Los Angeles Times Bestsellers

December 2, 2001

FICTION

Southern California Rating

1 HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER’S STONE by J.K. Rowling (Scholastic: $6.99) Young Harry trains as a wizard.

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

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

4 CODE TO ZERO by Ken Follett (Signet: $7.99) A man struggles to recover erased memories of his link to U.S. space efforts.

5 HARRY POTTER & THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS by J.K. Rowling (Scholastic: $6.99) A trap awaits Harry at Hogwarts.

6 HARRY POTTER & THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN by J.K. Rowling (Scholastic: $7.99) Showdown with Sirius Black.

7 THE HOBBIT by J.R.R. Tolkien (Houghton Mifflin: $12) The

adventures of Bilbo Baggins in the world of Middle-Earth.

8 PERISH TWICE by Robert B. Parker (Berkley: $7.99) In the murky world of prostitution with Boston P.I. Sunny Randall.

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

10 THE CONSTANT GARDENER by John le Carre (Pocket: $7.99) A British diplomat uncovers multinational mischief in Kenya.

NONFICTION

Southern California Rating

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

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

3 WORST-CASE SCENARIO SURVIVAL HANDBOOK: DATING & SEX (Chronicle Books: $14.95) Blind dates and other crises.

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

5 WORLD ALMANAC AND BOOK OF FACTS 2002 (World Almanac Books: $11.95) 2001 and then some.

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

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

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

9 OLD FARMER’S ALMANAC 2002 by Robert B. Thomas (Villard: $5.95) Weather, tides, how-to advice and more.

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