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

Southern California Rating:

FICTION

1 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: 2; Weeks on List: 2

2 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: 4; Weeks on List: 2

3 O IS FOR OUTLAW by Sue Grafton (Henry Holt: $26) New information on an old crime forces Kinsey Millhone to look back at her ill-fated marriage to a vice cop accused of murder.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

4 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: 1; Weeks on List: 2

5 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: 3; Weeks on List: 3

6 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: 7; Weeks on List: 2

7 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: 5; Weeks on List: 2

8 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: 12; Weeks on List: 2

9 BIG TROUBLE by Dave Barry (Putnam: 23.95) The male ego runs amok in the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist’s first novel, set in the fabled world of Miami’s vice.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 2

10 DUNE: HOUSE ATREIDES by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (Bantam: $27.50) This prequel to Frank Herbert’s epic “Dune” series describes turmoil in a faraway galactic empire.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

11 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: 13; Weeks on List: 2

12 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: --; Weeks on List: 4

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: 2

14 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: --; Weeks on List: 23

15 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: --; Weeks on List: 6

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: 4

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: 2; Weeks on List: 3

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

Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 3

4 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: 8; Weeks on List: 92

5 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: 10; Weeks on List: 6

6 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: 5; Weeks on List: 3

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: 7; Weeks on List: 2

8 HITLER’S POPE by John Cornwell (Viking: $29.95) Power consolidation in the Catholic Church and Pius XII’s silence in the face of the Nazis and the Final Solution.

Last Week: 6; Weeks on List: 3

9 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: 44

10 CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD, BOOK ONE by Neale Donald Walsch (Putnam: $19.95) Divinely channeled messages about good, evil and the meaning of life.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 90

11 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: 15; Weeks on List: 6

12 HOW WE BELIEVE by Michael Shermer (W.H. Freeman: $24.95) Why people put their faith in a higher being in an era marked by skepticism and scientific discoveries.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

13 THE SWORD AND THE SHIELD by Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin (Basic Books: $32.50) A KGB defector reveals Soviet secrets. Reviewed by Timothy Naftali, Page 7.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 3

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: 14; Weeks on List: 10

15 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: 4; Weeks on List: 4

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

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

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

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

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

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

9 FIELD OF THIRTEEN by Dick Francis (Jove: $6.99) Old and new tales of mystery among the stables and jockeys.

10 THE LOOP by Nicholas Evans (Dell: $7.99) A pack of wolves is unleashed on a town called Hope (Montana).

PAPERBACKS

NONFICTION

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

2 THE RICHEST MAN IN BABYLON by George S. Clason (NAL: $6.99) Tips from the Ancients on making money.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

10 THE ECOLOGY OF FEAR by Mike Davis (Vintage: $14) How poor urban planning has put L.A. in harm’s way.

Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.