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PAPERBACKS

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

*--* Fiction weeks on list 1. Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon (Del Rey: 2 $21.95) An unlikely pair of travelers ply their skills along the Silk Road in the 10th century. 2. Stone Cold by David Baldacci (Grand Central: $26.99) 1 Adventurers try to outmaneuver a swindled casino owner and a mysterious killer. 3. The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold (Little, Brown: $24.99) 4 A depressed divorcee kills her mother, then tries to understand what drove her to it. 4. Protect and Defend by Vince Flynn (Atria: $26.95) When 2 the CIA’s director is kidnapped in Iraq, counterterrorism agent Mitch Rapp must rescue her. 5. World Without End by Ken Follett (Dutton: $35) Four 5 children who witness a murder jockey for power and position as adults in 14th century England. 6. Book of the Dead by Patricia Cornwell (Putnam: $26.95) 4 Forensics expert Kay Scarpetta goes to Rome to investigate a tennis champ’s murder. 7. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead: 26 $25.95) Two Afghan women struggle to survive jihad, civil war and Taliban tyranny. 8. The Chase by Clive Cussler (Putnam: $26.95) A detective 1 pursues a bank-robbing killer across the West, landing in San Francisco during the 1906 quake. 9. Home to Holly Springs by Jan Karon (Viking: $26.95) An 2 Episcopal priest returns to his Mississippi town and grapples with a family secret. 10. Run by Ann Patchett (Harper: $25.95) A widower faces 5 complications when one of his children is shadowed by the birth mother. *--*

*--* Nonfiction 1. I Am America (and so Can You!) by Stephen Colbert 6 (Grand Central: $26.99) “The Colbert Report” star expounds on the forces destroying America. 2. You: Staying Young by Michael F. Roizen and Mehmet C. 2 Oz (Free Press: $26) Doctors explain how the body ages and how to counter those effects. 3. Clapton by Eric Clapton (Broadway: $26) The guitarist 5 tells all -- about the blues, becoming a rock legend, his bouts with addiction and his loves. 4. Boom! Voices of the Sixties by Tom Brokaw (Random 1 House: $28.95) Recollections of a decade of social change that swept America. 5. The Daring Book for Girls by Andrea J. Buchanan and 2 Miriam Peskowitz (HarperCollins: $24.95) A girls’ handbook of skills and must-have knowledge. 6. Slash by Slash and Anthony Bozza (Harper 2 Entertainment: $27.95) The Guns N’ Roses guitarist details his raucous road to fame and fortune. 7. The Secret by Rhonda Byrne (Beyond Words: $23.95) 47 Life’s secrets distilled from oral tradition, literature, religion and philosophy. 8. The Long Embrace by Judith Freeman (Pantheon: $25.95) 1 The tale of Raymond Chandler and the beautiful, much older woman he married. 9. Become a Better You by Joel Osteen (Free Press: $25) 3 The Texas pastor offers advice on prayer, good habits and building better relationships. 10. American Creation by Joseph J. Ellis (Knopf: $26.95) 2 A look at the challenges facing the nation from the War of Independence to the Louisiana Purchase. *--*

Fiction

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

3. The Road by Cormac McCarthy ($14.95)

4. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho ($13.95)

5. The Gathering by Anne Enright ($14)

-- Nonfiction

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

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

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

4. The Wisdom of Menopause by Christiane Northrup ($20)

5. The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright ($15.95)

Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.