Southern California Rating:

FICTION

1. FLEUR DE LEIGH’S LIFE OF CRIME by Diane Leslie (Simon and Schuster: $23) A Hollywood tale of a poor little rich girl and her L.A. childhood. Reviewed by Mark Rozzo, page 10.

Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 6

2. WHITE OLEANDER by Janet Fitch (Little, Brown: $24) When a woman murders her lover, her daughter must learn to face womanhood in a foster home.

Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 4

3. CLOSE RANGE by Annie Proulx (Scribner: $25) A collection of raw and lusty stories about luckless characters living in the rough wasteland of Wyoming.

Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 4

4. THE HOURS by Michael Cunningham (Farrar, Straus and Giroux: $22) A haunting triptych of stories structured around Virginia Woolf’s novel “Mrs. Dalloway.”

Last Week: 6; Weeks on List: 11

5. STAR WARS, EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE by Terry Brooks (Lucasbooks/Del Rey: $25) The “Star Wars” saga unfolds with Darth Vader’s childhood on a desert planet.

Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 4

6. THE GIRLS’ GUIDE TO HUNTING AND FISHING by Melissa Bank (Viking: $23.95) As a modern girl grows up looking for love, to whom should she turn?

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

7. BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES OF THE CENTURY edited by Katrina Kenison and John Updike (Houghton Mifflin: $28) Ernest Hemingway, Willa Cather, Raymond Carver and Co.

Last Week: 9; Weeks on List: 8

8. THE TESTAMENT by John Grisham (Doubleday: $27.95) The 10th richest man in the United States has died, and his greedy heirs are circling like hungry vultures.

Last Week: 8; Weeks on List: 16

9. THE ORPHAN GAME by Ann Darby (William Morrow: $25) The coming-of-age of a girl in the ‘60s and her undesired pregnancy, as told by herself, her mother and her great aunt.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

10. EAST OF THE MOUNTAINS by David Guterson (Harcourt Brace: $25) A retired heart surgeon with terminal cancer goes on his last hunt in the woods of the Northwest.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 5

11. JUNETEENTH by Ralph Ellison (Random House: $25) A dying senator relives memories with an African American pastor from his youth and discovers what has bonded the two together.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

12. MOONLIGHT ON THE AVENUE OF FAITH by Gina B. Nahai (Harcourt Brace: $24) A little girl’s search for her magical missing mother in a Tehran ghetto.

Last Week: 11; Weeks on List: 9

13. TURN OF THE CENTURY by Kurt Anderson (Random House: $24.95) A twisted adventure, set in the year 2000, when corruption permeates society.

Last Week: 10; Weeks on List: 2

14. FOR THE RELIEF OF UNBEARABLE URGES by Nathan Englander (Alfred A. Knopf: $23) A debut collection of stories rooted in Jewish history and orthodox life.

Last Week: 14; Weeks on List: 4

15. 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: --; Weeks on List: 32

****

NONFICTION

1. MY ONE GOOD NERVE by Ruby Dee (John Wiley and Sons: $16.95) Musings and memories detailing the African American experience, specifically raising a family in America.

Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 2

2. WAY OF THE BOOTSTRAPPER by Floyd H. Flake, Donna Marie Williams and Maxine Waters (HarperSanFrancisco: $23) Solving modern problems with time-honored methods.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

3. WOMAN by Natalie Angier (Houghton Mifflin: $25) A poetic, exuberant celebration of womanhood and its unique qualities and influence on the world.

Last Week: 9; Weeks on List: 9

4. TWILIGHT OF THE WAGNERS by Gottfried Wagner and Della Couling (St. Martin’s: $25) A dark history of the Wagner family and its anti-Semitic past.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

5. 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: 4; Weeks on List: 74

6. I’M A STRANGER HERE MYSELF by Bill Bryson (Broadway: $25) A return to America after a 20-year absence prompts a humorous discussion of America’s absurdities.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

7. ENCORE PROVENCE by Peter Mayle (Alfred A. Knopf: $23) A return to southern France prompts memories of good times and a critique of American culture.

Last Week: 8; Weeks on List: 2

8. ANOTHER LIFE by Michael Korda (Random House: $26.95) An examination of the people in, and the transformation of, the book publishing industry.

Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 2

9. THE LEXUS AND THE OLIVE TREE by Thomas L. Friedman (Farrar, Straus and Giroux: $27.50) Globalization has replaced the Cold War system, though many resist its call.

Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 5

10. BELLA TUSCANY by Frances Mayes (Broadway: $25) Rich, colorful stories of cuisine and Italian life in the villages by the author of “Under the Tuscan Sun.”

Last Week: 5; Weeks on List: 8

11. MARY PICKFORD REDISCOVERED by Kevin Brownlow (Abrams: $39.95) A chronicle of “America’s sweetheart” in the days of silent pictures.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

12. WITH OSSIE AND RUBY by Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee (William Morrow: $25) The engaging memoirs of two actors in love with each other through a half-century of strife.

Last Week: 11; Weeks on List: 2

13. WAKE UP, I’M FAT by Camryn Manheim (Broadway: $23) An actress imparts her journey from a self-hating fat teenager to an activist for the overweight.

Last Week: 12; Weeks on List: 2

14. 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: 13; Weeks on List: 26

15. TRAVELING MERCIES by Anne Lamott (Pantheon: $23) The growth of Lamott’s beliefs and how they helped her overcome grief, alcoholism and bad hair days.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 12

Paperbacks

FICTION

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

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

3. THE PILOT’S WIFE by Anita Shreve (Little, Brown: $13.95) A woman’s disturbing discoveries after a fatal plane crash.

4. BRIDGET JONES’ DIARY by Helen Fielding (Penguin USA: $12.95) A thirtysomething deals with love.

5. SUMMER SISTERS by Judy Blume (Dell: $7.50) Unlikely friendship between two girls.

6. THE GENERAL’S DAUGHTER by Nelson DeMille (Warner: $7.50) A girl’s murder reveals her shameful past.

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

8. SECRET PREY by John Sandford (Berkley: $7.99) Davenport investigates a murder in the woods.

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

10. DAMASCUS GATE by Robert Stone (Scribner: $14) Foiling a terrorist plan to blow up Jerusalem’s Temple Mount.

****

NONFICTION

1. SEAT OF THE SOUL by Gary Zukav (Fireside: $13) The inward transformation of the human soul.

2. ANGELA’S ASHES by Frank McCourt (Touchstone: $14) Overcoming an Irish childhood during the Depression.

3. UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN by Frances Mayes (Broadway: $13) Restoring a cozy home in a glorious Italian landscape.

4. OUR DUMB CENTURY by the Onion staff (Three Rivers: $15) Satiric headlines from a popular humor publication.

5. EVERYBODY WAS SO YOUNG by Amanda Vaill (Broadway: $15) Gerald and Sara Murphy and the Lost Generation.

6. GUNS, GERMS AND STEEL by Jared Diamond (W.W. Norton: $14.95) The part played by this triad in history.

7. A PIRATE LOOKS AT FIFTY by Jimmy Buffett (Fawcett: $7.99) The songwriter’s travels through the tropics.

8. A WALK IN THE WOODS by Bill Bryson (Broadway: $13) Memoirs told while hiking the American wildnerness.

9. FALLING LEAVES by Adeline Yen Mah (Broadway: $13) Life under an oppressive stepmother in mainland China.

10. READING PEOPLE by Jo-Ellan Dimitrius and Mark Mazzarella (Ballantine: $13.95) Predicting behavior.

Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.