BESTSELLERS

*--* SO. CAL. RATING Fiction LAST WEEK WEEKS ON LIST 1 Cell by Stephen King 13 2 (Scribner: $26.95) A group of low-tech people fight for survival against zombies whose cellular phones have stripped their brains of all but the most destructive impulses.

2 The Lighthouse by P.D. 5 11 James (Knopf: $25.95) Cmdr. Adam Dalgliesh is called to the Cornish coast to solve the murder of an acclaimed novelist who had upset his very prominent neighbors.

3 The Da Vinci Code by Dan 9 142 Brown (Doubleday: $24.95) A Louvre curator’s killing leads to clues hidden in Leonardo’s paintings and a secret society with something to hide.

4 Memory in Death by J.D. -- 1 Robb (Putnam: $24.95) The wounds of her childhood reopened, Lt. Eve Dallas tries to find out who would want to kill a woman from her past who was blackmailing her.

5 Arthur and George by 1 3 Julian Barnes (Knopf: $24.95) Arthur Conan Doyle tries to clear an obscure country lawyer convicted in a racially tinged case of mutilating cattle and writing obscene letters.

6 Snow Flower and the Secret 3 26 Fan by Lisa See (Random House: $21.95) Two women in the cloistered society of 19th century China forge a close friendship that is threatened by misunderstanding.

7 The Hunt Club by John -- 1 Lescroart (Dutton: $26.95) Fired from his job, a child protective services worker is asked by a San Francisco homicide detective to help investigate a federal judge’s murder.

8 S Is for Silence by Sue 2 9 Grafton (Putnam: $26.95) Kinsey Millhone is hired to find out what happened to a woman who disappeared 34 years earlier from a Central California agricultural town.

9 The Hostage by W.E.B. 12 4 Griffin (Putnam: $26.95) A Homeland Security agent tries to foil terrorists who have kidnapped a diplomat’s wife to find a man linked to a U.N. oil-for-food program.

10 Memories of My Melancholy 4 14 Whores by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Knopf: $20) A nonagenarian journalist who falls for a 14-year-old virgin prostitute reflects on his life and loves.

11 The Accidental by Ali 15 2 Smith (Pantheon: $22.95) A stranger beguiles a British writer, her philandering professor husband and their troubled children on a summer holiday in Norfolk.

12 The Last Templar by -- 1 Raymond Khoury (Dutton: $24.95) Four horsemen dressed as Knights of Templar crash a Vatican artifacts exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and steal a code cracker.

13 Leonardo’s Swans by Karen 14 2 Essex (Doubleday: $21.95) Two 15th century Italian sisters vie to outdo the other in love and power, and a chance to pose for Leonardo da Vinci.

14 The Constant Princess by 11 7 Philippa Gregory (Touchstone: $24.95) Catherine of Aragon endures the loss of a husband, treachery and poverty in her quest to become queen of England.

15 Day of the False King by -- 1 Brad Geagley (Simon & Schuster: $24) An Egyptian clerk of investigations tries to get to Babylonia to rescue his wife before the besieged country is torn apart.

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*--* SO. CAL. RATING Nonfiction LAST WEEK WEEKS ON LIST 1 The Year of Magical 1 18 Thinking by Joan Didion (Knopf: $23.95) The author explores the nature of grief and survival in the months after her writer-husband’s sudden death.

2 Marley & Me by John Grogan 6 11 (William Morrow: $21.95) A columnist recalls how Marley, an incorrigible Labrador retriever, flunked obedience school, terrorized a pet sitter and won over his family.

3 The World Is Flat by 3 42 Thomas L. Friedman (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $27.50) How technology and the forces of globalization are connecting -- and changing -- the world.

4 Freakonomics by Steven D. 8 36 Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (William Morrow: $25.95) An economist deconstructs statistics and uses numbers to help explain human behavior.

5 State of War by James 2 4 Risen (Free Press: $26) The New York Times reporter delves into the Bush administration, the CIA and the events that led up to the U.S. war with Iraq.

6 Bad Childhood, Good Life 4 4 by Laura Schlessinger (HarperCollins: $24.95) How to move past an unhappy childhood, change negative behaviors and thrive.

7 My Friend Leonard by James 5 16 Frey (Penguin: $24.95) The former cocaine addict’s sequel to “A Million Little Pieces” celebrates the mobster who helped him turn his life around.

8 American Vertigo by -- 1 Bernard-Henri Levy (Random House: $24.95) Snapshots of American poverty and affluence by a French author tracing 18th century writer Alexis de Tocqueville’s footsteps.

9 Wilshire Boulevard by -- 2 Kevin Roderick with J. Eric Lynxwiler (Angel City Press: $40) An illustrated history of the storied thoroughfare that runs from downtown Los Angeles to the ocean.

10 The Little Book That Beats -- 1 the Market by Joel Greenblatt and Andrew Tobias (Wiley: $19.95) An investment primer shows ordinary investors how to succeed in the stock market.

11 Self-Made Man by Norah -- 1 Vincent (Viking: $24.95) The female columnist spends 18 months disguised as a man to discover how men behave and interact with each other and with women.

12 For Laci by Sharon Rocha 14 3 (Crown Books: $25.95) A mother’s story of love, loss and the search for justice in the death of her daughter Laci Peterson and unborn grandson, Connor.

13 PostSecret by Frank Warren -- 2 (ReganBooks: $24.95) A collection of extraordinary and deeply affecting confessions written on postcards by ordinary people from all walks of life.

14 You’ll Never Nanny in This 13 2 Town Again by Suzanne Hansen (Crown: $22) How an Oregon teenager came to be a 24/7 nanny to the likes of Michael Ovitz, Debra Winger and Rhea Perlman.

15 The Elements of Style 7 13 Illustrated by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White (Penguin Press: $24.95) The classic manual of good writing, updated with fanciful illustrations by Maira Kalman.

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