Southern California Rating:FICTION1 THE FOURTH HAND ...

Southern California Rating:

FICTION

1 THE FOURTH HAND by John Irving (Random House: $26.95) A television reporter loses his hand to a hungry lion in a freak accident that is broadcast on TV.

Last Week: 2; Weeks On List: 2

2 THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER & CLAY by Michael Chabon (Random House: $26.95) In World War II Brooklyn, two Jewish cousins break into the comic book business.

Last Week: 13; Weeks On List: 21

3 PARALLEL LIES by Ridley Pearson (Hyperion: $23.95) An ex-homicide detective investigates a series of train derailments that look suspiciously like sabotage.

Last Week: 7; Weeks On List: 2

4 HOW TO BE GOOD by Nick Hornby (Riverhead: $24.95) An altruistic doctor wages a carnal and philosophical war between her desires for adultery and being a faithful wife.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 1

5 OPEN SEASON by C.J. Box (Putnam: $23.95) A game warden finds himself in a nest of trouble when three elk hunters are killed under mysterious circumstances.

Last Week: 15; Weeks On List: 2

6 BACK WHEN WE WERE GROWNUPS by Anne Tyler (Alfred A. Knopf: $25) A fiftyish widow and loving mom, coping with midlife, meets an old flame and ponders the road not taken.

Last Week: 11; Weeks On List: 11

7 A TRAITOR TO MEMORY by Elizabeth George (Bantam: $26.95) A sensational child murder case from years ago holds clues to the identity of a vicious hit-and-run killer of a divorcee.

Last Week: 1; Weeks On List: 4

8 P IS FOR PERIL by Sue Grafton (Putnam: $26.95) Kinsey Millhone is hired to find a missing doctor with skeletons in the closet at work and a dysfunctional family at home.

Last Week: 8; Weeks On List: 7

9 THE WIND DONE GONE by Alice Randall (Houghton Mifflin: $22) A tale of plantation life on Tara, told by Scarlett’s half-sister and infused with irony and Gothic satire.

Last Week: 4; Weeks On List: 6

10 DEATH IN HOLY ORDERS by P.D. James (Alfred A. Knopf: $25) In East Anglia, a theological college is torn apart by a string of sacrilegious and horrifying murders.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 12

11 SEVEN UP by Janet Evanovich (St. Martin’s: $24.95) Sassy New Jersey bounty hunter Stephanie Plum returns, on the trail of a mean senior citizen with a corpse in his garden shed.

Last Week: 9; Weeks On List: 3

12 THE JASMINE TRADE by Denise Hamilton (Scribner: $24) A young Chinese girl’s death leads a reporter into the world of Asian gangs and wealthy teens with money to burn.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 1

13 LITTLE AMERICA by Henry Bromell (Alfred A. Knopf: $24 ) A fiftysomething history professor plunges into the shadowy past of his father, a CIA operative in a tiny Middle Eastern kingdom.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 2

14 WHITE SWAN, BLACK SWAN by Adrienne Sharp (Random House: $21.95) A collection of short stories about ballet dancers and choreographers seeking perfection in dance and in life.

Last Week: 3; Weeks On List: 2

15 CANE RIVER by Lalita Tademy (Warner: $24.95) A family chronicle about the experiences of four generations of women born into slavery on the Cane River in Louisiana.

Last Week: 12; Weeks On List: 3

NONFICTION

1 JOHN ADAMS by David McCullough (Simon & Schuster: $35) The story of our second president, a man Thomas Jefferson called “the colossus of independence.”

Last Week: 2; Weeks On List: 9

2 NICKEL AND DIMED by Barbara Ehrenreich (Henry Holt: $23) Concealing her identity, the author worked a series of low-paying jobs to see if the American dream is available to everyone.

Last Week: 12; Weeks On List: 6

3 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: 9; Weeks On List: 20

4 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: 8; Weeks On List: 36

5 JUSTICE by Dominick Dunne (Crown: $24) The bespectacled writer describes the high-profile crimes he’s covered as well as a painfully private one: his daughter’s murder.

Last Week: 3; Weeks On List: 3

6 THE BOTANY OF DESIRE by Michael Pollan (Random House: $24.95) How four plants and their products--apple, potato, tulip and cannabis--have influenced human destiny.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 1

7 A YEAR IN VAN NUYS by Sandra Tsing Loh (Crown: $23) Coming to terms with writer’s block and growing older in a place far from Provence: the San Fernando Valley.

Last Week: 15; Weeks On List: 9

8 NATASHA by Suzanne Finstad (Crown: $25) The lifelong struggle between Natalie Zakharenko, born to Russian immigrants, and her alter ego, Hollywood’s glamorous Natalie Wood.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 3

9 FOUNDING BROTHERS by Joseph J. Ellis (Alfred A. Knopf: $26 ) The intertwined lives of America’s founders, their squabbles and collaborations, long before they were deified in history books.

Last Week: 5; Weeks On List: 13

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

Last Week: 6; Weeks On List: 70

11 THE NOONDAY DEMON by Andrew Solomon (Scribner: $28) A look at the long human history of depression and the efforts of science, philosophy and medicine to explain it.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 1

12 FRENCH LESSONS by Peter Mayle (Alfred A. Knopf: $24) A celebration of France’s wine, cheese and other gastronomic treasures by the author of “A Year in Provence.”

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 9

13 NAPALM AND SILLY PUTTY by George Carlin (Hyperion: $22.95) Carlin offers a series of his unique comedic meditations on life’s annoying universal truths.

Last Week: 14; Weeks On List: 11

14 GHOST SOLDIERS by Hampton Sides (Doubleday: $24.95) How a small group of elite American soldiers made a daring rescue of British and American war prisoners in 1945.

Last Week: 7; Weeks On List: 9

15 A PASSION TO WIN by Sumner Redstone with Peter Knobler (Simon & Schuster: $26) A media monarch’s progress: from childhood in a tough Boston neighborhood to his takeover of Viacom.

Last Week: 1; Weeks On List: 3

Paperbacks FICTION

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

2 WHITE TEETH by Zadie Smith (Vintage: $14) Race, sex and class refracted in the lives of two eccentric London families.

3 ANIL’S GHOST by Michael Ondaatje (Vintage: $13) An anthropologist investigates murder in Ceylon.

4 THE FEAST OF LOVE by Charles Baxter (Vintage: $13) Love, sacrifice and redemption in Michigan lives.

5 THE HUMAN STAIN by Philip Roth (Vintage: $14) Sex and scandal surround an aging faculty dean in a quiet town.

6 THE LAST PRECINCT by Patricia Cornwell (Berkley: $7.99 ) Mangled corpses crowd Kay Scarpetta’s morgue.

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

8 BEE SEASON by Myla Goldberg (Vintage: $13) A young girl wins her family’s attention after excelling at spelling bees.

9 STALKER by Faye Kellerman (Avon: $7.99) A rookie cop copes with collegial teasing as she pursues a killer.

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

NONFICTION

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

2 ME TALK PRETTY ONE DAY by David Sedaris (Little, Brown: $14.95) Wisecracking essays on life in Paris and elsewhere.

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

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

5 ETIQUETTE FOR OUTLAWS by Rob Cohen & David Wollock (HarperCollins: $14) Emily Post meets Howard Stern.

6 GALILEO’S DAUGHTER by Dava Sobel (Penguin: $14) The life of the astronomer and his daughter, a cloistered nun.

7 WORST-CASE SCENARIO SURVIVAL HANDBOOK: TRAVEL by J. Piven & D. Borgenicht (Chronicle: $14.95) Help on the run.

8 THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE AND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES (Bantam: $2.95)

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

10 INTO THE WILD by Jon Krakauer (Anchor: $12.95) An idealistic young man’s escape to Alaska ends in tragedy.

Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.