Southern California Rankings:FICTION1. MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA...

Southern California Rankings:

FICTION

1. MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA by Arthur Golden (Knopf: $25) The life and loves of a teahouse entertainer growing up in Tokyo during WWII.

Last Week: 6; Weeks on List: 46

2. BAG OF BONES by Stephen King (Scribner: $27.50) A bestselling author is haunted by writer’s block and by ghosts at his Maine summer home.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

3. LOST IN TRANSLATION by Nicole Mones (Delacorte: $23.95) Archeologists confront their pasts on a search for the bones of Peking Man in China.

Last Week: 9; Weeks on List: 2

4. RAINBOW SIX by Tom Clancy (Putnam: $27.95) Ex-Navy SEAL John Clark heads an international special operations anti-terrorist strike force.

Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 7

5. DAY OF CONFESSION by Allan Folsom (Little, Brown: $25) An L.A. entertainment attorney tumbles into a sinister plot in Rome hatched by a shadowy Vatican official.

Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 3

6. THE LOOP by Nicholas Evans (Delacorte: $25.95) A pack of wolves is unleashed on a town called Hope (Montana), reawakening an age-old tug of war among its citizens.

Last Week: 5; Weeks on List: 3

7. THE MUSEUM GUARD by Howard Norman (Farrar, Straus and Giroux: $24) A young man falls in love, steals a painting and learns life’s lessons from a wayward uncle.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 3

8. BIRDS OF AMERICA by Lorrie Moore (Knopf: $23) An orphaned woman, an ill child and other wounded characters find affection in unlikely places.

Last Week: 11; Weeks on List: 4

9. JACOB’S HANDS by Aldous Huxley and Christopher Isherwood (St. Martin’s: $14.95) A simple rancher discovers that he has a gift for healing but squanders it on all the wrong people.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

10. TELL ME YOUR DREAMS by Sidney Sheldon (Morrow: $26) A bizarre murder trial with three beautiful young suspects who give new meaning to the word “stalk.”

Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 5

11. BRIDGET JONES’S DIARY by Helen Fielding (Viking: $22.95) The New Year’s resolutions of a single thirtysomething girlie Brit, from personal appearance to finding the perfect man.

Last Week: 8; Weeks on List: 17

12. WELCOME TO THE WORLD, BABY GIRL! by Fannie Flagg (Random House: $25.95) The rise of TV stardom of an ambitious woman with strong roots in a Missouri town.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

13. I KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE by Wally Lamb (HarperCollins/Regan Books: $27.50) A man with a twin brother finds meaning in an Italian ancestor’s life.

Last Week: 7; Weeks on List: 16

14. FIELD OF THIRTEEN by Dick Francis (Putnam: $24.95) Treacherous jockeys, horse trainers and others get their comeuppance in this collection of tales.

Last Week: 13; Weeks on List: 3

15. DEATH IN THE SUMMER by William Trevor (Viking: $23.95) A baby is kidnapped by a young girl trying to make herself a hero.

Last Week: 14; Weeks on List: 3

****

NONFICTION

1. LINDBERGH by A. Scott Berg (Putnam: $30) Daring aviator, loving father, isolationist and, finally, fallen hero--a dramatic American story.

Last Week: 8; Weeks on List: 2

2. TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE by Mitch Albom (Doubleday: $19.95) A sportswriter’s empowering story about his weekly visits to see an older dying friend.

Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 39

3. THE DEATH OF OUTRAGE by William J. Bennett (Free Press: $20) Bennett’s assault on Bill Clinton’s assault on American ideals.

Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 5

4. WORK IN PROGRESS by Michael Eisner with Tony Schwartz (Random House: $27.50) The corporate rise and rise of Disney’s number one mousketeer.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

5. THE NINE STEPS TO FINANCIAL FREEDOM by Suze Orman (Crown: $23) Practical tips for avoiding stress, making good savings plans and managing money.

Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 25

6. ECOLOGY OF FEAR by Mike Davis (Metropolitan Books: $25) Los Angeles’ precarious environmental history and some apocalyptic warnings about its future.

Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 7

7. PURE DRIVEL by Steve Martin (Hyperion: $21) A collection of humorous riffs on various topics by the entertainer.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

8. CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD, BOOK ONE by Neale Donald Walsch (Putnam: $19.95) Channeling messages from Mr. Big about good, evil and the meaning of life.

Last Week: 13; Weeks on List: 70

9. I AM JACKIE CHAN by Jackie Chan with Jeff Yang (Ballantine: $24.95) The life of an action hero known as “the Charlie Chaplin of martial-arts moviemaking.”

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

10. THE PROFESSOR AND THE MADMAN by Simon Winchester (HarperCollins: $22) The editor of the Oxford English Dictionary was helped by a brilliant mental patient.

Last Week: 10; Weeks on List: 3

11. A NIGHT WITHOUT ARMOR by Jewel (HarperCollins: $15) A poetry collection drawn from the pop singer’s life and experiences.

Last Week: 12; Weeks on List: 13

12. THE DAY DIANA DIED by Christopher Andersen (Morrow: $27) More revelations about events leading up to Princess Diana’s death in a Paris car crash a year ago.

Last Week: 5; Weeks on List: 6

13. EASY RIDERS, RAGING BULLS by Peter Biskind (Simon and Schuster: $25) How the sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll generation of filmmakers saved Hollywood.

Last Week: 7; Weeks on List: 25

14. MOUSE BETRAYED by Peter and Rochelle Schweizer (Regnery: $24.95) What Michael Eisner doesn’t want you to know about Disney.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

15. EVERYBODY WAS SO YOUNG by Amanda Vaill (Houghton Mifflin: $30) The lives of Gerald and Sara Murphy and of the other members of the Lost Generation.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 3

PAPERBACK

FICTION

1. DIVINE SECRETS OF THE YA-YA SISTERHOOD by Rebecca Wells (HarperCollins: $13) Sisterhood in the South.

2. COLD MOUNTAIN by Charles Frazier (Vintage: $13) A disillusioned Confederate soldier quits the Civil War.

3. LITTLE ALTARS EVERYWHERE by Rebecca Wells (HarperPerennial: $13) A “Ya-Ya Sisterhood” prequel.

4. ONE TRUE THING by Anna Quindlen (Dell: $6.99) A woman cares for her dying mother.

5. THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS by Arundhati Roy (HarperPerennial: $13) The rise and fall of an Indian family.

6. 10-LB. PENALTY by Dick Francis (Jove: $6.99) Father and son face villainy in the British political arena.

7. THE NOTEBOOK by Nicholas Sparks (WarnerVision: $5.99) Old flames recall their former combustion.

8. SHE’S COME UNDONE by Wally Lamb (Pocket: $14) A woman’s painful journey of self-discovery.

9. LUCKY YOU by Carl Hiaasen (Warner Vision: $7.50) The battle for a winning lottery ticket in a small Florida town.

10. THE READER by Bernhard Schlink (Vintage: $11) A boyhood interlude with an older woman and its aftermath.

****

NONFICTION

1. THE STARR REPORT by Phil Kuntz (Pocket Books: $5.99) Findings of the Starr investigation of Clinton.

2. PERMANENT MIDNIGHT by Jerry Stahl (Warner: $6.99) Life as a successful writer and junkie.

3. INTO THIN AIR by Jon Krakauer (Anchor Books: $7.99) Risk and recklessness on Mt. Everest.

4. THE STARR REPORT (PublicAffairs: $10) Including analysis by the staff of The Washington Post.

5. THE COLOR OF WATER by James McBride (Riverhead: $12) A black musician’s homage to his white mother.

6. THE STARR REPORT (Forum/Prima Publishing: $9.99) Unabridged materials on the White House scandal.

7. THE PERFECT STORM by Sebastian Junger (HarperPerennial: $13) Fisherman trapped in the fury of an Atlantic storm.

8. DOGS NEVER LIE ABOUT LOVE by Jeffrey Masson (Random House: $14) Compatibility between humans and hounds.

9. THE MILLIONAIRE NEXT DOOR by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko (Pocket: $14) Join the ranks of the wealthy.

10. CITY OF QUARTZ by Mike Davis (Vintage: $15) How L.A.’s history and power structures will shape the city’s future.

Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.