LOS ANGELES TIMES BESTSELLERS / September 16, 2001

Southern California Rating

FICTION

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

2 THE BLIND ASSASSIN by Margaret Atwood (Anchor: $14) A tale of two sisters and an unpublished sci-fi novel.

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

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

5 THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING by J.R.R. Tolkien (Ballantine: $6.99) Volume 1 of the epic “The Lord of the Rings.”

6 AND THEN THERE WERE NONE by Agatha Christie (St. Martin’s: $5.99) Ten people and a murderer on an island.

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

8 THE FEAST OF LOVE by Charles Baxter (Vintage: $13) Love, sacrifice and redemption in Michigan lives.

9 DINNER AT THE HOMESICK RESTAURANT by Anne Tyler (Ballantine: $14) The ties that bind a woman and her brood.

10 THE ALCHEMIST by Paulo Coelho (HarperSanFrancisco: $13) Parable of a shepherd’s journey to find gold in Egypt.

NONFICTION

Southern California Rating

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

2 ME TALK PRETTY ONE DAY by David Sedaris (Little, Brown: $14.95) Wisecracking essays on life in Paris and elsewhere.

3 OH NO! NOT ANOTHER PROBLEM by Jeanette A. Griver & Michele W. Vodrey (Compsych: $12.95) Finding solutions.

4 BAND OF BROTHERS by Stephen E. Ambrose (Touchstone Books: $16) The elite fighting force Easy Company.

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

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

7 GUNS, GERMS AND STEEL by Jared Diamond (W.W. Norton: $14.95) The part played by this triad in history.

8 IN THE HEART OF THE SEA by Nathaniel Philbrick (Penguin: $14) The whaling tragedy that inspired “Moby-Dick.”

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

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