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

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

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

5 Wicked by Gregory Maguire (ReganBooks: $16) The Wicked Witch of the West tells her side of the story.

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

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

8 The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (HarperSanFrancisco: $13) An Andalusian shepherd boy searches for treasure in Egypt.

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

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

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*--* SO. CAL. RATING Nonfiction 1 The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (Vintage: $14.95) A serial killer haunts the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.

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

3 The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell (Back Bay: $14.95) How fads, trends and ideas behave like viruses in a society.

4 Why Do Men Have Nipples? by Mark Leyner and Billy Goldberg (Three Rivers Press: $12.95) What’s up, doc?

5 Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs (Picador: $14) A boy goes to live with his mother’s psychiatrist.

6 Sudoku Easy by Will Shortz (St. Martin’s Griffin: $6.95) A collection of easy-to-solve puzzles.

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

8 Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris (Back Bay: $14.95) Quirky reflections on life in Paris and elsewhere.

9 Su Doku for Dummies by Andrew Heron and Edmund James (Wiley: $9.99) Puzzle-solving hints, as well as 240 puzzles.

10 Sudoku: Easy to Hard by Will Shortz (St. Martin’s Griffin: $6.95) One hundred wordless crossword puzzles.

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