FICTION1 DEATH IN HOLY ORDERS by...

FICTION

1 DEATH IN HOLY ORDERS by P.D. James (Alfred A. Knopf: $25) In East Anglia, a theological college is torn apart by a sacrilegious and horrifying murder.

Last Week: 3; Weeks On List: 4

2 THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER & CLAY by Michael Chabon (Random House: $26.95) In World War II Brooklyn, two Jewish cousins break into the comic book business.

Last Week: 6; Weeks On List: 11

3 BACK WHEN WE WERE GROWNUPS by Anne Tyler (Alfred A. Knopf: $25) A fiftysomething widow and loving mom copes with midlife. Reviewed by Susan Reynolds, Page 11.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 1

4 SILENT JOE by T. Jefferson Parker (Hyperion: $23.95) A young sheriff’s deputy, his face horribly scarred, uncovers his mysterious past when he hunts the killers of his adopted father.

Last Week: 1; Weeks On List: 5

5 THE LAST TIME THEY MET by Anita Shreve (Little, Brown: $24.95) Two poets sustain a lifelong passion though they’ve been together only three times.

Last Week: 14; Weeks On List: 6

6 THE BONESETTER’S DAUGHTER by Amy Tan (Putnam: $25.95) A ghostwriter uncovers her family’s anguished past in China as her mother struggles with Alzheimer’s disease.

Last Week: 5; Weeks On List: 12

7 A COMMON LIFE by Jan Karon (Viking: $24.95) The villagers in Mitford celebrate, from pre-nup counseling to the walk down the aisle, when Father Tim marries his next-door neighbor.

Last Week: 4; Weeks On List: 5

8 UNFINISHED BUSINESS by Barbara Seranella (Scribner: $24) Spunky mechanic “Munch” Mancini returns, in pursuit of a rapist-murderer who knows where she and her daughter live.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 1

9 THE LOST DAUGHTER OF HAPPINESS by Geling Yan (Hyperion: $22.95) The fictionalized story of Fusang, a Chinese prostitute in 1870s San Francisco who became a minor celebrity.

Last Week: 10; Weeks On List: 2

10 FIXER CHAO by Han Ong (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $25 ) A Filipino street hustler devises a hokey philosophy of feng shui that he peddles among New York’s elite.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 1

11 THE DYING ANIMAL by Philip Roth (Houghton Mifflin: $23) An aging cultural critic recalls a devastating, all-consuming affair he had with a 24-year-old ex-student.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 1

12 ON THE STREET WHERE YOU LIVE by Mary Higgins Clark (Simon & Schuster: $26) In a sleepy resort town, an attorney believes that a serial killer from a century ago has returned.

Last Week: 13; Weeks On List: 3

13 A DAY LATE AND A DOLLAR SHORT by Terry McMillan (Viking: $25.95) A matriarch, her husband and her children see life--and one another--on their own terms.

Last Week: 15; Weeks On List: 14

14 HOTEL HONOLULU by Paul Theroux (Houghton Mifflin: $26) Lives of the honeymooners, vacationers and other middle Americans at a down-at-heels Hawaiian hotel.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 1

15 THE LAST REPORT ON THE MIRACLES AT LITTLE NO HORSE by Louise Erdrich (HarperCollins: $26) A priest suffers a crisis of conscience in an Ojibwe community in North Dakota.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 3

Southern California

NONFICTION

1 SHEBA by Nicholas Clapp (Houghton Mifflin: $26) The filmmaker and archeologist goes in search of the legendary queen of the desert, who may or may not have been fictional.

Last Week: 6; Weeks On List: 2

2 NAPALM AND SILLY PUTTY by George Carlin (Hyperion: $22.95) Carlin offers a series of his unique comedic meditations on life’s annoying universal truths.

Last Week: 12; Weeks On List: 2

3 BEHIND THE SMILE by Marie Osmond with Marcia Wilkie and Judith Moore (Warner: $24.95) The entertainer describes her struggles with the darkness of postpartum depression.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 1

4 I’M THE ONE THAT I WANT by Margaret Cho (Ballantine: $22.95) A comedian’s bumpy road to fame as part of TV’s first sitcom featuring an Asian American family.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 1

5 SEABISCUIT by Laura Hillenbrand (Random House: $24.95) How three men transformed a thoroughbred horse from a neurotic also-ran into an American sports icon.

Last Week: 2; Weeks On List: 10

6 WHO MOVED MY CHEESE? by Spencer Johnson (Putnam: $19.95) The coauthor of “The One Minute Manager” uses the parable of mice in a maze to show people how to manage change.

