Los Angeles Times Bestsellers

October 7, 2001

Southern California Rating

FICTION

1 THE CORRECTIONS by Jonathan Franzen (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $26) The tragicomic saga of the Lamberts, a dysfunctional Midwestern family living at the end of the 20th century. Last Week: 1 Weeks on List: 4

2 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: 5 Weeks on List: 2

3 THE SMOKE JUMPER by Nicholas Evans (Delacorte: $26.95) A love triangle among best friends is played out in the world of firefighting in the Montana wilderness. Last Week: 4 Weeks on List: 5

4 LONG TIME NO SEE by Susan Isaacs (HarperCollins: $26) Sleuth Judith Singer follows the trail left by the murderer of her Long Island neighbor, a banker and perfect mom. Last Week: 2 Weeks on List: 3

5 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: -- Weeks on List: 1

6 AFTER THE PLAGUE by T.C. Boyle (Viking: $25.95) Stories of the survival of the meanest and life after an apocalypse, rendered with typical dark humor in Boyle’s fifth collection. Last Week: 13 Weeks on List: 2

7 ALL FAMILIES ARE PSYCHOTIC by Douglas Coupland (Bloomsbury: $24.95) Tabloid scandals erupt as the Drummonds rally around daughter Sarah, an astronaut going into space. Last Week: 9 Weeks on List: 2

8 CARTER BEATS THE DEVIL by Glen David Gold (Hyperion: $24.95) A magician comes of age in the surly, seedy world of 1920s San Francisco. Reviewed by Mark Rozzo, Page 10. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 1

9 THE BLUE LAST by Martha Grimes (Viking: $24.95) A dying friend begs Scotland Yard’s Richard Jury to look into a 50-year-old case of switched identities. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 1

10 ANTRAX by Terry Brooks (Del Rey: $26.95) The middle book of the Shannara trilogy follows a band of Druid warriors battling an evil machine intent on cosmic domination. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 1

11 VALHALLA RISING by Clive Cussler (Putnam: $27.95) A luxury cruise ship sinks, and National Underwater Maritime Administration Director Dirk Pitt must investigate. Last Week: 6 Weeks on List: 6

12 THE JOHN LENNON AFFAIR by Robert S. Levinson (Forge: $24.95) A newspaper columnist and his ex-wife, a soap opera diva, are murder targets during a music tribute for the late Beatle. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 1

13 MERCY by Julie Garwood (Pocket: $25) A lawyer stumbles on a group of murderous embezzlers when he follows a beautiful doctor to her backwater hometown in Louisiana. Last Week: 10 Weeks on List: 2

14 SUZANNE’S DIARY FOR NICHOLAS by James Patterson (Little, Brown: $22.95) A woman gains insights into the boyfriend who left her from a diary written by another woman. Last Week: 11 Weeks on List: 9

15 ENVY by Sandra Brown (Warner: $25.95) A reclusive writer sets out to destroy a double-dealing publisher, regardless of the innocent victims involved. Last Week: 8 Weeks on List: 3

NONFICTION

Southern California Rating

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: 1 Weeks on List: 19

2 JACK by Jack Welch with John A. Byrne (Warner: $29.95) The life and times of a respected CEO, from a Massachusetts childhood to his successful reinvention of General Electric. Last Week: 2 Weeks on List: 2

3 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: 6 Weeks on List: 3

4 THE WILD BLUE by Stephen Ambrose (Simon & Schuster: $26) The story of the men and boys who flew the B-24s over Nazi Germany in World War II. Last Week: 5 Weeks on List: 6

5 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: 4 Weeks on List: 80

6 CALL ME CRAZY by Anne Heche (Scribner: $25) Heartache and childhood tragedy preceded Heche’s rise to stardom and much publicized romance with comedian Ellen DeGeneres. Last Week: 3 Weeks on List: 3

7 RO L.A. by Patt Morrison (Angel City Press: $30) Tales past and present about Angelenos’ struggles with the Los Angeles River, with photographs by Mark Lamonica. Last Week: 11 Weeks on List: 3

8 THE ROAD TO WEALTH by Suze Orman (Riverhead: $29.95) An encyclopedic reference for managing your financial situation from the “Nine Steps to Financial Freedom” money guru. Last Week: 7 Weeks on List: 7

9 POLITICAL FICTIONS by Joan Didion (Alfred A. Knopf: $25) Eight essays on American politics between 1988 and 2000 and a lament over the media’s deception of American voters. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 1

10 WAR IN A TIME OF PEACE by David Halberstam (Scribner: $28) Halberstam looks at how the lessons of Vietnam have influenced U.S. policy since the Cold War’s end. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 1

11 THE MAP THAT CHANGED THE WORLD by Simon Winchester (HarperCollins: $26) The story of William Smith, who founded modern geology despite being snubbed by the scientific elite. Last Week: 13 Weeks on List: 6

12 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: 30

13 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: 10 Weeks on List: 3

14 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: 14 Weeks on List: 180

15 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: 18