BESTSELLERS / PAPERBACKS

*--* SO. CAL. RATING Fiction

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*--* 1 The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead: $14) A writer returns to Kabul to rescue the son of a childhood friend.

2 Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (Vintage: $12) An autistic teen seeks a killer.

3 The Sinister Pig by Tony Hillerman (HarperTorch: $7.99) Navajo detectives investigate a stranger’s death.

4 Angels & Demons by Dan Brown (Pocket Books: $7.99) A Harvard scholar uncovers a vendetta against the Catholic Church.

5 Blue Dahlia by Nora Roberts (Jove: $7.99) A widowed mother of two boys returns to Tennessee to renew her life.

6 The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (Harvest: $14) A time traveler falls in love with a teen heiress.

7 The Amateur Marriage by Anne Tyler (Ballantine: $14.95) A mismatched couple struggle to make life bearable.

8 The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri (Mariner: $14) A Bengali couple and their son try to find their way in America.

9 Elizabeth Costello by J.M. Coetzee (Penguin: $14) An aging novelist confronts life’s contradictions.

10 Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (Picador: $15) A Greek family embraces the American dream.

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*--* SO. CAL. RATING Nonfiction

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*--* 1 The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (Vintage: $14.95) How a serial killer haunted the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.

2 Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki and Sharon L. Lechter (TechPress/Warner: $15.95) Fiscal parenting.

3 Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi (Random House: $13.95) A professor keeps literature alive for her students.

4 The 9/11 Commission Report by the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks (Norton: $10) The report.

5 Living to Tell the Tale by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Vintage: $14.95) Gabo describes his early life in Colombia.

6 What to Expect When You’re Expecting by Heidi E. Murkoff et al. (Workman: $13.95) The ABCs of pregnancy.

7 The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle (New World Library: $14) How to attain enlightenment by living in the now.

8 1,000 Places to See Before You Die by Patricia Schultz (Workman: $18.95) Trotting the globe.

9 Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom (Broadway: $12.95) Learning life’s lessons from a dying former teacher.

10 The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad (Back Bay: $12.95) A journalist lives with an Afghan bookseller and his family.

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