BESTSELLERS

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

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*--* 1 Lost Light by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown: $25.95) A 1 3 film employee’s murder and the heist of $1 million used as a movie prop draw Harry Bosch into the role of avenging angel

2 The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (Doubleday: $24.95) A 2 4 Louvre curator’s murder leads to clues hidden in Leonardo’s paintings and a secret society with something to hide

3 The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (Little, Brown: $21.95) 3 43 A murdered girl tells the story of her grieving family still learning to cope, the killer and the detective who hunts him

4 Left Behind: Armageddon by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. -- 1 Jenkins (Tyndale House: $24.99) The Tribulation Force is drawn to the Middle East as a final war against the anti-Christ nears

5 Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: -- 5 $27) A Greek family embraces the mid-century American dream, and a young girl takes a journey to manhood

6 The King of Torts by John Grisham (Doubleday: $27.95) The 5 11 case of a young man charged in a street killing turns out to be tied to a conspiracy involving a pharmaceutical giant

7 Life of Pi by Yann Martel (Harcourt: $25) After a ship -- 21 disaster, a lone Indian boy shares a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger during a harrowing and hallucinatory trip

8 Cerulean Sins by Laurell K. Hamilton (Berkley: $22.95) 10 2 Vampire hunter Anita Blake is hired by a sinister stranger to raise the dead and finds herself caught in a hunt for a supernatural killer

9 Children of the Storm by Elizabeth Peters (William 6 2 Morrow: $25.95) Amateur sleuth Amelia Peabody Emerson faces strange deaths that may be caused by a curse

10 Cosmopolis by Don DeLillo (Scribner: $25) A high-flying 4 4 Wall Streeter takes an epic limo ride across Manhattan at the height of the dot-com boom

11 The Guardian by Nicholas Sparks (Warner: $24.95) A young -- 1 woman’s caught between mourning her late husband and the unwanted affections of a stalker

12 The Jester by James Patterson and Andrew Gross (Little, 15 6 Brown: $27.95) An 11th century French innkeeper returns from the Crusades to find his wife imprisoned by a tyrannical lord

13 Sugar Skull by Denise Hamilton (Scribner: $25) Feisty -- 2 reporter Eve Diamond looks for the connection between the deaths of a runaway and a socialite during the Mexican Day of the Dead in L.A

14 Birthright by Nora Roberts (Putnam: $25.95) An 8 2 archeological site unearthed at a housing tract attracts a beautiful archeologist, her ex-husband, and a stranger who knows all about her past

15 Cold Pursuit by T. Jefferson Parker (Hyperion: $23.95) 9 3 Homicide cop Tom McMichael probes the murder of a wealthy old man who’d been bitterly feuding with his family for many years

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

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*--* 1 Leap of Faith by Queen Noor (Miramax Books: $25.95) The 2 4 life and times of a Princeton student who is courted by a Middle Eastern monarch and becomes Jordanian royalty

2 Stupid White Men and Other Sorry Excuses for the State of 1 58 the Nation by Michael Moore (ReganBooks: $24.95) Lampooning the Bush administration and more

3 What Should I Do With My Life? by Po Bronson (Random 7 12 House: $24.95) A look at 50 professionals, some successful, some not, and their thoughts on pursuing dreams through their careers

4 Jarhead by Anthony Swofford (Scribner: $24) A blunt and 3 6 bittersweet Gulf War memoir from a former Marine sniper, recounting the loneliness and brutality of life as a soldier

5 The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle (New World Library: 15 36 $21.95) How to improve relationships and encourage happiness and contentment by living in the present

6 Black Dahlia Avenger by Steve Hodel (Arcade: $27.95) A -- 1 new investigation into an L.A. phantom, the killer who eluded police after committing a Jack the Ripper-like murder of a young woman in 1947

7 Atkins for Life by Robert C. Atkins (St. Martin’s: 11 12 $24.95) The late physician’s mission against low-fat diets argues that carbohydrates are the true culprits in weight gain

8 The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (Crown: -- 8 $25.95) A chronicle of how a serial killer, posing as a charming doctor, haunted the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair

9 The Crisis of Islam by Bernard Lewis (Modern Library: -- 1 $19.95) A preeminent scholar of the Middle East maps out Muslim anxiety toward Western imperialism, past and present

10 Sahara by Michael Palin (St. Martin’s: $29.95) Life after -- 1 Monty Python: The comic continues his globe-trotting with a visit to the peoples of North Africa

11 The Savage Nation by Michael Savage (WND Books: $24.99) 8 14 The confrontational radio show host is on a mission to save the nation from itself, railing against feminism and the lack of school prayer

12 Good to Great by Jim Collins (HarperCollins: $27.50) How 5 30 a great product, a healthy corporate culture, and a disciplined workforce can propel a company to success

13 Dereliction of Duty by Robert Patterson (Regnery: $27.95) 6 4 A onetime military aide to President Clinton faults the former commander in chief for failing to lead the country with dignity and honor

14 The Power of Full Engagement by Jim Loehr and Tony 9 5 Schwartz (Free Press: $26) Executive trainers offer a guide for stressed-out individuals who need help balancing life and work

15 The Purpose-Driven Life by Rick Warren (Zondervan: 13 8 $19.99) How the principles of worship, community, discipleship, ministry and evangelism lead to a fulfilled life

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