BESTSELLERS

PAPERBACKS

1. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen ($13.95)

*--* Fiction weeks on list 1. The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold (Little, Brown: $24.99) 2 A depressed divorcee kills her mother, then tries to understand what drove her to it. 2. Book of the Dead by Patricia Cornwell (Putnam: $26.95) 2 Forensics expert Kay Scarpetta goes to Rome to investigate a tennis champ’s murder. 3. World Without End by Ken Follett (Dutton: $35) Four 3 children struggle in 14th century England during the Black Death. 4. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead: 24 $25.95) Two Afghan women struggle to survive jihad, civil war and Taliban tyranny. 5. A Lick of Frost by Laurell K. Hamilton (Ballantine: 1 $24.95) Meredith Gentry, the half-human, half-fairy former private eye, is trying to get pregnant. 6. The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perrotta (St. Martin’s: 2 $24.95) A church group forces abstinence-only sex education on a high school. 7. Now and Then by Robert B. Parker (Putnam: $25.95) 1 Spenser is on a mission after a troubled client who believes his wife is cheating turns up dead. 8. Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo (Knopf: $26.95) A dying 5 Northeast factory town weighs on the lives of its inhabitants. 9. Playing for Pizza by John Grisham (Doubleday: $21.95) A 5 down-on-his-luck pro quarterback finds refuge on a football team in Parma, Italy. 10. The Choice by Nicholas Sparks (Grand Central: $24.99) A 5 veterinarian determined to play the field falls hard for his next-door neighbor. *--*

*--* Nonfiction 1. I Am America (and so Can You!) by Stephen Colbert 4 (Grand Central: $26.99) “The Colbert Report” star expounds on the forces destroying America. 2. Clapton by Eric Clapton (Broadway: $26) The legendary 3 guitarist tells all about the blues, becoming a rock legend, his bouts with addiction and his loves. 3. Fair Game by Valerie Plame Wilson (Simon & 1 Schuster: $26) The former CIA agent tells of her outing by the Bush administration over the Iraq war. 4. The Dangerous Book for Boys by Conn and Hal Iggulden 24 (HarperCollins: $24.95) Learn how to tie knots, find true north and other essential skills. 5. The Secret by Rhonda Byrne (Beyond Words: $23.95) 45 Life’s secrets distilled from oral tradition, literature, religion and philosophy. 6. Become a Better You by Joel Osteen (Free Press: $25) 1 The Texas pastor offers advice on prayer, good habits and building better relationships. 7. The Age of Turbulence by Alan Greenspan (Penguin: 6 $35) The enigmatic former Fed chief explains his economic actions, good and bad. 8. The Conscience of a Liberal by Paul Krugman (Norton: 1 $25.95) The columnist argues that U.S. prosperity is inextricably linked to economic equality. 9. Schulz & Peanuts by David Michaelis 1 (HarperCollins: $34.95) A look at the troubled, psychologically complex man who created the Peanuts comic strip. 10. The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein (Metropolitan: $28) 2 How free trade and privatization policies have wreaked economic havoc around the world. *--*

Fiction

2. Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez ($14.95)

3. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini ($15)

4. Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky ($14.95)

5. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho ($13.95)

-- Nonfiction

1. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert ($15)

2. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer ($13.95)

3. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin ($15)

4. The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan ($16)

5. The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle ($14)

Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.