Los Angeles Times Bestsellers
| Fiction | weeks on list | |
| 1. | Bright Shiny Morning by James Frey (Harper: $26.95) Lives intertwine across Los Angeles. | 1 |
| 2. | Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri (Knopf: $25) U.S.-born children cope with their Bengali parents. | 8 |
| 3. | The Host by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown: $25.99) A woman refuses to give in to alien invaders who take over the minds, but not the bodies, of humans. | 2 |
| 4. | Careless in Red by Elizabeth George (Harper: $27.95) A detective mourning his late wife stumbles upon the body of a young man. | 2 |
| 5. | The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (Riverhead: $24.95) A sci-fi-loving nerd and his immigrant family are haunted by the past. | 17 |
| 6. | Phantom Prey by John Sandford (Putnam: $26.95) A wealthy widow returns home to find her hallway covered in blood and her Goth daughter missing. | 2 |
| 7. | The Miracle at Speedy Motors by Alexander McCall Smith (Pantheon: $22.95) Mma Ramotswe helps a woman find her identity. | 5 |
| 8. | Hollywood Crows by Joseph Wambaugh (Little, Brown: $26.99) Two cops are ensnared in a divorce. | 7 |
| 9. | Love the One You’re With by Emily Giffin (MacMillan: $24.95) A newlywed finds that she still has feelings for an ex-lover who dumped her. | 1 |
| 10. | The Whole Truth by David Baldacci (Grand Central: $26.99) A defense contractor tries to get business by planting tales of atrocities. | 4 |
| 11. | The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich (Harper: $25.95) A North Dakota family’s murder reverberates through four generations. | 3 |
| 12. | Lush Life by Richard Price (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $26) The layered lives of victims and aggressors are explored after a Manhattan shooting. | 11 |
| 13. | People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks (Viking: $25.95) A rare-books expert traces the history of a priceless Jewish tome to 15th century Spain. | 15 |
| 14. | The Story of a Marriage by Andrew Sean Greer (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $22) A marriage is challenged when the husband’s former male lover returns. | 1 |
| 15. | Swine Not? by Jimmy Buffett (Little, Brown: $21.99) A family living in servants’ quarters in a posh New York City hotel is hiding a pet pig. | 1 |
| Nonfiction | ||
| 1. | Audition by Barbara Walters (Knopf: $29.95) The pioneering newswoman recalls her bold-face career and her life. | 2 |
| 2. | The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow (Hyperion: $21.95) A professor with terminal cancer urges us to seize life’s moments. | 6 |
| 3. | Moyers on Democracy by Bill Moyers (Doubleday: $26.95) The journalist argues for preserving the America envisioned by the nation’s founders. | 1 |
| 4. | The Soloist by Steve Lopez (Putnam: $25.95) The L.A. Times columnist befriends a mentally ill homeless musician. | 5 |
| 5. | A Wolf at the Table by Augusten Burroughs (St. Martin’s: $24.95) An exploration of a terrifying relationship between father and son. | 4 |
| 6. | Just Who Will You Be? by Maria Shriver (Hyperion: $14.95) Ask who, not what, you want to be. | 5 |
| 7. | What Now? by Ann Patchett (Harper: $14.95) Reflections on life’s journey, on finding joy and meeting new challenges. | 5 |
| 8. | The Downhill Lie by Carl Hiaasen (Knopf: $22) The writer describes his return to the beguiling and exasperating game of golf after 32 years. | 1 |
| 9. | Home by Julie Andrews (Hyperion: $26.95) The star of stage and screen tells of life before “Mary Poppins.” | 7 |
| 10. | The Man Who Loves China by Simon Winchester (Harper: $27.95) The story of scholar Joseph Needham, who explained China to the West. | 1 |
| 11. | The Secret by Rhonda Byrne (Beyond Words: $23.95) Life’s secrets distilled from oral tradition, literature, religion and philosophy. | 73 |
| 12. | Bonk by Mary Roach (W.W. Norton: $24.95) What science tells us about sex. | 4 |
| 13. | In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan (Penguin Press: $21.95) A look at dietary sacred cows. | 16 |
| 14. | The Post-American World by Fareed Zakaria (W.W. Norton: $25.95) The Newsweek columnist argues that the U.S. is no longer the dominant force in the global economy. | 2 |
| 15. | Surf Is Where You Find It by Gerry Lopez (Patagonia: $29.95) The master surfer profiles dozens of people who have influenced the sport. | 1 |
Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.
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