BESTSELLERS

*--* SO. CAL. RATING Fiction LAST WEEK WEEKS ON LIST 1 Rise and Shine by Anna 1 2 Quindlen (Random House: $24.95) A TV morning host finds her life turned upside down after her husband announces he’s leaving her and she makes a faux pas on camera.

2 The Emperor’s Children by 3 2 Claire Messud (Knopf: $25) Three college friends stumble on their paths to become shining lights in the East Coast constellation of cultural elites.

3 Special Topics in Calamity 2 5 Physics by Marisha Pessl (Viking: $25.95) Brilliant, eccentric high school students and their film studies teacher are drawn into a murder mystery.

4 The Return of the Player 8 2 by Michael Tolkin (Grove Press: $24) Hollywood mogul Griffin Mill, down to his last $6 million and with a family in disarray, plans his second act.

5 The Book of Fate by Brad -- 1 Meltzer (Warner: $25.99) A White House aide, disfigured in a presidential assassination attempt, must decipher Masonic secrets to find a killer stalking his boss.

6 The Interpretation of -- 1 Murder by Jed Rubenfeld (Henry Holt: $26) Sigmund Freud is enlisted to help find the person who sadistically attacked two young women in 1909 New York.

7 The Afghan by Frederick 4 3 Forsyth (Putnam: $26.95) A British soldier goes undercover with the Taliban in Afghanistan to foil a terrorist plot uncovered on an Al Qaeda computer.

8 Hunters of Dune by Brian 7 3 Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson (Tor Books: $27.95) Based on Frank Herbert’s final outline, this novel picks up with Duncan Idaho’s ghola fleeing a dark sisterhood.

9 Judge & Jury by James 9 6 Patterson and Andrew Gross (Little, Brown: $27.99) An FBI agent finally gets his man, but a brutal mob boss hires a killer to make sure no conviction comes down.

10 Literacy and Longing in -- 14 L.A. by Jennifer Kaufman and Karen Mack (Delacorte: $22) A book-obsessed divorcee stalks her movie-mogul ex-husband until she meets a literature major.

11 Dark Celebration by -- 1 Christine Feehan (Berkley: $23.95) A mind-reading clan of Carpathian shapeshifters gather at Christmas with human friends and plan to defeat their enemies.

12 A Spot of Bother by Mark -- 1 Haddon (Doubleday: $24.95) A retiree, convinced that a spot on his hip is cancer, goes into a funk while watching his proper British family spin out of control.

13 White Sister by Stephen J. 5 3 Cannell (St. Martin’s: $24.95) Det. Shane Scully scours the world of L.A. rap musicians for the person who shot and critically wounded his wife.

14 Blind Willow, Sleeping 6 2 Woman by Haruki Murakami (Knopf: $24.95) A collection of stories by the celebrated author, touching upon the cerebral and the fantastic.

15 Suite Francaise by Irene 10 21 Nemirovsky (Knopf: $25) Two novellas from a writer killed at Auschwitz on the exodus from Paris ahead of the Germans’ arrival and on life in a farming village under occupation.

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*--* SO. CAL. RATING Nonfiction LAST WEEK WEEKS ON LIST 1 I Feel Bad About My Neck: 1 7 And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman by Nora Ephron (Knopf: $19.95) The screenwriter considers the effects of gravity and aging.

2 The Looming Tower by 10 5 Lawrence Wright (Knopf: $27.95) A penetrating explanation of the ideological roots of Al Qaeda and how Osama bin Laden came to hate America.

3 Marley & Me by John Grogan 5 43 (William Morrow: $21.95) A columnist recalls how Marley, an incorrigible Labrador retriever, flunked obedience school, terrorized a pet sitter and won over his family.

4 Laurel Canyon by Michael 12 15 Walker (Faber & Faber: $25) A look at the ‘60s rock bands and artists whose creativity flowered in Laurel Canyon, then a sylvan enclave above Sunset Boulevard.

5 Fiasco: The American 2 7 Military Adventure in Iraq by Thomas E. Ricks (Penguin: $27.95) The Washington Post reporter details the administration’s “reckless” war in Iraq.

6 State of Emergency by 4 3 Patrick J. Buchanan (Thomas Dunne Books: $24.95) The conservative pundit asserts that Mexico is deliberately trying to reclaim the U.S. Southwest.

7 The Discomfort Zone by -- 1 Jonathan Franzen (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $22) The bestselling author explores his youth as he sets out to bury his mother in his Midwestern town.

8 I Feel Earthquakes More 6 5 Often Than They Happen by Amy Wilentz (Simon & Schuster: $26) Leaving the East Coast behind, the author takes on California.

9 Freakonomics by Steven D. 11 64 Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (William Morrow: $25.95) An economist deconstructs statistics and uses numbers to help explain human behavior.

10 Lies at the Altar by Robin 7 4 L. Smith (Hyperion: $24.95) How to make sure that unspoken expectations before the wedding don’t derail the strengths of a marriage.

11 Chuck Klosterman IV: A 8 2 Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas by Chuck Klosterman (Scribner: $25) A caustic look at pop culture. Reviewed on Page 10.

12 Conservatives Without -- 7 Conscience by John W. Dean (Viking: $25.95) The former Watergate figure argues that the conservative movement has become riddled with authoritarianism.

13 Reading Like a Writer by 14 2 Francine Prose (HarperCollins: $23.95) The novelist calls upon great works of the past and contemporary examples to show how reading can inform good writing.

14 The World Is Flat by 9 73 Thomas L. Friedman (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $30) How technology and globalization are changing the world and the training that is needed to compete.

15 Cesar’s Way by Cesar 15 23 Millan with Melissa Jo Peltier (Harmony: $24.95) The “Dog Whisperer” of TV gives tips on understanding and correcting common canine behavior problems.

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