BESTSELLERS

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

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*--* 1 The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (Doubleday: $24.95) A 1 31 Louvre curator’s killing leads to clues hidden in Leonardo’s paintings and a secret society with something to hide.

2 The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom 2 4 (Hyperion: $19.95) An amusement park maintenance man faces his life, death and afterlife in this three-part parable.

3 Blow Fly by Patricia Cornwell (Putnam: $26.95) Forensic 15 2 pathologist Kay Scarpetta is drawn into a series of gruesome murders in Louisiana bayou country.

4 The Pleasure of My Company by Steve Martin (Hyperion: 4 3 $19.95) A man suffering from agoraphobia and obsessive-compulsive disorder copes with the vicissitudes of life.

5 The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri (Houghton Mifflin: $24) A 7 5 Bengali couple and their son, named for the Russian writer Gogol, experience cultural jolts after leaving Calcutta for America.

6 Bleachers by John Grisham (Doubleday: $19.95) A former 6 7 NFL player returns home to join a vigil for his dying high school football coach and meets a woman he abandoned years before.

7 Balance of Power by Richard North Patterson (Ballantine -- 1 Books: $27.95) President Kerry Kilcannon deals with a family member’s murder and political heat over gun control and tort reform.

8 Split Second by David Baldacci (Warner Books: $26.95) A 3 3 pair of disgraced Secret Service agents join forces to solve two campaign trail crimes.

9 Elizabeth Costello by J.M. Coetzee (Viking: $21.95) An -- 1 aging novelist about to accept a prize confronts what it means to be human amid her own contradictions. Reviewed on page 16.

10 Capital Crimes by Stuart Woods (Putnam: $25.95) Selected -- 1 right-wing big shots are targeted for murder, threatening the nation’s equilibrium.

11 Dream House by Rochelle Krich (Ballentine Books: $24.95) -- 1 Orthodox Jewish true crime reporter investigates vandalism, arson and murder in a historic Los Angeles neighborhood.

12 Moloka’i by Alan Brennert (St. Martin’s Press: $24.95) A -- 1 poignant story of a young girl banished to a Hawaiian leper colony, where she finds love, loss and eventually a cure.

13 The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks (Warner Books: $23.95) His 11 6 daughter’s wedding offers a workaholic lawyer a golden opportunity to revive his own marriage.

14 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark 12 13 Haddon (Doubleday: $22.95) Falsely accused, an autistic teen looks for the real murderer of a neighbor’s poodle.

15 Havana by Stephen Hunter (Simon & Schuster: $24.95) Earl 8 2 Swagger runs into trouble in Batista’s Cuba, including a plot to assassinate Fidel Castro.

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

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*--* 1 Dude, Where’s My Country? by Michael Moore (Warner Books: 1 2 $24.95) Advice from the veteran gadfly on how to take back the country from conservative forces currently running it.

2 Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them by Al Franken 2 10 (Dutton: $24.95) A heaping dose of subversive wit aimed at political leaders and pundits on the right and left.

3 Every Second Counts by Lance Armstrong (Broadway Books: 4 2 $24.95) The Tour de France champion recalls the triumphs along with the travails of his personal and professional life.

4 The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle (New World Library: 13 58 $21.95) How to improve all of one’s relationships, encourage happiness and find contentment by living in the now.

5 Madame Secretary by Madeleine Albright (Miramax: $27) The -- 4 first woman secretary of state recounts her life from European refugee to hard-driving diplomat.

6 Schott’s Original Miscellany by Ben Schott (Bloomsbury: -- 7 $14.95) An eclectic compendium of facts, diagrams, symbols and just about everything you always wanted to know.

7 Flyboys by James Bradley (Little Brown: $25.95) A history 7 3 of combat in the Pacific during World War II, centered on a group of U.S. Navy and Marine aviators.

8 The Purpose-Driven Life by Rick Warren (Zondervan: 6 33 $19.99) How the “God-ordained” principles of worship, community, discipleship, ministry and evangelism bring fulfillment.

9 Where I Was From by Joan Didion (Knopf: $23) A California 5 4 native daughter recasts the once promising Golden State as a place of wasteful extravagance and greed, built on federal funding.

10 Who’s Looking Out for You? by Bill O’Reilly (Broadway 3 4 Books: $24.95) Talk show host mixes outrage at corrupt people and institutions with practical advice.

11 The Great Unraveling by Paul Krugman (W.W. Norton: 10 5 $25.95) The Princeton economist and New York Times op-ed columnist attacks the fiscal policies of the Bush administration.

12 Bushwhacked by Molly Ivins (Random House: $24.95) The 9 3 syndicated columnist and critic of George W. Bush dissects his presidency and finds that he has pursued “crony capitalism” to extremes.

13 True Notebooks by Mark Salzman (Knopf: $24) A writer -- 4 teaches his craft to juvenile hall inmates, eventually enabling them to write sometimes remarkable prose.

14 The Lord Is My Shepherd by Harold Kushner (Knopf: $19.95) -- 3 A rabbi explores the 23rd Psalm and its 57 Hebrew words as a theology of life, loss and healing wisdom.

15 Stupid White Men and Other Sorry Excuses for the State of -- 67 the Nation by Michael Moore (Regan Books: $24.95) Lampooning the Bush Administration and more.

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