BESTSELLERS

SO. CAL. RATING; Fiction; LAST WEEK; WEEKS ON LIST

1; S Is for Silence by Sue Grafton (Putnam: $26.95) Kinsey Millhone is hired to find out what happened to a woman who disappeared 34 years earlier from a Central California agricultural town.; 5; 7

2; The Lighthouse by P.D. James (Knopf: $25.95) Cmdr. Adam Dalgliesh is called to the Cornish coast to solve the murder of an acclaimed novelist who had upset his very prominent neighbors.; 2; 9

3; The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (Doubleday: $24.95) A Louvre curator’s killing leads to clues hidden in Leonardo’s paintings and a secret society with something to hide.; 3; 140

4; Christ the Lord by Anne Rice (Knopf: $25.95) A 7-year-old Jesus returns to Nazareth after the death of King Herod and gradually discovers his power to heal and raise the dead.; 1; 11

5; On Beauty by Zadie Smith (Penguin: $25.95) Identity crises, adultery, racial conflict and religious zealotry afflict two families whose lives are a 21st century parallel to E.M. Forster’s “Howards End.”; 8; 17

6; The Hostage by W.E.B. Griffin (Putnam: $26.95) A Homeland Security agent tries to foil terrorists who have kidnapped a diplomat’s wife to find a man linked to a U.N. oil-for-food program.; 4; 2

7; Arthur and George by Julian Barnes (Knopf: $24.95) Sir Arthur Conan Doyle tries to clear an obscure country lawyer convicted in a racially tinged case of mutilating cattle and writing obscene letters.; -- ; 1

8; Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See (Random House: $21.95) Two women in the cloistered society of 19th century China forge a close friendship that is threatened by misunderstanding.; -- ; 24

9; An Unacceptable Death by Barbara Seranella (St. Martin’s Minotaur: $23.95) “Munch” Mancini, a drug addict-turned-mechanic, investigates the death of her cop fiance in a drug bust gone wrong.; -- ; 1

10; The Brooklyn Follies by Paul Auster (Henry Holt: $24) A retired salesman returns to his childhood neighborhood, where he gets involved in a scheme to sell a fake manuscript of “The Scarlet Letter.”; -- ; 2

11; The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory (Touchstone: $24.95) Catherine of Aragon endures the loss of a husband, treachery and poverty in her quest to become queen of England.; 7; 5

12; Memories of My Melancholy Whores by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Knopf: $20) A nonagenarian journalist who falls for a 14-year-old virgin prostitute reflects on his life and loves.; 11; 12

13; The Cat Who Dropped a Bombshell by Lilian Jackson Braun (Putnam: $23.95) A rich columnist unravels the death of a wealthy couple as Pickax City, Mich., celebrates its sesquicentennial.; -- ; 1

14; The March by E.L. Doctorow (Random House: $25.95) On the trail as Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman makes his historic sweep of Georgia, routs Confederate troops and destroys the countryside.; -- ; 12

15; The Truth About Diamonds by Nicole Richie (ReganBooks: $23.95) A rock legend’s adopted daughter, part of Hollywood’s new elite, faces a best friend’s betrayal and a greedy birth father.; 9; 5

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SO. CAL. RATING; Nonfiction; LAST WEEK; WEEKS ON LIST

1; The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion (Knopf: $23.95) The author explores the nature of grief and survival in the months after her writer-husband’s sudden death.; 1; 16

2; Marley & Me by John Grogan (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; 9

3; State of War by James Risen (Free Press: $26) The New York Times reporter delves into the Bush administration, the CIA and the events that led up to the U.S. war with Iraq.; 14; 2

4; Bad Childhood, Good Life by Laura Schlessinger (HarperCollins: $24.95) How to move past an unhappy childhood, change negative behaviors and thrive. ; 3; 2

5; My Friend Leonard by James Frey (Penguin: $24.95) The former cocaine addict’s sequel to “A Million Little Pieces” celebrates the mobster who helped him turn his life around. ; 2; 14

6; Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (William Morrow: $25.95) An economist deconstructs statistics and uses numbers to help explain human behavior. ; 5; 34

7; For Laci by Sharon Rocha (Crown Books: $25.95) A mother’s story of love, loss and the search for justice in the death of her daughter Laci Peterson and unborn grandson, Connor.; -- ; 1

8; The World Is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $27.50) How technology and the forces of globalization are connecting -- and changing -- the world. ; 6; 40

9; Are Men Necessary? by Maureen Dowd (Putnam: $25.95) The columnist ponders relations between the sexes, the value of trapping a man and career women as artful minxes.; 12; 9

10; Love Smart by Phil McGraw (Free Press: $26) How to take control of your love life, whether it’s finding a mate or holding on to the one you already have.; 8; 5

11; The Elements of Style Illustrated by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White (Penguin Press: $24.95) The classic manual of good writing, updated with fanciful illustrations by Maira Kalman.; 9; 11

12; On Bull**** by Harry G. Frankfurt (Princeton University Press: $9.95) A leading philosopher takes on society’s view of what sometimes seems to be the fine line between truth and lying.; -- ; 16

13; Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin (Simon & Schuster: $35) How country lawyer and one-term congressman Abraham Lincoln used his savvy to bring political rivals into his Cabinet.; 11 ; 12

14; President Reagan: The Triumph of Imagination by Richard Reeves (Simon & Schuster: $30) The late president is shown as a brilliant leader who gambled on his vision of America.; -- ; 1

15; Teacher Man by Frank McCourt (Scribner: $26) In his third memoir in a series that began with “Angela’s Ashes,” the Irish immigrant plumbs 30 years of teaching high school English in New York City. ; 7; 9

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Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.