Los Angeles Times Bestsellers

November 28, 1999

Fiction

Southern California Rating: 1

HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN by J.K. Rowling (Scholastic: $19.95) Sirius Black--an escaped convict--is on the loose, and he’s after Harry.

Last Week: 3

Weeks on List: 7

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Southern California Rating: 2

HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER’S STONE by J.K. Rowling (Scholastic: $16.95) Unhappy at home, a young boy discovers that he is a great magician.

Last Week: 15

Weeks on List: 3

*

Southern California Rating: 3

HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS by J.K. Rowling (Arthur A. Levine Books: $17.95) Harry risks his life to solve a mystery at the Hogwarts School.

Last Week: 27

Weeks on List: 4

*

Southern California Rating: 4

BLUE AT THE MIZZEN by Patrick O’Brian (W.W. Norton: $24) The continuing maritime adventures of Aubrey and Maturin in the age of Napoleon.

Last Week: 8

Weeks on List: 2

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Southern California Rating: 5

DAUGHTER OF FORTUNE by Isabel Allende (HarperCollins: $26) A young woman escapes from the bonds of her youthful passion to Gold Rush California.

Last Week: ----

Weeks on List: 6

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Southern California Rating: 6

ZEN AND THE CITY OF ANGELS by Elizabeth Cosin (Minotaur: $23.95) A female private eye in Santa Monica takes a missing dog case and ends up implicated in a multiple murder.

Last Week: 12

Weeks on List: 2

*

Southern California Rating: 7

SAVING FAITH by David Baldacci (Warner: $26.95) Two Washington lobbyists have made some very dangerous enemies and must cut a deal with the FBI.

Last Week: ----

Weeks on List: 1

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Southern California Rating: 8

PERSONAL INJURIES by Scott Turow (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $27) Dirty lawyers, dirty judges and one equally soiled informant face off in fictional Kindle County.

Last Week: 6

Weeks on List: 8

*

Southern California Rating: 9

HUNTING BADGER by Tony Hillerman (HarperCollins: $26) Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee work to catch the right-wing militiamen who pulled off a violent heist.

Last Week: ----

Weeks on List: 1

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Southern California Rating: 10

THE HOURS by Michael Cunningham (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $22) A haunting triptych of stories structured around Virginia Woolf’s novel “Mrs. Dalloway.”

Last Week: ----

Weeks on List: 29

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Southern California Rating: 11

WALKIN’ THE DOG by Walter Mosley (Little, Brown: $24.95) The continuing adventures of Socrates Fortlow, an ex-con struggling to make a life in Watts.

Last Week: 13

Weeks on List: 13

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Southern California Rating: 12

POP GOES THE WEASEL by James Patterson (Little, Brown: $26.95) Detectives probe the link between a “Jane Doe killer” in the ghettos of Washington, D.C., and a rich man’s death.

Last Week: 4

Weeks on List: 4

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Southern California Rating: 13

WHITE OLEANDER by Janet Fitch (Little, Brown: $24) When a woman murders her lover, her daughter must learn to grow to womanhood in a foster home.

Last Week: ----

Weeks on List: 24

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Southern California Rating: 14

AIN’T NOBODY’S BUSINESS IF I DO by Valerie Wilson Wesley; (Avon: $24) Love and rage in an African American family struggling to come to terms with the world and one another.

Last Week: ----

Weeks on List: 3

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Southern California Rating: 15

O IS FOR OUTLAW by Sue Grafton (Henry Holt: $26) New information on an old crime forces Kinsey Millhone to look back at her ill-fated marriage.

Last Week: 5

Weeks on List: 6

*

Nonfiction

Southern California Rating: 1

JOHN GLENN by John Glenn with Nick Taylor (Bantam: $27) A life of dreams, lived in the clouds and on the ground, by the first American to orbit the earth.

Last Week: ----

Weeks on List: 1

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Southern California Rating: 2

FAY by William Wegman (Hyperion: $26.95) Pictures of Wegman’s famous Weimaraner dog, Fay Ray, in a series of anthropomorphic poses.

Last Week: ----

Weeks on List: 1

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Southern California Rating: 3

MY GARDEN by Jamaica Kincaid (Farrar Straus & Giroux: $23) An intimate, playful and penetrating book on gardens, the plants that fill them and the gardeners who tend them.

Last Week: ----

Weeks on List: 1

*

Southern California Rating: 4

‘TIS by Frank McCourt (Scribner: $26) A young McCourt arrives from Ireland in New York, with all its peril and promise, in this sequel to “Angela’s Ashes.”

Last Week: 1

Weeks on List: 9

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Southern California Rating: 5

THE PLEASURE OF FINDING THINGS OUT by Richard Feynman (Perseus: $24) This collection includes previously unpublished works by the maverick physicist.

Last Week: ----

Weeks on List: 1

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Southern California Rating: 6

CONVERSATIONS WITH WILDER by Cameron Crowe (Alfred A. Knopf: $35) The “Jerry Maguire” director coaxes Billy Wilder to reveal the secrets behind his movie hits and flops.

