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The week’s bestselling books, August 23

Southern California Bestsellers
(Los Angeles Times)
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Hardcover fiction

1. Whistler by Ann Patchett (Harper: $30) A woman reconnects with her former stepfather at the Metropolitan Museum of Art decades after a traumatic event separated them.

2. Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke (Knopf: $30) A “tradwife” influencer suddenly wakes up in the brutal world of 1855.

3. The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout (Random House: $29) A life-altering event forces a high school teacher to confront hidden truths.

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4. The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (Crown: $28) A lifelong letter writer reckons with a painful past.

5. The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett (Spiegel & Grau: $35) In 1933 Mississippi, a group of female friends forms a defiant bond.

6. John of John by Douglas Stuart (Grove Press: $28) A young man returns to his Hebridean island home to find little has changed.

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7. Cool Machine by Colson Whitehead (Doubleday: $30) The Pulitzer winner’s Harlem trilogy concludes with one last heist in 1980s New York.

8. Country People by Daniel Mason (Random House: $30) A family leaves the comfort of their Bay Area home behind for a stint in the wilds of Vermont.

9. Under the Falls by Richard Russo (Knopf: $30) A crime in a small town exposes long-held secrets and betrayals among a group of friends.

10. Land by Maggie O’Farrell (Knopf: $32) A family struggles to survive in 1860s Ireland in the aftermath of the Great Hunger.

Hardcover nonfiction

1. Regime Change by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan (Simon & Schuster: $34) The journalists chronicle the tumultuous first year of Donald Trump’s second presidency.

2. The Land and Its People by David Sedaris (Little, Brown & Co.: $30) A collection of essays on what it means to be a traveler, a brother, a lifelong friend.

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3. London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe (Doubleday: $35) A family uncovers their 19-year-old son’s secret life in the London criminal underground after his sudden death.

4. Strangers by Belle Burden (Dial Press: $30) A woman explores her marriage, its end and the man she thought she knew.

5. Famesick by Lena Dunham (Random House: $32) The actor, writer and director’s frank reflections on illness, fame, sex and more.

6. How to Rule the World by Theo Baker (Penguin Press: $32) Inside Stanford’s troubled ties to Silicon Valley.

7. Lessons From Cats for Surviving Fascism by Stewart Reynolds (Grand Central Publishing: $13) A guide to channeling feline wisdom in the face of authoritarian nonsense.

8. The Creative Act by Rick Rubin (Penguin Press: $32) The music producer on how to be a creative person.

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9. The Little Frog’s Guide to Life by Maybell Eequay (Summersdale: $12) A guide to help you move through your days with self-love and kindness.

10. The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Gay by Eliot Glazer (Gallery Books: $29) The comedian writes about his struggles to fit into modern queer culture.

Paperback fiction

1. Theo of Golden by Allen Levi (Atria Books: $20)

2. Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman (Ace: $20)

3. Circe by Madeline Miller (Back Bay: $20)

4. Carl’s Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman (Ace: $21)

5. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (Ballantine Books: $22)

6. The Odyssey by Homer, Emily Wilson (translator) (Norton: $19)

7. East of Eden by John Steinbeck (Penguin: $25)

8. Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar (Vintage: $20)

9. The Wedding People by Alison Espach (Holt Paperbacks: $19)

10. I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman (Transit Books: $17)

Paperback nonfiction

1. A Marriage at Sea by Sophie Elmhirst (Riverhead Books: $20)

2. The Reverse Centaur’s Guide to Life After AI by Cory Doctorow (MCD: $18)

3. Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain (Ecco: $19)

4. Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion (Farrar, Straus and Giroux: $18)

5. Just Kids by Patti Smith (Ecco: $19)

6 All About Love by bell hooks (William Morrow Paperbacks: $18)

7. On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder (Crown: $14)

8. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion (Vintage: $18)

9. Raising Hare by Chloe Dalton (Vintage: $21)

10. Communion by bell hooks (William Morrow Paperbacks: $18)

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