BESTSELLERS
*--* SO. CAL. RATING Fiction
*--*
*--* 1 Angels & Demons by Dan Brown (Pocket Books: $7.99) A Harvard scholar uncovers a vendetta against the Catholic Church.
2 Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (Picador: $15) A Greek family embraces the American dream.
3 Life of Pi by Yann Martel (Harvest Books: $14) A boy shares a lifeboat with a tiger on a harrowing trip.
4 Deception Point by Dan Brown (Pocket Books: $7.99) A president’s reelection rests on an object buried in the Arctic.
5 The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (Penguin: $14) A teenage girl is haunted by her mother’s death.
6 The Kalahari Typing School for Men by Alexander McCall Smith (Anchor: $11.95) A Botswana detective has a rival.
7 The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl (Random House: $13.95) A killer in 1865 Boston takes his cues from Dante.
8 Lost Light by Michael Connelly (Warner: $7.99) Det. Harry Bosch tries to find a film employee’s killer and $2 million.
9 The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (HarperSanFrancisco: $13) An Andalusian shepherd boy’s quest.
10 Digital Fortress by Dan Brown (Griffin: $14.95) A new technology threatens the balance of international power.
*--*
*--* SO. CAL. RATING Nonfiction
*--*
*--* 1 Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi (Random House: $13.95) A professor keeps literature alive for her students.
2 1,000 Places to See Before You Die by Patricia Schultz (Workman: $18.95) Trotting the globe.
3 The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (Vintage: $14.95) How a serial killer haunted the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.
4 Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki and Sharon L. Lechter (Techpress: $15.95) Fiscal parenting.
5 Funny in Farsi by Firoozeh Dumas (Random House: $12.95) An Iranian girl grows up in Newport Beach.
6 Trump: The Art of the Deal by Donald J. Trump (Warner Books: $5.95) The Donald on his deal-making life.
7 Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom (Broadway: $12.95) Learning life’s lessons from a dying former teacher.
8 What to Expect When You’re Expecting by Heidi E. Murkoff et al. (Workman: $13.95) The ABCs of pregnancy.
9 God’s Secretaries by Adam Nicolson (Perennial: $13.95) How the King James Bible came to be.
10 Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich (Free Press: $14) A blackjack team from MIT bests Las Vegas casinos.
*--*
Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.
More to Read
Sign up for our Book Club newsletter
Get the latest news, events and more from the Los Angeles Times Book Club, and help us get L.A. reading and talking.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.