Hardcover fiction
1. The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (Crown: $28) A lifelong letter writer reckons with a painful past.
2. Heart the Lover by Lily King (Grove Press: $28) A woman reflects on a youthful love triangle and its consequences.
3. What We Can Know by Ian McEwan (Knopf: $30) A genre-bending love story about people and the words they leave behind.
4. Flesh by David Szalay (Scribner: $29) A man’s life veers off course due to a series of unforeseen circumstances.
5. Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood (Riverhead Books: $28) A woman takes refuge in a small religious community on the stark plains of rural Australia.
6. The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai (Hogarth: $32) The fates of two young people intersect and diverge across continents and years.
7. My Friends by Fredrik Backman (Atria Books: $30) The bond between teenagers 25 years earlier has a powerful effect on a budding artist.
8. Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy (Flatiron Books: $29) As sea levels rise, a family on a remote island rescues a mysterious woman.
9. Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (Grove Press: $20) During the 1985 Christmas season, a coal merchant in an Irish village makes a troubling discovery.
10. The Secret of Secrets by Dan Brown (Doubleday: $38) Symbologist Robert Langdon takes on a mystery involving human consciousness.
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Hardcover nonfiction
1. The Uncool by Cameron Crowe (Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster: $35) The filmmaker recounts his experiences as a teenage music journalist.
2. Bread of Angels by Patti Smith (Random House: $30) A new memoir from the legendary writer and artist.
3. A Marriage at Sea by Sophie Elmhirst (Riverhead Books: $28) The true story of a young couple shipwrecked at sea.
4. 1929 by Andrew Ross Sorkin (Viking: $35) An exploration of the most infamous stock market crash in history.
5. Good Things by Samin Nosrat (Random House: $45) The celebrated chef shares 125 meticulously tested recipes.
6. Always Remember by Charlie Mackesy (Penguin Life: $27) Revisiting the world of “The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse.”
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. Neurogiving by Cherian Koshy (Wiley: $28) An exploration of the latest advances in fundraising strategy and donor decision-making.
9. Something From Nothing by Alison Roman (Clarkson Potter: $38) More than 100 recipes that make the most of a well-stocked pantry.
10. Ursula K. Le Guin’s Book of Cats by Ursula K. Le Guin (Library of America: $17) Quirky and winsome cat poems, meditations and drawings from the literary legend.
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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 Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon (Vintage: $18)
4. Playground by Richard Powers (W. W. Norton & Co.: $20)
5. Train Dreams by Denis Johnson (Picador: $17)
6. Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (Ecco: $20)
7. The Housemaid by Freida McFadden (Grand Central: $19)
8. Isola by Allegra Goodman (Dial Press Trade Paperback: $19)
9. The God of the Woods by Liz Moore (Riverhead Books: $19)
10. On the Calculation of Volume (Book I) by Solvej Balle, Barbara J. Haveland (translator) (New Directions: $16)
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Paperback nonfiction
1. The Wager by David Grann (Vintage: $21)
2. The Art Thief by Michael Finkel (Vintage: $18)
3. The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan (Knopf: $36)
4. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Milkweed Editions: $22)
5. On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder (Crown: $14)
6. Catching the Big Fish by David Lynch (Tarcher: $20)
7. Fight Oligarchy by Sen. Bernie Sanders (Crown: $15)
8. The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron (TarcherPerigee: $24)
9. All About Love by bell hooks (Morrow: $17)
10. Everything Now by Rosecrans Baldwin (Picador: $19)
The post The week’s bestselling books, Dec. 21 appeared first on Los Angeles Times.
