Los Angeles Times Bestsellers

Southern California Rating

FICTION

1 THE CORRECTIONS by Jonathan Franzen (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $26) The tragicomic saga of the Lamberts, a dysfunctional Midwestern family living at the end of the 20th century. Last Week 1 Weeks on List 3

2 LONG TIME NO SEE by Susan Isaacs (HarperCollins: $26) Sleuth Judith Singer follows the trail left by the murderer of her Long Island neighbor, a banker and perfect mom. Last Week 6 Weeks on List 2

3 TOTAL RECALL by Sara Paretsky (Delacorte: $25.95) V.I. Warshawski confronts the insurance industry as tempers flare around passage of a bill to compensate Holocaust survivors. Last Week 13 Weeks on List 2

4 THE SMOKE JUMPER by Nicholas Evans (Delacorte: $26.95) A love triangle among best friends is played out in the world of firefighting in the Montana wilderness. Last Week 9 Weeks on List 4

5 BLACK HOUSE by Stephen King and Peter Straub (Random House: $28.95) King and Straub return with the horrific story of parallel worlds, first told in their 1984 collaboration “The Talisman.� Last Week -- Weeks on List 1

6 VALHALLA RISING by Clive Cussler (Putnam: $27.95) A luxury cruise ship sinks, and National Underwater Maritime Administration Director Dirk Pitt must investigate. Last Week 8 Weeks on List 5

7 FURY by Salman Rushdie (Random House: $24.95) A restless professor wanders the Western world in a story that is part family romance and part biting satire of millennial Manhattan. Last Week 4 Weeks on List 2

8 ENVY by Sandra Brown (Warner: $25.95) A reclusive writer sets out to destroy a double-dealing publisher, regardless of the innocent victims involved. Last Week 3 2

9 ALL FAMILIES ARE PSYCHOTIC by Douglas Coupland (Bloomsbury: $24.95) Tabloid scandals erupt as the Drummonds rally around daughter Sarah, an astronaut going into space. Last Week -- Weeks on List 1

10 MERCY by Julie Garwood (Pocket: $25) A lawyer stumbles on a group of murderous embezzlers when he follows a beautiful doctor to her backwater hometown in Louisiana. Last Week -- Weeks on List 1

11 SUZANNE’S DIARY FOR NICHOLAS by James Patterson (Little, Brown: $22.95) A woman gains insights into the boyfriend who left her from a diary written by another woman. Last Week 10 Weeks on List 8

12 LAKE WOBEGON SUMMER 1956 by Garrison Keillor (Viking: $24.95) The sorrows of adolescence and the not-so-virtuous beginnings of a young writer in a sleepy Midwestern burg. Last Week 7 Weeks on List 3

13 AFTER THE PLAGUE by T.C. Boyle (Viking: $25.95) Stories of the survival of the meanest and life after an apocalypse all rendered with dark humor. Reviewed by Jonathan Levi, Page 4. Last Week -- Weeks on List 1

14 CANE RIVER by Lalita Tademy (Warner: $24.95) A family chronicle about the experiences of four generations of women born into slavery on the Cane River in Louisiana. Last Week 12 Weeks on List 12

15 BLUE DIARY by Alice Hoffman (Putnam: $24.95) A happy marriage and idyllic family life are rocked by a dark revelation about the husband, a seemingly all-around good guy. Last Week 14 Weeks on List 7

NONFICTION

1 JOHN ADAMS by David McCullough (Simon & Schuster: $35) The story of our second president, a man Thomas Jefferson called “the colossus of independence.� Last Week 1 Weeks on List 18

2 JACK by Jack Welch with John A. Byrne (Warner: $29.95) The life and times of a respected CEO, from a Massachusetts childhood to his successful reinvention of General Electric. Last Week -- Weeks on List 1

3 CALL ME CRAZY by Anne Heche (Scribner: $25) Heartache and childhood tragedy preceded Heche’s rise to stardom and much publicized romance with comedian Ellen DeGeneres. Last Week 5 Weeks on List 2

4 WHO MOVED MY CHEESE? by Spencer Johnson (Putnam: $19.95) The co-author of “The One Minute Manager� uses the parable of mice in a maze to show people how to manage change. Last Week 6 Weeks on List 79

5 THE WILD BLUE by Stephen Ambrose (Simon & Schuster: $26) The story of the men and boys who flew the B-24s over Nazi Germany in World War II. Last Week 2 Weeks on List 5

6 SAVAGE BEAUTY by Nancy Milford (Random House: $29.95) The life of Edna St. Vincent Millay and her reckless pursuit of poetry and seduction in the early years of the 20th century. Last Week 3 Weeks on List 2

7 THE ROAD TO WEALTH by Suze Orman (Riverhead: $29.95) An encyclopedic reference for managing your financial situation from the “Nine Steps to Financial Freedom� money guru. Last Week 11 Weeks on List 6

8 SEABISCUIT by Laura Hillenbrand (Random House: $24.95) How three men transformed a thoroughbred horse from a neurotic also-ran into an American sports icon. Last Week 7 Weeks on List 29

9 JUSTICE by Dominick Dunne (Crown: $24) The bespectacled writer describes the high-profile crimes he’s covered as well as a painfully private one: his daughter’s murder. Last Week 12 Weeks on List 11

10 CROSSING OVER by John Edward (Jodere Group: $23.95) A memoir of the psychic’s upbringing and first hints of his abilities, and his struggles with fame after starting a hit TV program. Last Week 13 Weeks on List 2

11 RO L.A. by Patt Morrison (Angel City Press: $30) Tales past and present about Angelenos’ struggles with the Los Angeles River, with photographs by Mark Lamonica. Last Week 8 2

12 AVA’S MAN by Rick Bragg (Alfred A. Knopf: $25) The life of Bragg’s sturdy maternal grandfather who, with wife Ava, raised seven children in poverty in rural Alabama and Georgia. Last Week 10 Weeks on List 2

13 THE MAP THAT CHANGED THE WORLD by Simon Winchester (HarperCollins: $26) The colorful story of William Smith, who founded modern geology. Reviewed by Brian J. Skinner, Page 8. Last Week -- Weeks on List 5

14 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 9 Weeks on List 179

15 FOUNDING BROTHERS by Joseph J. Ellis (Alfred A. Knopf: $26 ) The intertwined lives of America’s founders, their squabbles and collaborations, long before they were deified in history books. Last Week 14 Weeks on List 22