BESTSELLERS / PAPERBACKS

*--* SO. CAL. RATING Fiction

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

2 Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (Vintage: $12) An autistic teen seeks a killer.

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

4 The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks (Warner: $12.95) Teen lovers, interrupted by World War II, get another chance.

5 The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead: $14) A writer returns to Kabul to rescue the son of a childhood friend.

6 The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (Harvest: $14) A time traveler falls in love with a teen heiress.

7 Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (Picador: $15) A Greek family embraces the American dream.

8 Life of Pi by Yann Martel (Harvest: $14) A boy shares a lifeboat with a tiger on a harrowing trip.

9 The Wedding by Nicholas Sparks (Warner: $12.95) A man tries to reclaim the romance in his 30-year marriage.

10 Deception Point by Dan Brown (Pocket Books: $7.99) A president’s reelection rests on an object buried in the Arctic.

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*--* SO. CAL. RATING Nonfiction

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*--* 1 The 9/11 Commission Report by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks (Norton: $10) The report.

2 Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi (Random House: $13.95) A professor keeps literature alive for her students.

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 Dude, Where’s My Country? by Michael Moore (Warner: $14.95) How to wrest control from conservatives.

5 Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki and Sharon L. Lechter (TechPress/Warner: $15.95) Fiscal parenting.

6 Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer (Anchor: $14.95) Murder within a radical religious sect.

7 Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them by Al Franken (Plume: $14) Wit aimed at the right.

8 1,000 Places to See Before You Die by Patricia Schultz (Workman: $18.95) Trotting the globe.

9 My California edited by Donna Wares (Angel City Press: $16.95) Writers dissect the state’s mythology and reality.

10 Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman (Scribner: $13) Essays on postmodern pop culture.

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Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores