Los Angeles Times Bestsellers

January 27, 2002

FICTION

Southern California Rating

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: 20

2 ONE DOOR AWAY FROM HEAVEN by Dean Koontz (Bantam: $26.95) UFO-ology hovers over this tale of the FBI’s pursuit of an unusual boy and a woman’s efforts to save a girl from her parents. Last Week: 5 Weeks on List: 2

3 BASKET CASE by Carl Hiaasen (Alfred A. Knopf: $25.95) Once a hotshot reporter, an obituary writer for a small paper unravels the bizarre causes for the death of a rock star. Last Week: 4 Weeks on List: 2

4 SKIPPING CHRISTMAS by John Grisham (Doubleday: $19.95) Grisham takes a holiday from legal thrillers to poke fun at the suburban yuletide ritual. Last Week: 2 Weeks on List: 10

5 THE MILLIONAIRES by Brad Meltzer (Warner: $25.95) A pair of brothers who loot the account of a deceased client at a private bank get more than they bargained for. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 1

6 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: 14 Weeks on List: 10

7 PORTRAIT IN SEPIA by Isabel Allende (HarperCollins: $26) A young Chilean woman finds that photography helps reveal the mysteries and shadings in her family’s past. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 8

8 HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE by J.K. Rowling (Scholastic: $25.95) Harry competes in the great Triwizard Tournament and is pursued by the sinister Lord Voldemort. Last Week: 12 Weeks on List: 10

9 I’LL LET YOU GO by Bruce Wagner (Villard: $25.95) This modern-day fairy tale set in the neighborhoods of Los Angeles chronicles the filthy rich and the bitterly poor. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 1

10 JACKDAWS by Ken Follett (Dutton: $26.95) A group of female spies infiltrates a telephone exchange linking France to Germany as the Allies prepare to invade. Last Week: 6 Weeks on List: 6

11 PURSUIT by Thomas Perry (Random House: $24.95) An ex-cop hunts down an assassin posing as a mass murderer in a life-or-death cat-and-mouse game. Last Week: 15 Weeks on List: 3

12 VIOLETS ARE BLUE by James Patterson (Little, Brown: $27.95) Police Det. Alex Cross investigates a series of brutal deaths with links to a vampire underground. Last Week: 10 Weeks on List: 8

13 THE LORD OF THE RINGS by J.R.R. Tolkien (Houghton Mifflin: $65) A boxed-set edition of the epic set in Middle-earth features art and photos from the motion picture. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 2

14 THE CAT WHO WENT UP THE CREEK by Lilian Jackson Braun (Putnam: $23.95) Cats and crime go toe-to-toe as Siamese felines Koko and Yum Yum help solve mysteries in Moose County. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 1

15 LAST MAN STANDING by David Baldacci (Warner: $26.95) A G-man needs the help of a psychiatrist to uncover who mysteriously ambushed six of his men. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 9

NONFICTION

Southern California Rating

1 BIAS by Bernard Goldberg (Regnery: $27.95) A veteran CBS reporter argues that the mainstream media have been seriously damaged by a liberal, closed-minded worldview. Last Week: 3 Weeks on List: 4

2 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: 35

3 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 discuss managing change. Last Week: 14 Weeks on List: 95

4 THEODORE REX by Edmund Morris (Random House: $35) The second in a planned biographical trilogy about Teddy Roosevelt, charting his rise from patrician to progressive. Last Week: 2 Weeks on List: 8

5 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: 4 Weeks on List: 18

6 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: 5 Weeks on List: 12

7 THE CONTRARIAN’S GUIDE TO LEADERSHIP by Steven B. Sample (Jossey-Bass: $24) Lessons in managing people, gleaned from Sample’s record as the president of USC. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 4

8 HOW TO PRACTICE by the Dalai Lama (Pocket Books: $20) The exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader shows how peace of mind, not material gratification, leads to true happiness. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 1

9 DON’T LET’S GO TO THE DOGS TONIGHT by Alexandra Fuller (Random House: $24.95) The recollections of a white girl growing up in war-torn southern Africa. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 1

10 THE SISTERS by Mary S. Lovell (W.W. Norton: $29.95) The story of England’s Mitford siblings, who blazed their way through international social, political and literary circles. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 1

11 THE FINAL DAYS by Barbara Olson (Regnery: $27.95) The Clintons’ last actions in the White House, from pardons to executive orders, with commentary from the late Olson. Last Week: 12 Weeks on List: 12

12 THE PRAYER OF JABEZ by Bruce H. Wilkinson (Multnomah: $9.99) Remaking your life according to a little-known biblical figure’s 32-word prayer. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 3

13 SWIMMING ACROSS by Andrew S. Grove (Warner: $26.95) The co-founder of Intel recalls fleeing the Nazis and life in Communist Hungary after the war. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 1

14 GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS 2002 (Guinness World Records: $27.95) New feats from the world of human possibilities, from “extreme” body sizes and stunts to sports and music. Last Week: 6 Weeks on List: 6

15 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: 9 Weeks on List: 13