FICTION1 DEATH IN HOLY ORDERS by P.D....

FICTION

1 DEATH IN HOLY ORDERS by P.D. James (Alfred A. Knopf: $25) In East Anglia, a theological college is torn apart by a sacrilegious and horrifying murder.

Last Week: 3; Weeks On List: 2

2 A COMMON LIFE by Jan Karon (Viking: $24.95) The villagers in Mitford celebrate, from pre-nup counseling to the walk down the aisle, when Father Tim marries his next-door neighbor.

Last Week: 2; Weeks On List: 3

3 ON THE STREET WHERE YOU LIVE by Mary Higgins Clark (Simon & Schuster: $26) In a sleepy resort town, an attorney believes that a serial killer from a century ago has returned.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 1

4 SILENT JOE by T. Jefferson Parker (Hyperion: $23.95) A young sheriff’s deputy, his face horribly scarred, uncovers his mysterious past when he hunts the killers of his adopted father.

Last Week: 4; Weeks On List: 3

5 THE BONESETTER’S DAUGHTER by Amy Tan (Putnam: $25.95) A ghostwriter uncovers her family’s anguished past in China as her mother struggles with Alzheimer’s disease.

Last Week: 1; Weeks On List: 10

6 THE LAST TIME THEY MET by Anita Shreve (Little, Brown: $24.95) Two poets sustain a lifelong passion though they’ve been together only three times.

Last Week: 12; Weeks On List: 6

7 1st TO DIE by James Patterson (Little, Brown: $26.95) Four female professionals dubbed “The Women’s Murder Club” track a killer with a penchant for newlyweds.

Last Week: 5; Weeks On List: 7

8 THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER & CLAY by Michael Chabon (Random House: $26.95) In World War II Brooklyn, two Jewish cousins break into the comic book business.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 9

9 DREAMCATCHER by Stephen King (Scribner: $28) Four boyhood friends return to a cabin in the Maine woods to recall old times and face horrifying bodysnatchers.

Last Week: 6; Weeks On List: 5

10 THE LAST REPORT ON THE MIRACLES AT LITTLE NO HORSE by Louise Erdrich (HarperCollins: $26) A priest suffers a crisis of conscience in an Ojibwe community in North Dakota.

Last Week: 11; Weeks On List: 2

11 POTSHOT by Robert B. Parker (Putnam: $23.95) The 28th Spenser novel finds the private investigator in Potshot, Ariz., a former mining town reborn as a millionaires’ retreat.

Last Week: 10; Weeks On List: 3

12 RESURRECTING MINGUS by Jenoyne Adams (The Free Press: $23) In the aftermath of her parents’ divorce, a young attorney strives to find her own identity.

Last Week: 13; Weeks On List: 5

13 THE VILLA by Nora Roberts (Putnam: $25.95) The merger of two powerful family wineries in Napa, Calif., results in romance, intrigue, sabotage and murder.

Last Week: 15; Weeks On List: 5

14 A DAY LATE AND A DOLLAR SHORT by Terry McMillan (Viking: $25.95) A matriarch, her husband and her children see life--and one another--on their own terms.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 12

15 A PAINTED HOUSE by John Grisham (Doubleday: $27.95) Tensions between two groups of farm workers result in a brutal murder in this tale of an Arkansas boyhood in 1952.

Last Week: 11; Weeks On List: 10

NONFICTION

1 WALKING THE BIBLE by Bruce Feiler (William Morrow: $26) A writer joins an archeologist on a trek in the Middle East to connect more deeply with his religious roots.

Last Week: 8; Weeks On List: 4

2 SEABISCUIT by Laura Hillenbrand (Random House: $24.95) How three men transformed a thoroughbred horse from a neurotic also-ran into an American sports icon.

Last Week: 1; Weeks On List: 8

3 FOUNDING BROTHERS by Joseph J. Ellis (Alfred A. Knopf: $26 ) The lives of America’s founders, their squabbles and collaborations, long before they were deified in history books.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 3

4 WHO MOVED MY CHEESE? by Spencer Johnson (Putnam: $19.95) The coauthor of “The One Minute Manager” uses the parable of mice in a maze to show people how to manage change.

Last Week: 3; Weeks On List: 58

5 A SHORT GUIDE TO A HAPPY LIFE by Anna Quindlen (Random House: $12.95) The columnist reflects on what it takes to “get a life” by living deeply rather than merely existing.

Last Week: 6; Weeks On List: 24

6 FAST FOOD NATION by Eric Schlosser (Houghton Mifflin: $25) A journalist exposes the fast-food industry’s strategies, from meatpacking to the boardroom, to control American consumers.

