BESTSELLERS / PAPERBACKS

Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.

*--* SO. CAL. RATING Fiction 1 The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards (Penguin: $14) A father hides the birth of a twin from his wife.

2 On Beauty by Zadie Smith (Penguin: $15) Dueling Rembrandt scholars clash in a Massachusetts college town.

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

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

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

6 The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy (Mysterious Press: $13.99) Two cops investigate the brutal slaying of a young woman.

7 Predator by Patricia Cornwell (Berkley: $9.99) Kay Scarpetta hunts the killer of a Boston woman.

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

9 Mary, Mary by James Patterson (Warner Vision: $9.99) FBI agent Alex Cross seeks the killer of a top Hollywood actress.

10 To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (Harper Perennial: $15.95) A lawyer risks all to defend a black man.

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*--* SO. CAL. RATING Nonfiction 1 Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs (Picador: $14) A boy goes to live with his mother’s psychiatrist.

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

3 The City of Falling Angels by John Berendt (Penguin: $15) Fire destroys a Venice opera house, baring the city’s heart.

4 An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore (Rodale: $21.95) The former vice president cites the evidence for global warming.

5 100 Words to Make You Sound Smart by American Heritage Dictionaries (Houghton Mifflin: $4.95) A guide.

6 The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz (Amber-Allen: $12.95) A code of conduct based on Toltec wisdom.

7 Night by Elie Wiesel (Hill & Wang: $9) A teenager’s harrowing year spent in four concentration camps.

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

9 The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle (New World Library: $14) How to attain enlightenment by living in the now.

10 Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl (Penguin: $15) A food critic recalls dining incognito in New York.

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