Southern California Rating:

FICTION

1. FLEUR DE LEIGH’S LIFE OF CRIME by Diane Leslie (Simon and Schuster: $23) A Hollywood “Upstairs, Downstairs” about a poor little rich girl and her L.A. childhood.

Last Week: ---; Weeks on List: 1

2. 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: --; Weeks on List: 4

3. EAST OF THE MOUNTAINS by David Guterson (Harcourt Brace: $25) A retired heart surgeon, dying of cancer, goes on his last hunt in the American West.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

4. WE’LL MEET AGAIN by Mary Higgins Clark (Simon and Schuster: $25) A suspense novel that explores the evil inner workings of an HMO and some risky medical experiments.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

5. THE GIRL WHO LOVED TOM GORDON by Stephen King (Simon and Schuster: $16.95) Lost in the woods, a young girl encounters a strange vision of horror as she searches for her family.

Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 2

6. A NEW SONG by Jan Karon (Viking: $24.95) A clergyman and his wife leave their beloved Mitford to shepherd a small congregation on Whitecap Island.

Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 2

7. 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: --; Weeks on List: 6

8. BITTERSWEET by Danielle Steel (Delacorte: $26.95) A dissatisfied woman who gave up ambitions for marriage and motherhood finds comfort in the arms of a financier.

Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 4

9. 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: 13; Weeks on List: 30

10. THE HANDYMAN by Carolyn See (Random House: $22.95) The picaresque adventures of a $10-an-hour handyman, drifter and painter in L.A who fixes hearts as well as cabinets.

Last Week: 6; Weeks on List: 6

11. 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: --; Weeks on List: 11

12. 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: 2; Weeks on List: 12

13. TARA ROAD by Maeve Binchy (Delacorte: $24.95) People facing heartbreak and disappointment are drawn to a Victorian home on a shabby Dublin street.

Last Week: 7; Weeks on List: 8

14. 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: --; Weeks on List: 3

15. THE GROUND BENEATH HER FEET by Salman Rushdie (Henry Holt: $26) Orpheus and Eurydice are a couple of rock’n’roll stars. Reviewed by Jonathan Levi, Page 2.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

****

NONFICTION

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

Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 3

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: 1; Weeks on List: 69

3. IN THE GARDEN OF OUR DREAMS by Shirlee T. Haizlip and Harold C. Haizlip (Kodansha: $24) Memoirs of a marriage; the shocking tale of a perfectly happy couple.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 11

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

Last Week: 10; Weeks on List: 4

5. 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: 2; Weeks on List: 20

6. ALL TOO HUMAN by George Stephanopoulos (Little, Brown: $27.95) Behind the scenes in the Oval Office with one of President Clinton’s best and brightest.

Last Week: 5; Weeks on List: 7

7. 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: 8

8. BUSINESS @ THE SPEED OF THOUGHT by Bill Gates (Warner: $30) Microsoft’s CEO offers a corporate strategy for competing on today’s digital playing field.

Last Week: 7; Weeks on List: 4

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

Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 18

10. BLACK HAWK DOWN by Mark Bowden (Atlantic Monthly Press: $24) An account of a botched 1993 U.S. raid on Mogadishu. Reviewed by Edward Luttwak, Page 9.

Last Week: 15; Weeks on List: 2

11. THE COURAGE TO BE RICH by Suze Orman (Riverhead: $24.95) Attention, ‘fraidy-cats: Dump that savings account earning 2% and look for better investments.

Last Week: 6; Weeks on List: 7

12. UNCOVERING CLINTON by Michael Isikoff (Crown: $25) A reporter’s account of his embattled efforts to bring to light the stories of Monica Lewinsky, Paula Jones and Co.

Last Week: 11; Weeks on List: 2

13. 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: 14; Weeks on List: 20

14. MONICA’S STORY by Andrew Morton (St. Martin’s Press: $24.95) Monica Lewinsky’s account of the nature of her relationship with President Clinton.

Last Week: 13; Weeks on List: 8

15. ANOTHER COUNTRY by Mary Pipher (Riverhead: $24.95) Old age and its myriad concerns, financial, physical and emotional, and a criticism of our youth-obsessed culture.

Last Week: 9; Weeks on List: 2

Paperbacks

FICTION

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

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

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

4. A WIDOW FOR ONE YEAR by John Irving (Ballantine: $14.95) A Dickensian story of a woman with great expectations.

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

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

7. N IS FOR NOOSE by Sue Grafton (Fawcett: $7.99) Kinsey Millhone investigates another detective’s sudden death.

8. THE ELEVENTH COMMANDMENT by Jeffrey Archer (HarperCollins: $7.99) A spy faces a new Cold War.

9. SUDDEN MISCHIEF by Robert B. Parker (Jove: $6.99) A new case puts Spenser and Susan’s relationship on the line.

10. INNER HARBOR by Nora Roberts (Penguin: $7.50) The lives and loves of three brothers on Chesapeake Bay.

****

NONFICTION

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

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

3. OCTOBER SKY by Homer Hickam (Dell: $6.99) A boy from Coalwood, W. Va., becomes a NASA scientist.

4. REAL BOYS by William Pollack (Owl Books: $13.95) Raising a healthy male child in spite of society’s mixed messages.

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

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

7. A CHILD CALLED “IT” by Dave Pelzer (Health Communications: $13.95) A survivor’s story of abuse.

8. GIRL BOSS by Stacy Kravetz (Girl Press: $17.95) Running the show like the big chicks.

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

10. UNDERGROUND GUIDE TO LOS ANGELES edited by Pleasant Gehman. (Manic D Press: $13.95) L.A.’s dark underbelly.

Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.