BESTSELLERS / PAPERBACKS

*--* SO. CAL. RATING Fiction

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*--* 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 a killer.

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

4 The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (Harvest: $14) A time traveler meets the child he later marries.

5 The Last Juror by John Grisham (Dell: $7.99) A killer on parole is bent on retribution as he returns to his small town.

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

7 The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith (Anchor: $11.95) Botswana’s female private eye.

8 Life of Pi by Yann Martel (Harvest: $14) A boy shares a lifeboat with a tiger on a harrowing trip.

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

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

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*--* SO. CAL. RATING Nonfiction

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

2 1,000 Places to See Before You Die by Patricia Schultz (Workman: $18.95) Trotting the globe.

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 World Almanac and Book of Facts 2005 (World Almanac Books: $11.95) Just the facts, ma’am.

5 The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz (Amber-Allen: $12.95) A code of conduct based on Toltec wisdom.

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

7 A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson (Broadway: $15.95) From the primordial to the present.

8 Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris (Little, Brown: $8.95) Elf love, Santa’s diaries and more about the season’s dark side.

9 Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama (Three Rivers: $13.95) The senator traces his mixed-raced heritage.

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

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