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

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

6 The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant (Random House: $13.95) A love story amid the artistic ferment of 14th century Italy.

7 3rd Degree by James Patterson and Andrew Gross (Warner: $7.99) Four women investigate an act of political terror.

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

9 To Die For by Linda Howard (Ballantine: $7.99) A witness to a crime gets police protection, but the attacks keep mounting.

10 The Known World by Edward P. Jones (Amistad: $13.95) Love and betrayal on a black slave owner’s plantation.

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

3 Found by Davy Rothbart (Fireside: $14) Tales of the best lost, forgotten and discarded items from around the world.

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

5 1000 Places to See Before You Die by Patricia Schultz (Workman: $18.95) Trotting the globe.

6 Don’t Think of an Elephant by George Lakoff (Chelsea Green: $10) A guide for political progressives.

7 The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby (McSweeney’s: $14) A collection of Hornby’s columns from the Believer.

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

9 100 Words Almost Everyone Confuses & Misuses (American Heritage/Houghton Mifflin: $4.95)

10 The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad (Back Bay: $12.95) A journalist lives with an Afghan bookseller and his family.

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Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.