February 18, 2001

FICTION

1. A DARKNESS MORE THAN NIGHT by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown: $25.95) A retired FBI agent teams with an LAPD homicide detective to investigate a series of ritual killings.

Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 3

2. THE YEARS WITH LAURA DIAZ by Carlos Fuentes (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $26) The 20th century as seen through the eyes of a woman who is a symbol of Mexico’s recent past.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

3. MYSTIC RIVER by Dennis Lehane (William Morrow: $25) A young girl’s murder in a Massachusetts neighborhood causes three friends to confront the skeletons in their closets.

Last Week: 7; Weeks on List: 2

4. THE FIRST COUNSEL by Brad Meltzer (Warner: $25.95) In love with the president’s daughter, a young White House lawyer uncovers a murder plot that extends to the Oval Office.

Last Week: 6; Weeks on List: 4

5. DEMONOLOGY by Rick Moody (Little, Brown: $24.95) Intricate short stories about troubled people and the powerful force that dead loved ones exert on their lives.

Last Week: 14; Weeks on List: 2

6. SHOPGIRL by Steve Martin (Hyperion: $17.95) A young artist who works days in the glove department at Neiman Marcus falls abruptly in love with a millionaire businessman.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 18

7. A DAY LATE AND A DOLLAR SHORT by Terry McMillan (Viking: $25.95) A matriarch, her husband and her children see life--and one another--on their own terms.

Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 3

8. THE CAT WHO SMELLED A RAT by Lilian Jackson Braun (Putnam: $23.95) Two felines belonging to a newspaper columnist-philanthropist predict two fires and the shooting of a fire patrol volunteer.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

9. THE DEATH OF VISHNU by Manil Suri (W.W. Norton: $24.95) A dying man’s soul eavesdrops on his neighbors in a Bombay apartment building as he tries to solve the riddle of his own mortality.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 2

10. DECLARE by Tim Powers (William Morrow: $25) After a 10-year hiatus in academia, a British spy is called back into “the trade” when he receives a cryptic telephone message.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

11. THE BODY ARTIST by Don DeLillo (Scribner: $22) In a ghostly seaside house, an artist encounters a strange, ageless man with an uncanny knowledge of her own life.

Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 3

12. BLOOD LURE by Nevada Barr (Putnam: $24.95) National Park Service Ranger Anna Pigeon investigates the death, possibly by grizzly bear, of a female camper whose face has been mutilated.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

13. THE CONSTANT GARDENER by John le Carre (Scribner: $28) A British diplomat quits his Nairobi home and garden to avenge the murder of his wife, who uncovered multinational misdeeds in Kenya.

Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 9

14. PRODIGAL SUMMER by Barbara Kingsolver (HarperCollins: $26) In southern Appalachia, three stories of human love intersect within a larger tapestry.

Last Week: 8; Weeks on List: 15

15. RIGHT AS RAIN by George P. Pelecanos (Little, Brown: $24.95 ) A private investigator is hired to clear up the mysteries surrounding the death of a police officer killed in a shootout.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

NONFICTION

1. WHO MOVED MY CHEESE? by Spencer Johnson (Putnam: $19.95) This co-author of “The One Minute Manager” uses the parable of mice in a maze to show people how to manage change.

Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 47

2. SALVATION by bell hooks (William Morrow: $22) From civil rights to hip-hop, a look at the transformative power of love in the lives of African Americans.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

3. AN HOUR BEFORE DAYLIGHT by Jimmy Carter (Simon & Schuster: $26) Memories of the former president’s boyhood on a Georgia farm during the Great Depression.

Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 4

4. ICE BOUND by Jerri Nielsen (Talk Miramax: $23.95) A doctor struggles with breast cancer while serving at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station on Antarctica.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

5. CHANCES OF A LIFETIME by Warren Christopher (Scribner: $26) The former secretary of state shares his recollections of leaders and events that shaped the end of the 20th century.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

6. THE HOLE IN THE UNIVERSE by K.C. Cole (Harcourt Brace: $24) The search for the point of nothingness and all that it has taught us about our universe.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

7. A SHORT GUIDE TO A HAPPY LIFE by Anna Quindlen (Random House: $12.95) The columnist reflects on what it takes to “get a life” by living deeply rather than merely existing.

