Bestsellers

Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.

*--* Fiction weeks on list 1. Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon (Penguin Press: $27.95) 5 Noir meets ‘60s Southern California groovy in a private eye’s psychedelic quest. 2. The Help by Kathryn Stockett (Putnam: $24.95) The lives 14 of a maid, a cook and a college graduate become intertwined while changing a Mississippi town. 3. South of Broad by Pat Conroy (Nan A. Talese: $29.95) A 3 gossip columnist’s homage to a close-knit group of friends from Charleston. 4. The White Queen by Philippa Gregory (Touchstone: $25.99) 3 The wars of the Plantagenets, who ruled England before the Tudors, enmeshed with the mystery of the missing princes in the Tower of London. 5. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown: $19.99) Bella 60 must choose between her lover and a friend, between life and death. 6. The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson (Knopf: 6 $25.95) A hacker, implicated in two murders, must revisit her past to prove her innocence. 7. Shanghai Girls by Lisa See (Random House: $25) Two 12 sisters from Shanghai encounter tragedy and heartbreak as they are sold into arranged marriages in 1930s Los Angeles. 8. 206 Bones by Kathy Reichs (Scribner: $26.99) A forensic 1 anthropologist attempts to clear her name while trying to solve the murders of several women. 9. That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo (Knopf : $25.95) A 4 Cape Cod wedding spurs a middle-aged man to reflect on his past, marriage, family and what the future holds. 10. Even Money by Dick Francis and Felix Francis (Putnam: 1 $26.95) The death of a bookmaker’s father is linked to horse-racing fraud. *--*

*--* Nonfiction 1. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell (Little, Brown: $27.99) 40 An exploration of the background of high achievers. 2. Zeitoun by Dave Eggers (McSweeney’s: $24) The 6 disappearance of a Syrian American father and good Samaritan in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. 3. L.A. Noir by John Buntin (Harmony: $26) Gangster 1 Mickey Cohen and LAPD Chief William Parker battle for control in midcentury Los Angeles. 4. A Bright and Guilty Place by Richard Rayner 9 (Doubleday: $25) The sagas of an ambitious young lawyer, a prime suspect in a mob murder, and a police photographer paint a picture of early 20th century Los Angeles. 5. Culture of Corruption by Michelle Malkin (Regnery 6 Publishing: $27.95) An investigation into alleged corruption in the Obama administration. 6. Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man by Steve Harvey 30 (Amistad: $23.99) The talk-show host lets women inside the mind-set of a man. 7. Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder (Random 1 House: $26) The saga of a refugee from Burundi, who, with the help of strangers, makes his home in America and goes back to start a medical clinic. 8. Crazy for the Storm by Norman Ollestad (Ecco: 12 $25.99) The son of a daredevil tells of his life on the edge and how he survived a deadly plane crash. 9. The Secret by Rhonda Byrne (Beyond Words: $23.95) 118 Life’s secrets, distilled. 10. I’m Dying Up Here by William Knoedelseder 1 (PublicAffairs: $24.95) Behind the scenes at the legendary Comedy Store. *--*