Southern California Rating:FICTION1 SHOPGIRL by Steve...

Southern California Rating:

FICTION

1 SHOPGIRL by Steve Martin (Hyperion: $17.95) A young artist who works days in the glove department at Neiman Marcus falls abruptly in love with a millionaire businessman.

Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 11

2 THE LAST CITY ROOM by Al Martinez (St. Martin’s: $22.95) A novel by the L.A. Times columnist tells the story of the decline of a San Francisco newspaper during the turbulent ‘60s.

Last Week: 7; Weeks on List: 4

3 PRODIGAL SUMMER by Barbara Kingsolver (HarperCollins: $26) In southern Appalachia, three stories of human love intersect within a larger tapestry.

Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 7

4 THE BLIND ASSASSIN by Margaret Atwood (Nan A. Talese/Doubleday: $26) A narrative tour de force of self-deceit and revenge that joins the lives of two sisters with an unpublished sci-fi novel.

Last Week: 8; Weeks on List: 13

5 LYING AWAKE by Mark Salzman (Alfred A. Knopf: $21) A meditation on spirituality in the life of an Angeleno nun facing a dilemma: Should she have surgery that will cure her of mystical visions?

Last Week: 6; Weeks on List: 11

6 THE SITUE STORIES by Frances Khirallah Noble (Syracuse University Press: $22.95) Eleven interconnected short stories form a drama about an extended Arabic family in America.

Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 5

7 ROSES ARE RED by James Patterson (Little, Brown: $26.95) Alex Cross battles a cunning bank robber, nicknamed “Mastermind.” Reviewed by Eugen Weber, Page 9.

Last Week: 5; Weeks on List: 3

8 THE PROMETHEUS DECEPTION by Robert Ludlum (St. Martin’s: $27.95) A spy infiltrates his former shadowy agency in this story of post-Cold War double-crosses and Wall Street conspiracies.

Last Week: 13; Weeks on List: 5

9 OFF KECK ROAD by Mona Simpson (Alfred A. Knopf: $19) A novella about a tight-knit group of people coming of age and then growing old together in Green Bay, Wis.

Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 3

10 THE NIGHT LISTENER by Armistead Maupin (HarperCollins: $26) A writer meets an abused 13-year-old boy with AIDS and finds all of his relationships profoundly changed.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 5

11 SOUL MOUNTAIN by Gao Xingjian (HarperCollins: $27) The Nobel Prize-winner shares a story of a man’s inner journey and search for freedom in rural China.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

12 KILL THE SHOGUN by Dale Furutani (William Morrow: $23) In the last book of the Samurai Mystery trilogy, Matsuyama Kaze revisits some unfinished business.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

13 WHEN WE WERE ORPHANS by Kazuo Ishiguro (Alfred A. Knopf: $25) An English boy is “orphaned” when his mother and father vanish; years later, he returns as a detective to solve the disappearances.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 11

14 DR. DEATH by Jonathan Kellerman (Random House: $26.95) Dr. Eldon Mate, a.k.a. Dr. Death, a proponent of physician-assisted suicide, turns up dead, and there are plenty of suspects.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

15 CODE TO ZERO by Ken Follett (Dutton: $26.95) A man wakes up in a Washington, D.C., train station in 1958, with no idea who he is or how he got there.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

NONFICTION

1 DAMN RIGHT! by Janet Lowe (John Wiley & Sons: $27.95) An inside look at Berkshire Hathaway and the man many consider to be “the brains behind Warren Buffett.”

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

2 PARIS TO THE MOON by Adam Gopnik (Random House: $24.95) A personal homage to years spent in the City of Light by a longtime New Yorker writer.

Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 7

3 DARWIN AWARDS by Wendy Northcutt (Dutton: $16.95) Stupid human tricks: Honoring those who improve our gene pool by eliminating themselves from it.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

4 NOTHING LIKE IT IN THE WORLD by Stephen Ambrose (Simon & Schuster: $28) The historian looks at the building of the transcontinental railroad and its impact on the growth of the nation.

Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 16

5 A SHORT GUIDE TO A HAPPY LIFE by Anna Quindlen (Random House: $12.95) The columnist reflects on what it takes to “get a life” by living deeply rather than merely existing.

Last Week: 10; Weeks on List: 5

6 COUNTING COUP by Larry Colton (Warner: $24.95) The story of a girls’ varsity basketball team on the Crow Indian reservation in Montana illuminates the social dilemmas of today’s Native Americans.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

7 THE O’REILLY FACTOR by Bill O’Reilly (Broadway Books: $23) The TV pundit pontificates on what he finds to be the good, the bad and the completely ridiculous in American life.

