BESTSELLERS

PAPERBACKS

1. Peony in Love by Lisa See ($14)

*--* Fiction weeks on list 1. The Appeal by John Grisham (Doubleday: $27.95) A 5 billionaire enlists political help to kill a $41-million jury award over toxic-waste dumping. 2. The Reserve by Russell Banks (Harper: $24.95) Romance 3 among New York’s elite in the 1930s. 3. L.A. Outlaws by T. Jefferson Parker (Dutton: $25.95) A 5 teacher doubles as a thief on L.A.’s mean streets. 4. Betrayal by John Lescroart (Dutton: $26.95) Prosecutor 1 Dismas Hardy finds Iraq war links to an ex-Navy SEAL’s death. 5. The Outlaw Demon Wails by Kim Harrison (Eos: $24.95) 1 Rachel Morgan fends off evil forces as she copes with her boyfriend’s murder. 6. People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks (Viking: $25.95) 8 A rare-books expert traces the history of a priceless Jewish tome to 15th century Spain. 7. 7th Heaven by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro (Little, 4 Brown: $27.99) Det. Lindsay Boxer seeks a murderous arsonist and a missing teen. 8. Beautiful Children by Charles Bock (Random House: $25) A 5 comic book artist and his stripper wife search Las Vegas for their 12-year-old son. 9. World Without End by Ken Follett (Dutton: $35) Children 16 jockey for power in 14th century England. 10. An Incomplete Revenge by Jacqueline Winspear (Henry 1 Holt: $24) Maisie Dobbs finds prejudice and troubling secrets in an English village. *--*

*--* Nonfiction 1. The Third Jesus by Deepak Chopra (Harmony: $24) 2 Chopra makes a case for a more modern, and mystical, interpretation of Jesus Christ. 2. Beautiful Boy by David Sheff (Houghton Mifflin: $24) 1 A father recounts his talented son’s descent into methamphetamine addiction. 3. Losing It by Valerie Bertinelli (Free Press: $26) How 1 the teen TV star then rock musician’s wife got her life back and became a diet-plan spokeswoman. 4. The Secret by Rhonda Byrne (Beyond Words: $23.95) 62 Life’s secrets distilled from oral tradition, literature, religion and philosophy. 5. The Age of American Unreason by Susan Jacoby 3 (Pantheon: $26) A history of American society’s descent into anti-intellectual junk culture. 6. Hope’s Boy by Andrew Bridge (Hyperion: $22.95) An 2 advocate for children tells the harrowing story of his life in the foster-care system. 7. Born Standing Up by Steve Martin (Scribner: $25) The 15 comedian reflects on the evolution of his art. 8. In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan (Penguin Press: 9 $21.95) A look at dietary sacred cows. 9. The Zookeeper’s Wife by Diane Ackerman (W.W. Norton: 10 $24.95) How the Warsaw Zoo director and his wife sheltered Polish Jews during World War II. 10. I Am America by Stephen Colbert (Grand Central: 20 $26.99) “The Colbert Report” star expounds on the forces destroying the country. *--*

Fiction

2. The Gathering by Anne Enright ($14)

3. No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy ($14)

4. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen ($13.95)

5. Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky ($14.95)

-- Nonfiction

1. A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle ($14)

2. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert ($15)

3. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin ($15)

4. The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama ($14.95)

5. The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle ($14)

Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.