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The week’s bestselling books, Dec. 24

Southern California Bestsellers
(Los Angeles Times)
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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.

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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.

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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.

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.

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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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Paperback fiction

1. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid (Washington Square: $17)

2. Trust by Hernan Diaz (Riverhead: $17)

3. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (HarperOne: $18)

4. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas (Bloomsbury: $19)

5. The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (Penguin: $18)

6. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (Scribner: $19)

7. Circe by Madeline Miller (Back Bay: $19)

8. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (Penguin: $18)

9. A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara (Anchor: $18)

10. The Best American Short Stories 2023 by Min Jin Lee, Heidi Pitlor (Eds.) (Mariner: $19)

Paperback nonfiction

1. Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann (Vintage: $18)

2. An Immense World by Ed Yong (Random House: $20)

3. Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner (Vintage: $17)

4. How to Smile (Mindfulness Essentials #10) by Thich Nhat Hanh, Jason DeAntonis (Illus.) (Parallax: $10)

5. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Milkweed: $20)

6. The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present by Paul McCartney (Liveright: $30)

7. Meditations by Marcus Aurelius (Modern Library: $11)

8. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion (Vintage: $17)

9. The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi (Picador: $20)

10. All About Love by bell hooks (Morrow: $17)

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