FictionMASON & DIXON by Thomas Pynchon. (Henry...

Fiction

MASON & DIXON by Thomas Pynchon. (Henry Holt: $27.50.) Our reviewer, Ted Mooney, called the novel a “remarkable book” in its vision of “a wilderness America, peopled as much by European hopes and longings as by the interlocking kingdoms of the indigenous. . . . A masterpiece.”(3). Southern California ranking: 1; Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 2

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO THE SON by Norman Mailer. (Random House: $22.) Not content with the job done by the evangelists, Jesus presents his autobiography (7). Southern California ranking: 2; Last Week: 5; Weeks on List: 3

PRETEND YOU DON’T SEE HER by Mary Higgins Clark. (Simon & Schuster: $25.) (1). Southern California ranking: 3; Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 4

THE PARTNER by John Grisham. (Doubleday: $26.95.) (2). Southern California ranking: 4; Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 11

AMERICAN PASTORAL by Philip Roth. (Houghton Mifflin: $26.) Richard Eder, The Times’ book critic, wrote that this novel “scintillates with more Rothian wit, paradox, eloquent tantrums and absurd pratfalls . . . than can be counted.” (12). Southern California ranking: 5; Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 3

THE RANCH by Danielle Steel. (Delacorte: $25.95.) (4). Southern California ranking: 6; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 3

HARLEM by Len Riley. (Doubleday: $21.95.) A country girl shuns her poor family when she moves to 1920s Harlem and carves out a new life among the tenements and jazz clubs. Southern California ranking: 7; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

3001: THE FINAL ODYSSEY by Arthur C. Clarke. (Del Rey: $25.) (8). Southern California ranking: 8; Last Week: 8; Weeks on List: 8

PURPLE AMERICA by Rick Moody (Little, Brown & Company: $23.95.) Our reviewer, Michael Frank, called this book “a stellar accomplishment. . . . An original and reverberative novel.”. Southern California ranking: 9; Last Week: 7; Weeks on List: 2

THE ACTUAL by Saul Bellow. (Viking: $17.95.) A semi-retired businessman pursues an old high school flame and learns about spiritual exile in the process. Southern California ranking: 10; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

Nonfiction

WITHOUT A DOUBT by Marcia Clark with Teresa Carpenter. (Viking: $25.95.) More on the melodrama of the Simpson trial, plus the former prosecutor’s struggles with being a single working mom in the glare of the spotlight. Southern California ranking: 1; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

ANGELA’S ASHES by Frank McCourt. (Scribner: $24.) (1). Southern California ranking: 2; Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 29

MOTHERS & DAUGHTERS by Carol Saline and Sharon J. Wohlmuth. (Doubleday: $24.95.) Moments from the lives of 37 women and their daughters (4). Southern California ranking: 3; Last Week: 8; Weeks on List: 2

UNDERBOSS: Sammy the Bull Gravano’s Story of Life in the Mafia by Peter Maas. (HarperCollins: $25.) (2). Southern California ranking: 4; Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 4

INTO THIN AIR: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer. (Villard: $24.) (3). Southern California ranking: 5; Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 3

LOCKED IN THE CABINET by Robert B. Reich. (Knopf: $25.) Antics and anecdotes of the Clinton administration by the former secretary of Labor (8). Southern California ranking: 6; Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 3

CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD by Neale Donald Walsch. (Putnam: $19.95.) (7). Southern California ranking: 7; Last Week: 10; Weeks on List: 5

PERSONAL HISTORY by Katharine Graham. (Knopf: $29.95) (13). Southern California ranking: 8; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 13

KIDS ARE PUNNY: Jokes Sent by Kids to The Rosie O’Donnell Show. (Warner: $10) (5). Southern California ranking: 9; Last Week: 6; Weeks on List: 4

THE KILLING SEASON: A Summer Inside an LAPD Homicide Division by Miles Corwin. (Simon & Schuster: $23.). Southern California ranking: 10; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

Paperbacks: FICTION

1. MARTIN DRESSLER by Steven Millhauser. (Vintage: $12.)

2. THE RUNAWAY JURY by John Grisham. (Bantam: $7.99.)

3. THE RAPTURE OF CANAAN by Sheri Reynolds. (Berkley: $12.)

4. THE BLUE FLOWER by Penelope Fitzgerald. (Mariner/Houghton Mifflin: $12.)

5. MOONLIGHT BECOMES YOU by Mary Higgins Clark. (Pocket: $7.99.)

Paperbacks: NONFICTION

1. CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE WOMAN’S SOUL by J. Canfield, M.V. Hansen, J. Hawthorne and M. Shimoff. (Health Communications: $12.95.)

2. DON’T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF by Richard Carlson. (Hyperion: $8.95.)

3. THE COLOR OF WATER by James McBride. (Riverhead: $12.)

4. ZAGAT SURVEY 1997 LOS ANGELES/SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT GUIDE edited by Merrill Shindler and Karen Berk. (Zagat Survey: $10.95.)

5. THE CLOISTER WALK by Kathleen Norris. (Riverhead: $12.50.)

Rankings based on Times’ poll of local bookstores. National hardcover rankings (in parentheses)are those of Publishers Weekly.