BESTSELLERS

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

*--*

*--* 1 The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (Doubleday: $24.95) A 1 47 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 2 3 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 21 (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) 4 6 Two former Cold War spies are drawn into the rising political opposition to the United States’ invasion of Iraq.

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

6 The Amateur Marriage by Anne Tyler (Knopf: $24.95) A 5 6 mismatched couple struggles over the course of 30 years to make their marriage bearable.

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

8 Pompeii by Robert Harris (Random House: $24.95) An -- 11 engineer repairing an aqueduct near Mt. Vesuvius in AD 79 notes ominous signs of its imminent eruption.

9 Mr. Paradise by Elmore Leonard (William Morrow: $25.95) A 7 5 lingerie model in downtown Detroit finds herself embroiled in the contract murder of her call-girl roommate and a client.

10 Seduced by Moonlight by Laurell K. Hamilton (Ballantine: 9 2 $23.95) A faerie princess contends with a sadistic aunt and finds that her magic powers have raced out of control.

11 Ask Me Anything by Francesca Delbanco (W.W. Norton: -- 1 $23.95) An aspiring actress tries to discover who and what she is and how to live in New York with her choices.

12 The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger -- 6 (MacAdam/Cage: $25) A librarian, on one of his mysterious travels in time, falls in love with a teenage heiress.

13 Old School by Tobias Wolff (Knopf: $22) A New England 11 13 prep school scholarship student with literary ambitions tries to win an audience with Ernest Hemingway.

14 The Pleasure of My Company by Steve Martin (Hyperion: -- 14 $19.95) A man suffering from agoraphobia and obsessive-compulsive disorder copes with the vicissitudes of life.

15 Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes (Ecco Press: $29.95) A -- 5 new translation of the exploits of the idealistic Spanish knight-errant and his faithful Sancho Panza.

*--*

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

*--*

*--* 1 The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands by Laura 1 7 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: 2 6 $26) A scathing portrayal of the George W. Bush White House by former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill.

3 Down and Dirty Pictures by Peter Biskind (Simon & 5 7 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.

4 American Dynasty by Kevin Phillips (Viking: $25.95) An 3 6 account of the Bush family’s use of their Ivy League network, political maneuvering and vast wealth to win the White House.

5 The Purpose-Driven Life by Rick Warren (Zondervan: 4 49 $19.99) How the “God-ordained” principles of worship, community, discipleship, ministry and evangelism bring fulfillment.

6 Hollywood Animal by Joe Eszterhas (Alfred A. Knopf: 6 3 $26.95) The noted screenwriter takes on the beast that is the movie industry in telling the tale of his life’s journey.

7 Queer Eye for the Straight Guy by Ted Allen (Clarkson -- 1 Potter: $27.50) How to be better dressed, groomed, cultivated and more knowledgeable about food and wine and culture.

8 The Automatic Millionaire by David Bach (Broadway Books: -- 5 $19.95) A common-sense guide to financial planning through automatic contributions to retirement plans and investment vehicles.

9 The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene (Knopf: $28.95) -- 1 The nature of reality is explored through simple explanations of concepts such as string theory and inflationary cosmology.

10 The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle (New World Library: -- 70 $21.95) How to improve one’s relationships and find contentment and even happiness by living in the now.

11 The Ultimate Weight Solution by Phil McGraw (Free Press: -- 1 $26) The seven keys to losing weight for life, including countering emotional eating, choosing the right foods and exercising regularly.

12 Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them by Al Franken 9 26 (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.

13 Hiding the Elephant by Jim Steinmeyer (Carroll & Graf: -- 1 $26) An illusionist who has worked with Siegfried & Roy and others gives a primer on magicians and their magic.

14 Give Me a Break by John Stossel (HarperCollins: $24.95) -- 2 TV news personality takes on regulators and environmentalists as he extols the power of the free market.

15 The Sorrows of Empire by Chalmers Johnson (Metropolitan: 8 5 $25) A view of the United States as an imperialist and militaristic nation bent on global domination.

*--*

Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.