BESTSELLERS

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

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*--* 1 The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (Doubleday: $24.95) A 1 50 Louvre curator’s killing leads to clues hidden in Leonardo’s paintings and a secret society with something to hide.

2 The Last Juror by John Grisham (Doubleday: $27.95) A 2 6 convicted killer on parole for a brutal rape and murder is bent on retribution as he returns to his small town.

3 3rd Degree by James Patterson and Andrew Gross (Little, -- 1 Brown: $26.95) A quartet of women investigate a spate of violent incidents with the markings of political terror.

4 The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom 3 24 (Hyperion: $19.95) An amusement park maintenance man faces his life, death and afterlife in this three-part parable.

5 Ransom by Danielle Steel (Delacorte: $26.95) A San 7 2 Francisco cop tries to foil a shady businessman’s plot to kidnap the children of a recently deceased dot-com millionaire.

6 A Death in Vienna by Daniel Silva (Putnam: $25.95) An art 4 2 restorer-spy probes the death of a Holocaust survivor who could have linked the next chancellor’s father to Nazi atrocities.

7 The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde (Viking: $24.95) -- 1 Literary detective Thursday Next does battle with notorious villains no longer confined to the printed page.

8 The Amateur Marriage by Anne Tyler (Knopf: $24.95) A 6 9 mismatched couple struggle over the course of 30 years to make their marriage bearable.

9 The Pleasure of My Company by Steve Martin (Hyperion: 10 17 $19.95) A man suffering from agoraphobia and obsessive-compulsive disorder copes with the vicissitudes of life.

10 The Princes of Ireland by Edward Rutherfurd (Doubleday: -- 1 $27.95) A sweeping historical tale of the Emerald Isle featuring druids, chieftains, noblewomen and farmwives.

11 Old School by Tobias Wolff (Knopf: $22) A New England -- 15 prep school scholarship student with literary ambitions tries to win an audience with Ernest Hemingway.

12 Angels & Demons by Dan Brown (Atria: $17.95) A Harvard 8 11 scholar uncovers a vendetta against the Catholic Church by a secret society known as the Illuminati.

13 Jamesland by Michelle Huneven (Knopf: $24) A tightknit -- 3 community of troubled eccentrics in Los Angeles’ Los Feliz area struggles with faith and self-acceptance.

14 Absolute Friends by John le Carre (Little, Brown: $26.95) 5 9 Two former Cold War spies are drawn into the rising political opposition to the United States’ invasion of Iraq.

15 The Best Awful by Carrie Fisher (Simon & Schuster: $24) -- 8 Suzanne Vale battles drugs and bipolar disorder in this black-comic sequel to “Postcards From the Edge.�

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

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*--* 1 The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands by Laura 1 10 Schlessinger (HarperCollins: $24.95) Talk show host tells how to manage the “very simple creature� that is man.

2 The Purpose-Driven Life by Rick Warren (Zondervan: 7 52 $19.99) How the “God-ordained� principles of worship, community, discipleship, ministry and evangelism bring fulfillment.

3 The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene (Knopf: $28.95) 8 4 The nature of reality is explored through simple explanations of concepts such as string theory and inflationary cosmology.

4 Deliver Us From Evil by Sean Hannity (Regan Books: 2 3 $26.95) The author argues against appeasement and multilateralism and for a proactive stance in fighting our enemies.

5 Down and Dirty Pictures by Peter Biskind (Simon & 3 10 Schuster: $26.95) A look at the rise of indie films and the influence of the Sundance Film Festival and Harvey and Bob Weinstein’s Miramax.

6 American Dynasty by Kevin Phillips (Viking: $25.95) An 4 9 account of the Bush family’s use of its Ivy League network, political maneuvering and vast wealth to win the White House.

7 The Price of Loyalty by Ron Suskind (Simon & Schuster: 10 9 $26) A scathing portrayal of the George W. Bush White House by former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill.

8 The Power of Intention by Wayne W. Dyer (Hay House: -- 1 $24.95) How to spark creativity by drawing upon a field of energy that exists all around us.

9 The Automatic Millionaire by David Bach (Broadway Books: 9 8 $19.95) A common-sense guide to financial planning through automatic contributions to retirement plans and investment vehicles.

10 Hollywood, Interrupted by Andrew Breitbart and Mark Ebner 13 2 (Wiley & Sons: $27.95) Gossip writers dish on the politics, sexual proclivities and opinions of celebrities.

11 The Sexy Years by Suzanne Somers (Crown: $25) Somers -- 1 advocates the use of natural hormone replacement therapy to ease the symptoms of menopause.

12 The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle (New World Library: -- 72 $21.95) How to improve one’s relationships and find contentment and even happiness by living in the now.

13 Queer Eye for the Straight Guy by Ted Allen (Clarkson 12 4 Potter: $27.50) How to be better dressed, groomed, cultivated and more knowledgeable about food, wine and culture.

14 The Passion by Mel Gibson (Tyndale House: $24.99) -- 1 Photographic stills from the film “The Passion of the Christ,� accompanied by passages from the Bible, with a foreword by Gibson.

15 Hollywood Animal by Joe Eszterhas (Knopf: $26.95) The 6 6 noted screenwriter takes on the beast that is the movie industry in telling the tale of his life’s journey.

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