BESTSELLERS

*--* SO. CAL. RATING Fiction

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*--* 1 East of Eden by John Steinbeck (Penguin: $16) Cain and Abel come of age in California’s Salinas Valley

2 The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (Penguin: $14) A teenage girl is haunted by her mother’s death

3 Life of Pi by Yann Martel (Harvest Books: $14) An Indian boy shares a lifeboat with a tiger on a harrowing trip

4 Angels & Demons by Dan Brown (Pocket Books: $7.99) A Harvard scholar uncovers a vendetta against the Catholic Church

5 Three Junes by Julia Glass (Anchor: $14) A Scottish family comes together over three summers

6 The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith (Anchor: $11.95) Botswana’s female private eye

7 Beach House by James Patterson and Peter de Jonge (Warner: $7.99) A man seeks justice in his brother’s death

8 Nights in Rodanthe by Nicholas Sparks (Warner Books: $12) An affair changes two lives in a North Carolina coastal town

9 In Her Shoes by Jennifer Weiner (Washington Square Press: $14) Two sisters sort through childhood baggage

10 The Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier (Plume: $14) Two women are bound across time by a family legacy in France

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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 Dr. Atkins’ New Diet Revolution by Robert C. Atkins (Quill: $13.95) Shedding pounds with a low-carb diet

3 Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser (HarperCollins: $13.95) The unappetizing practices of the junk-food industry

4 Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs (Picador: $14) A boy goes to live with his mother’s psychiatrist

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

6 Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz (Amber-Allen: $12.95) A code of conduct based on Toltec wisdom

7 Excuse Me, Your Life Is Waiting by Lynn Grabhorn (Hampton Roads: $14.95) How being positive gets good results

8 Self Matters by Phillip C. McGraw (Free Press: $14) The self-help guru teaches how to “create your life from the inside out.”

9 Lucky by Alice Sebold (Back Bay: $11.95) A memoir of the author’s rape in college and how it plunged her life into chaos

10 Day Hikes Around Los Angeles by Robert B. Stone (Day Hike Books: $11.95) A trail guide for the nonserious hiker

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