Southern California Rating:FICTION1 THE INDWELLING by...

Southern California Rating:

FICTION

1 THE INDWELLING by Tim F. Lahaye and Jerry B. Jenkins (Tyndale: $22.95) The “Left Behind” series continues as, in the years before the Second Coming, the Tribulation Force fights to stay alive.

Last Week: 7; Weeks on List: 8

2 WHITE TEETH by Zadie Smith (Random House: $24.95) Intertwined stories of two North London families reflect an empire’s worth of cultural identity, history and hope.

Last Week: 5; Weeks on List: 14

3 THE TOUGHEST INDIAN IN THE WORLD by Sherman Alexie (Atlantic Monthly: $24) Stories of Native Americans struggling with identity in middle-class America.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 4

4 BECOMING MADAME MAO by Anchee Min (Houghton Mifflin: $25) Portrait of a Chinese revolutionary, who fled family and foot-binding for the Shanghai theater and the arms of Mao Tse-tung.

Last Week: 15; Weeks on List: 5

5 BEFORE I SAY GOOD-BYE by Mary Higgins Clark (Simon & Schuster: $26) An ambitious young woman uses gumshoe tactics and psychic powers to probe her late husband’s murky past.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 10

6 EASY PREY by John Sandford (Putnam: $25.95) When a supermodel is found strangled after a party, millionaire Lucas Davenport is called to investigate.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 9

7 THE BRETHREN by John Grisham (Doubleday: $27.95) A scam by three former judges doing time in federal prison goes awry and ensnares a powerful man on the outside.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 18

8 JULIE AND ROMEO by Jeanne Ray (Harmony Books: $21) Romeo Cacciamani and Julie Roseman, rival florists in Boston, fall in love late in life, in spite of their families’ rivalry.

Last Week: 12; Weeks on List: 3

9 DEMOLITION ANGEL by Robert Crais (Doubleday: $24.95) Carol Starkey confronts old demons as she investigates the death by detonation of a former colleague.

Last Week: 10; Weeks on List: 10

10 HORSE HEAVEN by Jane Smiley (Alfred A. Knopf: $26) Life among the trainers, money men, apprentice jockeys and owners who share a love for the sport of kings.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 9

11 THE HUMAN STAIN by Philip Roth (Houghton Mifflin: $26) The chronicle of an academic scandal and its impact on the aging faculty dean at its center and on his friend, Nathan Zuckerman.

Last Week: 9; Weeks on List: 13

12 AN INVISIBLE SIGN OF MY OWN by Aimee Bender (Doubleday: $22.95) A second-grade math teacher finds her obsession with control threatened by the affections of her students and a colleague.

Last Week: 14; Weeks on List: 2

13 DAUGHTER OF FORTUNE by Isabel Allende (HarperCollins: $26) A young woman escapes the bondsof her youthful passion to Gold Rush California.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 26

14 WAITING by Ha Jin (Pantheon: $24) An absurd loophole in Chinese law allows a pair of star-crossed lovers to be united after a long separation.

Last Week: 11; Weeks on List: 15

15 RAVELSTEIN by Saul Bellow (Viking: $24.95) A writer chronicles the life of his dying professor friend, exposing both of their vices and virtues in the process.

Last Week: 13; Weeks on List: 7

NONFICTION

1 TEN THINGS I WISH I’D KNOWN BEFORE I WENT INTO THE REAL WORLD by Maria Shriver (Warner: $19.95) Notes from life’s trenches, expanded from a commencement speech.

Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 16

2 ME TALK PRETTY ONE DAY by David Sedaris (Little, Brown: $22.95) Wisecracking essays on lifewith dad and the confusion and humiliation of learning French in Paris.

Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 11

3 FROM DAWN TO DECADENCE by Jacques Barzun (HarperCollins: $36) A magnum opus from the eminent historian on the rise and fall of Western culture over the last 500 years.

Last Week: 12; Weeks on List: 11

4 HOME AND AWAY by Scott Simon (Hyperion: $23.95) A fan’s notes: The host of NPR’s “Weekend Edition” looks back on the intersection of family ties and sports in his life.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 2

5 IN THE HEART OF THE SEA by Nathaniel Philbrick (Viking: $24.95) Life and death aboard the Nantucket whaler Essex, which was sunk by a sperm whale in 1821.

Last Week: 9; Weeks on List: 10

6 A WIDOW, A CHIHUAHUA, AND HARRY TRUMAN by Mary Beth Crain (HarperSanFrancisco: $22) After the death of her husband, a woman draws strength from Truman and a dog named after him.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 2

7 WHICH LIE DID I TELL? by William Goldman (Pantheon: $26.95) Further adventures in the screen trade from a veteran screenwriter whose work includes “All the President’s Men.”

