Los Angeles Times Bestsellers

*--* Southern California Rating FICTION

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*--* 1 EMPIRE FALLS by Richard Russo (Vintage: $14.95) A warmhearted novel about working-class lives in Maine 2 BACK WHEN WE WERE GROWNUPS by Anne Tyler (Ballantine: $14.95) A mom gets another chance at love 3 THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER AND CLAY by Michael Chabon (Picador: $15) Cousins in the comics biz 4 DIVINE SECRETS OF THE YA-YA SISTERHOOD by Rebecca Wells (HarperPerennial: $14) Sisterhood in the South 5 FAHRENHEIT 451 by Ray Bradbury (Ballantine: $6.99) An alternate future when government makes books the enemy 6 HOW TO BE GOOD by Nick Hornby (Jove: $13) A doctor must weigh her adulterous desire with being a faithful wife 7 BEL CANTO by Ann Patchett (HarperPaperbacks: $13.95) A terrorist standoff in a South American town mirrors opera 8 SUZANNE’S DIARY FOR NICHOLAS by James Patterson (Warner: $12.95) A love story from the scribe of suspense 9 GOOD IN BED by Jennifer Weiner (Washington Square Press: $13) A tell-all column helps a woman change her life 10 THE SUMMERHOUSE by Jude Deveraux (Pocket Books: $7.99) Three girlfriends gather to look back on their lives

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*--* Southern California Rating NONFICTION

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*--* 1 SEABISCUIT by Laura Hillenbrand (Ballantine: $15) How a thoroughbred horse went from also-ran to sports icon 2 RICH DAD, POOR DAD by Robert T. Kiyosaki with Sharon L. Lechter (Techpress: $15.95) Adventures in fiscal parenting 3 FAST FOOD NATION by Eric Schlosser (HarperCollins: $13.95) The unappetizing practices of the junk-food industry 4 NICKEL & DIMED by Barbara Ehrenreich (Henry Holt: $13) A writer works in low-wage America to see how the poor live 5 A BEAUTIFUL MIND by Sylvia Nasar (Touchstone: $16) A brilliant mathematics professor’s battle with schizophrenia 6 THE FOUR AGREEMENTS by Don Miguel Ruiz (Amber-Allen: $12.95) Life lessons based on ancient Toltec wisdom 7 PROZAC NATION by Elizabeth Wurtzel (Riverhead: $14) A young woman’s struggles with depression 8 WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU’RE EXPECTING by Heidi E. Murkoff et al. (Workman: $13.95) Pregnancy explained 9 9-11 by Noam Chomsky (Seven Stories Press: $8.95) An alternative view of the U.S.-led war on terrorism 10 PERPETUAL WAR FOR PERPETUAL PEACE by Gore Vidal (Thunder’s Mouth/Nation Books: $10) Civil liberties in peril

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