BESTSELLERS / PAPERBACKS

*--* SO. CAL. RATING Fiction

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*--* 1 Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (Vintage: $12) An autistic teen seeks a killer.

2 Angels & Demons by Dan Brown (Pocket Books: $7.99) A Harvard scholar uncovers a vendetta against the Catholic Church.

3 The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead: $14) A writer returns to Kabul to rescue the son of a childhood friend.

4 Blow Fly by Patricia Cornwell (Berkley: $7.99) Pathologist Kay Scarpetta investigates gruesome bayou murders.

5 The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri (Mariner: $14) A Bengali couple and their son try to find their way in America.

6 Split Second by David Baldacci (Warner Vision: $7.99) Disgraced federal agents attack crime on the campaign trail.

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

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

9 Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (Picador: $15) A Greek family embraces the American dream.

10 The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (HarperSanFrancisco: $13) An Andalusian shepherd boy seeks treasure in Egypt.

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*--* SO. CAL. RATING Nonfiction

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*--* 1 The 9/11 Commission Report by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks (Norton: $10) The report.

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

3 The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (Vintage: $14.95) How a serial killer haunted the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.

4 Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama (Three Rivers Press: $13.95) Obama traces his mixed-race parentage.

5 Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki and Sharon L. Lechter (TechPress/Warner: $15.95) Fiscal parenting.

6 1,000 Places to See Before You Die by Patricia Schultz (Workman: $18.95) Trotting the globe.

7 American Dynasty by Kevin Phillips (Penguin: $15) How the Bush family has amassed power over generations.

8 Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them by Al Franken (Plume: $14) Leftist wit aimed at the right.

9 Naked in Baghdad by Anne Garrels (Picador: $14) NPR correspondent on the Iraq war and its aftermath.

10 A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn (Perennial: $18.95) The people’s America from 1492 on.

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