BESTSELLERS

*--* SO. CAL. RATING Fiction LAST WEEK WEEKS ON LIST

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*--* 1 Prey by Michael Crichton (HarperCollins: $26.95) A foray 1 3 into the world of nanotechnology as a programmer tries to stop a swarm of tiny machines. Reviewed by Michael A. Hiltzik, page 10

2 The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (Little, Brown: $21.95) 2 25 A murdered girl tells the story of her grieving family still learning to cope, the killer and the detective who hunts him

3 Four Blind Mice by James Patterson (Little, Brown: 3 3 $27.95) Alex Cross helps a friend save the life of an old Army buddy, who’s been framed by a quartet of murderers for a killing spree

4 Skipping Christmas by John Grisham (Doubleday: $14.95) 4 15 Grisham takes a holiday from legal thrillers to poke fun at the suburban yuletide ritual

5 You Shall Know Our Velocity by Dave Eggers (McSweeney’s: 10 10 $22) A pair of friends take an around-the-world trip, handing out money to strangers

6 The Christmas Train by David Baldacci (Warner: $19.95) A 7 4 washed-up journalist tries to reignite sparks with his lost love as they ride the rails in this cross-country holiday tale

7 Hornet Flight by Ken Follett (Dutton: $26.95) A World War -- 1 II yarn in which Danish amateur spies help to foil the Nazis’ use of radar, which has neutralized British bombers

8 Reversible Errors by Scott Turow (Farrar, Straus & 9 6 Giroux: $28) Defense attorney Arthur Raven uncovers new twists in a 10-year-old murder case as the defendant awaits execution

9 Life of Pi by Yann Martel (Harcourt: $25) After a ship -- 4 disaster, a lone Indian man shares a raft with a Bengal tiger during a harrowing and hallucinatory trip

10 The Little Friend by Donna Tartt (Alfred A. Knopf: $26) A 6 7 12-year-old whose family was torn apart by the murder of her brother sees revenge as her only hope

11 I Don’t Know How She Does It by Allison Pearson (Alfred 5 9 A. Knopf: $23) A darkly humorous tale of a woman juggling her high-powered career and family life

12 Blackwood Farm by Anne Rice (Alfred A. Knopf: $26.95) A 12 6 vampire who inhabits a Southern manse seeks out Lestat to free himself from his ghostly double

13 The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber -- 5 (Harcourt: $26) A Dickensian novel that follows the lives of a prostitute, her lover and her lover’s wife in Victorian London

14 Baudolino by Umberto Eco (Harcourt: $27) A trickster with 13 6 a knack for telling fantastic tales dupes a 12th century emperor and journeys to the Far East in search of an earthly paradise

15 The Cave by Jose Saramago (Harcourt: $25) An aging -- 1 potter’s efforts to protect his trade from an imposing commerce center highlight universal questions of myth, art and philosophy

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*--* SO. CAL. RATING Nonfiction LAST WEEK WEEKS ON LIST

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*--* 1 Bush at War by Bob Woodward (Simon & Schuster: $28) 1 3 Inside the White House since the 2001 attacks, as the Bush administration runs the war on terrorism and puts Iraq in its gun sights

2 The Conquerors by Michael R. Beschloss (Simon & Schuster: -- 4 $26.95) How American strategists and their Allies drew up a plan for a post-World War II Europe and a defanged Germany

3 Portrait of a Killer by Patricia Cornwell (Putnam: 7 3 $27.95) The bestselling thriller writer spent millions on new forensic technology to unmask the man she believes was Jack the Ripper

4 Sandy Koufax by Jane Leavy (HarperCollins: $23.95) A look 3 12 at the career of the Dodger pitcher, arguably the game’s greatest southpaw, and the social mores he confronted

5 Leadership by Rudolph W. Giuliani (Miramax: $25.95) The 6 10 former New York City mayor recalls how life’s lessons helped him deal with the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks

6 The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle (New World Library: 5 18 $21.95) How to improve relationships and encourage happiness and contentment by living in the present

7 A Long Way From Home by Tom Brokaw (Random House: $24.95) 9 4 Relying on other people’s stories for his books on the “Greatest Generation,” the NBC newsman turns to his South Dakota upbringing

8 Stupid White Men and Other Sorry Excuses for the State of 8 40 the Nation by Michael Moore (ReganBooks: $24.95) Lampooning the Bush administration and more

9 My Losing Season by Pat Conroy (Nan A. Talese/Doubleday: 11 8 $27.95) The sorrows of life with a bullying father and the consolations of playing basketball at a South Carolina military college

10 Everyday Grace by Marianne Williamson (Riverhead: $19.95) 4 2 Finding the spiritual in everything from being stuck in traffic to a boardroom confrontation

11 Journals by Kurt Cobain (Riverhead: $29.95) Reproductions 2 6 of the Nirvana lead singer’s journals, filled with drawings, plans for the band and his feelings on fame and music

12 Live From New York by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller 13 9 (Little, Brown: $25.95) A backstage recounting of the comic genius and egos of “Saturday Night Live.”

13 The Sea Hunters II by Clive Cussler and Craig Dirgo -- 1 (Putnam: $27.95) The author of maritime thrillers describes real-life salvaging adventures.

14 A Third Face by Samuel Fuller (Alfred A. Knopf: $35) -- 2 Posthumous memoir of the rowdy filmmaker who made “Shock Corridor” and “The Big Red One” and was lionized by Scorsese and Godard

15 When You Ride Alone You Ride With Bin Laden by Bill Maher 10 5 (New Millennium: $27.95) A guide to the ineptitude of Americans and their government in the war on terrorism

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