Southern California Rating:FICTION1 A TRAITOR TO MEMORY...

Southern California Rating:

FICTION

1 A TRAITOR TO MEMORY by Elizabeth George (Bantam: $26.95) A sensational child murder case from years ago holds clues to the identity of a vicious hit-and-run killer of a divorcee.

Last Week: 3; Weeks On List: 3

2 THE FOURTH HAND by John Irving (Random House: $26.95) A television reporter loses his hand to a hungry lion in a freak accident that is broadcast on TV.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 1

3 WHITE SWAN, BLACK SWAN by Adrienne Sharp (Random House: $21.95) A collection of short stories about ballet dancers and choreographers seeking perfection in dance and in life.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 1

4 THE WIND DONE GONE by Alice Randall (Houghton Mifflin: $22) A tale of plantation life on Tara, told by Scarlett’s half-sister, and infused with irony and Gothic satire.

Last Week: 5; Weeks On List: 5

5 ECHO BURNING by Lee Child (Putnam: $24.95) A former cop finds himself in the midst of trouble when he agrees to serve as a bodyguard for a woman and her daughter.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 1

6 THE JURY by Steve Martini (Putnam: $25.95) Lawyer-hero Paul Madriani defends a doctor involved in gene research with plenty of motive for killing an ambitious colleague.

Last Week: 9; Weeks On List: 2

7 PARALLEL LIES by Ridley Pearson (Hyperion: $23.95) An ex-homicide detective investigates a series of train derailments that look suspiciously like sabotage.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 1

8 P IS FOR PERIL by Sue Grafton (Putnam: $26.95) Kinsey Millhone is hired to find a missing doctor with skeletons in the closet at work and a dysfunctional family at home.

Last Week: 1; Weeks On List: 6

9 SEVEN UP by Janet Evanovich (St. Martin’s: $24.95) Sassy New Jersey bounty hunter Stephanie Plum returns, on the trail of a mean senior citizen with a corpse in his garden shed.

Last Week: 7; Weeks On List: 2

10 FEARLESS JONES by Walter Mosley (Little, Brown: $24.95) A used-book shop owner crosses paths with a beautiful, mysterious woman, and his life is quickly turned upside-down. 8 5

11 BACK WHEN WE WERE GROWNUPS by Anne Tyler (Alfred A. Knopf: $25) A 50-something widow and loving mom, coping with midlife, meets an old flame and ponders the road not taken.

Last Week: 6; Weeks On List: 10

12 CANE RIVER by Lalita Tademy (Warner: $24.95) A family chronicle about the experiences of four generations of women born into slavery on the Cane River in Louisiana.

Last Week: 10; Weeks On List: 2

13 THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER & CLAY by Michael Chabon (Random House: $26.95) In World War II Brooklyn, two Jewish cousins break into the comic book business.

Last Week: 12; Weeks On List: 20

14 LEAP OF FAITH by Danielle Steel (Dell: $19.95) A young woman flees her wicked aunt for a sinister French Prince Charming only to realize that her true love is an Iowa farmboy.

Last Week: 11; Weeks On List: 3

15 OPEN SEASON by C.J. Box (Putnam: 23.95) A game warden finds himself in a nest of trouble when three elk hunters are killed under mysterious circumstances.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 1

NONFICTION

1 A PASSION TO WIN by Sumner Redstone with Peter Knobler (Simon & Schuster: $26) A media monarch’s progress: fFrom childhood in a tough Boston neighborhood to his takeover of Viacom.

Last Week: 0; Weeks On List: 2

2 JOHN ADAMS by David McCullough (Simon & Schuster: $35) The story of our second president, a man Thomas Jefferson called “the colossus of independence.”

Last Week: 1; Weeks On List: 8

3 JUSTICE by Dominick Dunne (Crown: $24) The bespectacled writer describes the high-profile crimes he’s covered, as well as a painfully private one: his daughter’s murder.

Last Week: 4; Weeks On List: 2

4 STOLEN LIVES by Malika Oufkir with Michele Fitoussi (Talk Miramax: $24) A young woman spends 20 years in jail after her father tries to assassinate the king of Morocco.

Last Week: 6; Weeks On List: 5

5 FOUNDING BROTHERS by Joseph J. Ellis (Alfred A. Knopf: $26 ) The intertwined lives of America’s founders, their squabbles and collaborations, long before they were deified in history books.

Last Week: 13; Weeks On List: 12

6 WHO MOVED MY CHEESE? by Spencer Johnson (Putnam: $19.95) The co-author of “The One Minute Manager” uses the parable of mice in a maze to show people how to manage change.

