Bestsellers

Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.

*--* Fiction weeks on list 1. Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon (Penguin Press: $27.95) 2 Noir meets ‘60s Southern California groovy in a private eye’s psychedelic quest. 2. The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson (Knopf: 3 $25.95) A hacker, implicated in two murders, must revisit her past to prove her innocence. 3. The Help by Kathryn Stockett (Putnam: $24.95) The lives 11 of a maid, a cook and a college graduate become intertwined while changing a Mississippi town. 4. That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo (Knopf : $25.95) A 1 Cape Cod wedding spurs a middle-aged man to reflect on his past, marriage, family and what the future holds. 5. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown: $19.99) Bella 57 must choose between her lover and a friend, between life and death. 6. The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (Doubleday: 8 $26.95) A novelist in 1920s Barcelona takes a dangerous writing assignment. 7. Shanghai Girls by Lisa See (Random House: $25) Two 10 sisters from Shanghai encounter tragedy and heartbreak as they are sold into arranged marriages in 1930s Los Angeles. 8. Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner (Atria: $26.99) 4 Two childhood friends on the outs since high school reconnect when one is in trouble. 9. The Defector by Daniel Silva (Putnam: $26.95) The 4 disappearance of a Russian defector puts Gabriel Allon in pursuit of a deadly arms dealer. 10. Rain Gods by James Lee Burke (Simon & Schuster: 3 $25.99) The sheriff of a tiny Texas town investigates the mass murder of illegal immigrants on the Mexican border. *--*

*--* Nonfiction 1. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell (Little, Brown: $27.99) 37 An exploration of the background of high achievers. 2. The Wilderness Warrior by Douglas Brinkley (Harper: 1 $34.99) Theodore Roosevelt’s crusade to protect America’s wild places and natural resources. 3. Zeitoun by Dave Eggers (McSweeney’s: $24) The 3 disappearance of a Syrian American father and good Samaritan in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. 4. Crazy for the Storm by Norman Ollestad (Ecco: $25.99) 9 The son of a daredevil tells of his life on the edge and how he survived a deadly plane crash. 5. Culture of Corruption by Michelle Malkin (Regnery 3 Publishing: $27.95) An investigation into corruption in the Obama administration. 6. Liberty and Tyranny by Mark R. Levin (Threshold 20 Editions: $25) The talk-radio personality’s call to revitalize the conservative vision in America. 7. A Bright and Guilty Place by Richard Rayner 6 (Doubleday: $25) The sagas of an ambitious young lawyer, a prime suspect in a mob murder and a police photographer paint a picture of early 20th century Los Angeles. 8. Imperial by William T. Vollmann (Viking: $55) The 2 cultures and subcultures of the California-Mexico border. 9. The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow 67 (Hyperion: $21.95) A professor’s terminal cancer inspires a call to seize life’s moments. 10. Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man by Steve Harvey 28 (Amistad: $23.99) The talk-show host lets women inside the mind-set of a man. *--*