BESTSELLERS

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

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*--* 1 The Plot Against America by Philip Roth (Houghton 1 3 Mifflin: $26) Charles Lindbergh becomes president in 1940, setting the country on a course of isolationism and nationwide pogroms.

2 The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (Doubleday: $24.95) A 2 82 Louvre curator’s killing leads to clues hidden in Leonardo’s paintings and a secret society with something to hide.

3 The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith 15 2 (Pantheon: $19.95) A woman investigates the case of a young man who falls to his death in an Edinburgh concert hall.

4 California Girl by T. Jefferson Parker (William Morrow: 3 3 $24.95) Three brothers try to find a killer who left a young girl’s body behind an Orange County fruit-packing plant.

5 The Inner Circle by T.C. Boyle (Viking: $25.95) An 7 5 assistant to zoology professor Alfred Kinsey becomes immersed in an inner circle of researchers participating in sexual experiments.

6 The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom 13 55 (Hyperion: $19.95) An amusement park maintenance man faces his life, death and afterlife in this three-part parable.

7 Shopaholic & Sister by Sophie Kinsella (Dial: $23) A 4 2 London newlywed depressed over a lack of closet space for her new trinkets discovers she has a sibling who hates to shop.

8 Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke 8 7 (Bloomsbury: $27.95) A reclusive magician teams with a risk-taking younger man to delve into England’s magical past.

9 Are You Afraid of the Dark? by Sidney Sheldon (William 9 4 Morrow: $25.95) Two widows try to find out who killed their husbands and wants them dead too.

10 The Dark Tower VII by Stephen King (Donald M. Grant: $35) 6 3 Roland and his ka-tet near their goal, the Dark Tower, but the gunslingers face mutants, vampires and the fearsome Crimson King.

11 The Falls by Joyce Carol Oates (Ecco: $26.95) A -- 3 newlywed’s jump over Niagara Falls casts a shadow over two generations in a tale of greed, corruption and tragedy.

12 Double Homicide by Jonathan Kellerman and Faye Kellerman -- 1 (Warner: $23.95) Detectives delve into the deaths of a Boston basketball star and a Santa Fe gallery owner in this pair of short novels.

13 Incubus Dreams by Laurell K. Hamilton (Berkley: $23.95) A 5 2 vampire hunter investigating a series of slain strippers is torn between her obligations to the worldly and the undead.

14 Trace by Patricia Cornwell (Putnam: $26.95) Medical 10 6 examiner Kay Scarpetta is called back to Richmond, Va., to help her former colleagues determine what killed a 14-year-old girl.

15 The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler (Putnam: -- 16 $23.95) Five women and a man plumb Austen’s novels, revealing their own foibles and reveries along the way.

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

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*--* 1 America (The Book): A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy 1 4 Inaction by Jon Stewart et al (Warner: $24.95) Comedy writers poke fun at U.S. politics and our institutions of democracy.

2 Chronicles, Volume One by Bob Dylan (Simon & Schuster: 7 2 $24) The songwriter’s reflections on the influences that helped shape him.

3 He’s Just Not That Into You by Greg Behrendt and Liz 3 4 Tuccillo (Simon Spotlight Entertainment: $19.95) The no-excuses guide to help women understand guys and get on with their lives.

4 How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must) by Ann Coulter -- 1 (Crown Forum: $26.95) The contentious pundit explains why she thinks liberals have it all wrong.

5 The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren (Zondervan: 6 84 $19.99) How the “God ordained” principles of worship, community, discipleship, ministry and evangelism bring fulfillment.

6 Will They Ever Trust Us Again? by Michael Moore (Simon & -- 1 Schuster: $22) Iraq war veterans and their families express concerns about the mission and disagree with the president’s policies.

7 Chain of Command by Seymour M. Hersh (HarperCollins: 12 4 $25.95) The investigative reporter traces the nation’s path from Sept. 11 to abuse at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison.

8 Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss (Gotham: $17.50) A 13 26 British novelist and journalist offers her zero-tolerance approach to bad punctuation, drawn from her pioneering BBC series.

9 Magical Thinking by Augusten Burroughs (St. Martin’s -- 1 Press: $23.95) Telemarketing revenge and the precision killing of a rodent populate these essays from the peculiar recesses of Burroughs’ mind.

10 The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty by Kitty 10 4 Kelley (Doubleday: $29.95) A critical look at an insular, powerful dynasty that has spawned two presidents, two governors and a senator.

11 Unfit for Command by John E. O’Neill and Jerome R. Corsi 4 9 (Regnery: $27.95) Vietnam vets accuse presidential nominee John F. Kerry of misdeeds regarding his wartime service.

12 Scar Tissue by Anthony Kiedis with Larry Sloman -- 1 (Hyperion: $24.95) A boy whose dealer father introduced him to drugs meets stardom as the lead singer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

13 Will in the World by Stephen Greenblatt (W.W. Norton: 14 2 $26.95) How a lad with no university education from humble origins in the English countryside became Shakespeare.

14 Crimes Against Nature by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 5 2 (HarperCollins: $21.95) The environmental attorney argues that the government’s cozying up to corporations threatens our health, national security and even democracy.

15 Family First by Phil McGraw (Free Press: $26) A 2 4 day-by-day guide to raising cooperative, caring and competent children through effective parenting and putting family first.

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