BESTSELLERS / PAPERBAKCS

Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.

*--* SO. CAL. RATING Fiction 1 Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See (Random House: $13.95) Two women bond in 19th century China.

2 Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (Picador: $14) An ailing minister explains his life and beliefs to his young son.

3 The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead: $14) A writer returns to Kabul to rescue the son of a childhood friend.

4 The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (Penguin: $15) A quest for the truth about a Spanish novelist.

5 Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld (Random House: $13.95) An Indiana teen on a scholarship tries to fit in at a Massachusetts prep school.

6 The Closers by Michael Connelly (Warner: $7.99) DNA evidence forces the reopening of a 17-year-old murder case.

7 Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx (Scribner: $9.95) Two cowboys in love face a harsh world.

8 The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (HarperSanFrancisco: $13) An Andalusian shepherd boy searches for treasure in Egypt.

9 The Third Secret by Steve Berry (Ballantine: $7.99) A thriller based on Our Lady of Fatima’s third secret.

10 Skeleton Man by Tony Hillerman (HarperTorch: $7.99) A pawned diamond revives the mystery of a 50-year-old plane crash.

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*--* SO. CAL. RATING Nonfiction 1 In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (Vintage: $14) The late writer’s masterful account of a Kansas family’s brutal murder.

2 Night by Elie Wiesel (Hill & Wang: $9) A teenager’s harrowing year spent in four concentration camps.

3 Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins (Plume: $15) How the U.S. pressures poor countries.

4 A Million Little Pieces by James Frey (Anchor: $14.95) A tarnished memoir of addiction and 12-step treatment.

5 The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (Vintage: $14.95) A serial killer haunts the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.

6 Collapse by Jared Diamond (Penguin: $17) Why the Maya, the Anasazi and other societies died out.

7 Sudoku Easy by Will Shortz (St. Martin’s Griffin: $6.95) Vol. 1 of the popular puzzle book.

8 The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls (Scribner: $14) A memoir of breaking away from dysfunctional parents.

9 The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell (Back Bay: $14.95) How fads, trends and ideas behave like viruses in a society.

10 The Film Snob’s Dictionary by David Kamp with Lawrence Levi (Broadway: $11.95) Reviewed on Page 2.

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