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 46 Louvre curator’s killing leads to clues hidden in Leonardo’s paintings and a secret society with something to hide.

2 The Last Juror by John Grisham (Doubleday: $27.95) A 9 2 convicted killer on parole for a brutal rape and murder is bent on retribution as he returns to his small town.

3 The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom 3 20 (Hyperion: $19.95) An amusement park maintenance man faces his life, death and afterlife in this three-part parable.

4 Absolute Friends by John le Carre (Little, Brown: $26.95) 2 5 Two former Cold War spies are drawn into the rising political opposition to the United States’ invasion of Iraq.

5 The Amateur Marriage by Anne Tyler (Knopf: $24.95) A 4 5 mismatched couple struggles over the course of 30 years to make their marriage bearable.

6 The Best Awful by Carrie Fisher (Simon & Schuster: $24) 5 5 Suzanne Vale battles drugs and bipolar disorder in this black-comic sequel to “Postcards From the Edge.”

7 Mr. Paradise by Elmore Leonard (William Morrow: $25.95) A 14 4 lingerie model in downtown Detroit finds herself embroiled in the contract murder of her call-girl roommate and a client.

8 Angels & Demons by Dan Brown (Atria: $17.95) A Harvard 11 7 scholar uncovers a vendetta against the Catholic Church by a secret society known as the Illuminati.

9 Seduced by Moonlight by Laurell K. Hamilton (Ballantine: -- 1 $23.95) A faerie princess contends with a sadistic aunt and finds that her magic powers have raced out of control.

10 Empress Orchid by Anchee Min (Houghton Mifflin: $24) A 13 2 provincial girl enters China’s Forbidden City to bear an heir to the throne and becomes the country’s last empress.

11 Old School by Tobias Wolff (Knopf: $22) A New England 15 12 prep school scholarship student with literary ambitions tries to win an audience with Ernest Hemingway.

12 The Cat Who Talked Turkey by Lilian Jackson Braun 7 2 (Putnam: $23.95) A journalist and his two Siamese cats investigate the murder of a man found in the woods.

13 Paranoia by Joseph Finder (St. Martin’s Press: $24.95) A -- 2 bored employee sent to spy on a rival high-tech firm who finds himself skyrocketing to the top must choose between betrayal or prison.

14 The Zero Game by Brad Meltzer (Warner Books: $25.95) 10 3 Bored congressional aides gamble in a clandestine game for fun, but things turn deadly in a hurry.

15 Divided in Death by J.D. Robb (Putnam: $21.95) Police 8 2 Det. Eve Dallas is on the trail of techno-terrorists out to sabotage a government computer program aimed at thwarting them.

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

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*--* 1 The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands by Laura 2 6 Schlessinger (HarperCollins: $24.95) Talk show host tells how to manage the “very simple creature” that is man.

2 The Price of Loyalty by Ron Suskind (Simon & Schuster: 1 5 $26) A scathing portrayal of the George W. Bush White House by former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill.

3 American Dynasty by Kevin Phillips (Viking: $25.95) An 5 5 account of the Bush family’s use of their Ivy League network, vast wealth and political maneuvering to obtain the White House.

4 The Purpose-Driven Life by Rick Warren (Zondervan: 9 48 $19.99) How the “God-ordained” principles of worship, community, discipleship, ministry and evangelism bring fulfillment.

5 Down and Dirty Pictures by Peter Biskind (Simon & 3 6 Schuster: $26.95) A look at the rise of indie films and the influence of the Sundance Film Festival and Harvey and Bob Weinstein’s Miramax.

6 Hollywood Animal by Joe Eszterhas (Alfred A. Knopf: 4 2 $26.95) The noted screenwriter takes on the beast that is the movie industry in telling the tale of his life’s journey.

7 Dude, Where’s My Country? by Michael Moore (Warner Books: -- 17 $24.95) Advice from the veteran gadfly on how to take back the country from the conservative forces running it.

8 The Sorrows of Empire by Chalmers Johnson (Metropolitan: 10 4 $25) A view of the United States as an imperialist and militaristic nation bent on global domination.

9 Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them by Al Franken 6 25 (Dutton: $24.95) A heaping dose of subversive wit aimed at politicos and pundits on the right, including Bill O’Reilly, Ann Coulter and others.

10 1968 by Mark Kurlansky (Ballantine: $26.95) From Vietnam -- 1 to Chicago, from women’s lib to Prague Spring, the cultural and political history of a year of societal upheaval.

11 Blindsided by Richard Cohen (HarperCollins: $23.95) A -- 1 former television news producer battles multiple sclerosis and colon cancer while trying to hold on to some normalcy in his family life.

12 Life is a Series of Presentations by Tony Jeary -- 1 (Fireside: $23.95) Polishing your public speaking and people skills at the office and in social life.

13 True Notebooks by Mark Salzman (Knopf: $24) A writer -- 6 teaches his craft to juvenile hall inmates, eventually enabling them to write sometimes remarkable prose.

14 The Two Percent Solution by Matthew Miller -- 3 (PublicAffairs: $26) Syndicated columnist and former White House advisor offers an imaginative program for our most intractable economic problems.

15 The Darkest Jungle by Todd Balf (Crown: $24.95) The -- 1 harrowing tale of explorers battling harsh terrain and disease in the quest to map a route across the Isthmus of Panama.

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