Southern California Rankings:FICTION1. TOMCAT IN LOVE by...

Southern California Rankings:

FICTION

1. TOMCAT IN LOVE by Tim O’Brien (Bantam: $26) A college professor navigates his complicated relationships with the many women in his life.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

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

Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 2

3. 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: 5; Weeks on List: 4

4. THE HUNDRED DAYS by Patrick O’Brian (W.W. Norton: $24) The penultimate Aubrey-Maturin adventure takes place against the backdrop of the final defeat of Napoleon.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

5. 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: 13; Weeks on List: 17

6. 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: 8; Weeks on List: 5

7. 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: 1; Weeks on List: 47

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

Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 8

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 all the wrong people.

Last Week: 9; Weeks on List: 2

10. MODEL BEHAVIOR by Jay McInerney (Random House: $24) A novel and short stories, by the author of “Bright Lights, Big City.”

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

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

Last Week: 12; Weeks on List: 2

12. 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 the perfect man.

Last Week: 11; Weeks on List: 18

13. 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: 6; Weeks on List: 4

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: 14; Weeks on List: 4

15. I MARRIED A COMMUNIST by Philip Roth (Houghton Mifflin: $26) The story of a radio actor whose private dramas become national scandal. Reviewed by Richard Eder, Page 2.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 4

****

NONFICTION

1. 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: 2; Weeks on List: 40

2. WORK IN PROGRESS by Michael Eisner with Tony Schwartz (Random House: $27.50) The corporate rise and rise of Disney’s No. 1 mouseketeer.

Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 2

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

Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 3

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

Last Week: 7; Weeks on List: 2

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: 5; Weeks on List: 26

6. SINGING LESSONS by Judy Collins (Pocket: $25) A singer/songwriter’s memoir of the pain and joy of a life filled with music.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

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

Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 6

8. 48 LAWS OF POWER by Robert Greene and Joost Elffers (Viking: $24.95) Laws on how to get and wield power, inspired by everyone from Sun-Tzu to Casanova.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

9. KADDISH By Leon Wieseltier (Alfred A. Knopf: $27.50) A son’s philosophical reflections on the “mourner’s kaddish” he recites in the year following his father’s death.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

10. THE TEN COMMANDMENTS By Laura C. Schlessinger and Stewart Vogel (Cliff Street/HarperCollins: $24) Applying ancient teachings to the travails of modern life.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

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

Last Week: 6; Weeks on List: 8

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

Last Week: 9; Weeks on List: 2

13. 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: 8; Weeks on List: 71

14. 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: 13; Weeks on List: 26

15. HIS BRIGHT LIGHT By Danielle Steel (Bantam: $25) A mother’s memoir of the loss of her son, who committed suicide after a long struggle with heroin.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

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. WHAT LOOKS LIKE CRAZY ON AN ORDINARY DAY by Pearl Cleage (Avon: $12) Love in unlikely places.

4. THE THINGS THEY CARRIED by Tim O’Brien (Penguin: $12.95) Fictional episodes from the life of a Vietnam vet.

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

6. BELOVED by Toni Morrison (Plume: $12.95) Remarkable occurrences in the life of an ex-slave.

7. CORELLI’S MANDOLIN by Louis De Bernieres (Vintage: $14) Life in a small Greek village before World War I.

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

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

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

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

4. UNDAUNTED COURAGE by Stephen E. Ambrose (Touchstone: $16) In the American wilderness with Lewis and Clark.

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

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

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

8. HOW READING CHANGED MY LIFE by Anna Quindlen (Library of Contemporary Thought: $8.95) An ode to the joy of books.

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

10. THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY bu Jean-Dominique Bauby (Vintage: $11) Glimpses of oblivion from a stroke victim.

Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.