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 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 One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (McGraw-Hill: $12.80) A century in Macondo.

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

6 Digital Fortress by Dan Brown (Griffin: $14.95) A new technology threatens the balance of international power.

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

8 The King of Torts by John Grisham (Dell: $7.99) A street killing is linked to a conspiracy involving a pharmaceutical giant.

9 Drop City by T.C. Boyle (Penguin: $14) Denizens of a commune in 1970s California relocate to the wilds of Alaska.

10 Girl With a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier (Plume: $14) Imagining the young woman who inspired Vermeer’s painting.

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*--* SO. CAL. RATING Nonfiction

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

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

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

4 Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich (Free Press: $14) A blackjack team from MIT bests Las Vegas casinos.

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

6 The Bush-Haters Handbook by Jack Huberman (Thunder’s Mouth Press: $13.95) The Bush record.

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

8 Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom (Broadway: $12.95) Learning life’s lessons from a dying former teacher.

9 The Ultimate Weight Solution Food Guide by Phil McGraw (Pocket Books: $7.99) No-nonsense weight loss.

10 Regarding the Pain of Others by Susan Sontag (Picador: $11) How society visualizes war and atrocity.

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