Southern California Rankings:FICTION1. BRIDGET JONES’S DIARY by...

Southern California Rankings:

FICTION

1. BRIDGET JONES’S DIARY by Helen Fielding (Viking: $22.95) The New Year’s resolutions of a single thirtysomething girlie Brit, from personal appearance to the perfect man.

Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 5

2. A WIDOW FOR ONE YEAR by John Irving (Random House: $27.95) From childhood to middle age, a woman learns that one must wait a long time to fall in love.

Last Week: 5; Weeks on List: 10

3. MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA by Arthur Golden (Knopf: $25) The life and loves of a teahouse entertainer growing up in Kyoto during World War II.

Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 35

4. SUMMER SISTERS by Judy Blume (Delacorte: $21.95) Friendship between two unlikely girls blossoms and grows through years of hardship and maturity.

Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 8

5. I KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE by Wally Lamb (ReganBooks: $27.50) A man’s search for meaning with his twin brother. Reviewed by Jean Hanff Korelitz, Page 14.

Last Week: 11; Weeks on List: 4

6. THE NOTEBOOKS OF DON RIGOBERTO by Mario Vargas Llosa (Farrar, Straus and Giroux: $23) The erotic reveries of a Spanish gentleman with marital problems.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

7. ABOUT A BOY by Nick Hornby (Riverhead: $22.95) A London bachelor’s comfy existence is upended by a needy youngster who squeezes into his life.

Last Week: 6; Weeks on List: 8

8. GONE FOR GOOD by Mark Childress (Knopf: $25) A folk-rock singer crashes on an island inhabited by Elvis, Marilyn and other celebrities.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

9. FREEDOMLAND by Richard Price (Broadway Books: $25) The hunt for an abducted child turns up the heat in a hellish New Jersey town.

Last Week: 9; Weeks on List: 8

10. MISADVENTURES IN THE (213) by Dennis Hensley (Rob Weisbach Books/Morrow: $24) Struggling writers, publicists and media egotists hunt for fame in Hollywood.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

11. THE KLONE AND I by Danielle Steel (Delacorte: $17.95) Finding the right chemistry in a story of high-tech love among the test tubes.

Last Week: 8; Weeks on List: 3

12. COLD MOUNTAIN by Charles Frazier (Atlantic Monthly: $24) A Confederate soldier deserts the Civil War and walks home to his farm and sweetheart.

Last Week: 13; Weeks on List: 48

13. THE LAST FULL MEASURE by Jeff Shaara (Ballantine: $25.95) The final novel in a trilogy about the Civil War in the years after the Gettysburg turning point.

Last Week: 7; Weeks on List: 6

14. THE STREET LAWYER by John Grisham (Doubleday: $27.95) After being confronted on a city street, an arrogant lawyer becomes a hero for the homeless.

Last Week: 8; Weeks on List: 21

15. THE CHIMNEY SWEEPER’S BOY by Barbara Vine (Harmony: $24) A woman uncovers painful secrets as she writes a biography of her English novelist father.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

****

NONFICTION

1. TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE by Mitch Albom (Doubleday: $19.95) A sportswriter’s empowering story of his weekly visits to see an older dying friend.

Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 28

2. EASY RIDERS, RAGING BULLS by Peter Biskind (Simon & Schuster: $25) How the sex -drugs-and rock ‘n’ roll generation of filmakers saved Hollywood.

Last Week: 5; Weeks on List: 13

3. A MONK SWIMMING by Malachy McCourt (Hyperion: $23.95) The brother of Frank McCourt offers a bawdy antidote to a sad childhood.

Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 5

4. SHIP OF GOLD IN THE DEEP BLUE SEA by Gary Kinder (Atlantic Monthly: $27.50) A modern-day adventure to retrieve $450 million from a sunken steamer.

Last Week: 8; Weeks on List: 6

5. IF YOU’RE NOT OUT SELLING, YOU’RE BEING OUTSOLD by Michael St. Lawrence and Steven Johnson (Wiley: $22) Getting in touch with your inner salesman.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 4

6. ANGELA’S ASHES by Frank McCourt (Scribner: $24) A bittersweet lyrical memoir of a poverty-stricken childhood in a rain-soaked Irish city.

Last Week: 7; Weeks on List: 86

7. THE NINE STEPS TO FINANCIAL FREEDOM by Suze Orman (Crown: $23) Practical tips for avoiding stress, making good savings plans and managing money.

Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 13

8. A PIRATE LOOKS AT FIFTY by Jimmy Buffet (Random House: $24.95) The songwriter-author reflects on his ventures around the globe aboard his seaplane.

Last Week: 6; Weeks on List: 4

9. TITAN by Ron Chernow (Random House: $30) A biography of John D. Rockefeller Sr. that draws upon unpublished interviews with the industrial tycoon.

Last Week: 9; Weeks on List: 6

10. THE MILLIONAIRE NEXT DOOR by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Lanko (Longstreet Press: $22) Lives of the rich and famous, including golden parachutes.

Last Week: 11; Weeks on List: 25

11. CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD, BOOK ONE by Neale Donald Walsch (Putnam: $19.95) Channeling messages from Mr. Big about good, evil and the meaning of life.

Last Week: 13; Weeks on List: 58

12. PHILISTINES AT THE HEDGEROW by Steven Gaines (Little, Brown: $26.95) A social history of the elite living on walled estates in the Hamptons.

Last Week: 15; Weeks on List: 3

13. WE ARE OUR MOTHERS’ DAUGHTERS by Cokie Roberts (Morrow: $19.95) Challenging the roles of women in society. Reviewed by Karen Stabiner, Page 12.

Last Week: 12; Weeks on List: 10

14. THE GIFTS OF THE JEWS by Thomas Cahill (Nan A. Talese/Doubleday: $23.50) How a nomadic people heard the Almighty’s voice and transformed the world.

Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 13

15. RAT PACK CONFIDENTIAL by Shawn Levy (Doubleday: $23.95) What happened when Sinatra asked his buddies to party in a place called Las Vegas.

Last Week: 14; Weeks on List: 5

PAPERBACKS

FICTION

1. DIVINE SECRETS OF THE YA-YA SISTERHOOD by Rebecca Wells (HarperCollins: $13) Sisterhood in the South.

2. THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS by Arundhati Roy (HarperPerennial: $13) The rise and fall of an Indian family.

3. A LESSON BEFORE DYING by Ernest J. Gaines (Vintage: $12) Visits with a teen facing death in a small, Southern town.

4. UNNATURAL EXPOSURE by Patricia Cornwell (Berkley: $7.99) Kay Scarpetta hunts for a killer in cyberspace.

5. SHE’S COME UNDONE by Wally Lamb (Pocket: $14) A woman’s painful journey of self-discovery.

6. HIGH FIDELITY by Nick Hornby (Riverhead: $12.95) A 35-year-old man squelches heartbreak with pop music.

7. THE BEST LAID PLANS by Sidney Sheldon (Warner: $7.99) A political dreamer meets a sexy schemer.

8. THE COMEDY WRITER by Peter Farrelly (Main Street: $12.95) An East Coast screenwriter gets a surreal taste of L.A.

9. THE ANGEL OF DARKNESS by Caleb Carr (Ballantine: $7.99) In this sequel to “The Alienist,” the victims are infants.

10. A CUP OF TEA by Amy Ephron (Ballantine: $10) How one glance can ruin another woman’s life.

****

NONFICTION

1. UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN by Frances Mayes (Broadway: $13) Making a home in a glorious Italian landscape.

2. THE PERFECT STORM by Sebastian Junger (HarperPerennial: $13) Fishermen trapped in the fury of an Atlantic storm.

3. THE COLOR OF WATER by James McBride (Riverhead: $12) A black musician’s homage to his white mother.

4. INTO THIN AIR by Jon Krakauer (Anchor Books: $7.99) Risk and recklessness on Mt. Everest.

5. NAKED by David Sedaris (Little Brown: $12.95) Autobiographical essays from the NPR commentator.

6. NEWS OF A KIDNAPPING by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Penguin: $12.95) A Colombian drug cartel’s abduction of a journalist.

7. CONVERSATIONS WITH MY AGENT by Rob Long (Plume: $11.95) A “Cheers” writer recounts life after the hit sitcom.

8. BRAIN DROPPINGS by George Carlin (Hyperion: $9.95) The comedian’s look at the humorous absurdity of modern life.

9. FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS by Hunter Thompson (Vintage: $11) A gonzo-journalist on a magic carpet ride.

10. TEAM RODENT by Carl Hiaasen (Ballantine: $8.95) The greed behind the gleam of the Walt Disney company.

Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.