BESTSELLERS

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

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*--* 1 The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (Little, Brown: $21.95) 1 28 A murdered girl tells the story of her grieving family still learning to cope, the killer and the detective who hunts him

2 Prey by Michael Crichton (HarperCollins: $26.95) A foray 2 6 into the chilling world of nanotechnology as a programmer tries to stop a destructive swarm of tiny machines

3 You Shall Know Our Velocity by Dave Eggers (McSweeney’s: -- 12 $22) Two friends take an around-the-world trip, handing out money to strangers

4 The Little Friend by Donna Tartt (Alfred A. Knopf: $26) A -- 9 12-year-old whose family was torn apart by the murder of her brother sees revenge as her only hope

5 By the Light of the Moon by Dean Koontz (Bantam: $26.95) -- 1 A pair of strangers are on the run from the enemies of a mad doctor who has injected them with a strange substance

6 Life of Pi by Yann Martel (Harcourt: $25) After a ship 4 7 disaster, a lone Indian man shares a raft with a Bengal tiger during a harrowing and hallucinatory trip

7 Hornet Flight by Ken Follett (Dutton: $26.95) A World War 10 4 II yarn in which Danish amateur spies help to foil the Nazis’ use of radar, which has neutralized British bombers

8 I Don’t Know How She Does It by Allison Pearson (Alfred 5 12 A. Knopf: $23) A darkly humorous tale of a woman juggling her high-powered career and family life

9 Atonement by Ian McEwan (Nan A. Talese/Doubleday: $26) A -- 31 haunting novel of guilt and redemption that follows several lives through the chaos of England in World War II

10 Four Blind Mice by James Patterson (Little, Brown: 3 6 $27.95) Alex Cross helps a friend save the life of an old Army buddy, who’s been framed by a quartet of murderers for a killing spree

11 Reversible Errors by Scott Turow (Farrar, Straus & 6 9 Giroux: $28) Defense attorney Arthur Raven uncovers new twists in a 10-year-old murder case as the defendant awaits execution

12 Skipping Christmas by John Grisham (Doubleday: $14.95) 7 18 Grisham takes a holiday from legal thrillers to poke fun at the suburban yuletide ritual

13 The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber -- 9 (Harcourt: $26) A Dickensian novel that follows the lives of a prostitute, her lover and her lover’s wife in Victorian London

14 Let’s All Kill Constance by Ray Bradbury (HarperCollins: -- 1 $23.95) Noir is turned on its head in this tale of a struggling scribe out to help an aging screen legend who thinks she’s marked for death

15 Red Rabbit by Tom Clancy (Putnam: $28.95) In the early 8 12 1980s, newcomer Jack Ryan stumbles upon a KGB plot to assassinate the pope and create global chaos

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

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*--* 1 The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle (New World Library: 8 21 $21.95) How to improve relationships and encourage happiness and contentment by living in the present

2 Bush at War by Bob Woodward (Simon & Schuster: $28) 1 6 Inside the White House since the 2001 attacks, as the Bush administration runs the war on terrorism and puts Iraq in its gun sights

3 Sandy Koufax by Jane Leavy (HarperCollins: $23.95) A look 2 15 at the career of the Dodger pitcher, arguably the game’s greatest southpaw, and the social mores he confronted

4 Stupid White Men and Other Sorry Excuses for the State of 4 43 the Nation by Michael Moore (ReganBooks: $24.95) Lampooning the Bush administration and more

5 Everyday Grace by Marianne Williamson (Riverhead Books: 11 5 $19.95) Finding the spiritual in everything from being stuck in traffic to a boardroom confrontation

6 Writing Los Angeles edited by David L. Ulin (Library of 15 4 America: $40) An anthology about the City of Angels as seen through the eyes of writers over the decades

7 A Long Way From Home by Tom Brokaw (Random House: $24.95) 9 7 Relying on other people’s stories for his books on the “Greatest Generation,” the NBC newsman turns to his South Dakota upbringing

8 When You Ride Alone You Ride With Bin Laden by Bill Maher 13 7 (New Millennium: $27.95) A guide to the ineptitude of Americans and their government in the war on terrorism

9 Portrait of a Killer by Patricia Cornwell (Putnam: 6 6 $27.95) The best-selling thriller writer spent millions on new forensic technology to unmask the man she believes was Jack the Ripper

10 Longitudes and Attitudes by Thomas L. Friedman (Farrar, 14 13 Straus & Giroux: $26) The New York Times foreign affairs columnist reflects on the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks

11 The Conversations by Michael Ondaatje (Alfred A. Knopf: -- 4 $35) Insights into the invisible art of film editing with Walter Murch, who worked on “The Godfather” and “The English Patient.”

12 My Losing Season by Pat Conroy (Nan A. Talese/Doubleday: 12 11 $27.95) The sorrows of life with a bullying father and the consolations of playing basketball at a South Carolina military college

13 Leadership by Rudolph W. Giuliani (Miramax: $25.95) The 5 13 former New York City mayor recalls how life’s lessons helped him deal with the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks

14 Live From New York by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller 10 12 (Little, Brown: $25.95) A backstage recounting of the comic genius and egos of “Saturday Night Live.”

15 Journals by Kurt Cobain (Riverhead Books: $29.95) 3 9 Reproductions of the Nirvana lead singer’s journals, filled with drawings, plans for the band and his feelings on fame and music

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