Last Week: 6; Weeks on List: 10

8 THE BEATLES ANTHOLOGY by The Beatles (Chronicle Books: $60) Previously unreleased photos, memorabilia and reminiscences that should make any Fab Four fan want to twist and shout.

Last Week: 5; Weeks on List: 10

9 MAESTRO by Bob Woodward (Simon & Schuster: $25) Portrait of Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, who started as a Juilliard-trained sax man and now keeps the U.S. economy in tune.

Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 4

10 HIDDEN TREASURES by Leigh Keno and Leslie Keno (Warner Books: $29.95) The twin brothers, featured on the Antiques Road Show, share stories about discovering rare furniture treasures.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 2

11 IN THE HEART OF THE SEA by Nathaniel Philbrick (Viking: $24.95) Life and death aboard the Nantucket whaler Essex, which was sunk by a sperm whale in 1821.

Last Week --; Last Week: 16

12; JOE DIMAGGIO by Richard Ben Cramer (Simon & Schuster: $28) A biography seeks to capture the allegedly selfish, resentful private life of an American icon clad in Yankee pinstripes.

Last week: 14; Weeks on list: 6

13; WOODEN by John Wooden with Steve Jamison (NTC/Contemporary Publishing: $14.95) The man who won 10 national basketball championships in 12 years at UCLA offers some advice.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

14; FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS by James Bradley with Ron Powers (Bantam: $24.95) A son pieces together the history of his father, who helped raise the American flag at Iwo Jima

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 19

15; A LIFE IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY by Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. (Houghton Mifflin: $28.95) The first volume of the historian’s memoirs parallels his development with America’s from 1917 to 1950. 122

Last Week: 12; Weeks on List: 2

PAPERBACKS

FICTION

1 INTERPRETER OF MALADIES by Jhumpa Lahiri (Mariner: $12) Indian customs color the lives of people coping with loss.

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

3 HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG by Andre Dubus III (Vintage: $14) Two families clash over an auctioned house in this tragic tale.

4 DISGRACE by J.M. Coetzee (Penguin: $13) An outcast professor seeks refuge and finds tragedy on a South African farm.

5 WHAT IT TAKES TO GET TO VEGAS by Yxta Maya Murray (Grove: $12) The power and perils of

sisterhood in East L.A.

6 WAITING by Ha Jin (Vintage: $13) A legal loophole allows long-separated lovers to be united.

7 CHOCOLAT by Joanne Harris (Penguin: $12.95) A woman and her daughter open a chocolate store in a French village.

8 GIRL IN HYACINTH BLUE by Susan Vreeland (Penguin: $12) Eight stories linked by a Dutch master’s painting.

9 PERSONAL INJURIES by Scott Turow (Warner: $7.99) Dirty lawyers and dirty judges face off.

10 GYNOMITE edited by Liz Belile (New Mouth from the Dirty South: $14.95) A collection of feminist pornography.

PAPERBACKS

NONFICTION

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

2 GALILEO’S DAUGHTER by Dava Sobel (Penguin: $14) The famous astronomer and his daughter, a cloistered nun.

3 THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE AND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES (Bantam: $2.95) Let freedom ring.

4 LOST AND FOUND by Elizabeth Pomeroy (Many Moons Press: $16.95) The many landmarks of the San Gabriel Valley.

5 IS OUR CHILDREN LEARNING? by Paul Begala (Simon & Schuster: $12) A pundit skewers George W. Bush’s public career.

6 RICH DAD, POOR DAD by Robert T. Kiyosaki and Sharon L. Lechter (Techpress: $15.95) Adventures in fiscal parenting.

7 THE GHOSTS OF ECHO PARK by Ron Emler (Echo Park Publishing: $15) A pictorial history of the L.A. neighborhood.

8 OH NO! NOT ANOTHER PROBLEM by Jeanette A. Griver and Michele W. Vodrey (Compsych Systems Inc.: $12.95) Problem solving.

9 TALKING DIRTY WITH THE QUEEN OF CLEAN by Linda Cobb (Pocket: $8.99) Quick, inexpensive housekeeping tips galore.

10 WORLD ALMANAC & BOOK OF FACTS 2001 (World Almanac: $10.95) Includes 2000 Olympics and election coverage.

*

Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.