Graphix
- Wings of Fire – Tui T. Sutherland, Mike Holmes (Illus.), Scholastic
- The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins, Scholastic Press
- InvestiGators – John Patrick Green, Steve Behling, Chris Fenoglio (Illus.), First Second
- The Summer I Turned Pretty – Jenny Han, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
- Magic Tree House – Mary Pope Osborne, Sal Murdocca (Illus.), Random House Books for Young Readers
- Who Would Win? – Jerry Pallotta, Rob Bolster (Illus.), Scholastic
- Harry Potter – J.K. Rowling, Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine
- Spy School – Stuart Gibbs, Anjan Sarkar (Illus.), Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
