Southern California Rating:FICTION1 BRIDGET JONES: THE EDGE...

Southern California Rating:

FICTION

1 BRIDGET JONES: THE EDGE OF REASON by Helen Fielding (Viking: $24.95) Bridget finds the perfect mate--do they really exist?--in this sequel to the bestselling “Bridget Jones’s Diary.”

Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 3

2 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: 3; Weeks on List: 25

3 THE BRETHREN by John Grisham (Doubleday: $27.95) A scam by three former judges doing time in federal prison goes awry and ensnares a powerful man on the outside.

Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 7

4 BEOWULF by Seamus Heaney (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $25) An Irish poet breathes new life into an Anglo-Saxon masterpiece with his new translation of the epic poem.

Last Week: 7; Weeks on List: 4

5 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: 8; Weeks on List: 15

6 IN AMERICA by Susan Sontag (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $26) Tale of the travels and travails of a Polish actress on the frontier in 19th century America.

Last Week: 10; Weeks on List: 3

7 THE HOOK by Donald Westlake (Mysterious Press / Warner: $23.95) All that stands between two struggling writers and a million-dollar book contract is a meddling soon-to-be ex-wife.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

8 BLINDSIDED by Clyde Phillips (William Morrow: $24) Jane Candiotti returns in search of a cop killer who’s bumping off her colleagues at a rather alarming rate.

Last Week: 14; Weeks on List: 2

9 DEAD ABOVE GROUND by Jervey Tervalon (Pocket: $23.95) A devilish man with mysterious reasons for revenge changes the life of a New Orleans family in the ‘40s.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 5

10 GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING by Tracy Chevalier (Dutton: $21.95) Who was the girl in Vermeer’s famous painting? A fictionalized life of one of art’s most enigmatic heroines.

Last Week: 13; Weeks on List: 4

11 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 magician with great powers.

Last Week: 15; Weeks on List: 22

12 DISGRACE by J.M. Coetzee (Viking: $23.95) Fired from academe, a South African professor pursues the simple life on his daughter’s farm but finds danger in the post-apartheid world.

Last Week: 12; Weeks on List: 16

13 THE BARBARIANS ARE COMING by David Wong Louie (Putnam: $23.95) A young man struggles to be both Chinese and American as he works toward the American dream of affluence.

Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 2

14 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: 5; Weeks on List: 25

15 WAITING by Ha Jin (Pantheon: $24) An absurd loophole in Chinese law allows a pair of star-crossed lovers to be united after a long separation.

Last Week: 11; Weeks on List: 8

NONFICTION

1 THE OPERATOR by Tom King (Random House: $25.95) The patience, cunning and unbridled egotism behind David Geffen’s transformation into a powerful media mogul.

Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 3

2 A HEARTBREAKING WORK OF STAGGERING GENIUS by Dave Eggers (Simon & Schuster: $23) Memoir of a twentysomething slacker, who must bring up his baby brother when their parents die of cancer.

Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 7

3 WHICH LIE DID I TELL? by William Goldman (Pantheon: $26.95) Further adventures in the screen trade from a veteran screenwriter whose work includes “All the President’s Men.”

Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 2

4 MILES AND ME by Quincy Troupe (University of California Press: $19.95) A memoir of Troupe’s friendship with Miles Davis, reflecting on his jazz inspirations and passionate, complex nature.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

5 JANET, MY MOTHER AND ME by William Murray (Simon & Schuster: $24) A writer’s memoir of life with his mother and her lover, Janet Flanner, a celebrated columnist for The New Yorker.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

6 GEORGIANA by Amanda Foreman (Random House: $29.95) Love affairs, drugs, gambling and scandals in the life of an 18th century ancestor of the late Princess Diana.

Last Week: 7; Weeks on List: 7

7 HURRICANE by James S. Hirsch (Houghton Mifflin: $25) Middleweight boxer Rubin Carter’s 22-year effort to free himself from jail after being wrongly accused of murder.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 6

8 JACQUELINE BOUVIER KENNEDY ONASSIS by Donald Spoto (St. Martin’s: $24.95) A new, more restrained look at the many lives of one of the world’s most famous women.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 3

9 M: THE MAN WHO BECAME CARAVAGGIO by Peter Robb (Henry Holt: $30) A new look at the painter known as Marisi, Moriggia, Merigi and, sometimes, simply “M,” who changed portraiture forever.

Last Week: 10; Weeks on List: 4

10 GENOME by Matt Ridley (HarperCollins: $26) How the mapping of DNA is changing our understanding of the origins of human beings and their behavior.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

11 ON MEXICAN TIME by Tony Cohan (Broadway Books: $25) A writer and an artist buy a 250-year-old hacienda on the verge of collapse in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 3

12 HOME COMFORTS by Cheryl Mendelson (Scribner: $35) The art and science of keeping house; a guide to the ins and outs of domesticity, for beginners and experts.

Last Week: 15; Weeks on List: 6

13 THE NEW NEW THING by Michael Lewis (W.W. Norton: $25.95) The genius and ruthlessness of Silicon Valley giant Jim Clark, told from the vantage point of Clark’s cutting-edge yacht.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 12

14 THE ROCK SAYS by “The Rock” with Joe Layden (ReganBooks: $26) The memoir of a World Wrestling Federation bad guy, describing his struggles in and out of the ring.

Last Week: 11; Weeks on List: 12

15 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: 5; Weeks on List: 115

PAPERBACKS

FICTION

1 HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER’S STONE by J.K. Rowling (Arthur A. Levine: $5.99) A young wizard-in-training.

2 THE HOURS by Michael Cunningham (Picador USA: $13) Three stories built around Virginia Woolf’s “Mrs. Dalloway.”

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

4 THE TESTAMENT by John Grisham (Dell Island: $7.99) A billionaire’s changes to his will shock his greedy heirs.

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

6 THE RED TENT by Anita Diamant (Picador USA: $14) The blossoming of Dinah, Jacob’s only daughter, in Genesis.

7 BRIDGET JONES’S DIARY by Helen Fielding (Penguin: $12.95) The life of a thirtyish Londoner looking for the ideal man.

8 AMY AND ISABELLE by Elizabeth Strout (Vintage: $13.99) Bravery and hard choices in a small town.

9 THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY by Patricia Highsmith (Vintage: $13) A cunning young sociopath goes to Europe.

10 KILLER WEDDING by Jerrilyn Farmer (Twilight: $5.99) Something old, something new, something dead. . . .

PAPERBACKS

NONFICTION

1 THE WORST-CASE SCENARIO SURVIVAL HANDBOOK by Joshua Piven and David Borgenicht (Chronicle: $14.95) S-O-S!

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

3 MY DOG SKIP by Willie Morris (Vintage: $10) Memories of a rural Southern childhood and an extraordinary pet.

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

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

6 THE ORCHID THIEF by Susan Orlean (Ballantine: $14) Centuries of theft, hatred and greed over a delicate flower.

7 TRAVELING MERCIES by Anne Lamott (Anchor: $13) The growth of Lamott’s beliefs and how they helped her overcome grief.

8 ANGELA’S ASHES by Frank McCourt (Touchstone: $7.99) Overcoming an Irish childhood during the Depression.

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

10 A WALK IN THE WOODS by Bill Bryson (Broadway: $13) A memoir and a meditation on American wilderness.

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Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.