BESTSELLERS

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*--* SO. CAL. RATING Fiction LAST WEEK WEEKS ON LIST 1 Blue Shoes and Happiness -- 1 by Alexander McCall Smith (Pantheon: $21.95) At the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, Precious Ramotswe tries to slim down while solving dilemmas for her clients.

2 A Dirty Job by Christopher 4 5 Moore (William Morrow: $24.95) A San Francisco shopkeeper is tapped to collect souls from the newly departed in this dark comedy.

3 The Debutante Divorcee by -- 1 Plum Sykes (Miramax: $23.95) Having succeeded at finding husbands, several New York City women busily try to get divorces to be swinging singles again.

4 Two Little Girls in Blue 2 3 by Mary Higgins Clark (Simon & Schuster: $25.95) Parents return from an evening out to discover their 3-year-old twins missing and an $8-million ransom demand.

5 Dark Harbor by Stuart 5 2 Woods (Putnam: $25.95) A New York lawyer called to a Maine town because of the death of a cousin and his family doubts the local police theory of murder-suicide.

6 Gone by Jonathan Kellerman 3 4 (Ballantine: $22.95) Psychologist Alex Delaware and an LAPD detective combine forces to solve the disappearance and death of an aspiring actress.

7 Prisoner of Memory by 10 2 Denise Hamilton (Scribner: $24) An L.A. newspaper reporter stumbles on a body and is drawn into a mystery involving the Russian mob.

8 Suite Francaise by Irene 1 2 Nemirovsky (Knopf: $25) A posthumous novel by a celebrated novelist killed at Auschwitz about the Jewish exodus from Paris to a German-occupied village.

9 The March by E.L. Doctorow 6 16 (Random House: $25.95) On the trail with Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman as he sweeps Georgia, routs Confederate troops and destroys the countryside.

10 Between the Bridge and the -- 2 River by Craig Ferguson (Chronicle Books: $24.95) Boyhood pals navigate the dregs of the entertainment industry, organized religion and the media.

11 The Tenth Circle by Jodi 7 7 Picoult (Atria: $26) The seemingly bucolic life of a Maine family unravels as the past and present converge with haunting consequences.

12 Black Swan Green by David -- 1 Mitchell (Random House: $23.95) The coming-of-age struggles of a 13-year-old boy in a Midlands village in Margaret Thatcher’s Britain.

13 Everyman by Philip Roth -- 1 (Houghton Mifflin: $24) A New Jersey ad man with a lifelong obsession about his imminent death reflects on what he’s missed.

14 The Templar Legacy by -- 7 Steve Berry (Ballantine: $24.95) Intrigue swirls around a medieval monastic order and its long-lost archive that purports to disprove central Christian dogma.

15 Oakdale Confidential by 13 2 Anonymous (Pocket Books: $19.95) The guest of honor at a hospital gala arrives dead of an apparent heart attack, but three women suspect murder.

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*--* SO. CAL. RATING Nonfiction LAST WEEK WEEKS ON LIST 1 Marley & Me by John Grogan 1 23 (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.

2 The Gospel of Judas edited 3 3 by Rodolphe Kasser et al. (National Geographic: $22) The lost gospel of Judas Iscariot suggests that he was doing Jesus’ bidding when he betrayed him.

3 Cesar’s Way by Cesar 9 3 Millan with Melissa Jo Peltier (Harmony: $24.95) The popular TV show host gives tips on understanding and correcting common canine behavior problems.

4 The World Is Flat by -- 53 Thomas L. Friedman (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $27.50) How technology and the forces of globalization are connecting -- and changing -- the world.

5 Freakonomics by Steven D. 6 47 Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (William Morrow: $25.95) An economist deconstructs statistics and uses numbers to help explain human behavior.

6 A Death in Belmont by -- 1 Sebastian Junger (W.W. Norton: $23.95) The author explores whether confessed Boston Strangler Albert DeSalvo murdered a woman near his childhood home.

7 American Theocracy by 2 5 Kevin Phillips (Viking: $26.95) Phillips argues that an overzealous global reach, a rise in fundamentalist religion and high debt historically lead to downfall.

8 My Life in France by Julia 4 3 Child with Alex Prud’homme (Knopf: $25.95) The late chef’s memoir of her formative years in France, studies at the Cordon Bleu and the best Parisian restaurants.

9 Bad Childhood, Good Life -- 10 by Laura Schlessinger (HarperCollins: $24.95) How to move past an unhappy childhood, change negative behaviors and thrive.

10 Burlesque and the Art of -- 5 the Teese by Dita Von Teese (ReganBooks: $34.95) A former Playboy model and burlesque stripper known for her elaborate costumes expounds on the art of the tease.

11 The Year of Magical 5 30 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.

12 Don’t Make a Black Woman 12 2 Take Off Her Earrings by Tyler Perry (Riverhead: $23.95) The “Diary of a Mad Black Woman” author offers more advice from his alter ego, Madea.

13 Motherless Mothers by Hope -- 1 Edelman (HarperCollins: $25.95) The author explores how the loss of a mother in childhood shapes a woman’s behavior as a parent.

14 Eat, Pray, Love by -- 3 Elizabeth Gilbert (Viking: $24.95) After deciding that marriage and motherhood isn’t for her, the author embarks on a journey of self-discovery in Italy, India and Indonesia.

15 The Omnivore’s Dilemma by 7 2 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.

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