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The Journal of Alta California merges William R. Hearst III’s love for publishing and the arts into a fresh magazine that celebrates California and the Western spirit. Alta is an energetic publication available both in print and online, and it will also host a variety of events that connect leading minds to discuss California and contemporary topics.

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Alta Journal’s California Bestsellers List (May 8, 2025)

1 week ago | altaonline.com | Elizabeth Casillas

AltaWith reporting from the California Independent Booksellers Alliance, Alta Journal brings you a list of the bestselling titles at independent bookstores across Northern and Southern California for the week ending May 4, 2025. We would be remiss not to highlight this week’s standout: James by Percival Everett, the 2025 Pulitzer Prize winner for Fiction. This bold novel reimagines Adventures of Huckleberry Finn through the eyes of Jim.
Writing, Parenting, and Quakes: Emma Pattee’s Debut Hits Hard

1 week ago | altaonline.com | Emma Pattee

Emma Pattee remembers the instant her first novel, Tilt, came into shape for her. As so often happens when it comes to inspiration, it began with the most ordinary of events. It was 2019, and Pattee was pregnant with her first child. A resident of Portland, Oregon, she had long been anxious about the possibility of an earthquake in the Cascadia Subduction Zone.
Enter Desert: ‘Gold Fame Citrus’

1 week ago | altaonline.com | John Freeman

The Mojave is a big desert and a frightening one,” John Steinbeck wrote in Travels with Charley. “It’s as though nature tested a man for endurance and constancy to prove whether he was good enough to get to California.” By the time Steinbeck wrote this, man had long since gotten to California: The clue is in the desert’s name. Mojave Indians, who also go by the name Aha Macav, had been in the desert for thousands of years.
Alta Journal ’s California Bestsellers List (May 1, 2025)

2 weeks ago | altaonline.com | Elizabeth Casillas

AltaWith reporting from the California Independent Booksellers Alliance, Alta Journal brings you a list of the bestselling titles at independent bookstores across Northern and Southern California for the week ending April 27, 2025. Check out two standout nonfiction titles this week. First is Notes To John by Joan Didion, a posthumous release of Joan Didion's therapy notes to her husband.
Attack of the 75-Foot Roving Mud Puddle

2 weeks ago | altaonline.com | Meg Bernhard

My obsession with the roving mud puddle of Imperial County started several years ago, when my then-boyfriend sent me a YouTube video. Titled “Giant Moving Mud Puddle Tries to Take Out a TRAIN,” the clip from science influencer Physics Girl showed a brown, bubbling puddle some 50 feet from Highway 111, where the road runs along the Salton Sea’s eastern shore.
14 Best New Books to Read in May 2025

2 weeks ago | altaonline.com | Elizabeth Casillas |Maisie Hurwitz

BooksNew Releases for MayNew Releases for MayHere are 14 books by authors on and of the West, including So Many Stars, The Words of Dr. L, and The Last Great Dream. 1AMERICAN GIRL, AMERICAN DREAMS: MY LIFE WITH TOM PETTY, BY JANE PETTY WITH PAMELA DES BARRESDey Street BooksIn the 1960s, two teenagers from tragic, broken homes met in Gainesville, Florida, and fell in love, inspiring some of America’s most iconic songs about young romance and perseverance.
Connecting California’s Literary Dots

3 weeks ago | altaonline.com | Elizabeth Casillas

What do Mecca, Golden Days, and The Sellout have in common, aside from being essential California reads? (Spoiler: It’s the Chavez Ravine.) Thanks to Bibliotrek, an interactive database that uses artificial intelligence, we can now see how they intersect on a map—including selections from Alta Journal’s Issue 31 cover package, 25 Books That Define California. Steve Coast has brought that list to life with his work on Bibliotrek.
Alta Journal’s California Bestsellers List (April 24, 2025)

3 weeks ago | altaonline.com | Elizabeth Casillas

AltaWith reporting from the California Independent Booksellers Alliance, Alta Journal brings you a list of the bestselling titles at independent bookstores across Northern and Southern California for the week ending April 20, 2025. This Indie Bookstore Day, April 26, pick up one of these standout new releases. If you’re in the mood for a thriller, grab Strangers in Time by David Baldacci.
Heavy Lifting

3 weeks ago | altaonline.com | Lydia Horne

The act of writing burns about a calorie a minute. Fingers flex and extend across the keyboard. Biceps curl to reach across the desk. Your trapezius collaborates with nearby neck muscles to hold up your head. In On Muscle: The Stuff That Moves Us and Why It Matters, author Bonnie Tsui proves the parallel between writing and physicality, wrestling themes related to the body’s fibrous strands into five chapters, on strength, form, action, flexibility, and endurance.
Alta Journal’s California Bestsellers List (April 17, 2025)

4 weeks ago | altaonline.com | Elizabeth Casillas

AltaWith reporting from the California Independent Booksellers Alliance, Alta Journal brings you a list of the bestselling titles at independent bookstores across Northern and Southern California for the week ending April 13, 2025. Dive into two unique love stories this week. First up is The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley, a new novel about a budding romance between past and present.