Southern California RankingFICTION1. FREEDOMLAND by Richard Price...

Southern California Ranking

FICTION

1. 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: 10; Weeks on List: 4

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: 1; Weeks on List: 6

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

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

4. 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: 3; Weeks on List: 31

5. CITIES OF THE PLAIN by Cormac McCarthy (Knopf: $25) A New Mexico rancher duels with a pimp to save the life and win the love of a 16-year-old girl.

Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 5

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

Last Week: 8; Weeks on List: 4

7. HEMINGWAY’S CHAIR by Michael Palin (St. Martin’s: $23.95) Life with a mild-mannered postmaster whose macho alter ego is Papa Hemingway.

Last Week: 6; Weeks on List: 2

8. DAMASCUS GATE by Robert Stone (Houghton Mifflin: $26) Extremists plot to blow up Jerusalem’s Temple Mount and usher in the apocalypse.

Last Week: 5; Weeks on List: 9

9. 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: 7; Weeks on List: 4

10. YOU BELONG TO ME by Mary Higgins Clark (Simon and Schuster: $25) A psychologist’s interest in a missing woman attracts a killer with an ear for music.

Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 8

11. 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: 14 ; Weeks on List: 2

12. MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE by Nicholas Sparks (Warner: $20) A single mother searches for a lonely heart who threw a lover’s plea into the ocean.

Last Week: 13 ; Weeks on List: 7

13. 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: 12 ; Weeks on List: 45

14. N IS FOR NOOSE by Sue Grafton (Marian Wood/Henry Holt: $25) Kinsey Millhone risks her neck investigating an unexplained death in an unfriendly town.

Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 7

15. 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: 11; Weeks on List: 18

PAPERBACK: 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. THE HORSE WHISPERER by Nicholas Evans (Dell: $7.50) A woman discovers love on the range.

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

5. LONDON by Edward Rutherfurd (Fawcett Crest: $7.99) The city’s history, from primeval to present.

6. THE CHINCHILLA FARM by Judith Freeman (Vintage: $12) A woman sorts out her Utah Mormon upbringing on the way to L.A.

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

8. LE DIVORCE by Diane Johnson (Plume: $12.95) Not-so-innocents abroad in France.

9. HUMAN CROQUET by Kate Atkinson (Picador USA: $14) A Shakespearean time warp affects a mild British suburb.

10. AMERICAN PASTORAL by Philip Roth (Vintage: $14) The sorrows of Swede Levov, as told by Nathan Zuckerman.

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: 24

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

Last Week: 2 ; Weeks on List: 9

3. WE ARE OUR MOTHERS’ DAUGHTERS by Cokie Roberts (Morrow: $19.95) Female activists, politicians, soldiers and others who are challenging the role of women in society.

Last Week: 5 ; Weeks on List: 6

4. 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: 4; Weeks on List: 2

5. 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: 1; Weeks on List: 2

6. THE NIGHT WITHOUT ARMOR by Jewel (HarperCollins: $15) A poetry collection about hard knocks and deep thoughts by the pop singer.

Last Week: 15; Weeks on List: 2

7. 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: 3; Weeks on List: 11

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

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

9. 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: 9; Weeks on List: 83

10. 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: 6; Weeks on List: 10

11. 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: 14; Weeks on List: 21

12. THE MAN WHO LISTENS TO HORSES by Monty Roberts (Random House: $23) Homespun philosophy from a trainer who turns wild horses into pussy cats.

Last Week: 7; Weeks on List: 21

13. 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: 8 ; Weeks on List: 55

14. STILL ME by Christopher Reeve (Random House: $25) The actor looks back on his career and on the rebuilding of his life after his paralysis.

Last Week: 10; Weeks on List: 6

15. TOUGH JEWS by Rich Cohen (Simon and Schuster: $23) The story of a Brooklyn gang, as told by the author’s father and his group of cronies.

Last Week: 11; Weeks on List: 7

PAPERBACK: NONFICTION

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

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

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

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

5. PERSONAL HISTORY by Katharine Graham (Vintage: $15) The heiress at the helm of the Washington Post.

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

7. TOTAL TITANIC by Marc Shapiro (Pocket: $5.99) More information on the ocean liner’s doomed voyage.

8. L.A. BIZARRO by Anthony Lovett and Matt Maranian (Buzz/St. Martin’s: $16.95) Trivia and tidbits from L.A.’s twilight zone.

9. A CIVIL ACTION by Jonathan Harr (Vintage: $13) David versus an industrial Goliath in Massachusetts.

10. DEPTH TAKES A HOLIDAY by Sandra Tsing Loh (Riverhead: $13) The highs and lows of life in Los Angeles.

Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.