Southern California Rating:FICTION1 BACK WHEN WE WERE...

Southern California Rating:

FICTION

1 BACK WHEN WE WERE GROWNUPS by Anne Tyler (Alfred A. Knopf: $25) A fiftysomething widow and loving mom, coping with midlife, begins to question the decisions she has made.

Last Week: 3; Weeks On List: 3

2 THE COLD SIX THOUSAND by James Ellroy (Alfred A. Knopf: $25.95) Mobsters, cops, government agents and provocateurs collide in the midst of America’s turbulent 1960s.

Last Week: 1; Weeks On List: 2

3 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: 4; Weeks On List: 13

4 CHOSEN PREY by John Sandford (Putnam: $26.95) Minneapolis Deputy Police Chief Lucas Davenport hunts for the killer responsible for a field of corpses.

Last Week: 6; Weeks On List: 2

5 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: 2; Weeks On List: 6

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

Last Week: 13; Weeks On List: 8

7 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: 5; Weeks On List: 14

8 THE LAST TIME THEY MET by Anita Shreve (Little, Brown: $24.95) Two poets sustain a lifelong passion though they’ve been together only three times.

Last Week: 9; Weeks On List: 8

9 BAD GIRL CREEK by Jo-Ann Mapson (Simon & Schuster: $24) A woman in a wheelchair finds friendship with three roommates who help her manage a 40-acre flower farm.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 1

10 VIRGIN by Robin Maxwell (Arcade: $24.95) The perilous teenage years of Queen Elizabeth I, when she was vulnerable to her stepmother’s scheming husband.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 1

11 THE BAY OF ANGELS by Anita Brookner (Random House: $23.95) A Jamesian tale of a young Londoner and her widowed mother whose quiet, comfy lives are upset by romance.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 12

12 THE DYING ANIMAL by Philip Roth (Houghton Mifflin: $23) An aging cultural critic recalls a devastating, all-consuming affair he had with a 24-year-old ex-student.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 2

13 CARRY ME ACROSS THE WATER by Ethan Canin (Random House: $23. 95) A German beer magnate is haunted by memories of his tragic encounter with a soldier in World War II.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 1

14 ON THE STREET WHERE YOU LIVE by Mary Higgins Clark (Simon & Schuster: $26) In a sleepy resort town, an attorney believes that a serial killer from a century ago has returned.

Last Week: 7; Weeks On List: 5

15 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: --; Weeks On List: 10

NONFICTION

1 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: 3; Weeks On List: 2

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

Last Week: 8; Weeks On List: 3

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: 2; Weeks On List: 12

4 THE VIRGIN OF BENNINGTON by Kathleen Norris (Riverhead: $24. 95) Memoir by “The Cloister Walk” author about art, first love and the poetry scene of 1970s Manhattan.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 1

5 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: --; Weeks On List: 1

6 IN HARM’S WAY by Doug Banton (Henry Holt: $25) The sinking of the USS Indianapolis by a Japanese submarine and the testimony of survivors of the disaster.

Last Week: 5; Weeks On List: 2

7 COMFORT ME WITH APPLES by Ruth Reichl (Random House: $24.95) Personal and professional anecdotes from a life lived as a chef and food writer.

Last Week: 9; Weeks On List: 4

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

Last Week: 12; Weeks On List: 7

9 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: 62

10 POSITIVELY 4th STREET by David Hajdu (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $25) The story of Richard and Mimi Farina, Bob Dylan and Joan Baez during folk music’s golden age.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 1

11 APRIL 1865 by Jay Winik (HarperCollins: $32.50) From Appomattox to Lincoln’s assassination, how the events of one month changed the course of American history.

Last Week: 4; Weeks On List: 2

12 BEHIND THE SMILE by Marie Osmond with Marcia Wilkie and Judith Moore (Warner: $24.95) The entertainer describes her struggles with the darkness of postpartum depression.

Last Week: 11; Weeks On List: 3

13 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: --; Weeks On List: 1

14 THE TRIAL OF HENRY KISSINGER by Christopher Hitchens (Verso: $22) Why the former secretary of state should be tried for crimes against humanity. Reviewed by Warren Cohen, Page 1.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 3

15 PRIVILEGED SON by Dennis McDougal (Perseus: $28) The Chandler family’s ascent to power as owner of the L.A. Times and their ultimate dissolution as a publishing dynasty.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 1

Paperbacks

FICTION

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

2 BRIDGET JONES’S DIARY by Helen Fielding (Penguin: $12.95) A thirtysomething Londoner’s quest for a mate.

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

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

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

6 THE HUMAN STAIN by Philip Roth (Vintage: $14) An academic scandal and the aging faculty dean at its center.

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

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

9 OMERTA by Mario Puzo (Ballantine: $7.99) A family finds itself caught in the middle of one last Mafia war.

10 ATLANTIS FOUND by Clive Cussler (Berkeley: $7.99) The latest undersea adventure for Cussler hero Dirk Pitt.

NONFICTION

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

2 THE WORST-CASE SCENARIO SURVIVAL HANDBOOK: TRAVEL by J. Piven & D. Borgenicht (Chronicle: $14.95)

3 THE MAGIC OF PROVENCE by Yvone Lenard (Broadway: $14) A French region’s sensual ways claim another victim.

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

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

6 THE DEAD ALIVE AND BUSY by Alan Shapiro (University of Chicago Press: $14) A volume of poems about life and grief.

7 IN THE HEART OF THE SEA by Nathaniel Philbrick (Penguin: $14) The tragedy that inspired “Moby-Dick.”

8 KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL by Anthony Bourdain (Ecco Press: $14) Tales from the culinary trenches.

9 ALL ABOUT LOVE by Bell Hooks (HarperPerennial: $13) Our notions of what it means to give and receive love.

10 THE GREATEST GENERATION by Tom Brokaw (Dell: $12.95) The generation that came of age during the Depression.

Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.