Southern California Rating:FICTION1 THE COLD SIX THOUSAND...

Southern California Rating:

FICTION

1 THE COLD SIX THOUSAND by James Ellroy (Alfred A. Knopf: $25.95) Mobsters, cops, government agents and provocateurs collide in the midst of America’s turbulent 1960s.

Last Week: 2; Weeks On List: 3

2 BACK WHEN WE WERE GROWNUPS by Anne Tyler (Alfred A. Knopf: $25) A fiftysomething widow and loving mom, coping with midlife, begins to question the decisions she has made.

Last Week: 1; Weeks On List: 4

3 DEATH IN HOLY ORDERS by P.D. James (Alfred A. Knopf: $25) In East Anglia, a theological college is torn apart by a string of sacrilegious and horrifying murders.

Last Week: 5; Weeks On List: 7

4 CHOSEN PREY by John Sandford (Putnam: $26.95) Lucas Davenport hunts for the killer responsible for a field of corpses. Reviewed by Eugen Weber, Page 18.

Last Week: 4; Weeks On List: 3

5 THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER & CLAY by Michael Chabon (Random House: $26.95) In World War II Brooklyn, two Jewish cousins break into the comic-book business.

Last Week: 3; Weeks On List: 14

6 SNOW MOUNTAIN PASSAGE by James D. Houston (Alfred A. Knopf: $24) A fictionalized account of the Donner Party from the perspective of one of the group’s leaders.

Last Week: 5; Weeks On List: 7

7 ON THE STREET WHERE YOU LIVE by Mary Higgins Clark (Simon & Schuster: $26) In a sleepy resort town, an attorney believes that a serial killer from a century ago has returned.

Last Week: 14; Weeks On List: 6

8 THE DYING ANIMAL by Philip Roth (Houghton Mifflin: $23) An aging cultural critic recalls a devastating, all-consuming affair he had with a 24-year-old ex-student.

Last Week: 12; Weeks On List: 3

9 CARRY ME ACROSS THE WATER by Ethan Canin (Random House: $23.95) A German beer magnate is haunted by memories of his tragic encounter with a soldier in World War II.

Last Week: 13 Weeks On List: 2

10 THE BONESETTER’S DAUGHTER by Amy Tan (Putnam: $25.95) A ghostwriter uncovers her family’s anguished past in China as her mother struggles with Alzheimer’s disease.

Last Week: 7; Weeks On List: 15

11 1st TO DIE by James Patterson (Little, Brown: $26.95) Four female professionals dubbed “The Women’s Murder Club” track a killer with a penchant for newlyweds.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 9

12 THE LAST TIME THEY MET by Anita Shreve (Little, Brown: $24.95) Two poets sustain a lifelong passion though they’ve been together only three times.

Last Week: 8; Weeks On List: 9

13 A COMMON LIFE by Jan Karon (Viking: $24.95) The villagers in Mitford celebrate, from pre-nup counseling to the walk down the aisle, when Father Tim marries his next-door neighbor.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 7

14 A PAINTED HOUSE by John Grisham (Doubleday: $27.95) Tensions between two groups of farm workers result in a brutal murder in this tale of an Arkansas boyhood in 1952.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 13

15 CHOKE by Chuck Palahniuk (Doubleday: $24.95) A medical school dropout devises a complicated scam to pay for his mother’s expensive elder care.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 1

NONFICTION

1 JOHN ADAMS by David McCullough (Simon & Schuster: $35) The story of our second president, a man Thomas Jefferson called “the colossus of independence.”

Last Week: 3; Weeks On List: 2

2 A YEAR IN VAN NUYS by Sandra Tsing Loh (Crown: $23) Coming to terms with writer’s block and approaching middle age in a place far from Provence--the San Fernando Valley.

Last Week: 2; Weeks On List: 4

3 A SHORT GUIDE TO A HAPPY LIFE by Anna Quindlen (Random House: $12.95) The columnist reflects on what it takes to “get a life” by living deeply rather than merely existing.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 28

4 WHO MOVED MY CHEESE? by Spencer Johnson (Putnam: $19.95) The co-author of “The One Minute Manager” uses the parable of mice in a maze to show people how to manage change.

Last Week: 8; Weeks On List: 63

5 SEABISCUIT by Laura Hillenbrand (Random House: $24.95) How three men transformed a thoroughbred horse from a neurotic also-ran into an American sports icon.

Last Week: 3; Weeks On List: 13

6 IN HARM’S WAY by Doug Stanton (Henry Holt: $25) The sinking of the USS Indianapolis by a Japanese submarine and the testimony of survivors of the disaster.

