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 33 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 6 (Hyperion: $19.95) An amusement park maintenance man faces his life, death and afterlife in this three-part parable.

3 Blood Canticle by Anne Rice (Knopf: $25.95) Vampire 15 2 Lestat tries to attain sainthood while rescuing a witch from certain death by making her immortal.

4 Blow Fly by Patricia Cornwell (Putnam: $26.95) Forensic 3 4 pathologist Kay Scarpetta is drawn into a series of gruesome murders in Louisiana bayou country.

5 Love by Toni Morrison (Knopf: $23.95) The late owner of a -- 1 resort hotel in a black seaside community lives on in the ambiguous recollections of those he left behind.

6 The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri (Houghton Mifflin: $24) A 9 7 Bengali couple and their son, named for the Russian writer Gogol, experience cultural jolts after leaving Calcutta for America.

7 Shepherds Abiding, by Jan Karon (Viking: $24.95) Father -- 1 Tim restores an old and battered nativity scene, and in the process deepens the spirit of Christmas in the tiny village of Mitford.

8 The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger 8 3 (MacAdam/Cage: $25) A librarian on one of his mysterious migrations in time travel falls in love with a teenage heiress.

9 Split Second by David Baldacci (Warner: $26.95) Disgraced 6 5 Secret Service agents join forces to solve the kidnapping of a presidential candidate and the 8-year-old murder of another.

10 The Tristan Betrayal by Robert Ludlum (St. Martin’s -- 1 Press: $27.95) An American spy in Moscow during World War II later becomes U.S. ambassador there.

11 Vernon God Little by D.B.C. Pierre (Canongate Books: $23) -- 1 A Texas teenager accused of being an accessory to murder flees his small town, traveling first to Houston and then to Mexico.

12 The Pleasure of My Company by Steve Martin (Hyperion: 4 5 $19.95) A man suffering from agoraphobia and obsessive-compulsive disorder copes with the vicissitudes of life.

13 The Lone Drow by R.A. Salvatore (Wizards of the Coast: -- 1 $25.95) In this second book of Salvatore’s Tolkienesque fantasy trilogy, Drizzt the dark elf falls in love with a human woman.

14 Wolves of the Calla by Stephen King (Donald M. -- 1 Grant/Scribner: $35) Roland and company fight to save the Dark Tower in an afflicted farm community and midtown Manhattan.

15 San Remo Drive by Leslie Epstein (Handsel Books: $24) The -- 1 portrayal of a talented but troubled Hollywood family through the eyes of the older son, Richard, who becomes a famous artist.

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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 4 $24.95) Advice from the veteran gadfly on how to take back the country from the conservative forces currently running it.

2 Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them by Al Franken 2 12 (Dutton: $24.95) A heaping dose of subversive wit aimed at political leaders and pundits on the right and left.

3 A Royal Duty by Paul Burrell (Putnam: $25.95) Confidant 3 2 and major-domo of the late Princess Diana shares his perspective on her life and reveals their many private talks.

4 Where I Was From by Joan Didion (Knopf: $23) A California 4 6 native daughter recasts the once promising Golden State as a place of wasteful extravagance and greed, built on federal funding.

5 The Purpose-Driven Life by Rick Warren (Zondervan: 7 35 $19.99) How the “God-ordained” principles of worship, community, discipleship, ministry and evangelism bring fulfillment.

6 Broken Music by Sting (Bantam Books: $26) A memoir by the -- 1 British rock star of his working-class childhood and his ascent to the pinnacle of success.

7 Who’s Looking Out for You? by Bill O’Reilly (Broadway 6 6 Books: $24.95) Talk-show host mixes outrage at corrupt people and institutions with practical advice.

8 Flyboys by James Bradley (Little Brown: $25.95) A history 14 5 of combat in the Pacific during World War II, centered on a group of U.S. Navy and Marine aviators captured and imprisoned by the Japanese.

9 The Funny Thing Is ... by Ellen DeGeneres (Simon & -- 1 Schuster: $23) Reminiscences and observations on the vagaries of her life, from the comedian and actress.

10 Hegemony or Survival by Noam Chomsky (Metropolitan: $22) -- 1 A critique of America’s quest for global supremacy from the late 1950s to the present, by the distinguished MIT philosopher and professor of linguistics.

11 The Great Unraveling by Paul Krugman (W.W. Norton: 10 7 $25.95) The Princeton economist and New York Times op-ed columnist attacks the fiscal policies of the Bush administration.

12 The King of California by Mark Arax and Rick Wartzman 9 2 (PublicAffairs: $30) The tale of J.G. Boswell and the agricultural empire he has built in California’s Central Valley.

13 The Two Percent Solution by Matthew Miller -- 2 (PublicAffairs: $26) Syndicated columnist and former White House advisor offers an imaginative program for our most intractable economic problems.

14 Every Second Counts by Lance Armstrong (Broadway Books: 5 4 $24.95) The Tour de France champion recalls the triumphs along with the travails of his personal and professional life.

15 The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp (Simon & Schuster: $25) -- 2 A personal exploration of the nature of creativity (with exercises) from the esteemed choreographer.

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