FictionCOLD MOUNTAIN by Charles Frazier (Atlantic Monthly:...

Fiction

COLD MOUNTAIN by Charles Frazier (Atlantic Monthly: $24) A Confederate soldier quits the Civil War and heads home. Southern California ranking: 1; Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 26

ANOTHER CITY, NOT MY OWN: A Novel in the Form of a Memoir by Dominick Dunne (Crown: $25) A reporter lashes out at the vulgarity and spectacle of the O.J. Simpson murder trial. Southern California ranking: 2; Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 6

HOLIDAYS ON ICE by David Sedaris (Little, Brown: $14.95) Tales of life among the department store Santas, a homicidal greeting card, a Christmas prostitute and other oddities. Southern California ranking: 3; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS by Arundhati Roy (Random House: $23) The rise and fall of a South Indian family. Southern California ranking: 4; Last Week: 5; Weeks on List: 25

MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA by Arthur Golden (Knopf: $25) The life and loves of a teahouse entertainer. Southern California ranking: 5; Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 8

A CERTAIN JUSTICE by P.D. James (Alfred A. Knopf: $25) An attorney’s murder draws Adam Dalgliesh into the strange closed world of London’s legal community. Southern California ranking: 6; Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 4

CAT & MOUSE by James Patterson (Little, Brown: $24.95) Alex Cross joins forces with an English private eye to hunt down a pair of psychopaths. Southern California ranking: 7; Last Week: 7; Weeks on List: 7

THE GHOST by Danielle Steel (Delacorte: $25.95) A heartbroken man finds solace in an ancient chateau haunted by an 18th century English countess. Southern California ranking: 8; Last Week: 10; Weeks on List: 4

THE WINNER by David Baldacci (Warner Books: $25) A woman’s part in a crooked lottery scheme comes to light during an FBI murder investigation. Southern California ranking: 9; Last Week: 6; Weeks on List: 3

FLOWER NET by Lisa See (HarperCollins: $24) Worlds collide when investigators probe murders linked to an American ambassador and a Chinese entrepreneur. Southern California ranking: 10; Last Week: 9; Weeks on List: 4

Nonfiction

INTO THIN AIR: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer (Villard: $24) Tragedy on a mountaintop. Southern California ranking: 1; Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 35

ANGELA’S ASHES by Frank McCourt (Scribner: $24) A bittersweet Irish childhood. Southern California ranking: 2; Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 61

THE PERFECT STORM by Sebastian Junger (Norton: $23.95.) An account of fisherman trapped in the awesome fury of a storm at sea. Southern California ranking: 3; Last Week: 6; Weeks on List: 24

THE DARK SIDE OF CAMELOT by Seymour M. Hersh (Little, Brown: $26.95) How John F. Kennedy’s private life and obsessions affected the affairs of the nation. Reviewed by Edward Jay Epstein, Page 6. Southern California ranking: 4; Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 6

PLAY WITH YOUR FOOD by Joost Elffers (Stewart, Tabori & Chang: $19.95) A photographer craftily personifies vegetables and other edibles. Southern California ranking: 5; Last Week: 8; Weeks on List: 4

MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL by John Berendt (Random House: $24) Outcasts and eccentrics people this account of a murder in an old Southern town. Southern California ranking: 6; Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 37

STORY: A Guide to Screenwriting by Robert McKee (ReganBooks: $25) A guide for amateurs and pros to writing for the big screen. Southern California ranking: 7; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

THE 2,000-YEAR-OLD MAN IN THE YEAR 2000 by Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner (HarperCollins: $18) What an ancient guy thinks of religion, taxes, fried food and assorted topics. Southern California ranking: 8; Last Week: 10; Weeks on List: 2

TRUMAN CAPOTE: In Which Various Friends, Enemies, Acquaintances, And Detractors Recall His Turbulent Career by George Plimpton (Nan Talese/Doubleday: $35) Portraits of the artist. Southern California ranking: 9; Last Week: 9; Weeks on List: 3

A PERSONAL JOURNEY WITH MARTIN SCORSESE THROUGH AMERICAN MOVIES by Martin Scorsese and Michael Henry Wilson (Miramax Books/Hyperion: $40) The filmmaker discusses the A- and B-movies that inspired him. Southern California ranking: 10; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

Paperbacks: FICTION

1. M IS FOR MALICE by Sue Grafton (Fawcett: $7.99)

2. TOM CLANCY’S POWER PLAYS: Politika created by Tom Clancy and Martin Greenberg (Berkley: $7.50)

3. THE BLUE FLOWER by Penelope Fitzgerald (Mariner/Houghton Mifflin: $12)

4. SOLE SURVIVOR by Dean Koontz (Ballantine: $7.99)

5. LE DIVORCE by Diane Johnson (William Abrahams/Plume: $12.95)

Paperbacks: NONFICTION

1. THE SIMPSONS edited by Ray Richmond and Antonia Coffman, created by Matt Groening (HarperPerennial: $15.95)

2. UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN by Frances Mayes (Broadway Books: $13)

3. UNDAUNTED COURAGE by Stephen Ambrose (Touchstone: $16)

4. THE WORLD ALMANAC AND BOOK OF FACTS 1998 Edited by Robert Famighetti (World Almanac Books: $9.95)

5. THE COLOR OF WATER by James McBride (Riverhead: $12)

Rankings are based on a Times’ poll of Southland bookstores.