Last Week: 7; Weeks on List: 19

8 FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS by James Bradley with Ron Powers (Bantam: $24.95) A son pieces together the history of his father, who helped raise the American flag at Iwo Jima.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 10

9 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: 4; Weeks on List: 131

10 EXPERIENCE by Martin Amis (Talk Miramax: $23.95) Amis the Younger’s memoir of literary stardom, dental problems and life with his father, Kingsley.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 7

11 AMERICAN RHAPSODY by Joe Eszterhas (Alfred A. Knopf: $25.95) Speedy ruminations on our national id accompanied by a techno-rave drumbeat of paranoia and sleaze.

Last Week: 8; Weeks on List: 2

12 PAPAL SIN by Garry Wills (Doubleday: $25) Historian Wills charges the Vatican and past popes with dishonesty and challenges the existence of the papacy.

Last Week: 10; Weeks on List: 2

13 THE GREATEST GENERATION SPEAKS by Tom Brokaw (Random House: $19.95) More stories of American heroism during the ‘30s and ‘40s in this sequel to “The Greatest Generation.”

Last Week: 15; Weeks on List: 19

14 A HEARTBREAKING WORK OF STAGGERING GENIUS by Dave Eggers (Simon & Schuster: $23) Memoir of a twentysomething slacker, who must bring up his baby brother when their parents die of cancer.

Last Week: 11; Weeks on List: 25

15 HOW TO READ AND WHY by Harold Bloom (Scribner: $25) Drawing upon his experience as critic, teacher and prolific reader, Bloom plumbs the great books for their sustaining wisdom.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 2

PAPERBACKS

FICTION

1 INTERPRETER OF MALADIES by Jhumpa Lahiri (Mariner: $12) Indian customs colors the lives of people coping with loss.

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

3 HANNIBAL by Thomas Harris (Dell: $7.99) Hannibal Lecter devours his enemies in this “Silence of the Lambs” sequel.

4 THE HOURS by Michael Cunningham (Picador USA: $13) Three stories built on Virginia Woolf’s novel “Mrs. Dalloway.”

5 FLEUR DE LEIGH’S LIFE OF CRIME by Diane Leslie (Scribner: $12) A poor little rich girl and her L.A. childhood.

6 THE GIRLS’ GUIDE TO HUNTING AND FISHING by Melissa Bank (Penguin: $12.95) A young girl’s hunt for lasting love.

7 THE POISONWOOD BIBLE by Barbara Kingsolver (HarperPerennial: $14) A missionary family’s ordeals.

8 IRISH HEARTS by Nora Roberts (Silhouette: $7.50) Two stories of Irish heroines lucky and unlucky in love.

9 HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG by Andre Dubus III (Vintage: $14) Two families clash over an auctioned house in this tragic tale.

10 THE VIRGIN SUICIDES by Jeffrey Eugenides (Warner: $12.95) Teens struggle to understand the tragedy of five doomed sisters.

PAPERBACKS

NONFICTION

1 THE WORST-CASE SCENARIO SURVIVAL HANDBOOK by Joshua Piven and David Borgenicht (Chronicle: $14.95) S-O-S!

2 THE SEAT OF THE SOUL by Gary Zukav (Fireside: $13) Teaching readers to rethink the mind-body connection.

3 THE PERFECT STORM by Sebastian Junger (HarperPaperback: $13) Fishermen lost in a furious ocean storm in ’91.

4 THE GOLF GODS ARE LAUGHING by Robert Woodcox (Seven Locks: $14.95) The confessions and insights of a golf addict.

5 THE PROFESSOR AND THE MADMAN by Simon Winchester (HarperPerennial: $13) A madman with a flair for words.

6 ALWAYS RUNNING by Luis J. Rodriguez (Touchstone: $12) A memoir of Rodriguez’s gang days and “vida loca” in East L.A.

7 GIRL, INTERRUPTED by Susanna Kaysen (Vintage: $12) A memoir of life in a psychiatric institute in 1967.

8 GUNS, GERMS AND STEEL by Jared Diamond (W.W. Norton: $14.95) The part played by this triad in history.

9 TRAVELING MERCIES by Anne Lamott (Anchor: $13) The growth of Lamott’s beliefs and how they helped her overcome grief.

10 IN PHARAOH’S ARMY by Tobias Wolff (Vintage: $12) A Vietnam war memoir of the writer’s time in an obscure, muddy village.

*

Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.