Bestsellers

*--* SO. CAL. RATING Fiction

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

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

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

4 Peace Like a River by Leif Enger (Grove, $13) A family travels the Great Plains in search of its outlaw son

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

6 Red Dragon by Thomas Harris (Dell, $7.99) Hannibal Lecter helps a sleuth hunt a murderer with a penchant for Blake

7 Last Man Standing by David Baldacci (Warner, $7.99) An FBI agent wants to know who gunned down his team

8 Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gold (Hyperion: $14.95) A magician in 1920s San Francisco

9 Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon (Picador: $15) The comics biz

10 Isle of Dogs by Patricia Cornwell (Berkley, $7.99) Dodging thugs on a loony Chesapeake Bay island

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*--* SO. CAL. RATING Nonfiction

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

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

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

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 Toltec wisdom

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

7 Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis (Vintage, $14) The genius, cunning and flaws of the nation’s architects

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

9 Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace by Gore Vidal (Thunder’s Mouth, $10) The U.S. against the world

10 Uncle Tungsten by Oliver Sacks (Vintage, $14) The neurologist and author recalls his “chemical boyhood.”

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