FictionPLUM ISLAND by Nelson DeMille. (Warner: $25)....

Fiction

PLUM ISLAND by Nelson DeMille. (Warner: $25). Convalescing in a fishing town, a New York cop finds a connection between local lore and the deaths of two biologists (1). Southern California ranking: 1; Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 2

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” (5). Southern California ranking: 2; Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 6

AMERICAN PASTORAL by Philip Roth. (Houghton Mifflin: $26). Richard Eder, The Times’ book critic, wrote that this novel “scintillates with more Rothian wit, paradox. . . than can be counted.” Southern California ranking: 3; Last Week: 7; Weeks on List: 7

CHASING CEZANNE by Peter Mayle. (Knopf: $23). An art theft on the Co^te d’Azur plunges a likable photographer into the world of the super chic (13). Southern California ranking: 4; Last Week: 6; Weeks on List: 2

THE MEMOIRS OF CLEOPATRA by Margaret George. (St. Martin’s: $27.95). The queen of the Nile describes her shaky rule over a kingdom and her reign over men’s hearts. Southern California ranking: 5; Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 4

THE PARTNER by John Grisham. (Doubleday: $26.95) (2). Southern California ranking: 6; Last Week: 5; Weeks on List: 15

LONDON by Edward Rutherfurd. (Crown: $25.95). From its Saxon and Roman origins to the present, London’s history is told through the experiences of six families (12). Southern California ranking: 7; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

PRETEND YOU DON’T SEE HER by Mary Higgins Clark. (Simon & Schuster: $25) (3). Southern California ranking: 8; Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 8

INDIGO SLAM by Robert Crais. (Hyperion: $22.95). A deadbeat dad case sends Elvis Cole into a seedy world of counterfeiters, drug addicts and Russian mobsters. Southern California ranking: 9; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

LE DIVORCE by Diane Johnson. (Dutton: $23.95). Southern California ranking: 10; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 17

Nonfiction

INTO THIN AIR by Jon Krakauer. (Villard: $24) (1). Southern California ranking: 1; Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 7

ANGELA’S ASHES by Frank McCourt. (Scribner: $24) (2). Southern California ranking: 2; Last Week: 5; Weeks on List: 33

OVITZ: The Inside Story of Hollywood’s Most Controversial Power Broker by Robert Slater. (McGraw-Hill: $22.95). Southern California ranking: 3; Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 3

UNDERBOSS: Sammy the Bull Gravano’s Story of Life in the Mafia by Peter Maas. (HarperCollins: $25) (5). Southern California ranking: 4; Last Week: 6; Weeks on List: 8

WITHOUT A DOUBT by Marcia Clark with Teresa Carpenter. (Viking: $25.95) (4). Southern California ranking: 5; Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 5

NEWS OF A KIDNAPPING by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. (Knopf: $25). Our reviewer, Michael Massing, wrote that “Garcia Marquez has a good story to tell, and he applies his impressive narrative skills with verve.” Southern California ranking: 6; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD, BOOK ONE by Neale Donald Walsch. (Putnam: $19.95) (9). Southern California ranking: 7; Last Week: 8; Weeks on List: 9

KIDS ARE PUNNY: Jokes Sent by Kids to The Rosie O’Donnell Show. (Warner: $10) (3). Southern California ranking: 8; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 5

THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY by Jean-Dominique Bauby. (Knopf: $20). Meditations from the brink of oblivion, by a French editor paralyzed by a massive stroke. Southern California ranking: 9; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

BRAIN DROPPINGS by George Carlin. (Hyperion: $19.95). Musings on the humor in modern life, from drugs and dentistry to celebrities and dining out. Southern California ranking: 10; Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 2

Paperbacks: FICTION

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

2. SHE’S COME UNDONE by Wally Lamb. (Pocket: $14)

3. THE DEEP END OF THE OCEAN by Jacquelyn Mitchard. (Signet: $7.50)

4. GODS AND GENERALS by Jeff Shaara. (Ballantine: $12.95)

5. BIRDSONG by Sebastian Faulks. (Vintage: $13)

Paperbacks: NONFICTION

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

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

3. L.A. BIZARRO: The Insider’s Guide to the Obscure, the Absurd and the Perverse in Los Angeles by Anthony Lovett and Matt Maranian. (A Buzz Book/St. Martin’s: $16.95)

4. HIT & RUN: How Jon Peters and Peter Guber Took Sony for a Ride in Hollywood by Nancy Griffin and Kim Masters. (Touchstone/Simon & Schuster: $15)

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

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