Los Angeles Times Bestsellers

October 14, 2001

FICTION

Southern California Rating

1 THE BLIND ASSASSIN by Margaret Atwood (Anchor: $14) A tale of two sisters and an unpublished sci-fi novel.

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

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

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

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

6 DROWNING RUTH by Christina Schwarz (Ballantine: $14.95) A mystery set in Wisconsin at the end of World War I.

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

8 ANOTHER CITY edited by David Ulin (City Lights: $16.95) An anthology of 37 writers maps L.A.’s literary landscape.

9 HEARTS IN ATLANTIS by Stephen King (Pocket: $7.99) Linked stories of life in a Vietnam-haunted New England town.

10 DR. DEATH by Jonathan Kellerman (Ballantine: $7.99) Suspects abound in a euthanasia doctor’s murder.

NONFICTION

Southern California Rating

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

2 PARIS TO THE MOON by Adam Gopnik (Random House: $14.95) Joyous dispatches from the City of Light.

3 BAND OF BROTHERS by Stephen E. Ambrose (Touchstone Books: $16) The elite fighting force Easy Company.

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

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

6 IT’S NOT ABOUT THE BIKE by Lance Armstrong with Sally Jenkins (Berkley: $13) A cyclist’s race against cancer.

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

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

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

10 CHERRY by Mary Karr (Plume: $14) “The Liars’ Club” author describes her teen years in a lonesome Texas town.