Southern California Rating:FICTION1. THE TESTAMENT by...

Southern California Rating:

FICTION

1. THE TESTAMENT by John Grisham (Doubleday: $27.95) The 10th richest man in the U.S. is about to die, and his heirs are circling like vultures.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

2. BILLY STRAIGHT by Jonathan Kellerman (Random House: $25.95) A homicide detective races to find a young murder witness before the killer does.

Last Week: 11; Weeks on List: 5

3. A MAN IN FULL by Tom Wolfe (Farrar, Straus and Giroux: $28.95) The story of a real estate tycoon’s crash and burn and the sleaze who warm themselves by the fire.

Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 14

4. ANGELS FLIGHT by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown: $24) A lawyer who has charged the LAPD with racism and brutality is murdered at the foot of the funicular.

Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 7

5. SOUTHERN CROSS by Patricia Cornwell (Putnam: $25.95) Cornwell takes a close look at the personal and professional lives of big-city police.

Last Week: 7; Weeks on List: 4

6. DREAMING SOUTHERN by Linda Bruckheimer (Dutton: $23.95) A mother and her children head west on Route 66 to join her husband and get into mishaps along the way.

Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 6

7. IN DANGER’S PATH by W. E. B. Griffin (Putnam: $24.95) The latest chapter in Griffin’s Marine Corps series follows Fleming Pickering as he attempts a daring rescue in the Gobi Desert.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 2

8. AMSTERDAM by Ian McEwan (Nan A. Talese/Doubleday: $21) A journalist, composer and politician ease feelings of emptiness by sabotaging one another’s careers.

Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 9

9. GLAMORAMA by Bret Easton Ellis (Alfred A. Knopf: $25) A young man sinks into the dark side of fame and human nature in fashionable New York, London and Paris.

Last Week: 15; Weeks on List: 6

10. INNER CITY BLUES by Paula L. Woods (W.W. Norton: $23.95) A detective investigates a homicide in the shadows of racism and L.A.’s 1992 riots.

Last Week: 8; Weeks on List: 2

11. SEIZE THE NIGHT by Dean Koontz (Bantam: $26.95) A hideous genetic experiment claims the children and pets of the quiet community of Moonlight Bay.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 4

12. THE POISONWOOD BIBLE by Barbara Kingsolver (HarperCollins: $27.50) An evangelical Baptist missionary takes his wife and children to the Belgian Congo in 1959.

Last Week: 12; Weeks on List: 19

13. A CLASH OF KINGS by George R.R. Martin (Bantam Spectra: $25.95) As this sequel to “A Game of Thrones” begins, the Seven Kingdoms have come apart.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

14. THE SIMPLE TRUTH by David Baldacci (Warner: $25) Twenty-five years ago, Rufus Harms was convicted of a murder he knows he committed. Suddenly, he’s not guilty, or is he?

Last Week: 5; Weeks on List: 12

15. WHEN THE WIND BLOWS by James Patterson (Little, Brown: $25) An astonishing discovery in the woods brings together a recently widowed veterinarian and a troubled FBI agent.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 13

****

NONFICTION

1. THE GREATEST GENERATION by Tom Brokaw (Random House: $24.95) TV anchor tells the stories of the generation that came of age during the Depression and World War II.

Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 9

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: 58

3. 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: 7; Weeks on List: 20

4. THE LAST MOGUL by Dennis McDougal (Crown: $27.50) A profile of Lew Wasserman, the Hollywood power broker, the last of his generation.

Last Week: 9; Weeks on List: 6

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

Last Week: 8; Weeks on List: 83

6. CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD, BOOK THREE by Neale Donald Walsch (Hampton Roads: $22.95) Further dispatches on life and death dictated by the Man Upstairs.

Last Week: 10; Weeks on List: 14

7. 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: --; Weeks on List: 38

8. MOSES by Jonathan Kirsch (Ballantine: $27.50) A biography of the legendary lawgiver that combines ancient lore, mythology and archeological data.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 5

9. THE RIGHT TO WRITE by Julia Cameron (Tarcher/Putnam: $19.95) Insights into the spiritual component of the writing life and how to develop your own creativity.

Last Week: 5; Weeks on List: 5

10. OONA: LIVING IN THE SHADOWS by Jane Scovell (Warner: $25) A portrait of the daughter of playwright Eugene O’Neill and last wife of filmmaker Charlie Chaplin.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

11. BLIND MAN’S BLUFF by Sherry Sontag and Christopher Drew (PublicAffairs: $2 5) Revelations about the secret world of American submarine espionage.

Last Week: 12; Weeks on List: 8

12. THE CENTURY by Peter Jennings and Todd Brewster (Doubleday: $60) The story of our last 100 years; a companion to an upcoming ABC special.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 9

13. PLAYING FOR KEEPS by David Halberstam (Random House: $24.95) A discussion of class, race, society and history, through the prism of Michael Jordan’s life.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

14. CARELESS LOVE by Peter Guralnick (Little, Brown: $27.95) A chronicle of Elvis Presley’s decline and demise; the companion book to the author’s “Last Train to Memphis.”

Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 6

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

Last Week: 13; Weeks on List: 15

Paperbacks

FICTION

1. MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA by Arthur Golden (Vintage: $14) The life and loves of a teahouse entertainer in Kyoto.

2. MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE by Nicholas Sparks (Warner: $6.99) A woman seeks the author of a mysterious message.

3. THE STREET LAWYER by John Grisham (Dell Island: $7.99) A lawyer’s transformation into a defender of the homeless.

4. CHARMING BILLY by Alice McDermott (Delta: $12.95) A family reflects on the life of a deceased relative.

5. JEWEL by Bret Lott (Pocket: $14) A first-person epic of one woman’s personal duel with God.

6. WHERE THE HEART IS by Billie Letts (Warner: $12) A teen starts a new life, and gives birth, in a Wal-Mart.

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

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

9. ESPERANZA’S BOX OF SAINTS by Maria Amparo Escandon (Scribner: $12) A widow’s search for her child.

10. HIT MAN by Lawrence Block (Avon: $6.99) The adventures of hired killer J.P. Keller.

****

NONFICTION

1. HAPPINESS IS A SERIOUS PROBLEM by Dennis Prager (ReganBooks: $13) Finding real satisfaction in life.

2. PARIS IN THE FIFTIES by Stanley Karnow (Random House: $14) A journalist’s apprenticeship in postwar Paris.

3. CRIME WAVE by James Ellroy (Random House: $12) Essays, plus two stories, about L.A.’s seamy, undead past.

4. ADVENTURES OF A PSYCHIC by Sylvia Browne (Hay House: $12.95) The true story of a successful clairvoyant.

5. THE SEAT OF THE SOUL by Gary Zukav (Fireside: $12) Insights into creating the spirituality of daily life.

6. SLAVES IN THE FAMILY by Edward Ball (Random House: $15.95) Intertwined lives of black and white in the South.

7. THE LAST OF THE BEST by Jim Murray (Los Angeles Times: $15.95) Pearls of journalism from the late sportswriter.

8. A CIVIL ACTION by Jonathan Harr (Vintage: $13) David versus a toxic industrial Goliath in a Massachusetts town.

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

10. THE PERFECT STORM by Sebastian Junger (HarperPaperback: $13) Fishermen trapped in a storm.

Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.