BESTSELLERS

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

*--*

*--* 1 A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby (Riverhead: $24.95) A 1 2 quartet of people who met on a London rooftop as they contemplated suicide form a support group for one another.

2 The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (Little, Brown: 10 2 $25.95) A teenager discovers a medieval book and a stash of letters and sets out on a hunt for the real story of Dracula, a quest close to home.

3 The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd (Viking: $24.95) A 3 12 woman called home to cope with her troubled mother finds herself drawn to a Benedictine monk on an island off South Carolina.

4 Specimen Days by Michael Cunningham (Farrar, Straus & 4 2 Giroux: $25) Three characters evoke Walt Whitman as they traverse time in this triptych of New York stories.

5 The History of Love by Nicole Krauss (W.W. Norton: 15 5 $23.95) A writer escapes the Nazis but loses his life’s love and the will to create, and a teenager attempts to heal her widowed mother’s broken heart.

6 The Closers by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown: $26.95) 2 6 Detective Harry Bosch reunites with partner Kizmin Rider to solve a 17-year-old case after DNA evidence is found on the murder weapon.

7 The Starter Wife by Gigi Levangie Grazer (Simon & 5 3 Schuster: $24) The pampered wife of a studio executive finds her world turned upside down after her husband dumps her for a pop princess.

8 The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (Doubleday: $24.95) A 6 118 Louvre curator’s killing leads to clues hidden in Leonardo’s paintings and a secret society with something to hide.

9 One Shot by Lee Child (Delacorte Press: $25) Ex-military -- 1 policeman Jack Reacher finds himself drawn to the case of a gunman who opens fire in a small Midwestern town.

10 Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: -- 20 $23) An aging minister facing death explains his life and religious beliefs in a letter to his young son.

11 Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith by Matthew Woodring -- 10 Stover (Del Rey: $25.95) Yoda and fellow masters try to protect the Jedi Council amid civil war and the arrival of a dark new Sith lord.

12 Dance of Death by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child -- 1 (Warner: $25.95) An FBI agent is under suspicion when his friends turn up dead, but he knows his wayward brother is up to no good.

13 Saturday by Ian McEwan (Nan A. Talese / Doubleday: $26) 9 14 A day in the life of a neurosurgeon brings both quotidian and Earth-shattering struggles in post-Sept. 11 London.

14 Velocity by Dean Koontz (Bantam: $27) Laid-back Napa 8 4 County bartender Billy Wiles is drawn into a terrifying game by a killer who asks Wiles to choose the next victim.

15 Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk (Doubleday: $24.95) Several 7 7 writers eager for fame lock themselves in an abandoned theater for their own grotesque version of “Survivor.”

*--*

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

*--*

*--* 1 1776 by David McCullough (Simon & Schuster: $32) The 1 3 historian looks at how the American forces took on the world’s greatest military power in the Revolution’s first battles.

2 The World Is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman (Farrar, Straus 2 10 & Giroux: $27.50) How technology and the forces of globalization are connecting -- and changing -- the world.

3 Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner 4 9 (William Morrow: $25.95) An economist deconstructs statistics and uses numbers to help explain human behavior.

4 Blink by Malcolm Gladwell (Little, Brown: $25.95) 5 23 Gladwell explores why decisions are so often made in an instant and whether we can really trust those first instincts.

5 On Bull... by Harry G. Frankfurt (Princeton University 7 14 Press: $9.95) A leading philosopher takes on society’s view of what sometimes seems to be the fine line between truth and lying.

6 You: The Owner’s Manual by Michael F. Roizen and Mehmet 3 7 C. Oz (HarperResource: $24.95) A wry and witty guide to the inner workings of the human body.

7 Winning by Jack Welch with Suzy Welch (HarperBusiness: 9 10 $27.95) How to succeed in business (and life) by staying optimistic, making no excuses and getting things done.

8 Chronicles, Volume One by Bob Dylan (Simon & Schuster: 15 28 $24) The songwriter reflects on the influences that helped shape him and his struggle to rediscover his creativity.

9 Collapse by Jared Diamond (Viking: $29.95) A -- 16 prize-winning author examines why societies such as the Anasazi and the Maya collapsed and what can be done to prevent future die-offs.

10 French Women Don’t Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano (Knopf: 6 24 $22) The chief executive of the French wine conglomerate Clicquot Inc. reveals the French secret of eating for pleasure without the bulge.

11 The Purpose-Driven Life by Rick Warren (Zondervan: -- 114 $19.99) How the “God-ordained” principles of worship, community, discipleship, ministry and evangelism bring fulfillment.

12 They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky by Benson Deng et. -- 1 al. (PublicAffairs: $25) Three Sudanese tell the harrowing story of how they fled civil war and made their way to a new life in the U.S.

13 Oh the Glory of It All by Sean Wilsey (Penguin: $25.95) 11 5 A memoir of a young man who rebels against his privileged upbringing and self-absorbed parents.

14 My Life So Far by Jane Fonda (Random House: $26.95) The -- 8 actress, antiwar activist, fitness guru and feminist icon tells the story of her life, with a heavy emphasis on the men along the way.

15 Cracking the Millionaire Code by Mark Victor Hansen and -- 1 Robert G. Allen (Harmony: $23) How to achieve entrepreneurial success with an emphasis on spirituality and giving back to society.

*--*