BESTSELLERS

*

*--* SO. CAL. RATING Fiction LAST WEEK WEEKS ON LIST 1 The Ruins by Scott Smith 3 4 (Knopf: $24.95) Four American friends in Cancun who agree to help a German tourist find his missing brother end up in a Mexican jungle a la TV’s “Lost.”

2 Suite Francaise by Irene 5 17 Nemirovsky (Knopf: $25) Two novellas from a writer killed at Auschwitz on the exodus from Paris ahead of the Germans’ arrival and on life in a farming village under occupation.

3 Special Topics in Calamity -- 1 Physics by Marisha Pessl (Viking: $25.95) Brilliant, eccentric high school students and their film studies teacher are drawn into a murder mystery.

4 The Messenger by Daniel 1 3 Silva (Putnam: $25.95) Israeli art restorer and spymaster Gabriel Allon tries to avert an Islamic militants’ assassination plot against the pope.

5 The Night Gardener by 11 2 George Pelecanos (Little, Brown: $24.99) The reemergence of a serial killer reunites three men who had worked on the original investigation for the D.C. police department.

6 The Devil and Miss Prym by 12 6 Paulo Coelho (HarperCollins: $24.95) A former arms dealer comes to a village with a proposal: wealth for all if one of its residents is murdered within the week.

7 Judge & Jury by James 2 2 Patterson and Andrew Gross (Little, Brown: $27.99) An FBI agent finally gets his man, but a brutal mob boss hires a killer to make sure no conviction comes down.

8 The Keep by Jennifer Egan 8 2 (Alfred A. Knopf: $23.95) Two cousins fix up their frayed relationship as they repair an Eastern European castle in the hopes of launching a luxe hotel.

9 Literacy and Longing in -- 11 L.A. by Jennifer Kaufman and Karen Mack (Delacorte: $22) A book-obsessed divorcee stalks her movie-mogul ex-husband until she meets a literature major.

10 Phantom by Terry Goodkind 6 4 (Tor Books: $29.95) In the 10th book in the “Sword of Truth” series, Kahlan Amnell seeks her true identity in a war-torn world she has the power to destroy.

11 Happiness Sold Separately -- 1 by Lolly Winston (Warner Books: $21.99) With fertility treatment straining his marriage, a husband dallies with a gym trainer seeking a father for her son.

12 Fourth Bear: A Nursery -- 1 Crime by Jasper Fforde (Viking: $24.95) Det. Jack Spratt, demoted to the missing-persons detail, hunts for Goldy, a reporter last seen by the Three Bears.

13 Pegasus Descending by 10 4 James Lee Burke (Simon & Schuster: $26) Sober and newly married, Det. Dave Robicheaux tries to solve the 25-year-old armored-car heist that caused his partner’s death.

14 Winter’s Bone by Daniel -- 1 Woodrell (Little, Brown: $22.99) An Ozarks teenager searches for her meth-cooking father to keep her two brothers and mentally ill mother from losing their house.

15 Three Days to Never by Tim -- 1 Powers (William Morrow: $25.95) A man who discovers he is a descendant of Albert Einstein battles a shadowy Gnostic seeking a time-travel machine.

*--*

*--* SO. CAL. RATING Nonfiction LAST WEEK WEEKS ON LIST 1 Fiasco: The American 2 3 Military Adventure in Iraq by Thomas E. Ricks (Penguin: $27.95) The Washington Post reporter details the administration’s “reckless” war in Iraq.

2 I Feel Bad About My Neck: 1 3 And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman by Nora Ephron (Knopf: $19.95) The screenwriter considers the effects of gravity and aging.

3 Marley & Me by John Grogan 5 39 (William Morrow: $21.95) A columnist recalls how Marley, an incorrigible Labrador retriever, flunked obedience school, terrorized a pet sitter and won over his family.

4 The Looming Tower by -- 1 Lawrence Wright (Knopf: $27.95) A penetrating explanation of the ideological roots of Al Qaeda and how Osama bin Laden came to hate America.

5 I Feel Earthquakes More -- 1 Often Than They Happen by Amy Wilentz (Simon & Schuster: $26) Leaving the East Coast behind, Wilentz takes on California.

6 Conservatives Without 3 5 Conscience by John W. Dean (Viking: $25.95) The former Watergate figure argues that the conservative movement has become riddled with authoritarianism.

7 The One Percent Doctrine 10 8 by Ron Suskind (Simon & Schuster: $27) How the analyses of U.S. counter-terrorism experts were exaggerated or dismissed to justify going to war with Iraq.

8 Cesar’s Way by Cesar 4 19 Millan with Melissa Jo Peltier (Harmony: $24.95) The “Dog Whisperer” of TV gives tips on understanding and correcting common canine behavior problems.

9 The World Is Flat by 6 69 Thomas L. Friedman (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $30) How technology and globalization are changing the world and the training that is needed to compete.

10 Mommies Who Drink by Brett -- 1 Paesel (Warner Books: $23.99) An exhausted new mom endures stultifying mommy-and-me play groups and wonders if she even has a maternal instinct.

11 Heat by Bill Buford 7 11 (Knopf: $25.95) The journalist chronicles his time as a “kitchen slave” to TV chef Mario Batali and reveals the secrets of a three-star restaurant and Italian cooking.

12 Laurel Canyon by Michael 8 12 Walker (Faber & Faber: $25) A look at the ‘60s rock bands and artists whose creativity flowered in Laurel Canyon, then a sylvan enclave above Sunset Boulevard.

13 The Long Tail by Chris 13 5 Anderson (Hyperion: 24.95) How technological advances have shattered the old paradigms on marketing and created new opportunities for niche selling.

14 The Omnivore’s Dilemma by -- 5 Michael Pollan (Penguin: $26.95) A revealing look at the food we eat, the agribusiness that produces it and the corn that is now in nearly everything edible.

15 Freakonomics by Steven D. 9 60 Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (William Morrow: $25.95) An economist deconstructs statistics and uses numbers to help explain human behavior.

*--*

Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.