Hardcover fiction
1. The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai (Hogarth: $32) The fates of two young people intersect and diverge across continents and years.
2. The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (Crown: $28) A lifelong letter writer reckons with a painful past.
3. Heart the Lover by Lily King (Grove Press: $28) A woman reflects on a youthful love triangle and its consequences.
4. What We Can Know by Ian McEwan (Knopf: $30) A genre-bending love story about people and the words they leave behind.
5. Flesh by David Szalay (Scribner: $29) A man’s life veers off course due to a series of unforeseen circumstances.
6. The Secret of Secrets by Dan Brown (Doubleday: $38) Symbologist Robert Langdon takes on a mystery involving human consciousness.
7. Katabasis by R. F. Kuang (Harper Voyager: $35) A dark academia fantasy about two rival graduate students’ descent into hell.
8. A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar (Knopf: $29) Two families seeking to protect their children must battle each other in a near-future Kolkata, India.
9. Audition by Katie Kitamura (Riverhead Books: $28) An accomplished actor grapples with the varied roles she plays in her personal life.
10. Shadow Ticket by Thomas Pynchon (Penguin Press: $30) A private eye in 1932 Milwaukee is hired to find a missing dairy heiress.
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Hardcover nonfiction
1. A Marriage at Sea by Sophie Elmhirst (Riverhead Books: $28) The true story of a young couple shipwrecked at sea.
2. 1929 by Andrew Ross Sorkin (Viking: $35) An exploration of the most infamous stock market crash in history.
3. Bread of Angels by Patti Smith (Random House: $30) A new memoir from the legendary writer and artist.
4. The Uncool by Cameron Crowe (Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster: $35) The filmmaker recounts his experiences as a teenage music journalist.
5. The Little Frog’s Guide to Life by Maybell Eequay (Summersdale: $12) More humor and wisdom from the internet’s beloved mushroom frog.
6. One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This by Omar El Akkad (Knopf: $28) Reckoning with what it means to live in a West that betrays its values.
7. Mother Mary Comes to Me by Arundhati Roy (Scribner: $30) The acclaimed novelist’s first memoir takes on the complex relationship with her mother.
8. Something From Nothing by Alison Roman (Clarkson Potter: $38) More than 100 recipes that make the most of a well-stocked pantry.
9. Always Remember by Charlie Mackesy (Penguin Life: $27) Revisiting the world of “The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse.”
10. 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.
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Paperback fiction
1. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (Ballantine: $22)
2. Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell (Vintage: $19)
3. The God of the Woods by Liz Moore (Riverhead Books: $19)
4. Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar (Vintage: $18)
5. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (Ecco: $20)
6. Train Dreams by Denis Johnson (Picador: $17)
7. Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid (Carina Press: $19)
8. The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon (Vintage: $18)
9. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman (Penguin: $18)
10. The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley (Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster: $19)
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Paperback nonfiction
1. On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder (Crown: $14)
2. The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron (TarcherPerigee: $24)
3. Revenge of the Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell (Back Bay Books: $22)
4. The Art Thief by Michael Finkel (Vintage: $18)
5. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Milkweed Editions: $22)
6. Kingmaker by Sonia Purnell (Penguin Books: $22)
7. The Wager by David Grann (Vintage: $21)
8. Just Kids by Patti Smith (Ecco: $19)
9. Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $18)
10. Didion and Babitz by Lili Anolik (Scribner: $20)
The post The week’s bestselling books, Jan. 4 appeared first on Los Angeles Times.
