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,June 1, 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 - Great Big Beautiful Life
Emily Henry, Berkley, $29, 9780593441299 - Never Flinch
Stephen King, Scribner, $32, 9781668089330 - My Friends
Fredrik Backman, Atria Books, $29.99, 9781982112820 - Spent
Alison Bechdel, Mariner Books, $32, 9780063278929 - 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 - Audition
Katie Kitamura, Riverhead Books, $28, 9780593852323 - The Doorman
Chris Pavone, MCD, $30, 9780374604790 - Dungeon Crawler Carl
Matt Dinniman, Ace, $30, 9780593820247 - The Devils
Joe Abercrombie, Tor Books, $29.99, 9781250880055 - Return to Sender
Craig Johnson, Viking, $30, 9780593830703 - The Knight and the Moth
Rachel Gillig, Orbit, $30, 9780316582704
HARDCOVER NONFICTION
- 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 - Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again
Jake Tapper, Alex Thompson, Penguin Press, $32, 9798217060672 - Abundance
Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson, Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster, $30, 9781668023488 - The Book of Alchemy: A Creative Practice for an Inspired Life
Suleika Jaouad, Random House, $30, 9780593734636 - The Creative Act: A Way of Being
Rick Rubin, Penguin Press, $32, 9780593652886 - One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This
Omar El Akkad, Knopf, $28, 9780593804148 - Steve Martin Writes the Written Word: Collected Written Word Works by Steve Martin
Steve Martin, Grand Central Publishing, $30, 9780306835735 - Mark Twain
Ron Chernow, Penguin Press, $45, 9780525561729 - Notes to John
Joan Didion, Knopf, $32, 9780593803677 - Is a River Alive?
Robert Macfarlane, W. W. Norton & Company, $31.99, 9780393242133 - Big Dumb Eyes: Stories from a Simpler Mind
Nate Bargatze, Grand Central Publishing, $30, 9781538768464 - Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI
Karen Hao, Penguin Press, $32, 9780593657508 - We Can Do Hard Things: Answers to Life’s 20 Questions
Glennon Doyle, Abby Wambach, Amanda Doyle, The Dial Press, $34, 9780593977644 - Raising Hare: A Memoir
Chloe Dalton, Pantheon, $27, 9780593701843 - Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection
John Green, Crash Course Books, $28, 9780525556572
TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION
- All Fours
Miranda July, Riverhead Books, $19, 9780593190272 - Problematic Summer Romance
Ali Hazelwood, Berkley, $20, 9798217187430 - Remarkably Bright Creatures
Shelby Van Pelt, Ecco, $19.99, 9780063204164 - Orbital
Samantha Harvey, Grove Press, $17, 9780802163622 - Sandwich
Catherine Newman, Harper Perennial, $18.99, 9780063345171 - Martyr!
Kaveh Akbar, Vintage, $18, 9780593685778 - The Safekeep
Yael van der Wouden, Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster, $18.99, 9781668034354 - I Who Have Never Known Men
Jacqueline Harpman, Transit Books, $16.95, 9781945492600 - One Golden Summer
Carley Fortune, Berkley, $19, 9780593638910 - A Court of Thorns and Roses
Sarah J. Maas, Bloomsbury Publishing, $19, 9781635575569 - Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
Gabrielle Zevin, Vintage, $19, 9780593466490 - The Ministry of Time
Kaliane Bradley, Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster, $18.99, 9781668045152 - Parable of the Sower
Octavia E. Butler, Grand Central, $19.99, 9781538732182 - Normal People
Sally Rooney, Crown, $17, 9781984822185 - Big Swiss
Jen Beagin, Scribner, $17, 9781982153090
TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION
- On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century
Timothy Snyder, Crown, $12, 9780804190114 - The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder
David Grann, Vintage, $21, 9780307742490 - The Artist’s Way: 30th Anniversary Edition
Julia Cameron, TarcherPerigee, $20, 9780143129257 - All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me
Patrick Bringley, Simon & Schuster, $18.99, 9781982163310 - Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism
Amanda Montell, Harper Perennial, $19.99, 9780062993168 - 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 Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession
