Los Angeles Times bestsellers for Sept. 13, 2009
| Fiction | Weeks on list | |
| 1. | Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon (Penguin Press: $27.95) Noir meets ‘60s Southern California groovy in a private eye’s psychedelic quest. | 5 |
| 2. | The Help by Kathryn Stockett (Putnam: $24.95) The lives of a maid, a cook and a college graduate become intertwined while changing a Mississippi town. | 14 |
| 3. | South of Broad by Pat Conroy (Nan A. Talese: $29.95) A gossip columnist’s homage to a close-knit group of friends from Charleston. | 3 |
| 4. | The White Queen by Philippa Gregory (Touchstone: $25.99) The wars of the Plantagenets, who ruled England before the Tudors, enmeshed with the mystery of the missing princes in the Tower of London. | 3 |
| 5. | Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown: $19.99) Bella must choose between her lover and a friend, between life and death. | 60 |
| 6. | The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson (Knopf: $25.95) A hacker implicated in two murders must revisit her past to prove her innocence. | 6 |
| 7. | Shanghai Girls by Lisa See (Random House: $25) Two sisters from Shanghai encounter tragedy and heartbreak as they are sold into arranged marriages in 1930s Los Angeles. | 12 |
| 8. | 206 Bones by Kathy Reichs (Scribner: $26.99) A forensic anthropologist attempts to clear her name while trying to solve the murders of several women. | 1 |
| 9. | That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo (Knopf : $25.95) A Cape Cod wedding spurs a middle-aged man to reflect on his past, marriage, family and what the future holds. | 4 |
| 10. | Even Money by Dick Francis and Felix Francis (Putnam: $26.95) The death of a bookmaker’s father is linked to horse-racing fraud. | 1 |
| 11. | Alex Cross’s Trial by James Patterson and Richard DiLallo (Little, Brown: $27.99) Alex Cross tells the story of his great-uncle and a lawyer fighting racism and lynchings in a Southern town at the turn of the 20th century. | 2 |
| 12. | Blood Promise by Richelle Mead (Razorbill : $16.99) The fourth book in the Vampire Academy series follows up on a deadly attack on St. Vladimir’s Academy. | 1 |
| 13. | The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafón (Doubleday: $26.95) A novelist in 1920s Barcelona takes a dangerous writing assignment. | 11 |
| 14. | Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw by Jeff Kinney (Amulet: $12.95) Greg’s dad enlists him in sports to toughen him up. | 26 |
| 15. | The Magicians by Lev Grossman (Viking: $26.95) A group of aspiring prestidigitators sets out to save the enchanted land of Fillory. | 3 |
| Nonfiction | ||
| 1. | Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell (Little, Brown: $27.99) An exploration of the background of high achievers. | 40 |
| 2. | Zeitoun by Dave Eggers (McSweeney’s: $24) The disappearance of a Syrian American father and good Samaritan in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. | 6 |
| 3. | L.A. Noir by John Buntin (Harmony: $26) Gangster Mickey Cohen and LAPD Chief William Parker battle for control in midcentury Los Angeles. | 1 |
| 4. | A Bright and Guilty Place by Richard Rayner (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. | 9 |
| 5. | Culture of Corruption by Michelle Malkin (Regnery Publishing: $27.95) An investigation into alleged corruption in the Obama administration. | 6 |
| 6. | Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man by Steve Harvey (Amistad: $23.99) The talk-show host lets women inside the mind-set of a man. | 30 |
| 7. | Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder (Random 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. | 1 |
| 8. | Crazy for the Storm by Norman Ollestad (Ecco: $25.99) The son of a daredevil tells of his life on the edge and how he survived a deadly plane crash. | 12 |
| 9. | The Secret by Rhonda Byrne (Beyond Words: $23.95) Life’s secrets, distilled. | 118 |
| 10. | I’m Dying Up Here by William Knoedelseder (PublicAffairs: $24.95) Behind the scenes at the legendary Comedy Store. | 1 |
| 11. | The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow (Hyperion: $21.95) A professor’s terminal cancer inspires a call to seize life’s moments. | 70 |
| 12. | This Is Water by David Foster Wallace (Little, Brown: $14.99) Thoughts and advice from a 2005 commencement speech at Kenyon College. | 7 |
| 13. | Born to Run by Christopher McDougall (Knopf: $24.95) An exploration of the Tarahumara Indians and their secrets of long-distance running. | 31 |
| 14. | Liberty and Tyranny by Mark R. Levin (Threshold Editions: $25) The talk-radio personality’s call to revitalize the conservative vision in America. | 23 |
| 15. | Mirrors by Eduardo Galeano (Nation Books: $26.95) A history of the world told through tales of artists, writers and visionaries. | 7 |
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