Los Angeles Times bestsellers for the week of July 26, 2009
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| Fiction | Weeks on list | |
| 1. | The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafón (Doubleday: $26.95) A novelist in 1920s Spain takes a dangerous writing assignment. | 4 |
| 2. | Shanghai Girls by Lisa See (Random House: $25) Two sisters from Shanghai encounter tragedy and heartbreak as they are sold into arranged marriages in 1930s Los Angeles. | 7 |
| 3. | Black Hills by Nora Roberts (Putnam: $26.95) Two childhood friends return to South Dakota to find love and revisit an unsolved murder. | 2 |
| 4. | The Help by Kathryn Stockett (Putnam: $24.95) The lives of a maid, a cook and a college graduate become intertwined while changing a Mississippi town. | 7 |
| 5. | Finger Lickin’ Fifteen by Janet Evanovich (St. Martin’s: $27.95) A witness enters a barbecue competition to uncover the killer of a contestant. | 4 |
| 6. | Swimsuit by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro (Little, Brown: $27.99)A supermodel disappears from a photo shoot in Hawaii. | 3 |
| 7. | The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown: $27.99) A recently downsized reporter investigates a serial killer who uses his computer job to find his victims. | 7 |
| 8. | Doomsday Key by James Rollins (William Morrow: $27.99) Three murders reveal an ancient secret threatening the existence of mankind. | 3 |
| 9. | Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown: $22.99) The final book in the “Twilight” saga finds Bella choosing immortality. | 50 |
| 10. | Pygmy by Chuck Palahniuk (Doubleday: $24.95) Terrorists disguised as foreign exchange students living with American families plot mass destruction. | 6 |
| 11. | The Devil’s Punchbowl by Greg Iles (Scribner: $26.99) A Mississippi mayor confronts murder, drugs and corruption aboard a gambling riverboat. | 1 |
| 12. | The Apostle by Brad Thor (Atria: $26.99) A covert operative must free an Al Qaeda terrorist in exchange for a kidnapped American doctor. | 2 |
| 13. | Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown: $19.99) Bella must choose between her lover and a friend, between life and death. | 53 |
| 14. | The Host by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown: $25.99) Aliens take over the minds of humans. | 40 |
| 15. | Hancock Park by Isabel Kaplan (Harper Teen: $16.99) A 16-year-old attempts to stay sane living in the shadow of Hollywood. | 2 |
| Nonfiction | ||
| 1. | Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell (Little, Brown: $27.99) An exploration of the background of high achievers. | 33 |
| 2. | A Bright and Guilty Place by Richard Rayner (Doubleday: $25) The intertwined stories of an ambitious young lawyer, a prime suspect in a mob murder, and a police photographer paint a picture of early 20th century L.A. | 2 |
| 3. | Crazy for the Storm by Norman Ollestad (Ecco: $25.99) The son of a daredevil tells of his life on the edge and how he survived a deadly plane crash | 5 |
| 4. | Catastrophe by Dick Morris and Eileen McGann (Harper: $26.99) A call to prevent President Obama from transforming America into a socialist state. | 4 |
| 5. | The Waxman Report by Henry Waxman with Joshua Green (Twelve: $24.99) The congressman from L.A. gives insight on his 35 years in the House. | 2 |
| 6. | Liberty and Tyranny by Mark R. Levin (Threshold Editions: $25) The talk-radio personality’s call to revitalize the conservative vision in America | 16 |
| 7. | The Secret by Rhonda Byrne (Beyond Words: $23.95) Life’s secrets, distilled. | 116 |
| 8. | The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow (Hyperion: $21.95) A professor’s terminal cancer inspires a call to seize life’s moments | 63 |
| 9. | Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man by Steve Harvey ( Amistad: $23.99) The talk-show host lets women inside the mind-set of a man. | 24 |
| 10. | Horse Soldiers by Doug Stanton (Scribner: $28) A unit of Special Forces soldiers pursues the Taliban in Afghanistan after 9/11. | 7 |
| 11. | Mirrors by Eduardo Galeano (Nation Books: $26.95) A history of the world told through tales of artists, writers and visionaries. | 6 |
| 12. | I’m Down by Mishna Wolff (St. Martin’s: $23.95) A white girl’s tale of growing up in a black Seattle neighborhood. | 3 |
| 13. | Methland by Nick Reding (Bloomsbury USA: $25) The demise of a small Iowa farming town due to the proliferation of the methamphetamine culture. | 1 |
| 14. | Losing Mum and Pup by Christopher Buckley (Twelve: $24.99) The son of William F. and Patricia Buckley tells of life with the high-powered couple and how he coped with their deaths. | 11 |
| 15. | Unmasked by Ian Halperin (Simon Spotlight Entertainment: $25) A look into the final years and days of Michael Jackson. | 1 |
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