Fiction

Southern California ranking: [1] PRIMARY COLORS by Anonymous. (Random House: $24.) A thinly-veiled story of the 1992 Democratic primaries by a political insider a la Deep Throat.(3)

Last Week: 1

Weeks on List: 2

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Southern California ranking: [2] CAESAR’S WOMEN by Colleen McCullough. (William Morrow: $25.) The first Roman emperor as master of an empire, and the bedroom.

Last Week: --

Weeks on List: 1

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Southern California ranking: [3] THE HORSE WHISPERER by Nicholas Evans. (Delacorte Press: $23.95.) A beautiful journalist escapes New York to find love on the range in Montana.(2)

Last Week: 4

Weeks on List: 20

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Southern California ranking: [4] THE MOOR’S LAST SIGH by Salman Rushdie. (Pantheon: $25.) The rise and fall of a Portuguese family in India through four generations.(12)

Last Week: 2

Weeks on List: 5

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Southern California ranking: [5] INTENSITY by Dean Koontz. (Knopf: $25.) The survivor of a killer tries to save his next intended victim.(1)

Last Week: 3

Weeks on List: 4

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Southern California ranking: [6] THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MY MOTHER by Jamaica Kincaid. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $20.) An orphaned West Indian woman rages against sexual and historic oppression.

Last Week: 7

Weeks on List: 3

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Southern California ranking: [7] THE POET by Michael Connelly. (Little, Brown and Company: $22.95.) A crime reporter tracks a murderer who has outwitted law enforcement’s best investigators.

Last Week: 5

Weeks on List: 2

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Southern California ranking: [8] CONTAGION by Robin Cook. (Putnam: $24.95.) A mysterious epidemic hits a group of clinics and hospitals.(4)

Last Week: 9

Weeks on List: 2

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Southern California ranking: [9] IN THE BEAUTY OF THE LILIES by John Updike. (Knopf: $25.95.) The life choices of a 20th century American family as it wrestles with religious faith.

Last Week: 6

Weeks on List: 4

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Southern California ranking: [10] THE WEB by Jonathan Kellerman. (Bantam: $23.95.) Alex Delaware vacations on a tiny island and faces the horrible secret of a wealthy scientist.(7)

Last Week: 8

Weeks on List: 4

Nonfiction

Southern California ranking: [1] YOU’LL NEVER MAKE LOVE IN THIS TOWN AGAIN by Robin, Liza, Linda and Tiffany. (Dove Books: $22.95.) The used, and their users, in modern-day Tinsel Town.

Last Week: 3

Weeks on List: 2

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Southern California ranking: [2] IT TAKES A VILLAGE: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us by Hillary Rodham Clinton (Simon & Schuster: $20.) Observations on the needs of children by the First Lady.(2)

Last Week: 2

Weeks on List: 4

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Southern California ranking: [3] RUSH LIMBAUGH IS A BIG FAT IDIOT And Other Observations by Al Franken. (Delacorte: $21.95.) Wise guy solutions to government red tape and other parts of the political world.(6)

Last Week: 1

Weeks on List: 3

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Southern California ranking: [4] THE SEVEN SPIRITUAL LAWS OF SUCCESS by Deepak Chopra. (Amber-Allen Publishing: $12.95.)(5)

Last Week: 4

Weeks on List: 43

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Southern California ranking: [5] THE WAY OF THE WIZARD: 20 Lessons for Living a Magical Life by Deepak Chopra. (Crown/Harmony: $15.)(4)

Last Week: 5

Weeks on List: 5

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Southern California ranking: [6] HOW COULD YOU DO THAT?! by Laura Schlessinger. (HarperCollins: $22.) The syndicated radio host looks at crummy relationships and the perils of mindless pleasure-seeking.(3)

Last Week: 6

Weeks on List: 2

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Southern California ranking: [7] MEN ARE FROM MARS: Women Are From Venus by John Gray, Ph.D. (HarperCollins: $23.) Interpreting relationships for Martians and Venusians.(1)

Last Week: 7

Weeks on List: 100

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Southern California ranking: [8] EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE by Daniel Goleman. (Bantam Doubleday Dell: $23.95.)(7)

Last Week: 8

Weeks on List: 17

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Southern California ranking: [9] BREAKING THE NEWS: How the Media Undermine American Democracy by James Fallows. (Pantheon: $23.) An attack on press irresponsibility by a media insider.

Last Week: --

Weeks on List: 1

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Southern California ranking: [10] LONGITUDE by Dava Sobel. (Walker and Company: $18.) How the 18th century invention of the chronometer solved major navigation problems.(15)

Last Week: --

Weeks on List: 5

Rankings are based on The Times’ poll of local bookstores. National rankings (parentheses) are those of Publishers Weekly. For information on Times bestsellers, call (213) 237-4336 after 11 a.m. on Wednesdays.

Paperbacks

FICTION

1. SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS by David Guterson. (Vintage: $12.)

2. THE RAINMAKER by John Grisham. (Bantam: $7.99.)

3. THE STONE DIARIES by Carol Shields. (Penguin: $10.95.)

4. SENSE AND SENSIBILITY by Jane Austen. (Signet/NAL: $5.99.)

5. CORELLI’S MANDOLIN by Louis De Bernieres. (Random: $13.)

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NONFICTION

1. ZAGAT SURVEY 1996 L.A./SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT GUIDE edited by Merrill Shindler and Karen Berk. (Zagat Survey: $10.95.)

2. THE ARTIST’S WAY by Julia Cameron. (Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam: $13.95.)

3. 10 STUPID THINGS WOMEN DO TO MESS UP THEIR LIVES by Laura C. Schlessinger. (Harper Perennial: $10.)

4. THE SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE by Stephen R. Covey. (Fireside/Simon and Schuster: $12.)

5. CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL edited by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen. (Health Communications: $12.95.)

Rankings based on Times’ poll of local bookstores. For information on Times bestsellers, call (213) 237-4336 after 11 a.m. on Wednesdays.