BESTSELLERS

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

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*--* 1 Eldest (Inheritance, Book 2) by Christopher Paolini 3 2 (Alfred A. Knopf: $21) Eragon hones his battle skills as his cousin finds himself the target of evil forces.

2 Lunar Park by Bret Easton Ellis (Alfred A. Knopf: 2 4 $24.95) The author-turned-protagonist tries to dry out and remake his life in a suburbia possessed by strange spirits.

3 The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova (Little, Brown: 1 13 $25.95) A teenager discovers a medieval book and a stash of letters and sets out on a hunt for the real story of Dracula, a quest close to home.

4 No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy (Knopf: 6 7 $24.95) An aging Texas sheriff investigates murder, drug trafficking and the disappearance of a local hunter.

5 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling 4 8 (Arthur A. Levine / Scholastic: $29.99) A teenage Harry faces a new darkness in his latest adventures.

6 Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See (Random 8 10 House: $21.95) Two women in the cloistered society of 19th century China forge a close friendship that is threatened by misunderstanding.

7 Polar Shift by Clive Cussler with Paul Kamprecos -- 1 (Putnam: $26.95) A special ops team tries to reverse a shift of Earth’s magnetic poles, a plot to disrupt the world’s industrialized nations.

8 The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (Doubleday: $24.95) A 5 129 Louvre curator’s killing leads to clues hidden in Leonardo’s paintings and a secret society with something to hide.

9 Creepers by David Morrell (CDS Books: $24.95) Urban -- 1 explorers gain entry to an abandoned hotel in Asbury Park, N.J., and find they aren’t the only ones creeping about the place.

10 Willful Creatures by Aimee Bender (Doubleday: $22.95) -- 2 Fifteen short stories paint a world that is fantastic and bleak, populated by misfits, outcasts and survivors.

11 Without Mercy by Jack Higgins (Putnam: $25.95) American 11 2 and British intelligence operatives are bent on vengeance after one of their own is killed after a shootout with Russian operatives.

12 The Zahir by Paulo Coelho (HarperCollins: $24.95) A 12 2 celebrated novelist living in Paris questions everything when his war-correspondent wife disappears.

13 The People of Paper by Salvador Plascencia (McSweeney’s: -- 1 $18) A boy becomes the world’s first origami surgeon in a surreal world of carnation pickers and a saint disguised as a wrestler.

14 Point Blank by Catherine Coulter (Putnam: $25.95) A pair 15 2 of married FBI agents are taunted by a mysterious and dangerous cellphone caller who proves highly elusive.

15 Slow Burn by Julie Garwood (Ballantine: $25.95) A woman -- 1 who returns to her tiny hometown doesn’t know whom to trust as she becomes a suspect in a brutal decades-old murder.

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

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*--* 1 The World Is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman (Farrar, Straus 4 21 & Giroux: $27.50) How technology and the forces of globalization are connecting -- and changing -- the world.

2 Natural Cures “They” Don’t Want You to Know About by 5 11 Kevin Trudeau (Alliance Publishing: $29.95) The infomercial mogul touts alternative therapies and supplements.

3 1776 by David McCullough (Simon & Schuster: $32) The 2 14 historian looks at how the American forces took on the world’s greatest military power in the Revolution’s first battles.

4 You: The Owner’s Manual by Michael F. Roizen and Mehmet 7 17 C. Oz (HarperCollins: $24.95) An anti-aging guru and a heart-surgeon team offer a wry and witty guide to staying healthy.

5 Blink by Malcolm Gladwell (Little, Brown: $25.95) 3 34 Gladwell explores why decisions are so often made in an instant and whether we can really trust those first instincts.

6 Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner 1 20 (William Morrow: $25.95) An economist deconstructs statistics and uses numbers to help explain human behavior.

7 New Rules: Polite Musings From a Timid Observer by Bill 6 7 Maher (Rodale Books: $24.95) The political satirist and TV host brings his acerbic humor to the written page.

8 Guinness World Records 2006 (Guinness: $27.95) The 13 2 latest from the world of human possibilities, from “extreme” body sizes and sports to music and feats of the Digital Age.

9 A Man Without a Country by Kurt Vonnegut (Seven Stories 14 2 Press: $23.95) A collection of recent articles focuses on personal foibles and skewers those in power.

10 The Accidental Masterpiece: On the Art of Life and Vice -- 1 Versa by Michael Kimmelman (Penguin: $24.95) The New York Times critic explains the aesthetics of art.

11 The Purpose-Driven Life by Rick Warren (Zondervan: -- 117 $19.99) How the “God-ordained” principles of worship, community, discipleship, ministry and evangelism bring fulfillment.

12 Wrecking Crew: The Really Bad News Griffith Park Pirates -- 2 by John Albert (Scribner: $23) Out-of-work musicians and a screenwriter find happiness on the baseball field.

13 The Unknown American Revolution by Gary B. Nash (Viking: -- 1 $27.95) The real American Revolution, a bloody civil war fought on multiple fronts amid fragile alliances and clashing cultures.

14 The Tender Bar by J.R. Moehringer (Hyperion: $23.95) A -- 1 Los Angeles Times writer’s memoir of being poor and fatherless, seeking male role models among regulars at a Long Island pub.

15 My Life So Far by Jane Fonda (Random House: $26.95) The -- 9 actress, antiwar activist, fitness guru and feminist icon tells the story of her life, with a heavy emphasis on the men along the way.

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