Last Week: 6; Weeks On List: 3

7 FOUNDING BROTHERS by Joseph J. Ellis (Alfred A. Knopf: $26) The lives of America’s founders, their squabbles and collaborations, long before they were deified in history books.

Last Week: 8; Weeks On List: 8

8 GHOST SOLDIERS by Hampton Sides (Doubleday: $24.95) How a small group of elite American soldiers made a daring rescue of British and American war prisoners in 1945.

Last Week: 13; Weeks On List: 2

9 FRENCH LESSONS by Peter Mayle (Alfred A. Knopf: $24) A celebration of France’s wine, cheese and other gastronomic treasures by the author of “A Year in Provence.”

Last Week: 1; Weeks On List: 3

10 STOLEN LIVES by Malika Oufkir with Michele Fitoussi (Talk Miramax: $24) A young woman spends 20 years in jail after her father tries to assassinate the king of Morocco.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 1

11 POSITIVELY 4th STREET by David Hajdu (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $25) The story of Richard and Mimi Farina, Bob Dylan and Joan Baez during folk music’s golden age.

Last Week: 10; Weeks On List: 2

12 NAPALM AND SILLY PUTTY by George Carlin (Hyperion: $22.95) Carlin offers a series of his unique comedic meditations on life’s annoying universal truths.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 4

13 IN OUR OWN BEST INTEREST by William F. Schulz (Beacon Press: $25) The executive director of Amnesty International explains why defending human rights benefits all Americans.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 1

14 KILLING PABLO by Mark Bowden (Atlantic Monthly: $25) The story of the rise and fall of Pablo Escobar, a Colombian drug lord and one of the narcotics trade’s first billionaires.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 2

15 AT ANY COST by Bill Sammon (Regnery: $27.95) A Washington Times reporter explains how he believes Al Gore tried to steal the 2000 presidential election.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 1

Paperbacks

FICTION

1 GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING by Tracy Chevalier (Plume: $12) The woman who inspired a Vermeer painting.

2 BRIDGET JONES’S DIARY by Helen Fielding (Penguin: $12.95) A thirtysomething Londoner’s quest for a mate.

3 THE RED TENT by Anita Diamant (Picador USA: $14) The blossoming of Dinah, Jacob’s only daughter, in Genesis.

4 LOVE AND LIBERATION by Ralph David Fertig (iUniverse.com: $17.95) Romance in a Jewish ghetto.

5 THE FEAST OF LOVE by Charles Baxter (Vintage: $13) Love, sacrifice and redemption in Michigan lives.

6 BRIDGET JONES: THE EDGE OF REASON by Helen Fielding (Penguin: $13) Has Bridget found the perfect mate?

7 THE HUMAN STAIN by Philip Roth (Vintage: $14) An academic scandal and the aging faculty dean at its center.

8 BEE SEASON by Myla Goldberg (Vintage: $13) A young girl wins her family’s attention after excelling at spelling bees.

9 ATLANTIS FOUND by Clive Cussler (Berkeley: $7.99) The latest undersea adventure for Cussler hero Dirk Pitt.

10 ANIL’S GHOST by Michael Ondaatje (Vintage: $13) An anthropologist investigates murder in Ceylon. Southern California

NONFICTION

1 THE WORST-CASE SCENARIO SURVIVAL HANDBOOK: TRAVEL by J. Piven & D. Borgenicht (Chronicle: $14.95)

2 A HEARTBREAKING WORK OF STAGGERING GENIUS by Dave Eggers (Vintage: $14) A 22-year-old raises his brother.

3 IN THE HEART OF THE SEA by Nathaniel Philbrick (Penguin: $14) The tragedy that inspired “Moby-Dick.”

4 RICH DAD, POOR DAD by Robert T. Kiyosaki with Sharon L. Lechter (Techpress: $15.95) Adventures in fiscal parenting.

5 ETHICS FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM by the Dalai Lama (Riverhead Books: $13) Achieving a spiritual revolution.

6 KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL by Anthony Bourdain (Ecco Press: $14) Tales from the culinary trenches.

7 ME TALK PRETTY ONE DAY by David Sedaris (Little, Brown: $14.95) Wisecracking essays on life in Paris.

8 A PEOPLE’S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES by Howard Zinn (HarperPerennial: $14) From 1492 onward.

9 YOU ARE BEING LIED TO edited by Russ Kick (Razorfish: $19.95) : On media distortion and historical whitewashes.

10 THE GREATEST GENERATION by Tom Brokaw (Dell: $12.95) The generation that came of age during the Depression.

Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.