Last Week: 1; Weeks On List: 11

7 DARWIN AWARDS by Wendy Northcutt (Dutton: $16.95) Stupid human tricks: Honoring those who improve our gene pool by eliminating themselves from it.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 15

8 IN THE WAKE OF THE PLAGUE by Norman Cantor (The Free Press: $25) How the Black Death devastated 14th century Europe and affected the course of civilization for centuries.

Last Week: --; Weeks On List: 2

9 RAISING FENCES by Michael Datcher (Putnam: $23.95) A poet’s memoir of his chaotic childhood in the inner city of L.A. and an impassioned indictment of absentee fathers.

Last Week: 11; Weeks On List: 3

10 ABSOLUTE POWER by David Limbaugh (Regnery Publishing: $27.95) The brother of radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh accuses the Clinton Justice Department of corruption.

Last Week: 14; Weeks On List: 2

11 THE MONEY AND THE POWER by Sally Denton and Roger Morris (Alfred A. Knopf: $26.95) The city of Las Vegas and its long and powerful hold on America.

Last Week: 5; Weeks On List: 2

12 TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE by Mitch Albom (Doubleday: $19.95) A sportswriter’s story of the life lessons he received during weekly visits to an older dying friend.

Last Week: 13; Weeks On List: 164

13 THE FLNEUR by Edmund White (Bloomsbury: $16.95) Leisurely strolls through the City of Light prompt literary meditations by the novelist.

Last Week: 10; Weeks On List: 5

14 AMERICAN TERRORIST by Lou Michel and Dan Herbeck (ReganBooks: $26.95) Timothy McVeigh and the story of the Oklahoma City bombing six years ago.

Last Week: 7; Weeks On List: 2

15 BAREFOOT CONTESSA PARTIES! by Ina Garten (Clarkson Potter: $32.50) Details on how to plan 16 theme parties, four for each season, from hors d’oeuvres to dessert.

Last Week: 9; Weeks On List: 2

FICTION

1 BRIDGET JONES’S DIARY by Helen Fielding (Penguin: $12.95) A thirtysomething Londoner’s quest for a mate.

2 GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING by Tracy Chevalier (Plume: $12) The woman who inspired a Vermeer painting.

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

4 BONES by Jan Burke (Signet: $6.99) Irene Kelly hunts for a missing mother and encounters a serial killer instead.

5 BRIDGET JONES: THE EDGE OF REASON by Helen Fielding (Penguin: $13) Has Bridget found the perfect mate?

6 IN HER DEFENSE by Stephen Horn (HarperPaperback: $6.99) An attorney’s gambit to win an unwinnable case.

7 LE MARIAGE by Diane Johnson (Plume: $13) Odd goings-on in the American expatriate community of Paris.

8 INTERPRETER OF MALADIES by Jhumpa Lahiri (Mariner: $12) Stories of love and loss mingle with Indian customs.

9 HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG by Andre Dubus III (Vintage: $14) Two families clash over an auctioned house.

10 THE BARBARIANS ARE COMING by David Wong Louie (Berkley: $12.95) Western vs. Chinese values in a chef’s life. Southern California

NONFICTION

1 THE WORST-CASE SCENARIO SURVIVAL HANDBOOK: TRAVEL by J. Piven & D. Borgenicht (Chronicle: $14.95)

2 A HEARTBREAKING WORK OF STAGGERING GENIUS by Dave Eggers (Vintage: $14) A 22-year-old raises his brother.

3 OH NO! NOT ANOTHER PROBLEM by Jeanette A. Griver and Michele W. Vodrey (Compsych: $12.95) Problem solving.

4 THE WORST-CASE SCENARIO SURVIVAL HANDBOOK by Joshua Piven & David Borgenicht (Chronicle: $14.95) S-O-S!

5 WRITER TELLS ALL by Robert Masello (Owl Books: $14) “Insider” secrets to publishing one’s book.

6 GALILEO’S DAUGHTER by Dava Sobel (Penguin: $14) The famous astronomer and his daughter, a cloistered nun.

7 EX LIBRIS by Anne Fadiman (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $10) Essays on the delights of old books and the reading life.

8 RICH DAD, POOR DAD by Robert T. Kiyosaki with Sharon L. Lechter (Techpress: $15.95) Adventures in fiscal parenting.

9 THE GHOSTS OF ECHO PARK by Ron Emler (Echo Park Publishing: $15) A pictorial history of the neighborhood.

10 ORDINARY PEOPLE, EXTRAORDINARY WEALTH by Ric Edelman (HarperResource: $15) Middle-class tycoons.

Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.