FictionOUT OF SIGHT by Elmore Leonard. (Delacorte...

Fiction

OUT OF SIGHT by Elmore Leonard. (Delacorte Press: $22.95.) Bad guy and good gal find love on the lam (9)*. Southern California ranking: 1; Last Weeks: 8; Week on List: 4

JACK AND JILL by James Patterson. (Little, Brown: $24.95.) A detective probes a string of murders and only a nursery rhyme holds the answer (3)*. Southern California ranking: 2; Last Weeks: --; Week on List: 1

EXECUTIVE ORDERS by Tom Clancy (Putnam: $27.95.) Jack Ryan is president and facing problems in the Middle East (1)*. Southern California ranking: 3; Last Weeks: 1; Week on List: 5

THE LAST THING HE WANTED by Joan Didion. (Knopf: $23.) A journalist turns sacrificial lamb for her father’s arms smuggling operation in Central America (15)*. Southern California ranking: 4; Last Weeks: 4; Week on List: 3

THE LAST DON by Mario Puzo. (Random House: $25.95.) (4)*. Southern California ranking: 5; Last Weeks: 2; Week on List: 8

I’M LOSING YOU by Bruce Wagner. (Villard: $23.) A collection of characters trapped (sometimes willingly) in the sleaze of Hollywood.* Southern California ranking: 6; Last Weeks: 7; Week on List: 9

SERVANT OF THE BONES by Anne Rice. (Knopf: $25.95.) (2)*. Southern California ranking: 7; Last Weeks: 5; Week on List: 7

THE CELESTINE PROPHECY by James Redfield. (Warner: $17.95.) (6)*. Southern California ranking: 8; Last Weeks: 10; Week on List: 79

IDORU by William Gibson. (Putnam: $24.95.) Two hapless heroes chase an elusive pop celebrity through a tabloid-ridden, media-crazed futureworld. Southern California ranking: 9; Last Weeks: --; Week on List: 1

THE RUNAWAY JURY by John Grisham. (Doubleday: $26.95) (5)*. Southern California ranking: 10; Last Weeks: 6; Week on List: 18

Nonfiction

MAKE THE CONNECTION: Ten Steps to a Better Body and a Better Life by Bob Greene and Oprah Winfrey. (Little, Brown: $18.95.). Southern California ranking: 1; Last Weeks: --; Week on List: 1

THE RUN OF HIS LIFE: The People v. O.J. Simpson by Jeffrey Toobin. (Random House: $24.). Southern California ranking: 2; Last Weeks: --; Week on List: 1

HELLO, HE LIED: And Other Truths from the Hollywood Trenches by Lynda Obst. (Little, Brown: $23.95.) Surviving in the movie industry. Southern California ranking: 3; Last Weeks: 1; Week on List: 2

THE ZONE by Barry Sears with Bill Lawren. (HarperCollins/ReganBooks: $22.) (3)*. Southern California ranking: 4; Last Weeks: 2; Week on List: 28

GOING TO THE DOCTOR by T. Berry Brazelton. (Addison Wesley: $15.) Dispelling children’s fears with fun drawings and some gentle humor from a pediatrician. Southern California ranking: 5; Last Weeks: --; Week on List: 1

POWER TO BURN: Michael Ovitz and the New Business of Show Business by Stephen Singular. (Carol/Birch Lane: $22.50.)*. Southern California ranking: 6; Last Weeks: 7; Week on List: 7

THE DILBERT PRINCIPLE: A Cubicle’s Eye View of Bosses, Meetings, Management Fads & Other Workplace Afflictions by Scott Adams. (HarperBusiness: $20.) (1)*. Southern California ranking: 7; Last Weeks: 3; Week on List: 17

MEN ARE FROM MARS: Women Are From Venus by John Gray, Ph.D. (HarperCollins: $23.) (2)*. Southern California ranking: 8; Last Weeks: 4; Week on List: 129

HIT AND RUN: How Jon Peters and Peter Guber Took Sony for a Ride in Hollywood by Nancy Griffin and Kim Masters. (Simon & Schuster: $25.)*. Southern California ranking: 9; Last Weeks: 6; Week on List: 15

GREAT BOOKS: My Adventures with Homer, Rousseau, Woolf, and Other Indestructible Writers of the Western World by David Denby. (Simon & Schuster: $30.). Southern California ranking: 10; Last Weeks: 5; Week on List: 2

Paperbacks: FICTION

1. THE LOST WORLD by Michael Crichton. (Ballantine: $6.99.)*

2. THE GREEN MILE PART SIX: Coffey on the Mile by Stephen King. (Signet: $3.99.)*

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

4. HIGH FIDELITY by Nick Hornby. (Riverhead Books: $12.)*

5. “L” IS FOR LAWLESS by Sue Grafton. (Fawcett: $6.99.)*

Paperbacks: NONFICTION

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

2. THE RULES: Time-tested Secrets for Capturing the Heart of Mr. Right by Ellen Fein and Sherrie Schneider. (Warner: $14.95.)

3. ZAGAT SURVEY 1996 LOS ANGELES/SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT GUIDE edited by Merrill Shindler and Karen Berk. (Zagat Survey: $10.95.)

4. THE LIARS’ CLUB by Mary Karr. (Penguin: $11.95.)*

5. CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD by Neale D. Walsch. (Hampton Roads: $11.95.)

Rankings based on Times’ poll of local bookstores. National hardcover rankings (in parentheses) are those of Publishers Weekly. Asterisk (*) indicates book also available on audio (source: Sound Audio Books Distributing, Agoura Hills). For early information on Times bestsellers, call (213) 237-4336 after 11 a.m. Wednesdays.