The week’s bestselling books, Dec. 24

By The California Independent Booksellers Alliance

Dec. 20, 2023 3 AM PT

Hardcover fiction

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

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. 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.

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

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

6. Prophet Song by Paul Lynch (Atlantic Monthly Press: $26) A family copes with the rise of fascism in a dystopian Ireland.

7. Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros (Entangled: Red Tower Books: $30) In the sequel to the bestselling “Fourth Wing,” the dragon-rider faces even greater tests.

8. The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese (Grove: $32) An epic novel follows three generations of a family in southern India from 1900 through 1977.

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

10. Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (Grove: $20) During the 1985 Christmas season, a coal merchant in an Irish village makes a troubling discovery.

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Hardcover nonfiction

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

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

3. My Name Is Barbra by Barbra Streisand (Viking: $47) The multi-hyphenate icon dishes on her career in music and Hollywood.

4. The Woman in Me by Britney Spears (Gallery: $33) The pop star, long confined in a conservatorship, finally tells her full story.

5. Oath and Honor by Liz Cheney (Little, Brown: $32) The former GOP representative recounts her fight to impeach and investigate Donald Trump.

6. The Art Thief by Michael Finkel (Knopf: $28) The true-crime tale of a genius art thief who kept all the spoils for himself.

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

8. Making It So by Patrick Stewart (Gallery: $35) The celebrated, classically trained “Star Trek” actor looks back on his career.

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

10. What the Bears Know by Steve Searles, Chris Erskine (Pegasus Books: $29) Steve Searles, a.k.a. the “Bear Whisperer” of Mammoth Lakes, offers insights into coexisting with bears and nature.

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