Los Angeles Times Bestsellers

January 20, 2002

FICTION

Southern California Rating

1 THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER & CLAY by Michael Chabon (Picador: $15) Cousins in the comics biz.

2 THE HOBBIT by J.R.R. Tolkien (Houghton Mifflin: $12) The adventures of Bilbo Baggins in the world of Middle-earth.

3 THE TWO TOWERS by J.R.R. Tolkien (Houghton Mifflin: $12) Volume 2 of “The Lord of the Rings.”

4 THE LORD OF THE RINGS by J.R.R. Tolkien (Houghton Mifflin: $20) An epic journey to destroy a dark lord’s evil ring.

5 THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING by J.R.R. Tolkien (Houghton Mifflin: $6.99) Volume 1 of “The Lord of the Rings.”

6 A PAINTED HOUSE by John Grisham (Dell Island: $7.99) Violence looms over a boyhood in rural Arkansas in 1952.

7 THE FIRST COUNSEL by Brad Meltzer (Warner Vision: $7.99) There’s a killer lurking in the president’s inner circle.

8 HARRY POTTER & THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN by J.K. Rowling (Scholastic: $7.99) Showdown with Sirius Black.

9 SHOPGIRL by Steve Martin (Theia: $10.95) Department store clerk Mirabelle meets an older man too good to be true.

10 THE SHIPPING NEWS by Annie Proulx (Scribner: $14) A burnt-out father seeks renewal on the Newfoundland coast.

NONFICTION

Southern California Rating

1 BLACK HAWK DOWN by Mark Bowden (Signet: $7.99) A gritty account of a disastrous 1993 military operation in Somalia.

2 A BEAUTIFUL MIND by Sylvia Nasar (Touchstone: $16) A brilliant mathematics professor’s battle with schizophrenia.

3 FAST FOOD NATION by Eric Schlosser (HarperCollins: $13.95) The unappetizing practices of the junk food industry.

4 ME TALK PRETTY ONE DAY by David Sedaris (Little, Brown: $14.95) Wisecracking essays on life in Paris and elsewhere.

5 WORST-CASE SCENARIO SURVIVAL HANDBOOK: TRAVEL by J. Piven & D. Borgenicht (Chronicle: $14.95) Help on the run.

6 PRAYERS by Don Miguel Ruiz (Amber-Allen: $12.95) Meditations on wisdom, healing, courage and love.

7 OLD FARMER’S ALMANAC 2002 by Robert B. Thomas (Villard: $5.95) Weather, tides, how-to advice and more.

8 HORNY? LOS ANGELES by Jessica Hundley and Jon Alain Guzik (Really Great: $18.95) The city’s steamy hot spots.

9 9-11 by Noam Chomsky (Seven Stories Press: $8.95) An alternative view on the U.S.-led war on terrorism.

10 WORST-CASE SCENARIO SURVIVAL HANDBOOK: DATING & SEX (Chronicle Books: $14.95) Blind dates and other crises.