April 1, 2001Southern California RatingFICTION1 THE BONESETTER’S...

April 1, 2001

Southern California Rating

FICTION

1 THE BONESETTER’S DAUGHTER by Amy Tan (Putnam: $25.95) A ghostwriter uncovers her family’s anguished past in China as her mother struggles with Alzheimer’s disease.

Last Week: 4

Weeks On List: 5

2 1st TO DIE by James Patterson (Little, Brown: $26.95) Four female professionals dubbed “The Women’s Murder Club” track a killer with a penchant for newlyweds.

Last Week: 1

Weeks On List: 2

3 RESURRECTING MINGUS by Jenoyne Adams (The Free Press: $23 ) In the aftermath of her parents’ divorce, a young attorney strives to find her own identity.

Last Week: -

Weeks On List: 2

4 MYSTIC RIVER by Dennis Lehane (William Morrow: $25) A young girl’s murder in a Massachusetts neighborhood causes three friends to confront the skeletons in their closets.

Last Week: 12

Weeks On List: 8

5 THE VENDETTA DEFENSE by Lisa Scottoline (HarperCollins: $25) An attorney struggles to defend a good man who is on trial for a crime of passion.

Last Week: 5

Weeks On List: 2

6 MANGOES AND QUINCE by Carol Field (Bloomsbury: $24.95) Food takes center stage when a woman turns her home into a boardinghouse.

Last Week: -

Weeks On List: 1

7 A PAINTED HOUSE by John Grisham (Doubleday: $27.95) Tensions between two groups of farm workers result in a brutal murder in this tale of an Arkansas boyhood in 1952.

Last Week: 7

Weeks On List: 6

8 FLIGHT by Jan Burke (Simon & Schuster: $24) Burke’s new novel focuses not on heroine Irene Kelly but on her husband, a police detective, unraveling a 10-year-old triple homicide.

Last Week: 3

Weeks On List: 2

9 THE DEATH OF VISHNU by Manil Suri (W.W. Norton: $24.95) A dying man’s soul eavesdrops on his colorful neighbors in a Bombay apartment building.

Last Week: 8

Weeks On List: 8

10 SCARLET FEATHER by Maeve Binchy (Dutton: $25.95) A pair of caterers make the best food in all of Dublin, feeding their clients’ stomachs as well as their souls.

Last Week: 9

Weeks On List: 2

11 A DAY LATE AND A DOLLAR SHORT by Terry McMillan (Viking: $25.95) A matriarch, her husband and her children see life-and one another-on their own terms.

Last Week: 2

Weeks On List: 8

12 LAST REFUGE OF SCOUNDRELS by Paul Lussier (Warner: $26.95) In Revolutionary War-era America, a naive merchant’s son falls in love with a spy for George Washington.

Last Week: -

Weeks On List: 1

13 EDGE OF DANGER by Jack Higgins (Putnam: $25.95) A British agent thwarts the plans of a wealthy half-British, half-Arab family intent on world domination.

Last Week: -

Weeks On List: 2

14 CHEMICAL PINK by Katie Arnoldi (Forge: $23.95) A single mother loses herself in the pursuit of her dream to be a bodybuilder and falls under the control of a manipulative trainer.

Last Week: 6

Weeks On List: 4

15 THE FIRST COUNSEL by Brad Meltzer (Warner: $25.95) In love with the president’s daughter, a young White House lawyer uncovers a murder plot that extends to the Oval Office.

Last Week: 11

Weeks On List: 10

NONFICTION

1 FAST FOOD NATION by Eric Schlosser (Houghton Mifflin: $25) A journalist exposes the fast-food industry’s strategies, from meatpacking to the boardroom, to control American consumers.

Last Week: 4

Weeks On List: 6

2 TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE by Mitch Albom (Doubleday: $19.95) A sportswriter’s story of the life lessons he received during weekly visits to an older dying friend.

Last Week: 8

Weeks On List: 159

3 SONGS OF THE UNSUNG edited by Steven Louis Isoardi (Duke University Press: $24.95) Los Angeles jazz musician and composer Horace Tapscott (1934-1999) tells his life story.

