BOOK REVIEW

Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.

*--* Fiction weeks on list 1. The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown (Doubleday: $25.99) Harvard 4 professor Robert Langdon uses his symbology skills to find a missing Freemason in Washington, D.C. 2. The Help by Kathryn Stockett (Putnam: $24.95) The lives 19 of a maid, a cook and a college graduate become intertwined while changing a Mississippi town. 3. Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby (Riverhead: $25.95) A woman 1 acquaints herself with the songwriter whose album caused the breakup of her relationship. 4. Rough Country by John Sandford (Putnam: $26.95) Virgil 1 Flowers investigates a kayaker’s death at a women’s resort in Minnesota. 5. An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon (Delacorte Press: 3 $30) A romance blooms in Colonial times with consequences centuries later. 6. A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore (Knopf : $25.95) A 6 naive Midwestern college coed takes a job as a nanny for a recently adopted toddler. 7. Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger (Scribner: 1 $26.99) Superficial twins move into their recently deceased aunt’s flat in London only to find her spirit still lingering. 8. Blood’s a Rover by James Ellroy (Knopf : $28.95) A bank 2 heist sets off an escapade through ‘60s L.A. with run-ins with the mob, the FBI and Howard Hughes. 9. The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson (Knopf: 11 $25.95) A hacker implicated in two murders must revisit her past to prove her innocence. 10. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press: 5 $17.99) The winners of the annual Hunger Games face the consequences of their victory. *--*

*--* Nonfiction 1. True Compass by Edward Kennedy (Twelve: $35) The 3 memoirs of the late U.S. senator from Massachusetts. 2. Where Men Win Glory by Jon Krakauer (Doubleday: 4 $27.95) A chronicle of Pat Tillman, the NFL star turned Army ranger whose death in Afghanistan stunned the power structure. 3. Have a Little Faith by Mitch Albom (Hyperion: $23.99) 2 Albom’s observations of a rabbi and a pastor throughout an eight-year journey of faith. 4. Arguing With Idiots by Glenn Beck (Threshold Editions: 2 $29.99) Secrets and facts for winning arguments with small-minded people. 5. The Greatest Show on Earth by Richard Dawkins (Free 1 Press: $30) A pro-evolution argument filled with scientific evidence to support the anti-creationist theory. 6. L.A. Noir by John Buntin (Harmony: $26) Gangster 6 Mickey Cohen and LAPD Chief William Parker battle for control in midcentury Los Angeles. 7. The Murder of King Tut by James Patterson and Martin 1 Dugard (Little, Brown: $26.99) Evidence, stories and clues that point to the murder of the boy king. 8. American on Purpose by Craig Ferguson (Harper: $25.99) 2 A memoir of the Scottish-born comic living the American Dream. 9. The Possibility of Everything by Hope Edelman 2 (Ballantine: $27.95) The author and her husband seek help from a shaman in Belize to exorcise her daughter’s imaginary friend. 10. The Case for God by Karen Armstrong (Knopf: $27.95) An 2 examination of the recent decline of the practice of numerous organized religions. *--*