Southern California Rankings:FICTION1. RAINBOW SIX by Tom...

Southern California Rankings:

FICTION

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

Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 3

2. COLD MOUNTAIN by Charles Frazier (Atlantic Monthly: $24) A Confederate soldier deserts the Civil War and walks home to his farm and sweetheart.

Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 56

3. 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: 2; Weeks on List: 13

4. 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: --; 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 searches for meaning in the story of an Italian ancestor.

Last Week: 7; Weeks on List: 12

6. POINT OF ORIGIN by Patricia Cornwell (Putnam: $25.95) Kay Scarpetta, chief medical examiner, takes on a psychopathic serial killer.

Last Week: 6; Weeks on List: 8

7. SUMMER SISTERS by Judy Blume (Delacorte: $21.50) Friendship between two unlikely girls blossoms and gros through years of hardship and maturity.

Last Week: 9; Weeks on List: 16

8. A WIDOW FOR ONE YEAR by John Irving (Random House: $27.95) From childhood to middle age, a woman learns that one must wait a long time to fall in love.

Last Week: 12; Weeks on List: 18

9. 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: 1

10. KAATERSKILL FALLS by Allegra Goodman (The Dial Press: $23.95) Two years in the life of a small Jewish community in the Catskills in the 1970s.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

11. NO SAFE PLACE by Richard North Patterson (Knopf: $25.95) A political thriller that tackles our toughest domestic issues, from abortion to tobacco legislation.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

12. FOR KINGS AND PLANETS by Ethan Canin (Random House: $24.95) A moral man tests his character against the seduction of New York City.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

13. DEATH IN SUMMER by William Trevor (Viking: $23.95) A summer of three deaths in a household haunted by the past.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

14. MISTLER’S EXIT by Louis Begley (Random House: $22) A scion of advertising reevaluates his life after a medical exam reveals a fatal intruder.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

15. THE GIRL IN THE FLAMMABLE SKIRT by Aimee Bender (Doubleday: $21.95) Stories of men and women living on the hilarious frontlines of need and desire.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 5

****

NONFICTION

1. ECOLOGY OF FEAR by Mike Davis (Metropolitan Books: $25) Los Angeles’ precarious environmental history and scenarios for its demise.

Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 4

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

Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 35

3. 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: 1; Weeks on List: 2

4. ABSOLUTELY NOW by Lynne Franks (Overlook: $23.95) The P.R. guru recounts her worldwide quest for personal and spiritual meaning.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 2

5. 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: 4; Weeks on List: 21

6. EXPLAINING HITLER by Ron Rosenbaum (Random House: $30) The continuing efforts among historians to account for the German dictator’s evil designs.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 2

7. THE GIFTS OF THE JEWS by Thomas Cahill (Nan A. Talese/Doubleday: $23.50) How a nomadic people heard the Almighty’s voice and transformed the world.

Last Week: 6; Weeks on List: 21

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

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

9. ANGELA’S ASHES by Frank McCourt (Scribner: $24) A bittersweet lyrical memoir of a poverty-stricken childhood in a rain-soaked Irish city.

Last Week: 10; Weeks on List: 94

10. 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: 14; Weeks on List: 66

11. AN EMPIRE WILDERNESS by Robert D. Kaplan (Random House: $27.50) Kaplan’s travels, Tocqueville-style, through the political and cultural landscape of America.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

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

Last Week: 8; Weeks on List: 9

13. A MONK SWIMMING by Malachy McCourt (Hyperion: $23.95) The brother of Frank McCourt offers a bawdy antidote to a sad childhood.

Last Week: 11; Weeks on List: 11

14. 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: 21

15. WE ARE OUR MOTHER’S DAUGHTERS by Cokie Roberts (Morrow: $19.95) Female activists, soldiers and others challenging the role of women in society.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 13

PAPERBACK

FICTION

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

2. MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA by Arthur Golden (Random House: $14) The life and loves of a teahouse entertainer in Tokyo.

3. THE NOTEBOOK by Nicholas Sparks (Warner Vision: $5.99) Old flames recall their former combustion.

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

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

6. LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov (Vintage: $13) A loner’s lyrical obsession with a young girl.

7. LARRY’S PARTY by Carol Shields (Viking: $13) Larry Weller tries to understand what women really want.

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

9. THE READER by Bernhard Schlink (Random House: $11) A boyhood interlude with a woman and its aftermath.

10. THE GRILLING SEASON by Diane Davidson (Bantam: $6.50) A culinary whodunit from the Julia Child of mystery writers.

****

NONFICTION

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

2. THE SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE by Stephen R. Covey (Fireside: $12) How to do everything better.

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

4. PERSONAL HISTORY by Katharine Graham (Vintage: $15) The heiress at the helm of the Washington Post.

5. SHOOTING TO KILL by Christine Vachon (Avon: $12) An independent producer takes on the movie industry.

6. CITIZEN SOLDIERS by Stephen E. Ambrose (Simon and Schuster: $16) America’s gutsy frontline fighters in WWII.

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

8. PRINCESSA: MACHIAVELLI FOR WOMEN by Harriet Rubin (Dell: $13) How to get what you want using age-old techniques.

9. WHY PEOPLE BELIEVE WEIRD THINGS by Michael Shermer (W. H. Freeman: $14.95) Debunking the myths of our time.

10. BRAIN DROPPINGS by George Carlin (Hyperion: $9.95) The comedian’s look at the humorous absurdity of modern life.

Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.