Last Week: -

Weeks On List: 1

4 WHO MOVED MY CHEESE? by Spencer Johnson (Putnam: $19.95) The coauthor of “The One Minute Manager” uses the parable of mice in a maze to show people how to manage change.

Last Week: 2

Weeks On List: 53

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: 9

Weeks On List: 19

6 JUMP TIME by Jean Houston (Tarcher: $24.95) Humanity on the brink of a quantum leap; how each of us can shape our future in the midst of a world of radical change.

Last Week: -

Weeks On List: 1

7 THE FLNEUR by Edmund White (Bloomsbury: $16.95) Leisurely strolls through the City of Light prompt the novelist to discuss everything from Baudelaire to Paris’ expatriate residents.

Last Week: -

Weeks On List: 1

8 SEABISCUIT by Laura Hillenbrand (Random House: $24.95) How three men transformed a thoroughbred horse from a neurotic also-ran into an American sports icon.

Last Week: 8

Weeks On List: 3

9 THE HOLE IN THE UNIVERSE by K.C. Cole (Harcourt Brace: $24) The search for the point of nothingness and all that it has taught us about our universe.

Last Week: -

Weeks On List: 3

10 SECRETS OF THE BABY WHISPERER by Tracy Hogg with Melinda Blau (Ballantine: $22) A neonatal nurse blends intuition with simple techniques to help parents and infants to bond.

Last Week: 12

Weeks On List: 3

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

Last Week: 7

Weeks On List: 23

12 1688: A GLOBAL HISTORY by John E. Wills Jr. (W.W. Norton: $27.95 ) Tales from Russia, China, Japan, Africa, Europe and the Americas of a year at the dawn of modern times.

Last Week: -

Weeks On List: 1

13 AN HOUR BEFORE DAYLIGHT by Jimmy Carter (Simon & Schuster: $26) Memories of the former president’s boyhood on a Georgia farm during the Great Depression.

Last Week: 5

Weeks On List: 10

14 ICE BOUND by Jerri Nielsen (Talk Miramax: $23.95) A doctor struggles with breast cancer while serving at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station on Antarctica.

Last Week: 10

Weeks On List: 6

15 MY FIRST MOVIE edited by Stephen Lowenstein (Pantheon: $27.50) From the Coen brothers to Ang Lee and Anthony Minghella, 20 celebrated directors talk about their first film.

Last Week: -

Weeks On List: 1

FICTION

1 GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING by Tracy Chevalier (Plume: $12) The woman who inspired a Vermeer painting.

2 BROWN SUGAR edited by Carol Taylor (Plume: $13) A collection of erotic black fiction.

3 WE WERE THE MULVANEYS by Joyce Carol Oates (Penguin: $13.95) An ideal family’s world is rocked by tragedy.

4 SICK PUPPY by Carl Hiaasen (Alfred A. Knopf: $25) An eco-terrorist and a Labrador retriever among the thugs.

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

6 SPEAKING WITH THE ANGEL edited by Nick Hornby (Berkeley: $12) First-person tales from young hipsters.

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

8 INTERPRETER OF MALADIES by Jhumpa Lahiri (Mariner: $12) Stories of love, loss and Indian customs.

9 CHOCOLAT by Joanne Harris (Penguin: $12.95) A new chocolate shop arouses French villagers’ desires.

10 THE ALCHEMIST by Paulo Coehlo (HarperSanFrancisco: $13) A fable about following dreams.

NONFICTION

1 A HEARTBREAKING WORK OF STAGGERING GENIUS by Dave Eggers (Vintage: $14) A 22-year-old raises his brother.

2 GEORGE W. BUSHISMS edited by Jacob Weisberg (Simon & Schuster: $9.95) The accidental wit of the 43rd president.

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

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

5 THE BOOK OF CHANGES by Kristine McKenna (Fantagraphics: $14.95 ) Interviews with artists of the century.

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

7 THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES by Eve Ensler (Villard: $12.95) The award-winning play in book form.

8 SALON.COM’S WANDERLUST edited by Don George (Villard: $14.95) Real-life tales of adventure and romance.

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

10 THE DEBT by Randall Robinson (NAL: $13) What the U.S. owes to black citizens for years of slavery and segregation. *

Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.