BESTSELLERS / PAPERBACKS

Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.

*--* SO. CAL. RATING Fiction 1 Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (Picador: $14) An ailing minister explains his life and beliefs to his young son.

2 The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead: $14) A writer returns to Kabul to rescue the son of a childhood friend.

3 The Closers by Michael Connelly (Warner: $7.99) DNA evidence forces the reopening of a 17-year-old murder case.

4 Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami (Vintage: $14.95) A Tokyo teen runs from his Oedipal fears.

5 Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx (Scribner: $9.95) Two cowboys in love face a harsh world.

6 Skeleton Man by Tony Hillerman (HarperTorch: $7.99) A pawned diamond revives the mystery of a 50-year-old plane crash.

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

8 The Forgotten by Robert Crais (Ballantine: $7.99) Private eye Elvis Cole searches for the father he never knew.

9 Honeymoon by James Patterson and Howard Roughan (Warner Books: $13.95) An FBI agent tracks a female serial killer.

10 Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld (Random House: $13.95) An Indiana teen on a scholarship tries to fit in at a Massachusetts prep school.

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*--* SO. CAL. RATING Nonfiction 1 Night by Elie Wiesel (Hill & Wang: $9) A teenager’s harrowing year spent in four concentration camps.

2 A Million Little Pieces by James Frey (Anchor: $14.95) A tarnished memoir of addiction and 12-step treatment.

3 In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (Vintage: $14) The writer’s masterful account of a Kansas family’s brutal murder.

4 Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins (Plume: $15) How the U.S. pressures poor countries.

5 Collapse by Jared Diamond (Penguin: $17) Why the Maya, the Anasazi and other societies died out.

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

7 The Schreiber Theory by David Kipen (Melville House: $12) On writers, not directors, as the true auteurs of Hollywood.

8 Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki with Sharon L. Lechter (TechPress/Warner: $16.95) Fiscal parenting.

9 Animals in Translation by Temple Grandin (Harvest Books: $15) How autism explains animal behavior.

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

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