Bestsellers List Sun., Aug. 16, 2020

SoCal Bestsellers

Hardcover Fiction

1. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett (Riverhead: $27) Identical twin sisters run away from their small Black community in the South and live very different lives.

2. The Order by Daniel Silva (Harper: $29) Art restorer and spy Gabriel Allon returns to investigate the mysterious death of the pope.

3. Luster by Raven Leilani (FSG: $26) A young Black woman in New York City has an affair with a married man with an open marriage and an adopted Black daughter.

4. Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey: $27) A woman is summoned to a mysterious home in rural Mexico to rescue her newlywed cousin.

5. Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell (Knopf: $27) An Elizabethan tale of love and grief in 16th century Stratford-Upon-Avon.

6. Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell (Random House: $30) The rise and fall of a rock band in late-’60s London.

7. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (Putnam: $26) A young woman living on her own becomes a murder suspect.

8. Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid (Putnam: $26) A young Black babysitter, her well-intentioned employer and a connection that threatens to undo them both.

9. Sex and Vanity by Kevin Kwan (Doubleday: $27) A woman with Asian and white parents is attracted to two men, one Asian, one white.

10. Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy (Flatiron: $27) As the environment collapses, a woman is on a quest to follow the world’s last Arctic terns.

Hardcover nonfiction

1. Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson (Random House: $32) A hidden caste system influences the lives of Americans.

2. Too Much and Never Enough by Mary L. Trump (Simon & Schuster: $28) A tell-all from the niece of President Trump.

3. How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi (One World: $27) The author weaves ethics, history, law, science and personal narrative into a work that illuminates how racism works.

4. Untamed by Glennon Doyle (Dial: $28) The activist explores the peace that comes when we stop striving to meet the world’s expectations.

5. The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson (Crown: $32) A portrait of Winston Churchill and his defiance during the Blitz.

6. Begin Again by Eddie S. Glaude (Crown: $27) A biography of author and activist James Baldwin provides context and insight into race in America today.

7. Breath by James Nestor (Riverhead: $28) New research yields breathtaking results.

8. Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad (Sourcebooks: $26) How to dismantle white privilege and stop inflicting damage on people of color.

9. Twilight of Democracy by Anne Applebaum (Doubleday: $25) The historian documents the decline of democracy and rise of nationalism in the U.S., Great Britain, Europe and Asia.

10. What It’s Like to Be a Bird by David Allen Sibley (Knopf: $35) The expert details the lives of birds.

Paperback fiction

1. The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead (Anchor: $16)

2. Circe by Madeline Miller (Back Bay: $17)

3. Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler (Grand Central: $17)

4. The Overstory by Richard Powers (Norton: $19)

5. Normal People by Sally Rooney (Hogarth: $17)

6. Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng (Penguin: $17)

7. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (HarperOne: $17)

8. The Long Call by Ann Cleeves (Minotaur: $17)

9. City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert (Riverhead: $17)

10. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles (Penguin: $17)

Paperback nonfiction

1. White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo (Beacon: $16)

2. The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander (New Press: $19)

3. The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin (Vintage: $14)

4. Intimations by Zadie Smith (Penguin: $11)

5. My Grandmother’s Hands by Resmaa Menakem (Central Recovery: $18)

6. So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo (Seal: $17)

7. On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder (Tim Duggan : $10)

8. The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson (Vintage: $18)

9. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Milkweed: $18)

10. Wow, No Thank You. by Samantha Irby (Vintage: $16)