BESTSELLERS

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

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*--* 1 The Closers by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown: $26.95) 1 3 Detective Harry Bosch reunites with partner Kizmin Rider to solve a 17-year-old case after DNA evidence is found on the murder weapon.

2 The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd (Viking: $24.95) A 2 9 woman called home to cope with her troubled mother finds herself drawn to a Benedictine monk on an island off South Carolina.

3 Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk (Doubleday: $24.95) Several 3 4 writers eager for fame lock themselves in an abandoned theater for their own grotesque version of “Survivor.”

4 4th of July by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro 5 4 (Little, Brown: $27.95) Facing a police brutality lawsuit, Lt. Lindsay Boxer retreats to Half Moon Bay, where she stumbles upon a killing spree.

5 Zorro by Isabel Allende (HarperCollins: $25.95) The back 13 4 story of how Diego de la Vega transforms himself into the dashing and legendary figure of colonial California.

6 Saturday by Ian McEwan (Nan A. Talese / Doubleday: $26) 8 11 A day in the life of a neurosurgeon brings both quotidian and earth-shattering struggles in post-Sept. 11 London.

7 The Hot Kid by Elmore Leonard (William Morrow: $25.95) 4 3 In 1930s Oklahoma, a deputy marshal tracks bank robbers and investigates a son’s blackmail scheme against his oilman father.

8 Broken Prey by John Sandford (Putnam: $26.95) Minnesota 12 3 investigator Lucas Davenport sorts through false leads to find a psychopathic serial killer who taunts authorities.

9 The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (Doubleday: $24.95) A 6 115 Louvre curator’s killing leads to clues hidden in Leonardo’s paintings and a secret society with something to hide.

10 Rage by Jonathan Kellerman (Ballantine: $26.95) -- 1 Psychologist Alex Delaware and a Los Angeles police detective seek the killer of a recently released parolee.

11 Velocity by Dean Koontz (Bantam: $27) Laid-back Napa -- 1 County bartender Billy Wiles is drawn into a terrifying game by a killer who asks Wiles to choose the next victim.

12 Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: -- 18 $23) An aging minister facing death explains his life and religious beliefs in a letter to his young son.

13 Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith by Matthew Woodring 9 9 Stover (Del Rey: $25.95) Yoda and fellow masters try to protect the Jedi Council amid civil war and the arrival of a dark new Sith lord.

14 True Believer by Nicholas Sparks (Warner: $24.95) A 14 6 science writer who exposes fraud is called to a North Carolina town to investigate mysterious lights in a local cemetery.

15 Europe Central by William T. Vollmann (Viking: $39.95) -- 2 Real and fictional characters are tested in a maelstrom of the violence and genocide following the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union.

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

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*--* 1 You: The Owner’s Manual by Michael F. Roizen and Mehmet 4 4 C. Oz (HarperResource: $24.95) A wry and witty guide to the inner workings of the human body.

2 Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner 1 6 (William Morrow: $25.95) An economist deconstructs statistics and uses numbers to help explain human behavior.

3 The World Is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman (Farrar, Straus & 5 7 Giroux: $27.50) How technology and the forces of globalization are connecting -- and changing -- the world.

4 Blink by Malcolm Gladwell (Little, Brown: $25.95) 6 20 Gladwell explores why decisions are so often made in an instant and whether we can really trust those first instincts.

5 On Bull... by Harry G. Frankfurt (Princeton University 3 11 Press: $9.95) A leading philosopher takes on society’s view of what sometimes seems to be the fine line between truth and lying.

6 French Women Don’t Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano (Knopf: 2 21 $22) The chief executive of the French wine conglomerate Clicquot Inc. reveals the French secret of eating for pleasure without the bulge.

7 The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands by Laura -- 33 Schlessinger (HarperCollins: $24.95) The talk show host tells how to manage the “very simple creature” that is man.

8 And One More Thing Before You Go ... by Maria Shriver 8 8 (Free Press: $13.95) Ten rules for teenagers and adults alike on how to find abundance and love by knowing what is important in life.

9 Winning by Jack Welch with Suzy Welch (HarperBusiness: -- 7 $27.95) How to succeed in business (and life) by staying optimistic, making no excuses and getting things done.

10 Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl (Penguin: $24.95) The -- 5 former L.A. Times Food editor writes about her years trying to dine unrecognized as the New York Times’ restaurant critic.

11 Them by Francine du Plessix Gray (Penguin: $29.95) The -- 2 journalist and novelist writes a memoir about her trend-setting Russian refugee parents, Tatiana and Alexander Liberman,

12 Oh the Glory of It All by Sean Wilsey (Penguin: $25.95) A 13 2 memoir of a young man who rebels against his privileged upbringing and self-absorbed parents.

13 Field Notes on the Compassionate Life by Marc Ian Barasch -- 1 (Rodale Books: $24.95) The former editor of New Age Journal considers the meaning of kindness and compassion.

14 It! by Paula Froelich (Miramax Books: $19.95) A celebrity -- 1 reporter offers the nine most important secrets of the rich and famous that can guarantee success.

15 Remains: Non-viewable by John Sacret Young (Farrar, -- 1 Straus & Giroux: $24) The co-creator of TV’s “China Beach” revisits the events that followed his cousin’s death in Vietnam in 1969.

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