Southern California Rating:FICTION1 DAUGHTER OF FORTUNE ...

Southern California Rating:

FICTION

1 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: 5; Weeks on List: 16

2 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: 3; Weeks on List: 8

3 IN AMERICA by Susan Sontag (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $26) Tale of the travels and travails of a Polish actress on the frontier in 19th century America.

Last Week: 6; Weeks on List: 4

4 BACK ROADS by Tawni O’Dell (Viking: $24.95) Murder, incest and recovered memory in the life of a teen stockboy living in the western Pennsylvania mining country.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

5 GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING by Tracy Chevalier (Dutton: $21.95) Who was the girl in Vermeer’s famous painting? A fictionalized life of one of art’s most enigmatic heroines.

Last Week: 10; Weeks on List: 5

6 BRIDGET JONES: THE EDGE OF REASON by Helen Fielding (Viking: $24.95) Bridget finds the perfect mate--do they really exist?--in this sequel to the bestselling “Bridget Jones’s Diary.”

Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 4

7 SCANDALMONGER by William Safire (Simon & Schuster: $27) A journalist rakes in the muck during the 1790s in New England as the Founding Fathers endure one crisis after another.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 2

8 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: 12; Weeks on List: 17

9 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: --; Weeks on List: 4

10 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: 15

11 DEAD ABOVE GROUND by Jervey Tervalon (Pocket: $23.95) A devilish man with mysterious reasons for revenge changes the life of a New Orleans family in the ‘40s.

Last Week: 9; Weeks on List: 6

12 WAITING by Ha Jin (Pantheon: $24) An absurd loophole in Chinese law allows a pair of star-crossed lovers to be united after a long separation.

Last Week: 15; Weeks on List: 9

13 BEOWULF by Seamus Heaney (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $25) An Irish poet breathes new life into an Anglo-Saxon masterpiece with his new translation of the epic poem.

Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 5

14 SICK PUPPY by Carl Hiaasen (Alfred A. Knopf: $25) The adventures of an eco-terrorist and a Labrador retriever among the thugs and sleazy businessmen of South Florida.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 8

15 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: --; Weeks on List: 10

NONFICTION

1 WHICH LIE DID I TELL? by William Goldman (Pantheon: $26.95) Further adventures in the screen trade from a veteran screenwriter whose work includes “All the President’s Men.”

Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 3

2 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: 8

3 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: 6; Weeks on List: 8

4 THE OPERATOR by Tom King (Random House: $25.95) The patience, cunning and unbridled egotism behind David Geffen’s transformation into a powerful media mogul.

Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 4

5 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: 15; Weeks on List: 116

6 WHO MOVED MY CHEESE? by Spencer Johnson (Putnam: $19.95) This co-author of “The One Minute Manager” advises managers on how to get employees Y2K ready.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 11

7 THE KEYS TO THE KINGDOM by Kim Masters (William Morrow: $27.50) How Disney’s Frank Wells kept Michael Eisner in check until his death in 1994 and what’s happened in the magic kingdom since.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

8 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: 14; Weeks on List: 13

9 ‘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: --; Weeks on List: 24

10 THE GREATEST GENERATION by Tom Brokaw (Random House: $24.95) TV anchor tells the stories of the generation that came of age during the Depression and World War II.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 56

11 HAVE A NICE DAY! by Mick Foley (ReganBooks: $25) The blood-and-guts autobiography of a professional wrestling giant, also known as Mankind, Dude Love and Cactus Jack.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 9

12 THE CASE AGAINST HILLARY CLINTON by Peggy Noonan (ReganBooks: $24) A former Reagan speechwriter’s polemic against the first lady for her Senate bid, Travelgate and taste in husbands.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

13 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: --; Weeks on List: 14

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: 13; Weeks on List: 13

15 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: 12; Weeks on List: 7

PAPERBACKS

FICTION

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

8 BRIDGET JONES’S DIARY by Helen Fielding (Penguin: $12.95) The life of a thirtyish Londoner looking for the ideal man.

9 MOONLIGHT ON THE AVENUE OF FAITH by Gina Nahai (Washington Square: $13.95) Love and magic in Tehran’s Jewish ghetto.

10 HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG by Andre Dubus III (Vintage: $14) Two families clash over an auctioned house in this tragic tale.

PAPERBACKS

NONFICTION

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

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

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

4 BLACK HAWK DOWN by Mark Bowden (Penguin: $13.95) A U.S. Special Forces team fights for its life in Mogadishu in 1993.

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

6 WOMAN by Natalie Angier (Doubleday: $15) A celebration of womanhood and the feminine mystique.

7 THE ELEGANT UNIVERSE by Brian Greene (Vintage: $15) Is the universe a symphony played by strings?

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

9 THE PERFECT STORM by Sebastian Junger (HarperPaperback: $13) Fishermen trapped in a storm.

10 HOLLYWOOD 101 by Frederick Levy (Renaissance: $19.95) A game plan for making it in the industry in various production areas.

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Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.