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: 27

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. Reviewed by Gary Indiana, Page 7. Southern California ranking: 2; Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 7

MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA by Arthur Golden (Knopf: $25) The life and loves of a teahouse entertainer. Southern California ranking: 3; Last Week: 5; Weeks on List: 9

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: 4; Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 2

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: 5; Last Week: 6; Weeks on List: 5

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: 6; Last Week: 8; Weeks on List: 5

THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS by Arundhati Roy (Random House: $23) The rise and fall of a South Indian family. Southern California ranking: 7; Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 26

UNDERWORLD by Don DeLillo (Scribner: 27.50) Coming of age in the Cold War and beyond. Southern California ranking: 8; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 13

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: 9; Last Week: 7; Weeks on List: 8

VIOLIN by Anne Rice (Knopf: $25.95) A phantom violinist torments a grief-stricken widow. Southern California ranking: 10; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 8

Nonfiction

ANGELA’S ASHES by Frank McCourt (Scribner: $24) A bittersweet Irish childhood. Southern California ranking: 1; Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 62

INTO THIN AIR: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer (Villard: $24) Tragedy on a mountaintop. Southern California ranking: 2; Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 36

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: 3; Last Week: 6; Weeks on List: 38

MAKING FACES by Kevyn Aucoin (Little, Brown: $29.95) Transforming today’s stars into yesterday’s starlets. Southern California ranking: 4; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 6

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: 5; Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 25

CITIZEN SOLDIERS: The U.S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany, June 7, 1944-May 7, 1945 by Stephen E. Ambrose (Simon & Schuster: $27.50) The guts and glory of America’s front-line fighters. Southern California ranking: 6; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 4

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: 7; Last Week: 9; Weeks on List: 4

THE DARK SIDE OF CAMELOT by Seymour M. Hersh (Little, Brown: $26.95) How John F. Kennedy’s private life and personal obsessions affected the affairs of the nation. Southern California ranking: 8; Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 7

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: 9; Last Week: 7; Weeks on List: 2

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: 10; Last Week: 8; Weeks on List: 3

Paperbacks: FICTION

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

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

3. AIRFRAME by Michael Crichton (Ballantine: $7.99)

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

5. BEHIND THE SCENES AT THE MUSEUM by Kate Atkinson (St. Martin’s/Picador: $14)

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

4. A CIVIL ACTION by Jonathan Harr (Vintage: $13)

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

Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.