BESTSELLERS / PAPERBACKS

Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.

*--* SO. CAL. RATING Fiction 1 The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead: $14) A writer returns to Kabul to rescue the son of a childhood friend.

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

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

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

5 The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (Penguin: $15) A quest for the truth about a Spanish novelist.

6 Snow by Orhan Pamuk (Vintage: $14.95) A Turkish poet returns from exile to find ideological strife.

7 The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory (Touchstone: $16) Two sisters vie for the love of Henry VIII.

8 The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason (Dell: $7.99) College roommates seek a buried Roman treasure.

9 Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen (Warner: $12.95) A marine biologist thinks he’s offed his wife, but she’s plotting revenge.

10 The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler (Plume: $14) Members of a book group reveal their own foibles.

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*--* SO. CAL. RATING Nonfiction 1 The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell (Back Bay: $14.95) How fads, trends and ideas behave like viruses in a society.

2 Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki with Sharon L. Lechter (TechPress/Warner: $16.95) Fiscal parenting.

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

4 Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris (Back Bay: $14.95) The humorist on his family.

5 Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond (W.W. Norton: $16.95) A scientist’s take on Europe’s rise to dominance.

6 The Book of Sudoku by Michael Mepham (Overlook: $9.95) An introduction to the number puzzle.

7 1,000 Places to See Before You Die by Patricia Schultz (Workman: $18.95) Trotting the globe.

8 It’s Not About the Bike by Lance Armstrong and Sally Jenkins (Berkley: $14) On beating cancer, and cycling.

9 A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers (Vintage: $14.95) A 22-year-old raises his brother.

10 Bad Cat by Jim Edgar (Workman: $9.95) Meet 244 cats and kittens with attitude, all in living color.

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