Southern California Rating:FICTION1 THE BRETHREN by...

Southern California Rating:

FICTION

1 THE BRETHREN by John Grisham (Doubleday: $27.95) A scam by three former judges doing time in federal prison goes awry and ensnares a powerful man on the outside.

Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 3

2 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: 12; Weeks on List: 21

3 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: 2; Weeks on List: 21

4 UNWANTED COMPANY by Barbara Seranella (HarperCollins: $24) Doing a favor for an old friend leads ex-con-turned-limo driver Munch Mancini into a dangerous search for a serial killer.

Last Week: 9; Weeks on List: 3

5 PLAINSONG by Kent Haruf (Alfred A. Knopf: $24) As lives intersect in a small Colorado cattle town, concepts of family are challenged and transformed.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 9

6 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: 13

7 CITY OF GOD by E.L. Doctorow (Random House: $25) Good, evil and God’s existence torment a minister who struggles against religious doubt and befriends a rabbi and his family.

Last Week: 13; Weeks on List: 2

8 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: 29

9 THE LION’S GAME by Nelson DeMille (Warner: $26.95) A gruff tough New York cop and an FBI agent join forces to find a Libyan terrorist on a killing rampage in the U.S.

Last Week: 5; Weeks on List: 8

10 HEADLONG by Michael Frayn (Metropolitan: $26) On vacation in the English countryside, an art historian thinks he has stumbled upon a lost Bruegel painting.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 2

11 TIMELINE by Michael Crichton (Random House: $26.95) Investigators battle mad lords, crazed giants and peasant bandits after time-traveling to 14th century France.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 13

12 DISGRACE by J.M. Coetzee (Viking: $23.95) Fired from academe, a South African professor pursues the simple life on his daughter’s farm but finds danger in the post-apartheid world.

Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 12

13 GAP CREEK by Robert Morgan (Algonquin: $22.95) In turn-of-the-century Appalachia, 17-year-old Julie Morgan confronts floods, death and other misfortunes with steadfast dignity.

Last Week: 8; Weeks on List: 3

14 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 magician with great powers.

Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 19

15 THE ATTORNEY by Steve Martini (Putnam: $25.95) A courtroom thriller featuring a kindhearted lottery winner and his blackmailing daughter. Reviewed by Eugen Weber, Page 8.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 5

NONFICTION

1 THE ROCK SAYS by “The Rock” with Joe Layden (ReganBooks: $26) The memoir of a World Wrestling Federation bad guy, describing his struggles in and out of the ring.

Last Week: 15; Weeks on List: 8

2 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: 6; Weeks on List: 111

3 HOME COMFORTS by Cheryl Mendelson (Scribner: $35) The art and science of keeping house; a guide to the ins and outs of domesticity, for beginners and experts.

Last Week: 8; Weeks on List: 3

4 A HEARTBREAKING WORK OF STAGGERING GENIUS by Dave Eggers (Simon & Schuster: $23) Memoir of a twentysomething slacker, who must bring up his baby brother when their parents die of cancer.

Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 3

5 CHAVEZ RAVINE by Don Normark (Chronicle: $29.95) Photographs of a forgotten neighborhood in the L.A. hills that was uprooted in 1950 to build Dodger Stadium.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 7

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: --; Weeks on List: 11

7 GEORGIANA by Amanda Foreman (Random House: $29.95) Love affairs, drugs, gambling and scandals in the life of an 18th century ancestor of the late Princess Diana.

Last Week: 5; Weeks on List: 3

8 THE PLEASURE OF FINDING THINGS OUT by Richard Feynman (Perseus: $24) Short works by the maverick physicist, from memories of Manhattan Project days to his love of computer design.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 3

9 A VAST CONSPIRACY by Jeffrey Toobin ( Random House: $25) A comprehensive look at the 1998 presidential sex scandal, detailing the legal maneuvers behind the scenes.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 7

10 ‘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: 14; Weeks on List: 23

11 THE GREATEST GENERATION SPEAKS by Tom Brokaw (Random House: $19.95) More stories of American heroism during the ‘30s and ‘40s in this sequel to “The Greatest Generation.”

Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 10

12 CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD, BOOK ONE by Neale Donald Walsch (Putnam: $19.95) Divinely channeled messages about good, evil and the meaning of life.

Last Week: 9; Weeks on List: 99

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

Last Week: 10; Weeks on List: 15

14 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: --; Weeks on List: 11

15 HURRICANE by James S. Hirsch (Houghton Mifflin: $25) Middleweight boxer Rubin Carter’s 22-year effort to free himself from jail after being wrongly accused of murder.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 4

PAPERBACKS

FICTION

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

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

3 THE HOURS by Michael Cunningham (Picador USA: $13) Three stories built around Virginia Woolf’s “Mrs. Dalloway.”

4 THE RED TENT by Anita Diamant (Picador USA: $14) The blossoming of Dinah, Jacob’s only daughter in Genesis.

5 CHOCOLAT by Joanne Harris (Penguin: $12.95) A woman and her daughter open a chocolate store in a French village.

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

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

8 THE TESTAMENT by John Grisham (Dell Island: $7.99) A billionaire’s changes to his will shock his greedy heirs.

9 THE CIDER HOUSE RULES by John Irving (Ballantine: $7.99) Lives of a doctor and the children at an orphanage in rural Maine.

10 THE COUNTRY LIFE by Rachel Cusk (Picador USA: $14) A Londoner cuts ties to work as an au pair in a Sussex village.

PAPERBACKS

NONFICTION

1 ANGELA’S ASHES by Frank McCourt (Touchstone: $7.99) Overcoming an Irish childhood during the Depression.

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

3 GIRL, INTERRUPTED by Susanna Kaysen (Vintage: $12) A memoir of life in a psychiatric institute in 1967.

4 MY DOG SKIP by Willie Morris (Vintage: $10) Memories of a rural Southern childhood and an extraordinary pet.

5 RICH DAD, POOR DAD by Robert T. Kiyosaki and Sharon L. Lechter (Techpress: $15.95) Fiscal parenting.

6 THE PERFECT STORM by Sebastian Junger (HarperPaperback: $13) Fishermen lost in a furious ocean storm.

7 THE LOST BOY by Dave Pelzer (Health Communications: $10.95) Life in foster care, in this “A Child Called ‘It’ ” sequel.

8 WORLD ALMANAC & BOOK OF FACTS 2000 (World Almanac: $10.95) Includes “Countdown to the Millennium.”

9 SINS OF THE CITY by Jim Heimann (Chronicle Books: $18.95) L.A. noir photographs from the ‘20s to the ‘50s.

10 THE ORCHID THIEF by Susan Orlean (Ballantine: $14) Centuries of theft, hatred and greed over a delicate flower.

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Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.