Southern California Rankings:FICTION1. PARADISE by Toni Morrison...

Southern California Rankings:

FICTION

1. PARADISE by Toni Morrison (Knopf: $25) Generations of struggle in a small town founded by black pioneers with dreams of creating a utopia.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 17

2. 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: 2; Weeks on List: 8

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: 3; Weeks on List: 38

4. POINT OF ORIGIN by Patricia Cornwell (Putnam: $25.95) Kay Scarpetta, chief medical examiner, takes on a psychopathic serial killer, her former lover.

Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 3

5. I KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE by Wally Lamb (HarperCollins/ReganBooks: $27.50) A man with a twin brother searches for meaning in the story of an Italian ancestor.

Last Week: 5; Weeks on List: 7

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: 4; Weeks on List: 11

7. 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: 6; Weeks on List: 13

8. THE ELEVENTH COMMANDMENT by Jeffrey Archer (HarperCollins: $26) A CIA agent specializing in assassination discovers that treachery begins at home. Reviewed by R. Hunter Garcia, Page 2.

Last Week: 9; Weeks on List: 2

9. 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: 8; Weeks on List: 51

10. THE GIRL IN THE FLAMMABLE SKIRT by Aimee Bender (Doubleday: $21.95) Stranger than truth, highly improbable stories from the front lines of need and desire.

Last Week: 13; Weeks on List: 2

11. 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: 11; Weeks on List: 10

12. THE READER by Bernhard Schlink (Pantheon: $21) The story of a boyhood interlude with a woman, a sexual awakening and its aftermath.

Last Week: 14; Weeks on List: 3

13. THE ARCHIVIST by Martha Cooley (Little, Brown: $22.95) A librarian’s solitary existence is challenged by a vivacious young poet.

Last Week: 10; Weeks on List: 2

14. THE LAST RESORT by Alison Lurie (Henry Holt: $22) A dedicated wife does a reality check in Key West.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

15. 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: 15; Weeks on List: 6

****

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: 30

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: 4; Weeks on List: 16

3. 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: 16

4. 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: 8; Weeks on List: 16

5. 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: 6; Weeks on List: 89

6. 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: 9

7. 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: 11; Weeks on List: 9

8. WALKING WITH THE WIND by John Lewis and Michael D’Orso (Simon & Schuster: $25) The story of the civil rights movement, as told by one of its leaders.

Last Week: 5; Weeks on List: 2

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

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 6

10. A WALK IN THE WOODS by Bill Bryson (Broadway: $25) After 20 years in England, a writer gets reacquainted with America by hiking the Appalachian Trail.

Last Week: 10; Weeks on List: 2

11. 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: 12; Weeks on List: 6

12. 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: 7

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: 13; Weeks on List: 61

14. BASQUIAT by Phoebe Hoban (Viking: $29.95) The short, colorful life of the Jimi Hendrix of the art world.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

15. TRIUMPH OF JUSTICE by Daniel M. Petrocelli with Peter Knobler (Crown: $25.95) The prosecutor’s road to a $33.5 million victory in the O.J. Simpson civil trial.

Last Week: 15; Weeks on List: 6

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

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

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

6. UNDERWORLD by Don DeLillo (Scribner: $14) The world comes of age in the turbulent 1950s.

7. THE NOTEBOOK by Nicholas Sparks (Warner Vision: $5.99) Old flames recall their former combustion.

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

9. RISING TIDES by Nora Roberts (Jove: $7.50) Brothers struggle to fulfill their father’s dying wish.

10. LOLITA by Vladimir Nabokov (Vintage: $13) Old guy falls for young girl.

****

NONFICTION

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

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

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

4. HIT & RUN by Nancy Griffin and Kim Masters (Touchstone/Simon & Schuster: $15) Peters, Guber and the fight for Sony.

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

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

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

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

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

10. How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill (Anchor: $12) What Irish monks did after Rome’s fall.

Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.