Southern California Rating:FICTION1 FALSE MEMORY by...

Southern California Rating:

FICTION

1 FALSE MEMORY by Dean Koontz (Bantam: $26.95) Like a puppet master, a villainous mastermind commits crimes with the help of his brainwashed victims.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

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: 2; Weeks on List: 13

3 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: 3; Weeks on List: 13

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: 1; Weeks on List: 11

5 TIMELINE by Michael Crichton (Random House: $26.95) Investigators battle mad lords, crazed giants and peasant bandits after time-traveling to 14th century France.

Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 6

6 ATLANTIS FOUND by Clive Cussler (Putnam: $26.95) Adventurer Dirk Pitt unravels the mystery of an ancient civilization while fanatics hatch a plot to dominate the world.

Last Week: 5; Weeks on List: 3

7 VOID MOON by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown: $24.95) A parolee with a tormented past robs a Las Vegas high roller who turns out to be a psychotic mobster.

Last Week: 6; Weeks on List: 4

8 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: 11; Weeks on List: 6

9 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: 7; Weeks on List: 12

10 HUNTING BADGER by Tony Hillerman (HarperCollins: $26) Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee hunt for the right-wing militiamen who pulled off a violent heist.

Last Week: 10; Weeks on List: 6

11 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: 13; Weeks on List: 14

12 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: --; Weeks on List: 2

13 BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES OF THE CENTURY edited by Katrina Kenison and John Updike (Houghton Mifflin: $28) Ernest Hemingway, Willa Cather, Raymond Carver and Co.

Last Week: 9; Weeks on List: 20

14 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: 8

15 SAVING FAITH by David Baldacci (Warner: $26.95) Two Washington lobbyists have made some very dangerous enemies and must cut a deal with the FBI.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 5

NONFICTION

1 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: 1; Weeks on List: 103

2 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: 49

3 THE GREATEST GENERATION SPEAKS by Tom Brokaw (Random House: $19.95) More stories of American heroism during the ‘30s and ‘40s in this sequel to “The Greatest Generation.”

Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 3

4 GUINNESS 2000 BOOK OF RECORDS by the editors of Guinness Media (Guinness Records: $25.95) The “millennium edition” features updated records in a host of categories.

Last Week: 8; Weeks on List: 2

5 ‘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: 4; Weeks on List: 15

6 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: 92

7 AND THE CROWD GOES WILD narrated by Bob Costas, edited by Joe Garner (Sourcebooks: $49.95) Sports history’s greatest moments, with accompanying CD recordings.

Last Week: 9; Weeks on List: 2

8 HAVE A NICE DAY! by Mick Foley (ReganBooks: $25) The blood-and-guts autobiography of a professional wrestling giant, also known as Mankind, Dude Love and Cactus Jack.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 4

9 CENTURY edited by Bruce Bernard (Phaidon: $49.95) A hundred years in the history of our world, with images, photos and documents to boot.

Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 5

10 LIFE: OUR CENTURY IN PICTURES edited by Richard B. Stolley and Tony Chiu ( Bulfinch: $60) More than 770 images chronicle the century’s major moments.

Last Week: 7; Weeks on List: 3

11 WHERE DID I GO RIGHT? by Bernie Brillstein with David Rensin (Little, Brown: $24.95) A star manager’s rise from the William Morris mail room. Reviewed by Lynda Obst, Page 1.

Last Week: 12; Weeks on List: 6

12 FRIENDSHIP WITH GOD by Neale Donald Walsch (Putnam: $22.95) The “Conversations with God” author relates how anyone can start up a dialogue with the Almighty.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 2

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: 7

14 THE CENTURY by Peter Jennings and Todd Brewster (Doubleday: $60) The story of our last 100 years as told through the experiences of ordinary people.

Last Week: 5; Weeks on List: 27

15 ETHICS FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM by The Dalai Lama (Riverhead Books: $24.95) Tibetan Buddhism’s leading voice presents a road map for achieving a global spiritual revolution.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 7

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

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

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

5 SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS by David Guterson (Vintage: $14) Turmoil on Puget Sound during a fisherman’s trial.

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

7 THE GREEN MILE by Stephen King (Pocket: $7.99) A supernatural tale about death row inmates in the South.

8 A MAP OF THE WORLD by Jane Hamilton (Anchor: $12.95) A woman’s harrowing journey from farm wife to felon.

9 THE ALCHEMIST by Paulo Coelho (HarperSanFrancisco: $13) A shepherd’s journey to find gold in Egypt.

10 VINEGAR HILL by A. Manette Ansay (Avon: $13) A woman and her family live with her tough, bitter in-laws.

PAPERBACKS

NONFICTION

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

2 GIRL, INTERRUPTED by Susanna Kaysen (Vintage: $12) A memoir of life in a psychiatric institute in 1967.

3 WORLD ALMANAC & BOOK OF FACTS 2000 (World Almanac: $10.95) Includes “Countdown to the Millennium.”

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

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

6 FALLING LEAVES by Adeline Yen Mah (Broadway: $13) Life under an oppressive stepmother in mainland China.

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

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

9 LIES MY TEACHER TOLD ME by James W. Loewen (Touchstone: $14) Errors taught as facts in school.

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

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Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.