Last Week: 2; Weeks On List: 69

7 GHOST SOLDIERS by Hampton Sides (Doubleday: $24.95) How a small group of elite American soldiers made a daring rescue of British and American war prisoners in 1945.

Last Week: 15; Weeks On List: 8

8 A SHORT GUIDE TO A HAPPY LIFE by Anna Quindlen (Random House: $12.95) The columnist reflects on what it takes to “get a life” by living deeply rather than merely existing.

Last Week: 5; Weeks On List: 35

9 SEABISCUIT by Laura Hillenbrand (Random House: $24.95) How three men transformed a thoroughbred horse from a neurotic also-ran into an American sports icon.

Last Week: 8; Weeks On List: 19

10 TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE by Mitch Albom (Doubleday: $19.95) A sportswriter’s story of the life lessons he received during weekly visits to an older dying friend.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 170

11 WHEN YOU COME TO A FORK IN THE ROAD, TAKE IT! by Yogi Berra with Dave Kaplan (Hyperion: $16.95) Inspiration and wisdom from one of baseball’s greatest heroes. 14 5

12 NICKEL AND DIMED by Barbara Ehrenreich (Henry Holt: $23) Concealing her identity, the author worked a series of low-paying jobs to see if the American dream is available to everyone.

Last Week: 11; Weeks On List: 5

13 SUPREME INJUSTICE by Alan M. Dershowitz (Oxford University: $25) The Supreme Court’s role in the 2000 presidential election and how partisanship decided the outcome.

Last Week: 7; Weeks On List: 2

14 NAPALM AND SILLY PUTTY by George Carlin (Hyperion: $22.95) Carlin offers a series of his unique comedic meditations on life’s annoying universal truths.

Last Week: 9; Weeks On List: 10

9 10

15 A YEAR IN VAN NUYS by Sandra Tsing Loh (Crown: $23) Coming to terms with writer’s block and growing older in a place far from Provence: the San Fernando Valley.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 8

Paperbacks

FICTION

1 GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING by Tracy Chevalier (Plume: $12) The woman who inspired a Vermeer painting.

2 THE FEAST OF LOVE by Charles Baxter (Vintage: $13) Love, sacrifice and redemption in Michigan lives.

3 THE SKY IS FALLING by Sidney Sheldon (Warner: $7.99) A young journalist investigates a series of mysterious deaths.

4 THE LAST PRECINCT by Patricia Cornwell (Berkley: $7.99 ) Mangled corpses crowd Kay Scarpetta’s morgue.

5 WHITE TEETH by Zadie Smith (Vintage: $14) Race, sex and class refracted in the lives of two eccentric London families.

6 THE RED TENT by Anita Diamant (Picador USA: $14) The blossoming of Dinah, Jacob’s only daughter, in Genesis.

7 NOT A DAY GOES BY by E. Lynn Harris (Anchor Books: $6.99) A man, a woman and a vicious streak.

8 THE HUMAN STAIN by Philip Roth (Vintage: $14) Sex and scandal surround an aging faculty dean in a quiet town.

9 CORELLI’S MANDOLIN by Louis De Bernieres (Vintage: $14) The Italian occupation of a Greek isle in World War II.

10 THE COLDEST WINTER EVER by Sister Souljah (Pocket: $6.99) Life in a wealthy drug-dealing family.

NONFICTION

1 ME TALK PRETTY ONE DAY by David Sedaris (Little, Brown: $14.95) Wisecracking essays on life in Paris and elsewhere.

2 GEORGE W. BUSHISMS edited by Jacob Weisberg (Simon & Schuster: $9.95) The accidental wit of the 43rd president.

3 THE BETRAYAL OF AMERICA by Vincent Bugliosi (Thunders Mouth Press/Nation Books: $9.95) Notes on Election 2000.

4 IN THE HEART OF THE SEA by Nathaniel Philbrick (Penguin: $14) The whaling tragedy that inspired “Moby Dick.”

5 RICH DAD, POOR DAD by Robert T. Kiyosaki with Sharon L. Lechter (Techpress: $15.95) Adventures in fiscal parenting.

6 WORST-CASE SCENARIO SURVIVAL HANDBOOK: TRAVEL by J. Piven & D. Borgenicht (Chronicle: $14.95) Help on the run.

7 THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE AND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES (Bantam: $2.95) Let freedom ring.

8 THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (Signet Classics: $5.95) Critiquing capitalism.

9 THE GHOSTS OF ECHO PARK by Ron Emler (Echo Park Publishing: $15) A pictorial history of the neighborhood.

10 THE GREATEST GENERATION by Tom Brokaw (Dell: $12.95) The men and women who came of age in the Depression.

Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.