Bestsellers

PAPERBACKS

Fiction

*--* Fiction weeks on list 1. The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown: 2 $27.99) A recently downsized reporter investigates a serial killer who uses his computer job to find his victims. 2. Shanghai Girls by Lisa See (Random House: $25) Two 2 sisters from Shanghai encounter tragedy and heartbreak as they are sold into arranged marriages in 1930s Los Angeles. 3. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown: $19.99) Bella 48 must choose between her lover and a friend, between life and death. 4. Skin Trade by Laurell K. Hamilton (Berkley: $26.95) 1 Anita Blake hunts down a vampire serial killer in Las Vegas. 5. Gone Tomorrow by Lee Child (Delacorte: $27) The capture 3 of a suspected suicide bomber on a N.Y. subway causes a chain of global events. 6. The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan 1 (William Morrow: $26.99) A vampiric virus infects New York via a deadly flight from Germany. 7. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown: $22.99) 45 The final book in the “Twilight” saga finds Bella choosing immortality. 8. Medusa by Clive Cussler with Paul Kemprecos (Penguin: 1 $27.95) The Special Assignments Team investigates mysterious underwater occurrences poised to set off a worldwide pandemic. 9. Pygmy by Chuck Palahniuk (Doubleday: $24.95) Terrorists 5 disguised as foreign exchange students living with American families plot mass destruction. 10. The Help by Kathryn Stockett (Putnam: $24.95) The lives 3 of a maid, a cook and a college graduate become intertwined while changing a Mississippi town. *--*

*--* Nonfiction 1. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell (Little, Brown: $27.99) 30 An exploration of the background of high achievers. 2. The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow 58 (Hyperion: $21.95) A professor’s terminal cancer inspires a call to seize life’s moments. 3. Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man by Steve Harvey 19 (Amistad: $23.99) The talk-show host lets women inside the mind-set of a man. 4. Excuses Begone by Wayne W. Dyer (Hay House: $24.95) 1 Advice on achieving success and happiness by changing self-defeating habits. 5. Liberty and Tyranny by Mark R. Levin (Threshold 12 Editions: $25) The talk-radio personality’s call to revitalize the conservative vision in America. 6. Horse Soldiers by Doug Stanton (Scribner: $28) A 2 unit of Special Forces soldiers pursues the Taliban in Afghanistan after 9/11. 7. The Secret by Rhonda Byrne (Beyond Words: $23.95) 111 Life’s secrets, distilled. 8. Losing Mum and Pup by Christopher Buckley (Twelve: 6 $24.99) The son of William F. and Patricia Buckley tells of life with the high-powered couple and how he coped with their deaths. 9. Mirrors by Eduardo Galeano (Nation Books: $26.95) A 2 history of the world told through lesser-known tales of artists, writers and visionaries. 10. This Is Water by David Foster Wallace (Little, 5 Brown: $14.99) Thoughts and advice from a 2005 commencement speech at Kenyon College. *--*

1. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows ($14)

2. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith ($12.95)

3. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer ($10.99)

4. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer ($10.99)

5. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout ($14)

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Nonfiction

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

2. When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris ($15.99)

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

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

5. American Lion by Jon Meacham ($18)

Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores. --

latimes.com/books

An eye on L.A.

Paperback Writers: Reyner Banham’s “Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies.” Off the Shelf: J. Robert Lennon explains how writers really spend their time. Jacket Copy: Welcome to PoMo month!