Number One in Hardcover Fiction The Emperor of Gladness:,by Ocean Vuong,
published by Penguin Press.
Here is the SoCal Indie Bestsellers List, brought to you by IndieBound and the California Independent Booksellers Alliance, for the sales week ending Sunday,May 25, 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 Emperor of Gladness
Ocean Vuong, Penguin Press, $30, 9780593831878 - Nightshade
Michael Connelly, Little, Brown and Company, $30, 9780316588485 - James
Percival Everett, Doubleday, $28, 9780385550369 - Fever Beach
Carl Hiaasen, Knopf, $30, 9780593320945 - My Name Is Emilia del Valle
Isabel Allende, Ballantine Books, $30, 9780593975091 - Great Big Beautiful Life
Emily Henry, Berkley, $29, 9780593441299 - Spent
Alison Bechdel, Mariner Books, $32, 9780063278929 - My Friends
Fredrik Backman, Atria Books, $29.99, 9781982112820 - The Knight and the Moth
Rachel Gillig, Orbit, $30, 9780316582704 - Anima Rising
Christopher Moore, William Morrow, $30, 9780062434159 - A Curse Carved in Bone
Danielle L. Jensen, Del Rey, $32, 9780593599860 - The God of the Woods
Liz Moore, Riverhead Books, $30, 9780593418918 - The Wedding People
Alison Espach, Henry Holt and Co., $28.99, 9781250899576 - Audition
Katie Kitamura, Riverhead Books, $28, 9780593852323 - Intermezzo
Sally Rooney, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $29, 9780374602635
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
- Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again
Jake Tapper, Alex Thompson, Penguin Press, $32, 9798217060672 - 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 - Who Knew
Barry Diller, Simon & Schuster, $30, 9781668096871 - Is a River Alive?
Robert Macfarlane, W. W. Norton & Company, $31.99, 9780393242133 - The Creative Act: A Way of Being
Rick Rubin, Penguin Press, $32, 9780593652886 - Mark Twain
Ron Chernow, Penguin Press, $45, 9780525561729 - Notes to John
Joan Didion, Knopf, $32, 9780593803677 - Abundance
Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson, Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster, $30, 9781668023488 - One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This
Omar El Akkad, Knopf, $28, 9780593804148 - Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism
Sarah Wynn-Williams, Flatiron Books, $32.99, 9781250391230 - The Book of Alchemy: A Creative Practice for an Inspired Life
Suleika Jaouad, Random House, $30, 9780593734636 - Raising Hare: A Memoir
Chloe Dalton, Pantheon, $27, 9780593701843 - Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI
Karen Hao, Penguin Press, $32, 9780593657508 - Big Dumb Eyes: Stories from a Simpler Mind
Nate Bargatze, Grand Central Publishing, $30, 9781538768464 - The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World
Robin Wall Kimmerer, John Burgoyne (Illus.), Scribner, $20, 9781668072240
TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION
- Martyr!
Kaveh Akbar, Vintage, $18, 9780593685778 - All Fours
Miranda July, Riverhead Books, $19, 9780593190272 - Remarkably Bright Creatures
Shelby Van Pelt, Ecco, $19.99, 9780063204164 - The Ministry of Time
Kaliane Bradley, Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster, $18.99, 9781668045152 - The Paris Novel
Ruth Reichl, Random House Trade Paperbacks, $19, 9780812986372 - I Who Have Never Known Men
Jacqueline Harpman, Transit Books, $16.95, 9781945492600 - Orbital
Samantha Harvey, Grove Press, $17, 9780802163622 - Tom Lake
Ann Patchett, Harper Perennial, $19, 9780063327535 - Demon Copperhead
Barbara Kingsolver, Harper Perennial, $21.99, 9780063251984 - The Covenant of Water
Abraham Verghese, Grove Press, $22, 9780802162731 - One Golden Summer
Carley Fortune, Berkley, $19, 9780593638910 - Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
Gabrielle Zevin, Vintage, $19, 9780593466490 - Smoke in the Cypress
Owen Pataki, Permuted Press, $24, 9798888455838 - Blue Sisters
Coco Mellors, Ballantine Books, $18, 9780593723784 - The Housemaid
Freida McFadden, Grand Central, $12.99, 9781538742570
TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION
- On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century
Timothy Snyder, Crown, $12, 9780804190114 - The Artist’s Way: 30th Anniversary Edition
Julia Cameron, TarcherPerigee, $20, 9780143129257 - The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
Bessel van der Kolk, M.D., Penguin, $19, 9780143127741 - The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder
David Grann, Vintage, $21, 9780307742490 - Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Essays