Last Week: 5; Weeks on List: 13

8. DARWIN AWARDS by Wendy Northcutt (Dutton: $16.95) Stupid human tricks: Honoring those who improve our gene pool by eliminating themselves from it.

Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 9

9. TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE by Mitch Albom (Doubleday: $19.95) A sportswriter’s story of the life lessons he received during weekly visits to an older dying friend.

Last Week: 8; Weeks on List: 154

10. THE NEW GEOGRAPHY by Joel Kotkin (Random House: $22.95) How the digital revolution is reshaping the American landscape, especially where and how we live and work.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 3

11. THE O’REILLY FACTOR by Bill O’Reilly (Broadway Books: $23) The TV pundit pontificates on what he finds to be the good, the bad and the completely ridiculous in American life.

Last Week: 6; Weeks on List: 18

12. PINOCHET AND ME by Marc Cooper (Verso: $22) A former translator for Salvador Allende traces his personal journey through 30 years of political and social change in Chile.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

13. IF THEY ONLY KNEW by Chyna with Michael Angeli (Regan Books: $26) The woman formerly known as Joanie Laurer shares stories of personal adversity and triumph, in and out of the wrestling ring.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

14. CREATIVE COLLABORATION by Vera John-Steiner (Oxford University Press: $29.95) The dynamic alliances from which some of our most important ideas, theories and art forms are born.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

15. PARIS TO THE MOON by Adam Gopnik (Random House: $24.95) A personal homage to years spent in the City of Light by a longtime New Yorker writer.

Last Week: 10; Weeks on List: 15

PAPERBACKS / FICTION

1. GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING by Tracy Chevalier (Plume: $12) The life of the woman who inspired a famous Vermeer painting.

2. WE WERE THE MULVANEYS by Joyce Carol Oates (Penguin: $13.95) An ideal family’s world is rocked by tragedy.

3. HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG by Andre Dubus III (Vintage: $14) Two families clash over an auctioned house in this tragic tale.

4. CHOCOLAT by Joanne Harris (Penguin: $12.95) A new chocolate shop arouses French villagers’ desires in the middle of Lent.

5. THE BRETHREN by John Grisham (Dell Island: $7.99) A scam by three former judges doing time goes awry.

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

7. CRADLE AND ALL by James Patterson (Warner Vision: $7.99) The life of a nun-turned-investigator is in danger.

8. GIRL IN HYACINTH BLUE by Susan Vreeland (Penguin: $12) Eight stories linked by a Dutch master’s painting.

9. INTERPRETER OF MALADIES by Jhumpa Lahiri (Mariner: $12) Indian customs color the lives of people coping with loss.

10. HANNIBAL by Thomas Harris (Dell: $7.99) Hannibal Lecter devours his enemies in this “Silence of the Lambs” sequel.

PAPERBACKS / NONFICTION

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

2. THE GHOSTS OF ECHO PARK by Ron Emler (Echo Park Publishing: $15) A pictorial history of the L.A. neighborhood.

3. THE SEAT OF THE SOUL by Gary Zukav (Fireside: $13) Teaching readers to rethink the mind-body connection.

4. GALILEO’S DAUGHTER by Dava Sobel (Penguin: $14) The famous astronomer and his daughter, a cloistered nun.

5. THE NAPOLEON OF CRIME by Ben MacIntyre (Delta: $12.95) The the man who was the inspiration for Prof. Moriarty.

6 GEORGIANA by Amanda Foreman (Modern Library: $15.95) Love affairs, drugs, gambling and scandals in an 18th-century life.

7. THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES by Eve Ensler (Villard: $12.95) The award-winning play in book form.

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

9 TALKING DIRTY WITH THE QUEEN OF CLEAN by Linda Cobb (Pocket: $8.99) Quick, inexpensive housekeeping tips galore.

10. THE NINE STEPS TO FINANCIAL FREEDOM by Suze Orman (Three Rivers Press: $13.95) Practical tips for managing money.