Los Angeles Times Bestsellers

December 16, 2001

FICTION

Southern California Rating

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

2 HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS by J.K. Rowling (Scholastic: $6.99) A trap awaits Harry at Hogwarts.

3 THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER & CLAY by Michael Chabon (Picador: $15) Cousins in the comics biz.

4 HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER’S STONE by J.K. Rowling (Scholastic: $6.99) Young Harry trains as a wizard.

5 PRODIGAL SUMMER by Barbara Kingsolver (HarperPerennial: $14) Tapestry of love in Appalachia.

6 HARRY POTTER & THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN by J.K. Rowling (Scholastic: $7.99) Showdown with Sirius Black.

7 THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING by J.R.R. Tolkien (Ballantine: $6.99) Volume 1 of the epic “The Lord of the Rings.”

8 HEAVEN AND EARTH by Nora Roberts (Jove: $7.99) Rumors of witchcraft bring lovers together on a New England isle.

9 THE HOBBIT by J.R.R. Tolkien (Houghton Mifflin: $12) The

adventures of Bilbo Baggins in the world of Middle-Earth.

10 FROM THE CORNER OF HIS EYE by Dean Koontz (Bantam: $7.99) Showdown between a devil and a gifted young man.

NONFICTION

Southern California Rating

1 THE FOUR AGREEMENTS by Don Miguel Ruiz (Amber-Allen: $12.95) Life lessons based on ancient Toltec wisdom.

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

3 WORST-CASE SCENARIO SURVIVAL HANDBOOK: DATING & SEX (Chronicle Books: $14.95) Blind dates and other crises.

4 HEARTSONGS by Matthew Stepanek (Vacation Spot: $11.50) Meditations on life by a boy with muscular dystrophy.

5 BAND OF BROTHERS by Stephen Ambrose (Touchstone: $16) The elite World War II fighting force Easy Company.

6 HOLIDAYS ON ICE by David Sedaris (Little, Brown: $8.95) The seamy underbelly of the holidays, by an NPR humorist.

7 WORLD ALMANAC AND BOOK OF FACTS 2002 (World Almanac Books: $11.95) 2001 and then some.

8 BLACK HAWK DOWN by Mark Bowden (Signet: $7.99) A gritty account of a disastrous 1993 military operation in Somalia.

9 FROM BEIRUT TO JERUSALEM by Thomas L. Friedman (Anchor: $15.95) A journey into the Arab-Israeli conflict.

10 PARIS TO THE MOON by Adam Gopnik (Random House: $14.95) Dispatches from Paris by a New Yorker writer.