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

2 The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason 2 4 (Dial: $24) Four Princeton roommates use clues from a 15th century manuscript to find a buried Roman treasure.

3 Bergdorf Blondes by Plum Sykes (Miramax: $23.95) Botoxed, 3 10 peeled and tanned-to-kill, Park Avenue princesses search for an ATM (rich boyfriend) or a P.H. (potential husband).

4 The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom 6 37 (Hyperion: $19.95) An amusement park maintenance man faces his life, death and afterlife in this three-part parable.

5 The Narrows by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown: $25.95) 4 6 Harry Bosch struggles against man and nature to capture an FBI profiler’s killer, a serial murderer with a fondness for Edgar Allan Poe.

6 The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler (Putnam: 7 4 $23.95) Five women and a man plumb Austen’s novels, revealing their own foibles and reveries along the way.

7 A Good Year by Peter Mayle (Alfred A. Knopf: $24) An -- 1 ex-financier makes a new life for himself after inheriting a wine-growing estate in Provence.

8 The Taking by Dean Koontz (Bantam: $27) A novelist and 8 2 her ex-priest husband see wild animals cower from a luminous rain drenching their San Bernardino mountain home.

9 The Known World by Edward P. Jones -- 5 (Amistad/HarperCollins: $24.95) A black slave owner’s plantation is the setting for a tale of love and betrayal in antebellum Virginia.

10 Memorial Day by Vince Flynn (Atria: $25.95) As Americans -- 4 prepare to unveil a war memorial in Washington, D.C., CIA operatives uncover a terrorist plot to launch a nuclear attack on the capital.

11 The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (Penguin: -- 2 $24.95) In postwar Barcelona, the son of a bookstore owner tries to unearth the story of a long-dead novelist.

12 Hidden Prey by John Sandford (Putnam: $26.95) Det. Lucas 11 4 Davenport and a Russian cop investigate the murder of a Russian with high-level U.S. government connections.

13 Angels & Demons by Dan Brown (Atria: $19.95) A Harvard 12 24 scholar uncovers a vendetta against the Roman Catholic Church by a secret society known as the Illuminati.

14 Killer Smile by Lisa Scottoline (HarperCollins: $25.95) A -- 1 lawyer seeks reparations on behalf of an Italian American immigrant held in a World War II internment camp in Montana.

15 Little Children by Tom Perrotta (St. Martin’s: $24.95) A 9 8 group of 30ish parents confront their fears and family dysfunction as they raise their suburban offspring.

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

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*--* 1 Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss (Gotham: $17.50) A 1 8 British novelist and journalist offers her zero-tolerance approach to bad punctuation, drawn from a pioneering BBC series.

2 Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris 3 2 (Little, Brown: $24.95) Popular humorist recounts childhood experiences with his delightfully dysfunctional family.

3 Plan of Attack by Bob Woodward (Simon & Schuster: $28) A 2 8 behind-the-scenes look at how George W. Bush and his war council came to launch a preemptive attack on Iraq.

4 Big Russ & Me by Tim Russert (Miramax: $22.95) The NBC 4 4 newsman writes a paean to his dad, a World War II veteran who worked two jobs to raise his Irish Catholic family in Buffalo, N.Y.

5 The Power of Intention by Wayne W. Dyer (Hay House: -- 11 $24.95) How to spark creativity and get the life you want by drawing upon a field of energy that exists all around us.

6 The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands by Laura 9 23 Schlessinger (HarperCollins: $24.95) The talk show host tells how to manage the “very simple creature” that is man.

7 Imperial America by Gore Vidal (Nation Books: $18) A -- 1 collection of essays arguing against the country’s “predatory” imperialism, the Bush tax cuts and the reach of the Justice Department.

8 The Purpose-Driven Life by Rick Warren (Zondervan: 11 66 $19.99) How the “God ordained” principles of worship, community, discipleship, ministry and evangelism bring fulfillment.

9 Grace and Power: The Private World of the Kennedy White 6 2 House by Sally Bedell Smith (Random House: $29.95) Friends, relatives and the power elite tell all.

10 Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow (Penguin: $35) A look -- 5 at the first U.S. Treasury secretary, whose legacy in politics, statecraft and economics is greater than that of many presidents.

11 Against All Enemies by Richard A. Clarke (Free Press: 13 11 $27) The former U.S. counter-terrorism advisor questions the Bush administration’s response to threats before Sept. 11 and its focus on Iraq since.

12 Chick: His Unpublished Memoirs and the Memories of Those -- 3 Who Loved Him by Chick Hearn and Steve Springer (Triumph: $27.95) Remembering the Laker broadcaster.

13 Worse Than Watergate by John W. Dean (Little, Brown: 5 10 $22.95) Former White House counsel argues that President Bush has done more damage to the nation than President Nixon or Watergate.

14 Father Joe by Tony Hendra (Random House: $24.95) After an -- 1 adolescent tryst with a neighbor’s wife, Hendra develops a bond with a Benedictine monk who helps him through life’s struggles.

15 Dude, Where’s My Country? by Michael Moore (Warner: -- 20 $24.95) Advice from the veteran gadfly on how to take back the country from the conservative forces running it.

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