BESTSELLERS

*--* SO. CAL. RATING Fiction

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*--* 1 Life of Pi by Yann Martel (Harvest Books: $14) An Indian boy shares a lifeboat with a tiger on a harrowing trip

2 Atonement by Ian McEwan (Anchor: $14) A haunting novel of guilt and redemption in World War II England

3 The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (Penguin: $14) A teenage girl is haunted by her mother’s death

4 The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith (Anchor: $11.95) Botswana’s female private eye

5 Three Junes by Julia Glass (Anchor: $14) A Scottish family comes together over three summers

6 The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus (Griffin: $13.95) The travails of an overworked caregiver

7 The Emperor of Ocean Park by Stephen L. Carter (Vintage: $14) A son must carry out the cryptic final wish of his dead father, a powerful federal judge

8 Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie (Anchor: $10) Literary sunshine in a gray communist village

9 Cabinet of Curiosities by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child (Warner: $7.99) A 19th century killer in modern Manhattan

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

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*--* SO. CAL. 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 Dr. Atkins’ New Diet Revolution by Robert C. Atkins (Quill: $13.95) Shedding pounds with a low-carb diet

3 Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs (Picador: $14) A boy goes to live with his mother’s psychiatrist

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

5 Self Matters by Phillip C. McGraw (Free Press: $14) The self-help guru teaches how to “create your life from the inside out.”

6 The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz (Amber-Allen: $12.95) A code of conduct based on Toltec wisdom

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

8 Fixed Ideas: America Since 9.11 by Joan Didion (New York Review of Books: $7.95) Why dissent isn’t unpatriotic

9 Dreaming War by Gore Vidal (Thunder’s Mouth: $11.95) Arguing that greed, not justice, underlies Bush’s focus on Iraq

10 What Went Wrong? by Bernard Lewis (HarperPerennial: $12.95) The rise and fall of Islamic culture

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