Last Week: 3; Weeks On List: 60

7 FOUNDING BROTHERS by Joseph J. Ellis (Alfred A. Knopf: $26) The lives of America’s founders, their squabbles and collaborations, long before they were deified in history books.

Last Week: 4; Weeks On List: 5

8 A SHORT GUIDE TO A HAPPY LIFE by Anna Quindlen (Random House: $12.95) The columnist reflects on what it takes to “get a life” by living deeply rather than merely existing.

Last Week: 7; Weeks On List: 26

9 KILLING PABLO by Mark Bowden (Atlantic Monthly: $25) The story of the rise and fall of Pablo Escobar, a Colombian drug lord and one of the narcotic trade’s first billionaires.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 1

10 THE TRIAL OF HENRY KISSINGER by Christopher Hitchens (Verso: $22) Hitchens argues that Kissinger committed crimes against humanity and should stand trial under international law.

Last Week: 1; Weeks On List: 2

11 COMFORT ME WITH APPLES by Ruth Reichl (Random House: $24.95) Personal and professional anecdotes from a life lived as a chef and food writer.

Last Week: 10; Weeks On List: 2

12 A YEAR IN VAN NUYS by Sandra Tsing Loh (Crown: $23) Coming to terms with writer’s block and approaching middle age in a place far from Provence--the San Fernando Valley.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 1

13 FAST-FOOD NATION by Eric Schlosser (Houghton Mifflin: $25) A journalist exposes the fast-food industry’s strategies, from meatpacking to the boardroom, to control American consumers.

Last Week: 5; Weeks On List: 13

14 WALKING THE BIBLE by Bruce Feiler (William Morrow: $26) A writer joins an archeologist on a trek in the Middle East to connect more deeply with his religious roots.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 5

15 TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE by Mitch Albom (Doubleday: $19.95) A sportswriter’s story of the life lessons he received during weekly visits to an older dying friend.

Last Week: 14; Weeks On List: 166

Paperbacks

FICTION

1 BRIDGET JONES’S DIARY by Helen Fielding (Penguin: $12.95) A thirtysomething Londoner’s quest for a mate.

2 GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING by Tracy Chevalier (Plume: $12) The woman who inspired a Vermeer painting.

3 THE RED TENT by Anita Diamant (Picador USA: $14) The blossoming of Dinah, Jacob’s only daughter, in Genesis.

4 ANIL’S GHOST by Michael Ondaatje (Vintage: $13) An anthropologist investigates murder in Ceylon.

5 BRIDGET JONES: THE EDGE OF REASON by Helen Fielding (Penguin: $13) Has Bridget found the perfect mate?

6 THE HOURS by Michael Cunningham (Picador USA: $13) Three stories tied to Virginia Woolf’s “Mrs. Dalloway.”

7 SPEAKING WITH THE ANGEL edited by Nick Hornby (Berkley: $12) First-person tales by today’s writers.

8 THE FEAST OF LOVE by Charles Baxter (Vintage: $13) Love, loss and redemption mingle in Michigan lives.

9 GETTING OVER IT by Anna Maxted (ReganBooks: $14) A telephone call interrupts a young woman’s life of frivolity.

10 GIRL IN HYACINTH BLUE by Susan Vreeland (Penguin: $12) Eight stories linked by a Dutch master’s painting. Southern California

NONFICTION

1 THE WORST-CASE SCENARIO SURVIVAL HANDBOOK: TRAVEL by J. Piven & D. Borgenicht (Chronicle: $14.95)

2 HOME RUN edited by George Plimpton (Harvest: $13) Essays on the magic of knocking one out of the park.

3 A HEARTBREAKING WORK OF STAGGERING GENIUS by Dave Eggers (Vintage: $14) A 22-year-old raises his brother.

4 TIME TO BE IN EARNEST by P.D. James (Ballantine: $12.95) A premier crime writer reflects on her life and craft.

5 THE WORST-CASE SCENARIO SURVIVAL HANDBOOK by Joshua Piven & David Borgenicht (Chronicle: $14.95) S-O-S!

6 OH NO! NOT ANOTHER PROBLEM by Jeanette A. Griver and Michele W. Vodrey (Compsych: $12.95) Problem solving.

7 THE FOREST FOR THE TREES by Betsy Lerner (Riverhead: $12) Writing and publishing from an editor’s point of view.

8 THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES by Eve Ensler (Villard: $12.95) The award-winning play in book form.

9 A CHILD CALLED “IT” by Dave Pelzer (Health Communications: $9.95) Life with a sadistic mother.

10 IN THE HEART OF THE SEA by Nathaniel Philbrick (Penguin: $14) The tragedy that inspired “Moby Dick.”

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Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.