Last Week: 8

Weeks on List: 2

*

Southern California Rating: 7

GALILEO’S DAUGHTER by Dava Sobel (Walker & Co.: $25) The story of the famous scientist and his daughter, Suor Maria Celeste, a cloistered nun.

Last Week: 2

Weeks on List: 4

*

Southern California Rating: 8

WHERE DID I GO RIGHT? by Bernie Brillstein with David Rensin (Little, Brown: $24.95) A star manager dishes dirt and describes his rise from the William Morris mail room.

Last Week: 6

Weeks on List: 3

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Southern California Rating: 9

THE SHOWRUNNERS by David Wild (HarperCollins: $25) Channel surfing through the television world; an account of a season inside the billion-dollar industry.

Last Week: ----

Weeks on List: 1

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Southern California Rating: 10

THE WAY WE LIVED THEN by Dominick Dunne (Crown: $27.50) A personal photo album and memoir of Hollywood by a self-proclaimed name-dropper.

Last Week: 3

Weeks on List: 8

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Southern California Rating: 11

THE NEW NEW THING by Michael Lewis (W.W. Norton: $25.95) The genius and ruthlessness of Silicon Valley giant Jim Clark, told from the vantage point of Clark’s cutting-edge yacht.

Last Week: 4

Weeks on List: 2

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Southern California Rating: 12

THE ESSENTIAL GORE VIDAL edited by Fred Kaplan (Random House: $39.95) From feminism to “The Holy Family,” a compilation of Vidal’s writings.

Last Week: ----

Weeks on List: 1

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Southern California Rating: 13

SWELL by Cynthia Rowley and Ilene Rosenzweig (Warner: $23.95) A girl’s guide to navigating life’s curves with a little swagger and a whole lotta grace.

Last Week: ----

Weeks on List: 1

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Southern California Rating: 14

GORE VIDAL SEXUALLY SPEAKING Edited by Don Weise (Cleis Press: 260 pp., $24.95) Essays on sex and sexuality--from Henry Miller to Matthew Shepherd.

Last Week: ----

Weeks on List: 1

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Southern California Rating: 15

TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE by Mitch Albom (Doubleday: $19.95) A sportswriter’s empowering story about his weekly visits to see an older dying friend.

Last Week: 5

Weeks on List: 97

*

Paperbacks / Fiction

Southern California Rating: 1

HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER’S STONE by J.K. Rowling (Arthur A. Levine: $5.99) A young wizard-in-training.

Southern California Rating: 2

THE POISONWOOD BIBLE by Barbara Kingsolver (HarperPerennial: $14) A missionary family’s ordeals.

Southern California Rating: 3

AMSTERDAM by Ian McEwan (Anchor: $12) An editor and composer plot the downfall of a British politician.

Southern California Rating: 4

THE PRODIGAL SPY by Joseph Kanon (Dell: $7.50) A young man fights Cold War demons.

Southern California Rating: 5

THE LOVE OF A GOOD WOMAN by Alice Munro (Vintage: $13) Stories of love, passion, chaos and human desire.

Southern California Rating: 6

SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS by David Guterson (Vintage: $14) Turmoil on Puget Sound during a fisherman’s trial.

Southern California Rating: 7

MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA by Arthur Golden (Vintage: $14) The life and loves of a teahouse entertainer in Kyoto.

Southern California Rating: 8

LOST IN TRANSLATION by Nicole Mones (Delacorte: $12.95) Archeologists search for Peking Man’s remains in China.

Southern California Rating: 9

BLINDNESS by Jose Saramago (Harvest: $14) A morality tale of a city paralyzed by blindness.

Southern California Rating: 10

A MAN IN FULL by Tom Wolfe (Bantam: $8.50) The story of a real estate tycoon’s crash and burn.

Paperbacks / Nonfiction

Southern California Rating: 1

ANGELA’S ASHES by Frank McCourt (Touchstone: $14) Overcoming an Irish childhood during the Depression.

Southern California Rating: 2

YOUR ACTION WORLD by David Byrne (Chronicle: $29.95) A consumerism parody by the “Talking Heads” frontman.

Southern California Rating: 3

GUNS, GERMS AND STEEL by Jared Diamond (W.W. Norton: $14.95) The part played by this triad in history.

Southern California Rating: 4

LONGITUDE by Dava Sobel (Penguin: $10.95) How a simple clockmaker solved an age-old problem.

Southern California Rating: 5

THE GIFTS OF THE JEWS by Thomas Cahill (Anchor Books: $14) How a group of desert nomads changed the world.

Southern California Rating: 6

BLIND MAN’S BLUFF by Sherry Sontag and Christopher Drew (HarperPerennial: $7.99) American submarine espionage.

Southern California Rating: 7

TO BEGIN AGAIN by Naomi Levy (Ballantine: $12.95) Comfort and faith after personal tragedy.

Southern California Rating: 8

THE PROFESSOR AND THE MADMAN by Simon Winchester (HarperPerennial: $13) A madman with a flair for words.

Southern California Rating: 9

MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL by John Berendt (Vintage: $12) Portrait of Savannah’s colorful eccentrics.

Southern California Rating: 10

A WALK IN THE WOODS by Bill Bryson (Broadway: $13) A memoir and a meditation on American wilderness.