FictionTHE PARTNER by John Grisham. (Doubleday: $26.95)...

Fiction

THE PARTNER by John Grisham. (Doubleday: $26.95) (1). Southern California ranking: 1; Last Weeks: 1; Week on List: 3

LE DIVORCE by Diane Johnson. (Dutton: $23.95). Southern California ranking: 2; Last Weeks: 2; Week on List: 8

TOTAL CONTROL by David Baldacci. (Warner: $24) A successful lawyer learns that her husband may have faked his own death in a fiery plane crash (4). Southern California ranking: 3; Last Weeks: 4; Week on List: 8

SOLE SURVIVOR by Dean Koontz. (Knopf: $25.95) (3). Southern California ranking: 4; Last Weeks: 3; Week on List: 6

SILENT WITNESS by Richard North Patterson. (Knopf: $25.95) (10). Southern California ranking: 5; Last Weeks: 10; Week on List: 8

ASYLUM by Patrick McGrath. (Random House: $22) A passionate affair explodes between a psychiatrist’s wife and a murderous sculptor in a mental hospital. Reviewed on Page 10. Southern California ranking: 6; Last Weeks: 9; Week on List: 4

ALIAS GRACE by Margaret Atwood. (Nan A. Talese/Doubleday: $24.95). Southern California ranking: 7; Last Weeks: 8; Week on List: 13

3001: THE FINAL ODYSSEY by Arthur C. Clarke. (Del Rey: $25) Astronaut Dave Bowman is awakened 1,000 years later to witness a new civilization and the meaning of the mysterious monoliths (2). Southern California ranking: 8; Last Weeks: 6; Week on List: 2

VENDETTA: Lucky’s Revenge by Jackie Collins. (ReganBooks: $25) The scheming widow of an old enemy plots to destroy Lucky Santangelo and take away Panther Studios (13). Southern California ranking: 9; Last Weeks: --; Week on List: 4

ABBREVIATING ERNIE by Peter Lefcourt. (Villard: $24) A small-town detective searches for clues, not to mention pieces, in the bizarre case of a dismembered husband. Southern California ranking: 10; Last Weeks: --; Week on List: 1

Nonfiction

WHAT FALLS AWAY: A Memoir by Mia Farrow. (Nan A. Talese/Doubleday: $25) Our reviewer, Celia McGee, wrote that “her confession provokes the reader to think thorny thoughts about the relationships between art and life, perversion and creativity, amorality and genius.” Southern California ranking: 1; Last Weeks: 6; Week on List: 5

MONSTER: Living Off the Big Screen by John Gregory Dunne. (Random House: $21) Our reviewer, Michael Crichton, called Dunne’s book “a remarkable narrative . . . that tells more about the experience of writing for Hollywood than any other book ever written.” Southern California ranking: 2; Last Weeks: 1; Week on List: 5

8 WEEKS TO OPTIMUM HEALTH: A Proven Program for Taking Full Advantage of Your Body’s Natural Healing Power by Andrew Weil. (Knopf: $23) (5). Southern California ranking: 3; Last Weeks: 3; Week on List: 2

MURDER IN BRENTWOOD by Mark Fuhrman. (Regnery: $24.95) The controversial former LAPD detective promises new revelations and facts about the Simpson case (6). Southern California ranking: 4; Last Weeks: 5; Week on List: 4

SIMPLE ABUNDANCE: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy by Sarah Ban Breathnach. (Warner: $17.95) (1). Southern California ranking: 5; Last Weeks: 7; Week on List: 31

HIS NAME IS RON by the family of Ron Goldman & William and Marilyn Hoffer. (Morrow: $24.95) (14). Southern California ranking: 6; Last Weeks: --; Week on List: 2

NAKED by David Sedaris. (Little, Brown & Co.: $21.95) Spending Christmas with a paroled prostitute, working in a fruit-packing factory and other unusual moments in the life of the NPR commentator. Southern California ranking: 7; Last Weeks: --; Week on List: 1

A SUPPOSEDLY FUN THING I’LL NEVER DO AGAIN: Essays and Ruminations by David Foster Wallace. (Little, Brown & Co.: $23.45) A miscellany of musings on cruise ships, playing on the tennis circuit and the oddities found at state fairs. Southern California ranking: 8; Last Weeks: 10; Week on List: 2

PERSONAL HISTORY by Katharine Graham. (Knopf: $29.95) The heiress at the helm of the Washington Post (3). Southern California ranking: 9; Last Weeks: 2; Week on List: 7

ANGELA’S ASHES by Frank McCourt. (Scribner: $24) (4). Southern California ranking: 10; Last Weeks: 4; Week on List: 21

Paperbacks: FICTION

1. SMILLA’S SENSE OF SNOW by Peter Hoeg. (Dell: $9.95)

2. STONES FROM THE RIVER by Ursula Hegi. (Simon & Schuster Trade: $12)

3. THE RUNAWAY JURY by John Grisham. (Bantam: $7.99)

4. FLOATERS by Joseph Wambaugh. (Bantam: $6.99)

5. THE ENGLISH PATIENT by Michael Ondaatje. (Vintage: $11)

Paperbacks: NONFICTION

1. ZAGAT SURVEY 1997 LOS ANGELES/SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT GUIDE edited by Merrill Shindler and Karen Berk. (Zagat Survey: $10.95)

2. CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE WOMAN’S SOUL by J. Canfield, M.V. Hansen, J. Hawthorne and M. Shimoff. (Health Communications: $12.95)*

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

4. THE DEMON-HAUNTED WORLD: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan. (Ballantine: $14)

5. HOW THE IRISH SAVED CIVILIZATION by Thomas Cahill. (Anchor: $12.95)

Rankings based on Times’ poll of local bookstores. National hardcover rankings (in parentheses) are those of Publishers Weekly.