Southern California Rating:FICTION1 HARRY POTTER AND THE...

Southern California Rating:

FICTION

1 HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS by J.K. Rowling (Arthur A. Levine Books: $17.95) Harry risks his life to solve a mystery at the Hogwarts School.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

2 HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN by J.K. Rowling (Scholastic: $19.95) Sirius Black--an escaped convict--is on the loose, and he’s after Harry.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

3 PERSONAL INJURIES by Scott Turow (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $27) Dirty lawyers, dirty judges and one equally soiled informant face off in fictional Kindle County.

Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 2

4 HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER’S STONE by J.K. Rowling (Scholastic: $16.95) Unhappy at home, a young boy discovers that he is a great magician.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

5 SECOND WIND by Dick Francis (Putnam: $24.95) When a meteorologist and a pilot decide to fly through the eye of a hurricane, intrigue is not far behind.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

6 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.

Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 6

7 HARD TIME by Sara Paretsky (Delacorte: $24.95) When V.I. Warshawski nearly runs over an escaped convict, she finds herself framed for murder.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

8 THE CHARTERHOUSE OF PARMA by Stendhal; Translated from the French by Richard Howard (The Modern Library: $24.95) A new translation of love and war in the Napoleonic era.

Last Week: 11; Weeks on List: 2

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

Last Week: 8; Weeks on List: 27

10 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: 5; Weeks on List: 4

11 PLAINSONG by Kent Haruf (Alfred A. Knopf: $24) As lives intersect in a Colorado cattle town, concepts of family are challenged. Reviewed by Susan Salter Reynolds, Page 15.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

12 A WALK TO REMEMBER by Nicholas Sparks (Warner: $19.95) An old man looks back at his own bittersweet love story from the vantage point that 40 years can offer.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

13 DAUGHTER OF FORTUNE by Isabel Allende (HarperCollins: $26) A young woman escapes from the bonds of her youthful passion to Gold Rush California.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

14 ESCAPE FROM FILM SCHOOL by Richard Walter (St. Martin’s: $22.95) A young man makes it in Hollywood; a first novel by the chair of UCLA’s film- and television-writing program.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

15 HEADLONG by Michael Frayn (Metropolitan: $26) On vacation in the English countryside, an art historian thinks he has stumbled upon a lost Bruegel painting.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

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: 1; Weeks on List: 3

2 THE WAY WE LIVED THEN by Dominick Dunne (Crown: $27.50) A personal photo album and memoir of Hollywood by a self-proclaimed name-dropper.

Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 2

3 DUTCH by Edmund Morris (Random House: $35) This long-anticipated official biography of President Reagan features a fictionalized narrator.

Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 2

4 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: --; Weeks on List: 3

5 THE PLAY GOES ON by Neil Simon (Simon & Schuster: $27) A memoir of the second half of life by one of America’s most prolific playwrights.

Last Week: 11; Weeks on List: 2

6 HITLER’S POPE by John Cornwell (Viking: $29.95) How Pius XII’s efforts at diplomacy helped sweep the Nazis into power and carry out the Final Solution.

Last Week: 10; Weeks on List: 2

7 ALL THE BEST by George Bush (Scribner: $30) Autobiography by documentation: a collection of writings, speeches, diary entries and other contributions by the former president.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

8 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: 6; Weeks on List: 91

9 STIFFED by Susan Faludi (William Morrow: $27.50) From Sylvester Stallone to the Spur Posse, a look at the plight of the American male.

Last Week: 9; Weeks on List: 2

10 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: 8; Weeks on List: 5

11 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: --; Weeks on List: 7

12 LEGACY by Christopher Ogden (Little, Brown: $29.95) The rags-to-riches-to-ruin-to-riches story of Moses Annenberg and his son, TV Guide founder Walter.

Last Week: 7; Weeks on List: 2

13 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: --; Weeks on List: 43

14 THE HUNGRY OCEAN by Linda Greenlaw (Little, Brown: $22.95) A chronicle of a monthlong fishing trip by the world’s only female swordfish boat captain.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 9

15 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: 14; Weeks on List: 5

PAPERBACKS

FICTION

1 HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER’S STONE by J.K. Rowling (Scholastic: $16.95) A boy learns he is a magician.

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

3 A MAN IN FULL by Tom Wolfe (Bantam: $8.50) The story of a real estate tycoon’s crash and burn.

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

5 BILLY STRAIGHT by Jonathan Kellerman (Ballantine: $7.99) A detective races to find a young murder witness.

6 THE SIMPLE TRUTH by David Balducci (Warner: $7.99) A convicted killer finds out he’s not guilty.

7 INVISIBLE MONSTERS by Chuck Palahniuk (W.W. Norton: $13) A fashion model loses half her face.

8 FIGHT CLUB by Chuck Palahniuk (Henry Holt: $13) Unwind from a day at the office with blood sport and anarchy.

9 TROUBLE IN PARADISE by Robert B. Parker (Jove: $6.99) Paradise Police Chief Jesse Stone has his hands full.

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

PAPERBACKS

NONFICTION

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

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

3 BLIND MAN’S BLUFF by Sherry Sontag and Christopher Drew (HarperPerennial: $7.99) American submarine espionage.

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

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

6 LIVING JUDAISM by Wayne D. Dosick (HarperSan Francisco: $13) A guide to Jewish beliefs, traditions and practice.

7 THE OLD FARMERS ALMANAC 2000 Edited by Judson Hale (Villard: $5.95) Weather forecasts, tide tables and more.

8 REWRITES by Neil Simon (Touchstone: $14) A memoir of the playwright’s early career.

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

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.