BESTSELLERS

*--* SO. CAL. RATING Fiction

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*--* 1 Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie (Anchor Books: $10) Literary light in a communist village

2 Bel Canto by Ann Patchett (HarperPaperbacks: $13.95) Opera mingles with mayhem in South America

3 The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen (Picador: $15) A Midwestern family unravels at the 20th century’s end

4 The Hours by Michael Cunningham (Picador: $13) Three women linked across time by Virginia Woolf’s “Mrs. Dalloway.”

5 White Oleander by Janet Fitch (Back Bay Books: $13.95) Her mother in jail, a teenager survives in L.A. foster homes

6 Jackdaws by Ken Follett (Signet: $7.99) A World War II thriller about Allied agents blocking Nazi awareness of D-Day

7 Empire Falls by Richard Russo (Vintage: $14.95) A warmhearted novel about working-class folk in Maine

8 Portrait in Sepia by Isabelle Allende (HarperPerennial: $13.95) Saga of a late 19th century Chilean family

9 Midnight Bayou by Nora Roberts (Jove: $7.99) A man flees his fiancee for an old New Orleans mansion with a secret

10 The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien (Ballantine: $7.99) Their friends gone, Frodo and Sam must destroy the ring of power

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*--* SO. CAL. RATING Nonfiction

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*--* 1 Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser (HarperCollins: $13.95) The unappetizing practices of the junk-food industry

2 John Adams by David McCullough (Touchstone: $18.95) The greatness of America’s second president

3 Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand (Ballantine: $15) How a thoroughbred horse went from also-ran to sports icon

4 World Almanac and Book of Facts 2003 (World Almanac Books: $11.95) Just the facts, ma’am

5 Dr. Atkins’ New Diet Revolution by Robert C. Atkins (Quill: $13.95) How a low-carb diet helps shed pounds

6 Lucky by Alice Sebold (Back Bay Books: $11.95) The writer recounts her rape when she was a college freshman

7 Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki with Sharon L. Lechter (Techpress: $15.95) Fiscal parenting

8 Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris (Little, Brown: $8.95) Elf love, Santa’s diaries and more about the season’s dark side

9 Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich (Henry Holt: $13) A writer works in low-wage America to see how the poor live

10 Old Farmer’s Almanac 2003 (Yankee: $5.95) The granddaddy of trivia books returns with weather, stars and more

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