Joan Didion, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $18, 9780374531386 - The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession
Michael Finkel, Vintage, $18, 9781984898456 - Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity
David Lynch, Tarcher, $20, 9780143130147 - The Backyard Bird Chronicles
Amy Tan, Knopf, $36, 9780593536131 - The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom
Don Miguel Ruiz, Amber-Allen, $12.95, 9781878424310 - All About Love: New Visions
bell hooks, Morrow, $16.99, 9780060959470 - The Choice: Embrace the Possible
Dr. Edith Eva Eger, Scribner, $18, 9781501130793 - The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth
Zoë Schlanger, Harper Perennial, $19.99, 9780063073869 - A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life
George Saunders, Random House, $20, 9781984856036 - The Year of Magical Thinking
Joan Didion, Vintage, $18, 9781400078431 - Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly
Anthony Bourdain, Ecco, $18.99, 9780060899226
MASS MARKET
- 1984
George Orwell, Signet, $10.99, 9780451524935 - I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Maya Angelou, Ballantine, $8.99, 9780345514400 - Animal Farm
George Orwell, Signet, $9.99, 9780451526342 - The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Douglas Adams, Del Rey, $8.99, 9780345391803 - The Way of Kings
Brandon Sanderson, Tor, $12.99, 9780765365279 - The Catcher in the Rye
J.D. Salinger, Little, Brown, $9.99, 9780316769488 - Mistborn: The Final Empire
Brandon Sanderson, Tor, $10.99, 9781250318541 - Jurassic Park
Michael Crichton, Ballantine, $10.99, 9780345538987 - Slaughterhouse-Five
Kurt Vonnegut, Laurel Leaf, $9.99, 9780440180296 - The Picture of Dorian Gray and Three Stories
Oscar Wilde, Signet, $6.95, 9780451530455
CHILDREN'S ILLUSTRATED
- Goodnight Moon
Margaret Wise Brown, Clement Hurd (Illus.), Harper, $10.99, 9780694003617 - Will the Pigeon Graduate?
Mo Willems, Union Square Kids, $18.99, 9781454960430 - Good Night, Gorilla
Peggy Rathmann, G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, $8.99, 9780399230035 - The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Eric Carle, World of Eric Carle, $10.99, 9780399226908 - Blueberries for Sal
Robert McCloskey, Puffin, $9.99, 9780140501698 - Oh, the Places You’ll Go!
Dr. Seuss, Random House Books for Young Readers, $18.99, 9780679805274 - Bluey: The Big Blue Guy’s Book of Dad Goals
Penguin Young Readers, $9.99, 9780593888919 - Don’t Trust Fish
Neil Sharpson, Dan Santat (Illus.), Dial Books, $18.99, 9780593616673 - In-Between Places
Alex Killian, Grady McFerrin (Illus.), Chronicle Books, $17.99, 9781452172798 - Little Blue Truck and Racer Red
Alice Schertle, Jill McElmurry (Illus.), Clarion Books, $19.99, 9780063387843
CHILDREN'S INTEREST
- The Cartoonists Club: A Graphic Novel
Raina Telgemeier, Scott McCloud, Graphix, $14.99, 9781338777215 - The One and Only Bob
Katherine Applegate, Patricia Castelao (Illus.), Storytide, $10.99, 9780062991324 - Looking for Alaska
John Green, Penguin, $12.99, 9780593109069 - A Wolf Called Fire
Rosanne Parry, Greenwillow Books, $18.99, 9780063415133 - In Case You Read This
Edward Underhill, Quill Tree Books, $19.99, 9780063373778 - The Swifts: A Dictionary of Scoundrels
Beth Lincoln, Claire Powell (Illus.), Dutton Books for Young Readers, $9.99, 9780593533253 - Wings of Starlight
Allison Saft, Random House/Disney, $18.99, 9781368098458 - The Phantom Tollbooth
Norton Juster, Jules Feiffer (Illus.), Yearling, $8.99, 9780394820378 - Detective Beans and the Case of the Missing Hat
Li Chen, Andrews McMeel Publishing, $12.99, 9781524882587 - Creaky Acres: A Graphic Novel
Calista Brill, Nilah Magruder (Illus.), Kokila, $14.99, 9780735230620
CHILDREN'S SERIES
- Wings of Fire
Tui T. Sutherland, Mike Holmes (Illus.), Scholastic - Dog Man
Dav Pilkey, Graphix - The Hunger Games
Suzanne Collins, Scholastic Press - Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Jeff Kinney, Harry N. Abrams - The Wild Robot
Peter Brown, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers - Magic Tree House
Mary Pope Osborne, Sal Murdocca (Illus.), Random House Books for Young Readers - InvestiGators
John Patrick Green, Christopher Hastings, Pat Lewis (Illus.), First Second - Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Rick Riordan, Hyperion - The First Cat in Space
Mac Barnett, Shawn Harris (Illus.), HarperAlley - The Princess in Black
Shannon Hale, Dean Hale, LeUyen Pham (Illus.), Candlewick
