Los Angeles Times bestsellers for the week of March 15, 2009
Fiction weeks on list 1. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw by Jeff Kinney(Amulet: $12.95) Greg’s dad enlists him in organized sports in order to toughen him up. 7 2. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown: $22.99) The final book in the “Twilight” saga finds Bella choosing immortality. 31 3. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown: $19.99) Bella must choose between her lover and a friend, between life and death. 34 4. The Associate by John Grisham (Doubleday : $27.95) Sinister forces use a law-school grad’s dark secret to blackmail him into working as a spy at his new firm, putting his life in danger. 5 5. Promises in Death by J.D. Robb (Putnam Adult: $26.95) A cop killer is hunted down in New York City in 2060. 1 6. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (Dial Press: $22) A writer corresponds with islanders after German occupation. 31 7. Drood by Dan Simmons (Little, Brown: $26.95) An imagining of Charles Dickens’ last years and his obsession with the dark side of London. 3 8. Fool by Christopher Moore (William Morrow: $26.99) King Lear’s jester and an apprentice set out to save the kingdom in this comedy of errors. 3 9. The Renegades by T. Jefferson Parker (Dutton: $26.95) A sheriff sets out to find the gunman who shot his new partner. 3 10. Little Bee by Chris Cleave (Simon & Schuster: $24) The lives of two married British journalists and a Nigerian teenager collide. 1 11. White Witch, Black Curse by Kim Harrison (Eos: $25.99) A bounty hunter and witch avenge the murder of her lover. 1 12. The Women by T.C. Boyle (Viking: $27.95) Frank Lloyd Wright’s life as told through the experiences of the four women who loved him. 4 13. Heart and Soul by Maeve Binchy (Knopf: $26.95) A visiting doctor becomes entrenched in the lives of the staff at a community clinic in Dublin. 2 14. Scarpetta by Patricia Cornwell (Putnam: $27.95) Forensic pathologist Kay Scarpetta travels to New York to examine a psychiatric patient at Bellevue. 7 15. All the Colors of Darkness by Peter Robinson (William Morrow: $25.99) The plot of “Othello” comes to life in the death of a local theater’s costume designer. 1 Nonfiction 1. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell (Little, Brown: $27.99) An exploration of the background of high achievers. 16 2. 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. 5 3. The Yankee Years by Joe Torre (Doubleday: $26.95) Behind the scenes of what it really took to try to keep the Yankees on top of the baseball world. 5 4. The Inaugural Address 2009 by Barack Obama (Penguin: $12) A keepsake edition commemorating the inauguration of the 44th president with the words of Abraham Lincoln and Ralph Waldo Emerson. 4 5. Obama: The Historic Journey by the New York Times staff (Callaway: $40) The road to the White House. 2 6. 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. 44 7. The Secret by Rhonda Byrne (Beyond Words: $23.95) Life’s secrets, distilled. 100 8. Dewey by Vicki Myron with Bret Witter (Grand Central: $19.99) The impact that a cat named Dewey Readmore Books had on an Iowa library and its patrons. 23 9. How We Decide by Jonah Lehrer (Houghton Mifflin: $25) Insight and understanding of human decision-making. 3 10. Angels & Ages by Adam Gopnik (Knopf: $24.95) A search for the men behind the myths, Lincoln and Darwin, both born on the same day. 3 11. The Black Hand by Chris Blatchford (William Morrow: $25.95) An in-depth look at the Mexican Mafia told through the biography of Rene “Boxer” Enriquez. 2 12. Snark by David Denby (Simon & Schuster: $15.95) Critic and author Denby discusses the meaning and history of snark. 2 13. Breakthrough by Suzanne Somers (Crown: $25.95) Advice on healthy living and the newest treatments for longevity. 8 14. The Lost City of Z by David Grann (Doubleday: $27.50) British explorer Col. Percy Fawcett’s quest to find an ancient Amazonian society. 1 15. The Great Depression Ahead by Harry S. Dent Jr. (Free Press: $27) The economic forecaster shares his techniques and explains their effect on the economic downturn. 2
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