The SoCal Indie Bestsellers List, as brought to you by IndieBound and CALIBA, for the
sales week ended Sunday, September 21, 2025. 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 Secret of Secrets
Dan Brown, Doubleday, $38, 9780385546898
2. My Friends
Fredrik Backman, Atria Books, $29.99, 9781982112820
3. Katabasis (Deluxe Limited Edition)
R. F. Kuang, Harper Voyager, $35, 9780063021471
4. The Academy
Elin Hilderbrand, Shelby Cunningham, Little, Brown and Company, $30, 9780316567855
5. Culpability
Bruce Holsinger, Spiegel & Grau, $30, 9781954118966
6. Among the Burning Flowers
Samantha Shannon, Bloomsbury Publishing, $29.99, 9781639736010
7. Clown Town
Mick Herron, Soho Crime, $29.95, 9781641297264
8. The Shattering Peace
John Scalzi, Tor Books, $29.99, 9780765389190
9. Wild Dark Shore
Charlotte McConaghy, Flatiron Books, $28.99, 9781250827951
10. The Emperor of Gladness
Ocean Vuong, Penguin Press, $30, 9780593831878
11. Buckeye
Patrick Ryan, Random House, $30, 9780593595039
12. The Wilderness
Angela Flournoy, Mariner Books, $30, 9780063318779
13. Hemlock & Silver
T. Kingfisher, Tor Books, $28.99, 9781250342034
14. Later Days
Chip Jacobs, Rare Bird Books, $28, 9781644284926
15. James
Percival Everett, Doubleday, $28, 9780385550369
 
HARDCOVER NONFICTION 
1. All the Way to the River: Love, Loss, and Liberation
Elizabeth Gilbert, Riverhead Books, $35, 9780593540985
2. The Book of Sheen: A Memoir
Charlie Sheen, Gallery Books, $35, 9781668075289
3. Good Things: Recipes and Rituals to Share with People You Love
Samin Nosrat, Random House, $45, 9781984857781
4. We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution
Jill Lepore, Liveright, $39.99, 9781631496080
5. Art Work: On the Creative Life
Sally Mann, Abrams Press, $35, 9781419780714
6. 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
7. Night People: How to Be a DJ in '90s New York City
Mark Ronson, Grand Central Publishing, $29, 9781538741115
8. Mother Mary Comes to Me
Arundhati Roy, Scribner, $30, 9781668094716
9. Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America
Robert B. Reich, Knopf, $30, 9780593803288
10. Poems & Prayers
Matthew McConaughey, Crown, $29, 9781984862105
11. 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
12. Lessons from Cats for Surviving Fascism
Stewart Reynolds, Grand Central Publishing, $13, 9781538778005
13. Abundance
Ezra Klein, Derek Thompson, Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster, $30, 9781668023488
14. I Regret Almost Everything: A Memoir
Keith McNally, Gallery Books, $29.99, 9781668017647
15. History Matters
David McCullough, Simon & Schuster, $27, 9781668098998
 
TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION 
1. The Ministry of Time
Kaliane Bradley, Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster, $18.99, 9781668045152
2. Project Hail Mary
Andy Weir, Ballantine, $22, 9780593135228
3. The Frozen River
Ariel Lawhon, Vintage, $18, 9780593312070
4. The City and Its Uncertain Walls
Haruki Murakami, Vintage, $19, 9780593687840
5. Tell Me Everything
Elizabeth Strout, Random House Trade Paperbacks, $18, 9780593446119
6. The Safekeep
Yael van der Wouden, Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster, $18.99, 9781668034354
7. Martyr!
Kaveh Akbar, Vintage, $18, 9780593685778
8. Red Rising
Pierce Brown, Del Rey, $18, 9780345539809
9. The Lion Women of Tehran
Marjan Kamali, Gallery Books, $18.99, 9781668036594
10. Starter Villain
John Scalzi, Tor Books, $18.99, 9781250879394
11. The Best Short Stories 2025: The O. Henry Prize Winners
Edward P. Jones (Ed.), Vintage, $19, 9780593689608
12. The Life Impossible
Matt Haig, Penguin, $19, 9780593489291
13. The Thursday Murder Club
Richard Osman, Penguin, $18, 9781984880987
14. All the Colors of the Dark
Chris Whitaker, Crown, $19, 9780593798898
15. The Alchemist
Paulo Coelho, HarperOne, $17.99, 9780062315007
 
