BESTSELLERS

Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.

*--* -- Fiction Weeks on list 1. Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk (Doubleday: $24.95) An 1 aging porn star tries to cap her career with a movie of her having sex with 600 men in one day. 2. Bright Shiny Morning by James Frey (Harper: 2 $26.95) Lives intertwine across Los Angeles. 3. Careless in Red by Elizabeth George (Harper: 3 $27.95) A detective mourning his late wife stumbles upon the body of a young man. 4. The Host by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown: 3 $25.99) A woman refuses to give in to alien invaders who take over the minds, but not the bodies, of humans. 5. The Front by Patricia Cornwell (Putnam: $22.95) A 1 detective stumbles on trouble in Watertown, Mass. 6. Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri (Knopf: $25) 8 Stories of U.S.-born children and their Bengali-born parents straddling cultures. 7. Odd Hours by Dean Koontz (Bantam: $27) 1 Clairvoyant fry cook Odd Thomas is disturbed by dreams of a sinister red tide. 8. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot 18 Diaz (Riverhead: $24.95) A sci-fi-loving nerd and his immigrant family are haunted by the past. 9. Phantom Prey by John Sandford (Putnam: $26.95) A 3 wealthy widow returns home to find smeared blood and her daughter missing. Reviewed at left. 10. The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein 1 (Harper: $23.95) A dog’s-eye view of love, loyalty and sacrifice for his race-car-driving master. *--*

*--* -- Nonfiction 1. Audition by Barbara Walters (Knopf: $29.95) The pioneering 3 newswoman recalls her life and career. 2. The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow 7 (Hyperion: $21.95) A professor with terminal cancer urges us to seize life’s moments. 3. The Secret by Rhonda Byrne (Beyond Words: $23.95) Life’s 74 secrets distilled from oral tradition, literature, religion and philosophy. 4. The Post-American World by Fareed Zakaria (W.W. Norton: 3 $25.95) What the future holds with the United States fading as the world’s leading economy. 5. Just Who Will You Be? by Maria Shriver (Hyperion: $14.95) 6 Ask who, not what, you want to be. 6. Are You There, Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea by Chelsea Handler 2 (Simon Spotlight Entertainment: $24.95) The talk-show host skewers dating, family and work. 7. My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor (Viking: $24.95) A 1 brain scientist describes her massive stroke and the steps she took to a full recovery. 8. A Wolf at the Table by Augusten Burroughs (St. Martin’s: 5 $24.95) An exploration of a terrifying relationship between father and son. 9. Stolen Innocence by Elissa Wall and Lisa Pulitzer (William 1 Morrow: $25.95) A woman’s story of marriage at 14 and breaking with a polygamous sect. 10. The Soloist by Steve Lopez (Putnam: $25.95) The L.A. Times 6 columnist befriends a mentally ill homeless musician. *--*