BESTSELLERS / PAPERBACKS

Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.

*--* SO. CAL. RATING Fiction 1 The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (Anchor: $7.99) A Louvre curator’s killing leads to a secret society.

2 Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See (Random House: $13.95) Two women in 19th century China.

3 The History of Love by Nicole Krauss (W.W. Norton: $13.95) A writer escapes the Nazis but loses his beloved.

4 Saturday by Ian McEwan (Anchor: $14.95) A neurosurgeon’s day of struggle in post-Sept. 11 London.

5 The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd (Penguin: $14) A woman confronts her long-dormant desires.

6 March by Geraldine Brooks (Penguin: $14) Imagining the Civil War experiences of Mr. March, father of the “Little Women.”

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

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

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

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

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

3 My Life So Far by Jane Fonda (Random House: $16.95) The actress, antiwar activist and fitness guru tells her story.

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

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

6 The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls (Scribner: $14) A memoir of breaking away from dysfunctional parents.

7 Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl (Penguin: $15) A food critic recalls trying to dine incognito in New York.

8 Playing President by Robert Scheer (Akashic: $14.95) A journalist’s perspective on Presidents Nixon through Bush.

9 1,000 Places to See Before You Die by Patricia Schultz (Workman: $18.95) Trotting the globe.

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

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