Los Angeles Times Bestsellers

November 11, 2001

FICTION

Southern California Rating

1 PRODIGAL SUMMER by Barbara Kingsolver (HarperPerennial: $14) Tapestry of love in Appalachia.

2 AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL by Moon Unit Zappa (Scribner: $14) Heartache and humor with a famous artist’s daughter.

3 THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER & CLAY by Michael Chabon (Picador: $15) Cousins in the comics biz.

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

5 SOUL MOUNTAIN by Gao Xingjian (HarperPerennial: $15) A man’s inner journey and search for freedom in rural China.

6 BEE SEASON by Myla Goldberg (Vintage: $13) A young girl wins her family’s attention after excelling at spelling bees.

7 THE PROMETHEUS DECEPTION by Robert Ludlum (St. Martin’s: $7.99) Double-crosses galore in this thriller.

8 THE RED TENT by Anita Diamant (Picador USA: $14.95) The

blossoming of Dinah, Jacob’s only daughter, in Genesis.

9 ROSES ARE RED by James Patterson (Warner: $7.99)

Profiler takes on case of madman turning ever more vicious.

10 KINGDOM OF SHADOWS by Alan Furst (Random House: $11.95) Hungarian expatriates on the eve of World War II.

NONFICTION

Southern California Rating

1 TALIBAN by Ahmed Rashid (Yale University Press: $14.95) The rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Afghanistan.

2 BLOWBACK by Chalmers Johnson (Owl Books: $15) Why America should reconsider its role in the world.

3 JIHAD VS. McWORLD by Benjamin Barber (Ballantine: $12.95) Colliding ideologies and the new world order.

4 BIN LADEN by Yossef Bodansky (Prima Publishing, $17.95) A look into what shaped the terrorist leader’s life.

5 FROM BEIRUT TO JERUSALEM by Thomas L. Friedman (Anchor: $15.95) A look at the Arab-Israeli conflict.

6 BLACK HAWK DOWN by Mark Bowden (Signet: $7.99) A gritty account of a disastrous 1993 military operation in Somalia.

7 AFGHANISTAN IN A NUTSHELL by Amanda Roraback (Enisen Publishing: $4.95) Facts, figures and background.

8 PERSONAL HISTORY by Katharine Graham (Vintage: $15) A memoir by the late publisher of the Washington Post.

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

10 BAND OF BROTHERS by Stephen Ambrose (Touchstone: $16) The elite World War II fighting force Easy Company.