Southern California Rating:FICTION1 BAGOMBO SNUFF BOX ...

Southern California Rating:

FICTION

1 BAGOMBO SNUFF BOX by Kurt Vonnegut (Putnam: $24.95) Twenty-four magazine stories, from the 1950s to the present, are collected here for the first time in book form.

Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 4

2 IN PURSUIT OF THE PROPER SINNER by Elizabeth George (Bantam: $25.95) The discovery of two mutilated corpses kicks off the latest Lynley-Havers thriller.

Last Week: 7; Weeks on List: 4

3 THE COMING OF THE NIGHT by John Rechy (Grove Press: $24) A day and night in the lives of hustlers and other outcasts looking for love on L.A.’s seamier side.

Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 2

4 HEARTS IN ATLANTIS by Stephen King (Scribner: $28) Young people come of age in the shadow of the Vietnam War in this collection of linked stories.

Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 2

5 THE DEVIL’S WORKSHOP by Stephen J. Cannell (William Morrow: $25) Lives of a college student, hobos and scientists collide after a biological accident in a small Texas town.

Last Week: 8; Weeks on List: 2

6 THE INTERIOR by Lisa See (HarperCollins: $25) A Chinese police detective goes undercover as a village peasant to probe the apparent suicide of an old friend’s daughter.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

7 FAMILY HONOR by Robert B. Parker (Putnam: $22.95) A painter-private eye hunts for a runaway in Boston’s underworld and then protects her when the girl refuses to go home.

Last Week: 10; Weeks on List: 3

8 HANNIBAL by Thomas Harris (Delacorte: $27.95) The cleverly repulsive sequel to “The Silence of the Lambs” features the villainous hero Hannibal the Cannibal.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 15

9 CRUDDY by Lynda Barry (Simon & Schuster: $23) The creator of the strip “Ernie Pook’s Comeek” explores drugs, mass-murder and general teenage angst in the early 1970s.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 2

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

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 12

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

Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 21

12 A STAR CALLED HENRY by Roddy Doyle (Viking: $24.95) A young lad’s education during this century’s Irish rebellion against the British. Reviewed by Jonathan Levi, Page 2.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

13 MOTHERLESS BROOKLYN by Jonathan Lethem (Doubleday: $23.95) A detective with Tourette’s syndrome hunts for the killer of his boss among the Brooklyn toughs.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

14 THE ALIBI by Sandra Brown (Warner: $25.95) After a night of passion with a suspected murderess, an assistant D.A. struggles between saving her and protecting his career.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 2

15 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: 13; Weeks on List: 18

NONFICTION

1 ‘TIS by Frank McCourt (Scribner: $26) A young McCourt arrives from Ireland in New York, with all its peril and promise, in this sequel to “Angela’s Ashes.”

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

2 I JUST KEPT HOPING by Gloria Stuart (Little, Brown: $25) The story of a movie actress from the 1930s through a triumphant Oscar nomination for “Titanic.”

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 2

3 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: 89

4 BEEN THERE, DONE THAT by Eddie Fisher with David Fisher (St. Martin’s: $24.95) The memories of a ‘50s and ‘60s crooner and skirt-chaser extraordinaire.

Last Week: 5; Weeks on List: 2

5 MAKING LOSS MATTER by Rabbi David Wolpe (Riverhead Books: $23.95) The search for meaning and purpose when loved ones die and after other losses.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

6 FAITH OF MY FATHERS by John McCain (Random House: $25) A self-described hell-raiser, the Arizona senator rebelled in the U.S. Naval Academy but found maturity in Vietnam.

Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 3

7 THE SWORD AND THE SHIELD by Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin (Basic Books: $32.50) How a disillusioned KGB archivist turned over spy files to the British in 1992.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

8 THE OTHER SIDE AND BACK by Sylvia Browne (Dutton: $23.95) The author of “Adventures of a Psychic” explores the existence of angels, ghosts and the afterlife.

Last Week: 9; Weeks on List: 6

9 BILL AND HILLARY by Christopher Andersen (William Morrow: $27.50) Gossip about the first family, including plenty of lurid tales about the president’s sexual antics.

Last Week: 14; Weeks on List: 8

10 DIANA IN SEARCH OF HERSELF by Sally Bedell Smith (Times Books: $25) From birth to death, the princess’ struggle to remake her self-image.

Last Week: 11; Weeks on List: 6

11 CHAVEZ RAVINE by Don Normark (Chronicle: $29.95) Photographs of a forgotten neighborhood in the L.A. hills that was uprooted in 1950 to build Dodger Stadium.

Last Week: 12; Weeks on List: 3

12 REASON FOR HOPE by Jane Goodall with Phillip Berman (Warner Books: $26.95) Why a behavioral scientist known for her work with chimpanzees has not lost faith in humanity.

Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 2

13 ISAAC’S STORM by Erik Larson (Crown: $25) The engrossing tale of a hurricane that slammed into Galveston in 1900 and of a weather forecaster heralded as a hero.

Last Week: 7; Weeks on List: 3

14 THE MILLION DOLLAR MERMAID by Esther Williams with Digby Diehl (Simon & Schuster: $26) Behind-the-scenes gossip at MGM, as told by the queen of “swimming musicals.”

Last Week: 6; Weeks on List: 2

15 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: 8; Weeks on List: 42

PAPERBACKS

FICTION

1 THE POISONWOOD BIBLE by Barbara Kingsolver (HarperPerennial: $14) A missionary family’s ordeals.

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

3 WHEN THE WIND BLOWS by James Patterson (Warner Books: $7.99) Genetic experiments in the Colorado hinterlands.

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

5 THE FARMING OF BONES by Edwidge Danticat (Penguin: $12.95) Carnage in the 1930s in the Dominican Republic.

6 I KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE by Wally Lamb (ReganBooks: $16) A man’s search for self-hood and meaning.

7 THE MUSEUM GUARD by Howard Norman (Picador USA: $14) Romance in a Nova Scotia town before World War II.

8 BLINDNESS by Jose Saramago (Harvest: $14) A morality tale of a city paralyzed by blindness.

9 TELL ME YOUR DREAMS by Sidney Sheldon (Warner: $7.99) A computer whiz heroine in Silicon Valley is being stalked.

10 BIRDS OF AMERICA by Lorrie Moore (Picador USA: $14) Stories of hapless people wrestling with failure.

PAPERBACKS

NONFICTION

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

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

3 THE PROFESSOR AND THE MADMAN by Simon Winchester (HarperPerennnial: $13) A madman with a flair for words.

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

5 THE GIFTS OF THE JEWS by Thomas Cahill (Anchor Books: $14) How a group of desert nomads changed the world.

6 SINS OF THE CITY by Jim Heimann (Chronicle Books: $18.95) L.A. noir photographs from the ‘20s to the ‘50s.

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

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

9 CLARA by Margo Kaufman (Plume: $12.95) Life in a household ruled by an imperious 12-pound dog.

10 MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL by John Berendt (Vintage: $12) Portrait of Savannah’s colorful eccentrics.

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Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.