Los Angeles Times bestsellers for June 21, 2009
| Fiction | weeks on list | |
| 1. | The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown: $27.99) A recently downsized reporter investigates a serial killer who uses his computer job to find his victims. | 2 |
| 2. | 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. | 2 |
| 3. | Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown: $19.99) Bella must choose between her lover and a friend, between life and death. | 48 |
| 4. | Skin Trade by Laurell K. Hamilton (Berkley: $26.95) Anita Blake hunts down a vampire serial killer in Las Vegas. | 1 |
| 5. | Gone Tomorrow by Lee Child (Delacorte: $27) The capture of a suspected suicide bomber on a N.Y. subway causes a chain of global events. | 3 |
| 6. | The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro & Chuck Hogan (William Morrow: $26.99) A vampiric virus infects New York via a deadly flight from Germany. | 1 |
| 7. | Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown: $22.99) The final book in the “Twilight” saga finds Bella choosing immortality. | 45 |
| 8. | Medusa by Clive Cussler with Paul Kemprecos (Penguin: $27.95) The Special Assignments Team investigates mysterious underwater occurrences poised to set off a worldwide pandemic. | 1 |
| 9. | Pygmy by Chuck Palahniuk (Doubleday: $24.95) Terrorists disguised as foreign exchange students living with American families plot mass destruction. | 5 |
| 10. | 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. | 3 |
| 11. | The Lovers by John Connolly (Simon & Schuster: $26) Retired PI Charlie Parker delves into his father’s suicide while being hunted down by hit men. | 1 |
| 12. | The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (Knopf: $24.95) A journalist explores the cold-case disappearance of a Swedish teen heiress. | 15 |
| 13. | The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan (Disney Hyperion: $17.99) Percy Jackson and his army of demigods battle to stop the Lord of Time. | 6 |
| 14. | First Family by David Baldacci (Grand Central: $27.99) A child is kidnapped from a birthday party held at Camp David. | 7 |
| 15. | Relentless by Dean Koontz (Bantam: $27) A bestselling novelist encounters a sociopathic book critic with dangerous consequences. | 1 |
| Nonfiction | ||
| 1. | Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell (Little, Brown: $27.99) An exploration of the background of high achievers. | 30 |
| 2. | 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. | 58 |
| 3. | 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. | 19 |
| 4. | Excuses Begone by Wayne W. Dyer (Hay House: $24.95) Advice on achieving success and happiness by changing self-defeating habits. | 1 |
| 5. | Liberty and Tyranny by Mark R. Levin (Threshold Editions: $25) The talk-radio personality’s call to revitalize the conservative vision in America. | 12 |
| 6. | Horse Soldiers by Doug Stanton (Scribner: $28) A unit of Special Forces soldiers pursues the Taliban in Afghanistan after 9/11. | 2 |
| 7. | The Secret by Rhonda Byrne (Beyond Words: $23.95) Life’s secrets, distilled. | 111 |
| 8. | Losing Mum and Pup by Christopher Buckley (Twelve: $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. | 6 |
| 9. | Mirrors by Eduardo Galeano (Nation Books: $26.95) A history of the world told through lesser-known tales of artists, writers and visionaries. | 2 |
| 10. | This Is Water by David Foster Wallace (Little, Brown: $14.99) Thoughts and advice from a 2005 commencement speech at Kenyon College. | 5 |
| 11. | The Girls From Ames by Jeffrey Zaslow (Gotham: $26) Eleven childhood friends from Iowa maintain enduring friendships throughout the years. | 6 |
| 12. | Divine Soul Songs by Zhi Gang Sha (Atria: $26.95) Spiritual wisdom to transform your life. | 1 |
| 13. | Promises I Made My Mother by Sam Haskell (Ballantine: $24) A Hollywood agent reveals how he kept his pledge to his mother to live a decent life. | 4 |
| 14. | The Unforgiving Minute by Craig M. Mullaney (Penguin Press: $28.95) A soldier shares his education-by-fire experiences from his 20-year Army career. | 1 |
| 15. | American Prince by Tony Curtis with Peter Golenbock (Harmony: $25.95) A memoir of the actor’s life and loves during Hollywood’s golden age. | 3 |
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