FictionTHE MEMOIRS OF CLEOPATRA by Margaret George....

Fiction

THE MEMOIRS OF CLEOPATRA by Margaret George. (St. Martin’s: $27.95). The queen of the Nile describes her shaky rule over a kingdom and her reign over men’s hearts. Southern California ranking: 1; Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 3

MASON & DIXON by Thomas Pynchon. (Henry Holt: $27.50). Our reviewer, Ted Mooney, called the novel a “remarkable book” in its vision of “a wilderness America, peopled as much by European hopes and longings as by the interlocking kingdoms of the indigenous” (3). Southern California ranking: 2; Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 5

PLUM ISLAND by Nelson DeMille. (Warner: $25). Convalescing in a fishing town, a New York cop discovers a connection between local lore and the deaths of two biologists (4). Southern California ranking: 3; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

PRETEND YOU DON’T SEE HER by Mary Higgins Clark. (Simon & Schuster: $25) (2). Southern California ranking: 4; Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 7

THE PARTNER by John Grisham. (Doubleday: $26.95) (1). Southern California ranking: 5; Last Week: 6; Weeks on List: 14

CHASING CEZANNE by Peter Mayle. (Alfred A. Knopf: $23). An art theft on the Co^te d’Azur plunges a likable photographer into the world of the super chic. Southern California ranking: 6; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

AMERICAN PASTORAL by Philip Roth. (Houghton Mifflin: $26). Richard Eder, The Times’ book critic, wrote that this novel “scintillates with more Rothian wit, paradox, eloquent tantrums . . . than can be counted.” Southern California ranking: 7; Last Week: 5; Weeks on List: 6

SNOW IN AUGUST by Pete Hamill. (Little, Brown: $23.95). An unlikely friendship grows between a young Catholic boy and a rabbi in 1940s Brooklyn (10). Southern California ranking: 8; Last Week: 10; Weeks on List: 2

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THE SON by Norman Mailer. (Random House: $22) (11). Southern California ranking: 9; Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 6

THE MISTRESS OF SPICES by Chitra Divakaruni. (Anchor Books: $22.95). Our reviewer, Shashi Tharoor, called the book an “exquisite first novel that stirs . . . the still-simmering caldron of Indian immigrant life in America.”. Southern California ranking: 10; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

Nonfiction

WITHOUT A DOUBT by Marcia Clark with Teresa Carpenter. (Viking: $25.95). More on the Simpson trial, plus Clark’s struggles with the media spotlight (2). Southern California ranking: 1; Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 4

BRAIN DROPPINGS by George Carlin. (Hyperion: $19.95). Musings on the humor in modern life, from drugs and dentistry to celebrities and dining out. Southern California ranking: 2; Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 31

INTO THIN AIR by Jon Krakauer. (Villard: $24) (1). Southern California ranking: 3; Last Week: 5; Weeks on List: 6

OVITZ: The Inside Story of Hollywood’s Most Controversial Power Broker by Robert Slater. (McGraw-Hill: $22.95). Southern California ranking: 4; Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 2

ANGELA’S ASHES by Frank McCourt. (Scribner: $24) (3). Southern California ranking: 5; Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 32

UNDERBOSS: Sammy the Bull Gravano’s Story of Life in the Mafia by Peter Maas (HarperCollins: $25) (5). Southern California ranking: 6; Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 7

THE SECRET TO TENDER PIE: America’s Grandmothers Share Their Favorite Recipes by Mindy Marin. (Ballantine: $17.95). Southern California ranking: 7; Last Week: 10; Weeks on List: 3

CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD, BOOK ONE by Neale Donald Walsch. (Putnam: $19.95) (11). Southern California ranking: 8; Last Week: 6; Weeks on List: 8

LOCKED IN THE CABINET by Robert B. Reich. (Knopf: $25) (13). Southern California ranking: 9; Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 6

THE RELUCTANT METROPOLIS: The Politics of Urban Growth in Los Angeles by William Fulton. (Solano Press: $28.95). Eleven essays explore L.A.’s development as an “anti-city” and the region’s uncertain future. Southern California ranking: 10; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

Paperbacks: FICTION

1. SHE’S COME UNDONE by Wally Lamb. (Pocket: $14)

2. THE LOST WORLD by Michael Crichton. (Ballantine: $7.99)

3. IN THE PRESENCE OF THE ENEMY by Elizabeth George. (Bantam: $6.99)

4. NEANDERTHAL by John Darnton. (St. Martin’s: $7.99)

5. MALICE by Danielle Steel. (Dell: $7.50)

Paperbacks: NONFICTION

1. ZAGAT SURVEY 1997 LOS ANGELES/SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT GUIDE edited by Merrill Shindler and Karen Berk. (Zagat Survey: $10.95)

2. L.A. BIZARRO: The Insider’s Guide to the Obscure, the Absurd and the Perverse in Los Angeles by Anthony Lovett and Matt Maranian. (A Buzz Book/St. Martin’s: $16.95)

3. THE COLOR OF WATER by James McBride. (Riverhead: $12)

4. THE MAKING OF THE LOST WORLD by Jody Duncan. (Ballantine: $18)

5. DON’T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF by Richard Carlson. (Hyperion: $8.95)

Rankings based on Times’ poll of local bookstores. National hardcover rankings (in parentheses)are those of Publishers Weekly.