The week’s bestselling books, Feb. 25

By The California Independent Booksellers Alliance

Feb. 21, 2024 6 AM PT

Hardcover fiction

1. The Women by Kristin Hannah (St. Martin’s Press: $30) An intimate portrait of coming of age in a dangerous time and an epic tale of a nation divided.

2. The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride (Riverhead: $28) The discovery of a skeleton in Pottstown, Pa., opens out to a story of integration and community.

3. The Book of Love by Kelly Link (Random House: $31) Three teenagers become pawns in a supernatural power struggle in the author’s long-awaited debut novel.

4. North Woods by Daniel Mason (Random House: $28) A sweeping historical tale focused on a single house in the New England woods.

5. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (Knopf: $28) Lifelong BFFs collaborate on a wildly successful video game.

6. The Bee Sting by Paul Murray (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $30) A family comes apart, financially and otherwise, in post-crash Ireland.

7. Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (Harper: $32) The story of a boy born into poverty to a teenage single mother in Appalachia.

8. Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar (Knopf: $28) An orphaned son of Iranian immigrants embarks on a remarkable search for a family secret.

9. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (Doubleday: $29) In the 1960s, a female chemist goes on to be a single parent, then a celebrity chef.

10. Tom Lake by Ann Patchett (Harper: $30) At a Michigan orchard, a woman tells her three daughters about a long-ago romance.

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Hardcover nonfiction

1. The Creative Act by Rick Rubin (Penguin: $32) The music producer’s guidance on how to be a creative person.

2. The Wager by David Grann (Doubleday: $30) The story of the shipwreck of an 18th century British warship and a mutiny among the survivors.

3. How to Know a Person by David Brooks (Random House: $30) The New York Times columnist explores the power of seeing and being seen.

4. Hits, Flops, and Other Illusions by Ed Zwick (Gallery Books: $29) The filmmaker’s dishy, behind-the-scenes look at working with some of the biggest names in Hollywood.

5. A Murder in Hollywood by Casey Sherman (Sourcebooks: $27.99) The story of Lana Turner and her daughter, who finally stood up to the abuse that plagued their family for years.

6. Atomic Habits by James Clear (Avery: $27) The self-help expert’s guide to building good habits and breaking bad ones via tiny changes in behavior.

7. Alphabetical Diaries by Sheila Heti (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $27) A record of the author’s thoughts across 10 years, rearranged into sentences from A to Z.

8. Prequel by Rachel Maddow (Crown: $32) The MSNBC anchor chronicles the fight against a pro-Nazi American group during World War II.

9. Democracy Awakening by Heather Cox Richardson (Viking: $30) A people’s history of the rise of U.S. authoritarianism and its resisters.

10. The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy (HarperOne: $23) A modern fable explores life’s universal lessons through four archetypes.

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