BESTSELLERS

*--* SO. CAL. RATING Fiction LAST WEEK WEEKS ON LIST

*--*

*--* 1 The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (Doubleday: $24.95) A -- 1 Louvre curator’s murder leads to clues hidden in Leonardo’s paintings and a secret society with something to hide

2 Life of Pi by Yann Martel (Harcourt: $25) After a ship 8 19 disaster, a lone Indian boy shares a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger during a harrowing and hallucinatory trip

3 The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (Little, Brown: $21.95) 1 40 A murdered girl tells the story of her grieving family still learning to cope, the killer and the detective who hunts him

4 The King of Torts by John Grisham (Doubleday: $27.95) The 2 8 case of a young man charged in a street killing turns out to be tied to a conspiracy involving a pharmaceutical giant

5 The Jester by James Patterson and Andrew Gross (Little, 6 3 Brown: $27.95) An 11th century French innkeeper returns from the Crusades to find his wife imprisoned by a tyrannical lord

6 The Vanished Man by Jeffrey Deaver (Simon & Schuster: 7 2 $25) With the help of a spunky apprentice magician, Lincoln Rhyme hopes to catch a murderer who’s a master illusionist

7 Back Story by Robert B. Parker (Putnam: $24.95) Boston 3 2 P.I. Spenser finds that people on both sides of the law don’t want him digging up a 30-year-old murder case involving a bank holdup

8 The Last Detective by Robert Crais (Doubleday: $24.95) 5 6 P.I. Elvis Cole faces his toughest case when kidnappers, seeking revenge for Cole’s actions in Vietnam, snatch his girlfriend’s son

9 Someone to Watch Over Me by Judith McNaught (Atria Books: 11 5 $25) A leading Broadway actress investigates her wealthy husband’s mysterious disappearance

10 Dating Game by Danielle Steel (Delacorte Press: $26.95) A 10 3 Connecticut woman makes a new life for herself in San Francisco after her husband of 24 years leaves her for a younger woman

11 Drop City by T.C. Boyle (Viking: $25.95) Mounting 4 4 pressures cause the denizens of a commune in 1970s California to relocate to the wilds of Alaska

12 The Reluctant Suitor by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss (William -- 1 Morrow: $24.95) In the wake of the Napoleonic wars a stubborn nobleman is torn over his feelings for a beautiful woman

13 The Confessor by Daniel Silva (Putnam: $25.95) A Mossad 13 4 hit man, doubling as an art restorer, is drawn into an intriguing web involving Vatican complicity in the Holocaust

14 Cosmopolis by Don DeLillo (Scribner: $25) A high-flying -- 1 Wall Streeter takes an epic limo ride across Manhattan at the height of the dot-com boom

15 The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl (Random House: $24.95) 14 4 Longfellow just a poet? Hardly: He teams up with other 19th century intellectuals to hunt a murderer inspired by Dante

*--*

*--* SO. CAL. RATING Nonfiction LAST WEEK WEEKS ON LIST

*--*

*--* 1 Stupid White Men and Other Sorry Excuses for the State of 1 55 the Nation by Michael Moore (ReganBooks: $24.95) Lampooning the Bush administration and more

2 Leap of Faith by Queen Noor (Miramax Books: $25.95) The -- 1 life and times of a Princeton student who is courted by a Middle Eastern monarch and becomes Jordanian royalty

3 The Power of Full Engagement by Jim Loehr and Tony 8 2 Schwartz (Free Press: $26) A pair of executive trainers offer a guide for stressed-out individuals who need help balancing life and work

4 What Should I Do With My Life? by Po Bronson (Random 5 9 House: $24.95) A look at 50 professionals, some successful, some not, and their thoughts on pursuing dreams through their careers

5 The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (Crown: 2 6 $25.95) A chronicle of how a serial killer, posing as a charming doctor, haunted the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair

6 The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle (New World Library: 14 33 $21.95) How to improve relationships and encourage happiness and contentment by living in the present

7 Atkins for Life by Robert C. Atkins (St. Martin’s: 3 9 $24.95) The physician continues his mission against low-fat diets, arguing that carbohydrates are the true culprits in weight gain

8 Jarhead by Anthony Swofford (Scribner: $24) A blunt and 7 3 bittersweet Gulf War memoir from a former Marine sniper, recounting the loneliness and brutality of life as a soldier

9 The Savage Nation by Michael Savage (WND Books: $24.99) 15 11 The confrontational radio show host is on a mission to save the nation from itself, railing against feminism and the lack of school prayer

10 Chicago by Rob Marshall and Bill Condon (Newmarket Press: -- 1 $40) The screenplay, along with profiles of the stars, historical vignettes and photographs from the Oscar-winning musical

11 Dereliction of Duty by Robert Patterson (Regnery: $27.95) -- 1 A onetime military aid to President Clinton faults the former leader for failing to lead the country with dignity and honor

12 The Purpose-Driven Life by Rick Warren (Zondervan: 11 5 $19.99) How the principles of worship, community, discipleship, ministry and evangelism lead to a fulfilled life

13 The Hunt for Bin Laden by Robin Moore (Random House: 6 3 $24.95) A look at the war in Afghanistan from the first preparations in the wake of Sept. 11 to the liberation of Kabul

14 Good to Great by Jim Collins (HarperCollins: $27.50) How -- 28 a great product, a healthy corporate culture and a disciplined workforce can propel a company to success

15 Sandy Koufax by Jane Leavy (HarperCollins: $23.95) A look -- 19 at the career of the Dodger pitcher, arguably the game’s greatest southpaw, and the social mores he confronted

*--*