TRADE PAPERBACK NONFICTION 
1. All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me
Patrick Bringley, Simon & Schuster, $18.99, 9781982163310
2. On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century
Timothy Snyder, Crown, $12, 9780804190114
3. Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI
Yuval Noah Harari, Random House Trade Paperbacks, $25, 9780593734230
4. The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession
Michael Finkel, Vintage, $18, 9781984898456
5. Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World
Anne Applebaum, Vintage, $18, 9780593471203
6. The Friday Afternoon Club: A Family Memoir
Griffin Dunne, Penguin Books, $21, 9780593652848
7. Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity: 10th Anniversary Edition
David Lynch, Tarcher, $20, 9780143130147
8. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants
Robin Wall Kimmerer, Milkweed Editions, $22, 9781571313560
9. The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder
David Grann, Vintage, $21, 9780307742490
10. How to Dream (Mindfulness Essentials #12)
Thich Nhat Hanh, Parallax Press, $10.95, 9781952692994
11. Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution
Cat Bohannon, Vintage, $20, 9780345806208
12. The 2026 Old Farmer's Almanac
Old Farmer's Almanac, $10.95, 9781961793682
13. The Artist's Way: 30th Anniversary Edition
Julia Cameron, TarcherPerigee, $24, 9780143129257
14. The Psychology of Money: Timeless Lessons on Wealth, Greed, and Happiness
Morgan Housel, Harriman House, $19.99, 9780857197689
15. How to Stand Up to a Dictator: The Fight for Our Future
Maria Ressa, Harper Perennial, $19.99, 9780063257528
 
MASS MARKET 
1. 1984
George Orwell, Signet, $10.99, 9780451524935
2. Hyperion
Dan Simmons, Spectra, $11, 9780553283686
3. Mistborn: The Final Empire
Brandon Sanderson, Tor, $10.99, 9781250318541
4. Animal Farm
George Orwell, Signet, $9.99, 9780451526342
5. Jurassic Park
Michael Crichton, Ballantine, $10.99, 9780345538987
6. Women Who Run With the Wolves
Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Ballantine, $9.99, 9780345409874
7. The Brothers Karamazov
Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Signet, $8.95, 9780451530608
8. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Douglas Adams, Del Rey, $9.99, 9780345391803
9. The Well of Ascension
Brandon Sanderson, Tor, $11.99, 9781250318572
10. The Left Hand of Darkness
Ursula K. Le Guin, Ace, $10.99, 9780441478125
 
CHILDREN'S ILLUSTRATED 
1. Hansel and Gretel
Stephen King, Maurice Sendak (Illus.), HarperCollins, $26.99, 9780062644695
2. Room on the Broom
Julia Donaldson, Axel Scheffler (Illus.), Dial Books, $9.99, 9780593110409
3. If We Were Dogs
Sophie Blackall, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, $18.99, 9780316581721
4. Good Night, Gorilla
Peggy Rathmann, G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers, $8.99, 9780399230035
5. Baby Pumpkin: Finger Puppet Book
Yu-Hsuan Huang (Illus.), Chronicle Books, $7.99, 9781797232782
6. Little Blue Truck's Halloween
Alice Schertle, Jill McElmurry (Illus.), Clarion Books, $13.99, 9780544772533
7. Goodnight Moon
Margaret Wise Brown, Clement Hurd (Illus.), Harper, $10.99, 9780694003617
8. Boo! Baa, La La La!
Sandra Boynton, Boynton Bookworks, $6.99, 9781534452831
9. Peekaboo: Pumpkin
Camilla Reid, Ingela P. Arrhenius (Illus.), Candlewick Press, $9.99, 9781536229813
10. I Spy Spooky Night
Jean Marzollo, Walter Wick (Illus.), Cartwheel Books, $14.99, 9781338353136
 
CHILDREN'S INTEREST 
1. Troubling Tonsils! (Jasper Rabbit's Creepy Tales!)
Aaron Reynolds, Peter Brown (Illus.), Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, $13.99, 9781665961080
2. The Poisoned King (Impossible Creatures #2)
Katherine Rundell, Ashley Mackenzie (Illus.), Knopf Books for Young Readers, $19.99, 9780593809907
3. Impossible Creatures
Katherine Rundell, Ashley Mackenzie (Illus.), Yearling, $11.99, 9780593809891
4. Pocket Bear
Katherine Applegate, Feiwel & Friends, $17.99, 9781250904362
5. By Invitation Only
Alexandra Brown Chang, Margaret K. McElderry Books, $19.99, 9781665972437
6. The Skull: A Tyrolean Folktale
Jon Klassen, Candlewick, $19.99, 9781536223361
7. The Vale
Abigail Hing Wen, Yuna Cheong (Illus.), Brandon Wu (Illus.), Third State Books, $19.95, 9798890130310
8. Howl's Moving Castle Deluxe Limited Edition
Diana Wynne Jones, Greenwillow Books, $24.99, 9780063416468
9. Restart
Gordon Korman, Scholastic Press, $6.99, 9781338053807
10. Guts: A Graphic Novel
Raina Telgemeier, Graphix, $12.99, 9780545852500
 
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, Mike Holmes (Illus.), Scholastic 
4. The Hunger Games
Suzanne Collins, Scholastic Press 
5. InvestiGators
John Patrick Green, Steve Behling, Chris Fenoglio (Illus.), First Second 
6. The Summer I Turned Pretty
Jenny Han, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers 
7. Magic Tree House
Mary Pope Osborne, Sal Murdocca (Illus.), Random House Books for Young Readers 
8. Who Would Win?
Jerry Pallotta, Rob Bolster (Illus.), Scholastic 
9. Harry Potter
J.K. Rowling, Scholastic/Arthur A. Levine 
10. Spy School
Stuart Gibbs, Anjan Sarkar (Illus.), Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers