Los Angeles Times Bestsellers

November 18, 2001

Southern California Rating

FICTION

1 THE CORRECTIONS by Jonathan Franzen (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $26) The saga of a dysfunctional Midwestern family living at the end of the 20th century.

Last Week: 1

Weeks on List: 10

2 PORTRAIT IN SEPIA by Isabel Allende (HarperCollins: $26) A Chilean woman finds that photography reveals mysteries in her family’s past. Reviewed by Susan Reynolds, Page 11

Last Week: 5

Weeks on List: 2

3 BLOOD AND GOLD by Anne Rice (Alfred A. Knopf: $26.95) The autobiography of Marius, the mentor of Lestat, and his moral struggles during his 2,000 years as a vampire.

Last Week: 2

Weeks on List: 3

4 THE SIGMA PROTOCOL by Robert Ludlum (St. Martin’s: $27.95) A businessman and a beautiful secret agent pursue a shadowy, powerful cartel around the globe.

Last Week: --

Weeks on List: 1

5 ORCHID BLUES by Stuart Woods (Putnam: $24.95) A band of bank robbers gets personal when they kill someone dear to Florida police chief Holly Barker.

Last Week: --

Weeks on List: 1

6 DESECRATION by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins (Tyndale House: $24.99) The antichrist takes the throne of a world government in the latest installment in the “Left Behind” series.

Last Week: --

Weeks on List: 1

7 THE KISS by Danielle Steel (Delacorte: $26.95) A stolen moment between two friends stuck in unhappy marriages unleashes a series of life-changing events.

Last Week: 9

Weeks on List: 2

8 HALF A LIFE by V.S. Naipaul (Alfred A. Knopf: $24) A writer drifts from bohemian London to colonial Africa in this tale of the collision of identity, class and politics.

Last Week: --

Weeks on List: 2

9 BLACK HOUSE by Stephen King and Peter Straub (Random House: $28.95) King and Straub return with the horrific story of parallel worlds first told in their 1984 collaboration, “The Talisman.”

Last Week: 8

Weeks on List: 7

10 MIDNIGHT BAYOU by Nora Roberts (Putnam: $25.95) A modern ghost story about a Boston lawyer who, in renovating a mansion outside New Orleans, uncovers a 100-year-old mystery.

Last Week: 7

Weeks on List: 3

11 A BEND IN THE ROAD by Nicholas Sparks (Warner: $23.95) A widower’s romance with a small-town schoolteacher is threatened by the unsettling mystery surrounding his wife’s death.

Last Week: 6

Weeks on List: 7

12 STAR BY STAR by Troy Denning (Del Rey: $26) “The New Jedi Order” series continues as Princess Leia’s grown children confront a dark force bent on destroying the Republic.

Last Week: --

Weeks on List: 1

13 THE MITFORD SNOWMEN by Jan Karon (Viking: $10.95) The eccentric denizens of Mitford gather on Main Street to share some old-fashioned Christmas cheer.

Last Week: 11

Weeks on List: 2

14 SEPARATION OF POWER by Vince Flynn (Pocket Books: $25) CIA operative Mitch Rapp takes on corruption in the halls of Washington’s power brokers.

Last Week: 10

Weeks on List: 2

15 ISLE OF DOGS by Patricia Cornwell (Putnam: $26.95) Kay Scarpetta’s nowhere to be found in this departure for Cornwell--a dark comedy centering on a Chesapeake Bay island.

Last Week: 4

Weeks on List: 4

NONFICTION

1 BEST-LOVED POEMS OF JACQUELINE KENNEDY ONASSIS Edited by Caroline Kennedy (Hyperion: $21.95) A selection of Jackie’s favorite verse, and some of her own, introduced by her daughter.

Last Week: 4

Weeks on List: 2

2 THE NO-SPIN ZONE by Bill O’Reilly (Broadway: $24.95) The Fox News commentator presents interviews with famous figures in his tough, no-holds-barred style.

Last Week: 2

Weeks on List: 3

3 JACK by Jack Welch with John A. Byrne (Warner: $29.95) The life and times of a respected chief executive, from a Massachusetts childhood to his successful reinvention of General Electric.

Last Week: 5

Weeks on List: 8

4 GERMS by Judith Miller, Stephen Engelberg and William Broad (Simon & Schuster: $27) How biological warfare became a real threat despite a long history of bans and treaties.

Last Week: 1

Weeks on List: 5

5 ISLAM by Karen Armstrong (The Modern Library: $19.95) A short history by the renowned scholar focuses on Islam’s political aspect as it grew from a desert tribe’s belief into a world religion.

Last Week: 8

Weeks on List: 3

6 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: 3

Weeks on List: 25

7 THE FINAL DAYS by Barbara Olson (Regnery: $27.95) The Clintons’ last actions in the White House, from pardons to executive orders, with cutting commentary from the late Olson.

Last Week: 13

Weeks on List: 2

8 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: 7

Weeks on List: 86

9 Q by Quincy Jones (Doubleday: $26) Autobiography of the musician-arranger, from his teen years with Lionel Hampton to 1980s success with Michael Jackson and beyond.

Last Week: 11

Weeks on List: 3

10 SAVAGE BEAUTY by Nancy Milford (Random House: $29.95) The life of Edna St. Vincent Millay and her reckless pursuit of poetry and seduction in the early years of the 20th century.

Last Week: --

Weeks on List: 8

11 HOW I PLAY GOLF by Tiger Woods (Warner: $34.95) The links master explains his game in words and pictures, offering tips on the best ways to get from the tee to the cup.

Last Week: 6

Weeks on List: 4

12 NOW, LET ME TELL YOU WHAT I REALLY THINK by Chris Matthews (The Free Press: $25) A political pundit’s education, from conservatism and liberalism to host of CNBC’s “Hardball.”

Last Week: --

Weeks on List: 1

13 HUGHES by Richard Hack (New Millennium: $28) Private memos, diaries and declassified FBI papers throw light onto the ambitions and manias of billionaire Howard Hughes.

Last Week: 9

Weeks on List: 6

14 CROSSING OVER by John Edward (Jodere Group: $23.95) A memoir of the psychic’s upbringing and first hints of his abilities and his struggles with fame after starting a hit TV program.

Last Week: 14

Weeks on List: 5

15 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: --

Weeks on List: 31

FICTION

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

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

3 THE RED TENT by Anita Diamant (Picador: $14.95) The blossoming of Dinah, Jacob’s only daughter, in Genesis. 4 PRODIGAL SUMMER by Barbara Kingsolver (HarperPerennial: $14) Tapestry of love in Appalachia.

5 SHOPGIRL by Steve Martin (Theia: $10.95) Department store clerk Mirabelle meets an older man too good to be true.

6 THE CONSTANT GARDENER by John le Carre (Pocket: $7.99) A British diplomat uncovers multinational mischief in Kenya.

7 CODE TO ZERO by Ken Follett (Signet: $7.99) A man struggles to recover erased memories of his link to U.S. space efforts.

8 WHEN WE WERE ORPHANS by Kazuo Ishiguro (Vintage: $14) A detective returns to Shanghai to find his lost parents.

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

10 THE BLIND ASSASSIN by Margaret Atwood (Anchor: $14) A tale of two sisters and an unpublished sci-fi novel.

NONFICTION

1 TALIBAN by Ahmed Rashid (Yale University Press: $14.95) The rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Afghanistan.

2 PERSONAL HISTORY by Katharine Graham (Vintage: $15) A memoir by the late publisher of the Washington Post.

3 JIHAD VS. McWORLD by Benjamin Barber (Ballantine: $12.95) Colliding ideologies and the new world order.

4 BLOWBACK by Chalmers Johnson (Owl Books: $15) Why America should reconsider its role in the world.

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

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

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

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

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

10 THE LEXUS AND THE OLIVE TREE by Thomas L. Friedman (Anchor: $15) The benefits and challenges of globalization.

* Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.