FictionTHE DEEP END OF THE OCEAN by...

Fiction

THE DEEP END OF THE OCEAN by Jacquelyn Mitchard. (Viking: $23.95.) A child’s vanishing and the cruel aftershock felt by his family (1). Southern California ranking: 1; Last Weeks: 2; Week on List: 5

THE LAWS OF OUR FATHERS by Scott Turow. (Farrar Straus & Giroux: $26.95.) Lives of some 1960s idealists, now 1990s cynics, converge after the murder of a senator’s ex-wife.* Southern California ranking: 2; Last Weeks: --; Week on List: 1

THE TAILOR OF PANAMA by John le Carre. (Alfred A. Knopf: $25.) Clothier to Central America’s elite turns British agent for the power and the money.* Southern California ranking: 3; Last Weeks: --; Week on List: 1

TO THE HILT by Dick Francis. (Putnam: $24.95.) An eccentric Scottish painter faces death threats at the bedside of his dying stepfather (6). Southern California ranking: 4; Last Weeks: 4; Week on List: 3

THE LAW OF LOVE by Laura Esquivel. (Crown: $25.) A karma expert searches her past lives for her soul mate (10). Southern California ranking: 5; Last Weeks: 1; Week on List: 3

JACK AND JILL by James Patterson. (Little, Brown: $24.95.) A nursery rhyme holds the key to a string of murders (5)*. Southern California ranking: 6; Last Weeks: 6; Week on List: 6

DESPERATION by Stephen King. (Viking: $27.95.) A demonic cop crosses paths with a writer and a telepathic child (2)*. Southern California ranking: 7; Last Weeks: 3; Week on List: 4

EXECUTIVE ORDERS by Tom Clancy (Putnam: $27.95.) (3)*. Southern California ranking: 8; Last Weeks: --; Week on List: 9

A REGULAR GUY by Mona Simpson. (Alfred A. Knopf: $25.) The arrival of a forgotten lover with child offers a wealthy entrepreneur a chance for redemption.. Southern California ranking: 9; Last Weeks: --; Week on List: 1

SERVANT OF THE BONES by Anne Rice. (Alfred A. Knopf: $25.95.) (14)*. Southern California ranking: 10; Last Weeks: 8; Week on List: 11

Nonfiction

THE ZONE by Barry Sears with Bill Lawren. (HarperCollins/ReganBooks: $22.) (3)*. Southern California ranking: 1; Last Weeks: 6; Week on List: 33

DON’T BLOCK THE BLESSINGS: Revelations of a Lifetime by Patti LaBelle with Laura B. Randolph. (Riverhead/Putnam: $24.95.) The transformation of a shy child into soul music’s glamorous diva with the five-octave range. Southern California ranking: 2; Last Weeks: --; Week on List: 1

HELLO, HE LIED: And Other Truths from the Hollywood Trenches by Lynda Obst. (Little, Brown: $23.95.). Southern California ranking: 3; Last Weeks: 1; Week on List: 7

REWRITES by Neil Simon. (Simon & Schuster: $25.) The comic playwright’s ups and downs through TV’s Golden Age and beyond. Southern California ranking: 4; Last Weeks: 7; Week on List: 3

MAKE THE CONNECTION: Ten Steps to a Better Body and a Better Life by Bob Greene and Oprah Winfrey. (Hyperion: $18.95.) (1)*. Southern California ranking: 5; Last Weeks: 5; Week on List: 6

SLOUCHING TOWARDS GOMORRAH: Modern Liberalism and American Decline by Robert H. Bork. (HarperCollins/ReganBooks: $25.) (14). Southern California ranking: 6; Last Weeks: 4; Week on List: 2

THE DILBERT PRINCIPLE: A Cubicle’s Eye View of Bosses, Meetings, Management Fads & Other Workplace Afflictions by Scott Adams. (HarperBusiness: $20.) (2). Southern California ranking: 7; Last Weeks: --; Week on List: 20

MEN ARE FROM MARS: Women Are From Venus by John Gray, Ph.D. (HarperCollins: $23.) (4)*. Southern California ranking: 8; Last Weeks: --; Week on List: 132

DOSSIER: The Secret History of Armand Hammer by Edward Jay Epstein. (Random House: $30.) The backroom deals and power-grabbing tactics of the well-known philanthropist. Southern California ranking: 9; Last Weeks: 10; Week on List: 2

COOKING FOR HEALTHY LIVING by Jane Fonda. (Turner: $29.95.) How to eat on the run and keep the nutrition. Southern California ranking: 10; Last Weeks: 3; Week on List: 2

Paperbacks: FICTION

1. THE HORSE WHISPERER by Nicholas Evans. (Dell: $6.99.)*

2. SLEEPERS by Lorenzo Carcaterra. (Ballantine: $6.99.)

3. THE LOST WORLD by Michael Crichton. (Ballantine: $7.99.)*

4. THE WEB by Jonathan Kellerman. (Bantam: $6.99.)*

5. INTENSITY by Dean Koontz. (Ballantine: $7.99.)

Paperbacks: NONFICTION

1. THE RULES: Time-Tested Secrets for Capturing the Heart of Mr. Right by Ellen Fein and Sherrie Schneider. (Warner: $14.95.)

2. LONGITUDE by Dava Sobel. (Penguin: $10.95.)

3. THE ARTIST’S WAY by Julia Cameron. (Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam: $13.95.)*

4. ZAGAT SURVEY 1996 LOS ANGELES/SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT GUIDE edited by Merrill Shindler and Karen Berk. (Zagat Survey: $10.95.)

5. REVIVING OPHELIA by Mary Pipher. (Ballantine: $12.50.)*

Rankings based on Times’ poll of local bookstores. National hardcover rankings (in parentheses) are those of Publishers Weekly. Asterisk (*) indicates book also available on audio (source: Sound Audio Books Distributing, Agoura Hills).