Los Angeles Times bestsellers for the week of Oct. 25, 2009
| Fiction | Weeks on list | |
| 1. | The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown (Doubleday: $25.99) Harvard professor Robert Langdon uses his symbology skills to find a missing Freemason in Washington, D.C. | 5 |
| 2. | 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. | 20 |
| 3. | Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby (Riverhead: $25.95) A woman acquaints herself with the songwriter whose album caused the breakup of her recent relationship. | 2 |
| 4. | Nine Dragons by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown : $27.99) An LAPD detective travels to Hong Kong to solve the murder of a Chinese immigrant. | 1 |
| 5. | Blood’s a Rover by James Ellroy (Knopf : $28.95) A bank heist sets off an escapade through ‘60s L.A. with run-ins with the mob, the FBI and Howard Hughes. | 3 |
| 6. | 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, S.C. | 7 |
| 7. | 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. | 7 |
| 8. | The Professional by Robert B. Parker (Putnam: $26.95) A Boston PI is hired to investigate a blackmailing Lothario whose victims are turning up dead. | 1 |
| 9. | The Children’s Book by A.S. Byatt (Knopf: $26.95) A runaway boy is taken in by a famous children’s book author and her storybook world. | 1 |
| 10. | Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls (Scribner: $26) The story of a hard-knock gal who raised horses and survived floods and the Depression. | 1 |
| 11. | Pursuit of Honor by Vince Flynn (Atria: $27.99) A counterterrorismoperative and his team member deal with the fallout from a deadly terrorist attack. | 1 |
| 12. | Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days by Jeff Kinney (Amulet: $13.95) Greg desires to spend summer vacation indoors despite his mother’s wishes for outdoor family fun. | 1 |
| 13. | Rough Country by John Sandford (Putnam: $26.95) Virgil Flowersinvestigates a kayaker’s death at a women’s resort in Minnesota. | 2 |
| 14. | 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. | 12 |
| 15. | A Touch of Dead by Charlaine Harris (Ace: $23.95) A complete collection of Sookie Stackhouse short stories. | 1 |
| Nonfiction | ||
| 1. | Where Men Win Glory by Jon Krakauer (Doubleday: $27.95) A chronicle of Pat Tillman, the NFL star turned Army Ranger whose death in Afghanistan stunned the power structure. | 5 |
| 2. | Have a Little Faith by Mitch Albom (Hyperion: $23.99) Albom’s observations of a rabbi and a pastor on an eight-year journey of faith. | 3 |
| 3. | True Compass by Edward Kennedy (Twelve: $35) The memoirs of the late U.S. senator from Massachusetts. | 4 |
| 4. | Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell (Little, Brown: $27.99) An exploration of the background of high achievers. | 46 |
| 5. | Arguing With Idiots by Glenn Beck (Threshold Editions: $29.99) Secrets for winning arguments with small-minded people. | 3 |
| 6. | Zeitoun by Dave Eggers (McSweeney’s: $24) The disappearance of a Syrian American father and good Samaritan in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. | 10 |
| 7. | Manhood for Amateurs by Michael Chabon (Harper: $26.99) A collection of autobiographical essays reflecting on what it means to be a man and father. | 1 |
| 8. | The Greatest Show on Earth by Richard Dawkins (Free Press: $30) A pro-evolution argument filled with scientific evidence. | 2 |
| 9. | American on Purpose by Craig Ferguson (Harper: $25.99) A memoir of the Scottish-born comic living the American Dream. | 3 |
| 10. | L.A. Noir by John Buntin (Harmony: $26) Gangster Mickey Cohen and LAPD Chief William Parker battle for control in midcentury Los Angeles. | 7 |
| 11. | 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. | 74 |
| 12. | Most Evil by Steve Hodel and Ralph Pezzullo (Dutton: $26.95) The former LAPD detective’s case that his father was a serial killer responsible for several famous unsolved murders. | 1 |
| 13. | The Murder of King Tut by James Patterson and Martin Dugard (Little, Brown: $26.99) Evidence, stories and clues that point to the murder of the boy king. | 2 |
| 14. | Big Burn by Timothy Egan (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: $27) The story and consequences of the fire of 1910 that destroyed acres of forests across the Northwest. | 1 |
| 15. | Born to Run by Christopher McDougall (Knopf: $24.95) An exploration of the Tarahumara Indians and their secrets of long-distance running. | 4 |
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