Los Angeles Times Bestsellers

*--* Southern California Rating FICTION

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*--* 1 EMPIRE FALLS by Richard Russo (Vintage: $14.95) A warmhearted novel about working-class lives in Maine 2 FAHRENHEIT 451 by Ray Bradbury (Ballantine: $6.99) An alternate future when government makes books the enemy 3 THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER AND CLAY by Michael Chabon (Picador: $15) Cousins in the comics biz 4 BACK WHEN WE WERE GROWNUPS by Anne Tyler (Ballantine: $14.95) A mom gets another chance at love 5 BEL CANTO by Ann Patchett (HarperPaperbacks: $13.95) A terrorist standoff in a South American town mirrors opera 6 THE ALCHEMIST by Paulo Coelho (HarperSanFrancisco: $13) Parable of a shepherd’s journey to find gold in Egypt 7 ON THE STREET WHERE YOU LIVE by Mary Higgins Clark (Pocket: $7.99) A century-old mystery has new corpses 8 GOOD IN BED by Jennifer Weiner (Washington Square Press: $13) A tell-all column helps a woman change her life 9 FALL ON YOUR KNEES by Ann-Marie MacDonald (Scribner: $14) The travails of a family in coal-mining Nova Scotia 10 MYSTIC RIVER by Dennis Lehane (William Morrow: $7.99) A girl’s murder causes three friends to confront their pasts

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*--* Southern California Rating NONFICTION

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*--* 1 THE FOUR AGREEMENTS by Don Miguel Ruiz (Amber-Allen: $12.95) Life lessons based on ancient Toltec wisdom 2 SEABISCUIT by Laura Hillenbrand (Ballantine: $15) How a thoroughbred horse went from also-ran to sports icon 3 RICH DAD, POOR DAD by Robert T. Kiyosaki with Sharon L. Lechter (Techpress: $15.95) Adventures in fiscal parenting 4 NICKEL & DIMED by Barbara Ehrenreich (Henry Holt: $13) A writer works in low-wage America to see how the poor live 5 A BEAUTIFUL MIND by Sylvia Nasar (Touchstone: $16) A brilliant mathematics professor’s battle with schizophrenia 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 of the U.S.-led war on terrorism 8 THE WRINKLE CURE by Nicholas Perricone (Warner: $13.95) Using antioxidants to keep the skin looking young 9 A CHILD CALLED “IT” by Dave Pelzer (Health Communications: $9.95) Life with a sadistic mother 10 FAST FOOD NATION by Eric Schlosser (HarperCollins: $13.95) The unappetizing practices of the junk-food industry

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