Los Angeles Times Bestsellers

January 27, 2002

FICTION

Southern California Rating

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

2 THE TWO TOWERS by J.R.R. Tolkien (Houghton Mifflin: $12) Volume 2 of “The Lord of the Rings.”

3 A PAINTED HOUSE by John Grisham (Dell Island: $7.99) Violence looms over a boyhood in rural Arkansas in 1952.

4 THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING by J.R.R. Tolkien (Houghton Mifflin: $6.99) Volume 1 of “The Lord of the Rings.”

5 THE LORD OF THE RINGS by J.R.R. Tolkien (Houghton Mifflin: $20) An epic journey to destroy a dark lord’s evil ring.

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

7 THE FIRST COUNSEL by Brad Meltzer (Warner Vision: $7.99) There’s a killer lurking in the president’s inner circle.

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

9 THE HOBBIT by J.R.R. Tolkien (Houghton Mifflin: $12) The adventures of Bilbo Baggins in the world of Middle-earth.

10 THE RETURN OF THE KING by J.R.R. Tolkien (Houghton Mifflin: $12) Volume 3 of “The Lord of the Rings.”

NONFICTION

Southern California Rating

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

2 A BEAUTIFUL MIND by Sylvia Nasar (Touchstone: $16) A brilliant mathematics professor’s battle with schizophrenia.

3 THE WRINKLE CURE by Nicholas Perricone (Warner: $13.95) Using antioxidants to keep the skin looking young.

4 FAST FOOD NATION by Eric Schlosser (HarperCollins: $13.95) The unappetizing practices of the junk food industry.

5 THE FOUR AGREEMENTS by Don Miguel Ruiz (Amber-Allen: $12.95) Life lessons based on ancient Toltec wisdom.

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

7 9-11 by Noam Chomsky (Seven Stories Press: $8.95) An alternative view on the U.S.-led war on terrorism.

8 RETIRE YOUNG, RETIRE RICH by Robert T. Kiyosake with Sharon L. Lechter (Warner: $17.95) Fiscal future planning.

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

10 HEARTSONGS by Matthew Stepanek (Vacation Spot: $11.50) Musings on life by a boy with muscular dystrophy.