BESTSELLERS

*--* SO. CAL. RATING Fiction

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*--* 1 Bel Canto by Ann Patchett (HarperPaperbacks: $13.95) Opera mingles with mayhem in South America

2 White Oleander by Janet Fitch (Back Bay Books: $13.95) Her mother in jail, a teenager survives in L.A. foster homes

3 The Millionaires by Brad Meltzer (Warner: $7.99) Two brothers plan a computer theft from their ungrateful employer

4 The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen (Picador: $15) A Midwestern family unravels at the 20th century’s end

5 Empire Falls by Richard Russo (Vintage: $14.95) A warmhearted novel about working-class folk in Maine

6 Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie (Anchor Books: $10) Literary light in a communist village

7 The Secret History by Donna Tartt (Ballantine: $14.95) A group of college classics students gets wrapped up in murder

8 Highwire Moon by Susan Straight (Anchor Books: $14) A migrant worker and her daughter search for each other

9 Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gold (Hyperion: $14.95) A magician in 1920s San Francisco

10 Table for Two by Nora Roberts (Silhouette: $7.50) Love is stirring in the culinary world in this pair of romances

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*--* SO. CAL. RATING Nonfiction

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*--* 1 Lucky by Alice Sebold (Back Bay Books: $11.95) The writer recounts her rape when she was a college freshman

2 John Adams by David McCullough (Touchstone: $18.95) The greatness of America’s second president

3 Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand (Ballantine: $15) How a thoroughbred horse went from also-ran to sports icon

4 Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution by Robert C. Atkins (Avon: $7.99) How a low-carb diet helps shed pounds

5 Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki with Sharon L. Lechter (Techpress: $15.95) Fiscal parenting

6 War on Iraq by William Rivers Pitt with Scott Ritter (Context Books: $8.95) Arguments against going to war by Pitt and Ritter, the former U.N. weapon inspector

7 Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom (Broadway: $11.95) Learning life lessons from a dying former teacher

8 Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich (Henry Holt: $13) A writer works in low-wage America to see how the poor live

9 More George W. Bushisms edited by Jacob Weisberg (Fireside: $9.95) Verbal gaffes from the president

10 Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser (HarperCollins: $13.95) The unappetizing practices of the junk-food industry

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