BESTSELLERS

Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.

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*--* -- Fiction Weeks on list 1. Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri (Knopf: $25) 4 Stories of U.S.-born children and their Bengali parents straddling cultures. 2. The Miracle at Speedy Motors by Alexander McCall 1 Smith (Pantheon: $22.95) Mma Ramotswe has a new case and a husband with a miracle cure. 3. Hold Tight by Harlan Coben (Dutton: $26.95) A 1 teen’s suicide and sadistic killings engulf a troubled New Jersey family. 4. Hollywood Crows by Joseph Wambaugh (Little, 4 Brown: $26.99) Two cops become ensnared in a femme fatale’s nasty divorce. 5. Lush Life by Richard Price (Farrar, Straus & 7 Giroux: $26) The layered lives of victims and aggressors are explored after a Manhattan shooting. 6. Where Are You Now? by Mary Higgins Clark (Simon 2 & Schuster: $25.95) A law school grad seeks her missing brother, who may be linked to dark deeds. 7. Our Story Begins by Tobias Wolff (Knopf: $26.95) 4 New short stories reflecting contemporary American life by a master of the form. 8. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini 47 (Riverhead: $25.95) Two Afghan women struggle to survive jihad, civil war and Taliban tyranny. 9. The Third Angel by Alice Hoffman (Shaye Areheart: 1 $25) Three London women whose lives are intertwined find themselves at a critical crossroads. 10. The Wentworths by Katie Arnoldi (Overlook: 2 $23.95) A wealthy Westside Los Angeles family is warped by power and dysfunction. *--*

*--* -- Nonfiction Weeks on list 1. The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch with Jeffrey 2 Zaslow (Hyperion: $21.95) A professor with terminal cancer urges us to seize life’s moments. 2. Beautiful Boy by David Sheff (Houghton Mifflin: 8 $24) A father’s struggle with his son’s meth addiction. 3. Home by Julie Andrews (Hyperion: $26.95) The star 3 of stage and screen tells of life before “Mary Poppins.” 4. Just Who Will You Be? by Maria Shriver (Hyperion: 1 $14.95) Ask who, not what, you want to be. 5. Bonk by Mary Roach (W.W. Norton: $24.95) What 2 science tells us about sex. 6. Girls Like Us by Sheila Weller (Atria: $27.95) 2 Tracking a generation of women through icons Carole King, Joni Mitchell and Carly Simon. 7. The Secret by Rhonda Byrne (Beyond Words: $23.95) 69 Life’s secrets distilled from oral tradition, literature, religion and philosophy. 8. Bad Money by Kevin Phillips (Viking: $25.95) How 1 debt, shaky financial markets and misguided policies are damaging the nation. 9. The Soloist by Steve Lopez (Putnam: $25.95) The 1 L.A. Times columnist befriends a mentally ill homeless musician. 10. Ladies of Liberty by Cokie Roberts (William 2 Morrow: $26.95) Portraits of the women who helped shape the young American nation. *--*

PAPERBACKS

Fiction

1. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen ($13.95)

2. The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs ($14)

3. The Witch of Portobello by Paulo Coelho ($13.95)

4. Peony in Love by Lisa See ($14)

5. Romeo & Juliet: The Graphic Novel by Matt Wiegle ($9.95)

Nonfiction

1. A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle ($14)

2. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert ($15)

3. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin ($15)

4. The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle ($14)

5. The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins ($15.95)