Los Angeles Times bestsellers for Sept. 20, 2009
| Fiction | Weeks on list | |
| 1. | A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore (Knopf : $25.95) A naive Midwestern college coed takes a job as a nanny for a recently adopted toddler. | 1 |
| 2. | Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press: $17.99) The winners of the annual Hunger Games face the consequences of their victory. | 1 |
| 3. | The Help by Kathryn Stockett (Putnam: $24.95) The lives of a maid, a cook and a college graduate become intertwined while changing a Mississippi town. | 15 |
| 4. | Homer & Langley by E.L. Doctorow (Random House: $26) Two brothers, one blind, the other eccentric, live as reclusive hoarders in a 5th Avenue mansion. | 1 |
| 5. | Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon (Penguin Press: $27.95) Noir meets ‘60s Southern California groovy in a private eye’s psychedelic quest. | 6 |
| 6. | The White Queen by Philippa Gregory (Touchstone: $25.99) The wars of the Plantagenets, who ruled England before the Tudors, enmeshed with the mystery of the missing princes in the Tower of London. | 4 |
| 7. | South of Broad by Pat Conroy (Nan A. Talese: $29.95) A gossip columnist’s homage to a close-knit group of friends from Charleston. | 4 |
| 8. | The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson (Knopf: $25.95) A hacker implicated in two murders must revisit her past to prove her innocence. | 7 |
| 9. | Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown: $19.99) Bella must choose between her lover and a friend, between life and death. | 61 |
| 10. | Alex Cross’s Trial by James Patterson and Richard DiLallo (Little, Brown: $27.99) Alex Cross tells the story of his great-uncle and a lawyer fighting racism and lynchings in a Southern town at the turn of the 20th century. | 3 |
| 11. | The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press: $17.99) A teenage girl is selected in an annual fight-to-the-death reality show in a post apocalyptic America. | 1 |
| 12. | The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks (Grand Central: $24.99) A brother and sister begrudgingly spend the summer with their estranged pianist father and discover the meaning of unconditional love. | 1 |
| 13. | The Magicians by Lev Grossman (Viking: $26.95) A group of aspiring prestidigitators sets out to save the enchanted land of Fillory. | 4 |
| 14. | Spartan Gold by Clive Cussler and Grant Blackwood (Putnam: $26.95) An unearthed Napoleon artifact in the Maryland swamp leads to a hunt for ancient treasure. | 1 |
| 15. | Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw by Jeff Kinney (Amulet: $12.95) Greg’s dad enlists him in sports to toughen him up. | 27 |
| Nonfiction | ||
| 1. | Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell (Little, Brown: $27.99) An exploration of the background of high achievers. | 41 |
| 2. | L.A. Noir by John Buntin (Harmony: $26) Gangster Mickey Cohen and LAPD Chief William Parker battle for control in midcentury Los Angeles. | 2 |
| 3. | Crazy for the Storm by Norman Ollestad (Ecco: $25.99) The son of a daredevil tells of his life on the edge and how he survived a deadly plane crash. | 13 |
| 4. | Culture of Corruption by Michelle Malkin (Regnery Publishing: $27.95) An investigation into alleged corruption in the Obama administration. | 7 |
| 5. | Zeitoun by Dave Eggers (McSweeney’s: $24) The disappearance of a Syrian American father and good Samaritan in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. | 7 |
| 6. | In The President’s Secret Service by Ronald Kessler (Crown: $26) A behind-the-scenes look at the Secret Service and its agents. | 4 |
| 7. | Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man by Steve Harvey (Amistad: $23.99) The talk-show host lets women inside the mind-set of a man. | 31 |
| 8. | Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder (Random House: $26) The saga of a refugee from Burundi, who, with the help of strangers, makes his way in America and goes back to start a medical clinic. | 2 |
| 9. | The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow (Hyperion: $21.95) A professor’s terminal cancer inspires a call to seize life’s moments. | 71 |
| 10. | The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe by J. Randy Taraborrelli (Grand Central: $26.99) Newly released FBI documents and interviews with family members shed fresh light on the life and death of the troubled star. | 1 |
| 11. | The Secret by Rhonda Byrne (Beyond Words: $23.95) Life’s secrets, distilled. | 119 |
| 12. | Acting Class by Milton Katselas (Phoenix: $34.95) Acting concepts and methods from the founder and instructor at the Beverly Hills Playhouse. | 1 |
| 13. | Liberty and Tyranny by Mark R. Levin (Threshold Editions: $25) The talk-radio personality’s call to revitalize the conservative vision in America. | 24 |
| 14. | Promises I Made My Mother by Sam Haskell (Ballantine: $24) A Hollywood agent reveals how he kept his pledge to his mother to live a decent life. | 7 |
| 15. | The View From the Bridge by Nicholas Meyer (Viking: $25.95) The Hollywood screenwriter and director reflects on his involvement with the “Star Trek” film franchise. | 1 |
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