Michael Finkel, Vintage, $18, 9781984898456 - The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
Bessel van der Kolk, M.D., Penguin, $19, 9780143127741 - The Backyard Bird Chronicles
Amy Tan, Knopf, $36, 9780593536131 - Slouching Towards Bethlehem: Essays
Joan Didion, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $18, 9780374531386 - 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 - Peace Is This Moment: Mindful Reflections for Daily Practice
Thich Nhat Hanh, Parallax Press, $19.95, 9781952692604 - The Wide Wide Sea: Imperial Ambition, First Contact and the Fateful Final Voyage of Captain James Cook
Hampton Sides, Vintage, $19, 9780525565703 - The Year of Magical Thinking
Joan Didion, Vintage, $18, 9781400078431
MASS MARKET
- 1984
George Orwell, Signet, $10.99, 9780451524935 - Animal Farm
George Orwell, Signet, $9.99, 9780451526342 - The Hero of Ages
Brandon Sanderson, Tor, $11.99, 9781250318626 - Mistborn: The Final Empire
Brandon Sanderson, Tor, $10.99, 9781250318541 - The Catcher in the Rye
J.D. Salinger, Little, Brown, $9.99, 9780316769488 - The Brothers Karamazov
Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Signet, $8.95, 9780451530608 - The Diary of a Young Girl
Anne Frank, Bantam, $8.99, 9780553577129 - Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen, Bantam Classics, $5.95, 9780553213102 - True Love
Thich Nhat Hanh, Shambhala, $6.99, 9781590304044 - Dune Messiah
Frank Herbert, Ace, $9.99, 9780593098233
CHILDREN'S ILLUSTRATED
- Oh, the Places You’ll Go!
Dr. Seuss, Random House Books for Young Readers, $18.99, 9780679805274 - Goodnight Moon
Margaret Wise Brown, Clement Hurd (Illus.), Harper, $10.99, 9780694003617 - Will the Pigeon Graduate?
Mo Willems, Union Square Kids, $18.99, 9781454960430 - The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Eric Carle, World of Eric Carle, $10.99, 9780399226908 - Where the Wild Things Are
Maurice Sendak, Harper, $21.99, 9780060254926 - Madeline
Ludwig Bemelmans, Viking, $9.99, 9780670014071 - The Wolf, the Duck, and the Mouse
Mac Barnett, Jon Klassen (Illus.), Candlewick, $8.99, 9781536227796 - The Octopus Escapes
Maile Meloy, Felicita Sala (Illus.), G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, $9.99, 9780593533970 - Knight Owl
Christopher Denise, Christy Ottaviano Books, $17.99, 9780316310628 - Bluey: The Big Blue Guy’s Book of Dad Goals
Penguin Young Readers, $9.99, 9780593888919
CHILDREN'S INTEREST
- The Gate, the Girl, and the Dragon (Deluxe Limited Edition)
Grace Lin, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, $18.99, 9780316478328 - And They Were Roommates
Page Powars, Roaring Brook Press, $19.99, 9781250347657 - The Cartoonists Club: A Graphic Novel
Raina Telgemeier, Scott McCloud, Graphix, $14.99, 9781338777215 - Sea Legs: A Graphic Novel
Jules Bakes, Niki Smith (Illus.), Graphix, $14.99, 9781338835861 - The Village Beyond the Mist
Sachiko Kashiwaba, Miho Satake (Illus.), Yonder, $18, 9781632063922 - Impossible Creatures
Katherine Rundell, Ashley Mackenzie (Illus.), Knopf Books for Young Readers, $19.99, 9780593809860 - The Bletchley Riddle
Ruta Sepetys, Steve Sheinkin, Viking Books for Young Readers, $18.99, 9780593527542 - Words with Wings and Magic Things
Matthew Burgess, Doug Salati (Illus.), Tundra Books, $19.99, 9781774880289 - Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
Grace Lin, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, $12.99, 9780316038638 - Matilda
Roald Dahl, Quentin Blake (Illus.), Puffin, $8.99, 9780142410370
CHILDREN'S SERIES
- The Hunger Games
Suzanne Collins, Scholastic Press - Dog Man
Dav Pilkey, Graphix - The Wild Robot
Peter Brown, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers - Spy School
Stuart Gibbs, Anjan Sarkar (Illus.), Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers - Percy Jackson and the Olympians
Rick Riordan, Hyperion - Wings of Fire
Tui T. Sutherland, Mike Holmes (Illus.), Scholastic - Baby-Sitters Club Graphix
Ann M. Martin, Arley Nopra (Illus.), Graphix - InvestiGators
John Patrick Green, Christopher Hastings, Pat Lewis (Illus.), First Second - Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Jeff Kinney, Harry N. Abrams - FunJungle
Stuart Gibbs, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
