BESTSELLERS

*--* SO. CAL. RATING Fiction LAST WEEK WEEKS ON LIST

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*--* 1 A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby (Riverhead: $24.95) A -- 1 quartet of people who met on a London rooftop as they contemplated suicide form a support group for one another.

2 The Closers by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown: $26.95) 1 5 Detective Harry Bosch reunites with partner Kizmin Rider to solve a 17-year-old case after DNA evidence is found on the murder weapon.

3 The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd (Viking: $24.95) A 2 11 woman called home to cope with her troubled mother finds herself drawn to a Benedictine monk on an island off South Carolina.

4 Specimen Days by Michael Cunningham (Farrar, Straus & -- 1 Giroux: $25) Three characters evoke Walt Whitman as they traverse time in this triptych of New York stories.

5 The Starter Wife by Gigi Levangie Grazer (Simon & 6 2 Schuster: $24) The pampered wife of a studio executive finds her world turned upside down after her husband dumps her for a pop princess.

6 The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (Doubleday: $24.95) A 3 117 Louvre curator’s killing leads to clues hidden in Leonardo’s paintings and a secret society with something to hide.

7 Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk (Doubleday: $24.95) Several 4 6 writers eager for fame lock themselves in an abandoned theater for their own grotesque version of “Survivor.”

8 Velocity by Dean Koontz (Bantam: $27) Laid-back Napa 5 3 County bartender Billy Wiles is drawn into a terrifying game by a killer who asks Wiles to choose the next victim.

9 Saturday by Ian McEwan (Nan A. Talese / Doubleday: $26) 10 13 A day in the life of a neurosurgeon brings both quotidian and earth-shattering struggles in post-Sept. 11 London.

10 The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (Little, Brown: -- 1 $25.95) A teenager discovers a medieval book and a stash of letters and sets out on a hunt for the real story of Dracula, a quest close to home.

11 In the Company of Cheerful Ladies by Alexander McCall -- 6 Smith (Pantheon: $19.95) The newly married proprietor of Botswana’s No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency has a new crop of colorful cases.

12 Rage by Jonathan Kellerman (Ballantine: $26.95) 11 3 Psychologist Alex Delaware and a Los Angeles police detective seek the killer of a recently released parolee.

13 4th of July by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro 8 6 (Little, Brown: $27.95) Facing a police brutality lawsuit, Lt. Lindsay Boxer retreats to Half Moon Bay, where she stumbles upon a killing spree.

14 True Believer by Nicholas Sparks (Warner: $24.95) A -- 7 science writer who exposes fraud is called to a North Carolina town to investigate mysterious lights in a local cemetery.

15 The History of Love by Nicole Krauss (W.W. Norton: 12 4 $23.95) A writer escapes the Nazis but loses his life’s love and will to create, and a teenager attempts to heal her widowed mother’s broken heart.

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*--* SO. CAL. RATING Nonfiction LAST WEEK WEEKS ON LIST

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*--* 1 1776 by David McCullough (Simon & Schuster: $32) The 1 2 historian looks at how the American forces took on the world’s greatest military power in the Revolution’s first battles.

2 The World Is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman (Farrar, Straus & 4 9 Giroux: $27.50) How technology and the forces of globalization are connecting -- and changing -- the world.

3 You: The Owner’s Manual by Michael F. Roizen and Mehmet 3 6 C. Oz (HarperResource: $24.95) A wry and witty guide to the inner workings of the human body.

4 Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner 2 8 (William Morrow: $25.95) An economist deconstructs statistics and uses numbers to help explain human behavior.

5 Blink by Malcolm Gladwell (Little, Brown: $25.95) 5 22 Gladwell explores why decisions are so often made in an instant and whether we can really trust those first instincts.

6 French Women Don’t Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano (Knopf: 7 23 $22) The chief executive of the French wine conglomerate Clicquot Inc. reveals the French secret of eating for pleasure without the bulge.

7 On Bull... by Harry G. Frankfurt (Princeton University 6 13 Press: $9.95) A leading philosopher takes on society’s view of what sometimes seems to be the fine line between truth and lying.

8 And One More Thing Before You Go ... by Maria Shriver 9 10 (Free Press: $13.95) Ten rules for teenagers and adults alike on how to find abundance and love by knowing what is important in life.

9 Winning by Jack Welch with Suzy Welch (HarperBusiness: 8 9 $27.95) How to succeed in business (and life) by staying optimistic, making no excuses and getting things done.

10 Code Name God by Mani Bhaumik (Crossroad: $17.95) A -- 1 physicist draws on his humble beginnings as he goes on a spiritual quest in the natural world.

11 Oh the Glory of It All by Sean Wilsey (Penguin: $25.95) A 10 4 memoir of a young man who rebels against his privileged upbringing and self-absorbed parents.

12 America (The Book): A Citizen’s Guide to Democracy by Jon -- 26 Stewart et al. (Warner: $24.95) Comedy writers poke fun at U.S. politics and our institutions of democracy.

13 Being Perfect by Anna Quindlen (Random House: $12.95) The -- 3 author and longtime columnist shares her wisdom on how to avoid “the perfection trap” and live the life you desire.

14 Them by Francine du Plessix Gray (Penguin: $29.95) The -- 3 journalist and novelist writes a memoir about her trend-setting Russian refugee parents, Tatiana and Alexander Liberman.

15 Chronicles, Volume One by Bob Dylan (Simon & Schuster: -- 27 $24) The songwriter reflects on the influences that helped shape him and his struggle to rediscover his creativity.

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Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.