BESTSELLERS / PAPERBACKS

Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.

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

2 Wicked by Gregory Maguire (ReganBooks: $15) The Wicked Witch of the West tells her side of the story.

3 The Plot Against America by Philip Roth (Vintage: $14.95) President Charles Lindbergh launches 1940s pogroms.

4 The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (HarperSanFrancisco: $13) An Andalusian shepherd boy searches for treasure in Egypt.

5 Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden (Vintage: $14.95) The life and loves of a teahouse entertainer.

6 The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (Penguin: $15) A quest for the truth about a Spanish novelist.

7 The Colorado Kid by Stephen King (Hard Case Crime: $5.99) Two Maine newsmen recount a stranger’s murder.

8 The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst (Bloomsbury: $14.95) An Oxford student is caught up in go-go 1980s London.

9 The Known World by Edward P. Jones (Amistad: $13.95) Love and betrayal on a black slave owner’s plantation.

10 London Bridges by James Patterson (Warner Vision: $7.99) Alex Cross battles nuclear terrorists.

*--*

*--* SO. CAL. RATING Nonfiction 1 A Million Little Pieces by James Frey (Anchor: $14.95) A memoir of addiction, rehabilitation and 12-step treatment.

2 In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (Vintage: $14) The masterful writer’s account of a Kansas family’s brutal murder.

3 Positive Energy by Judith Orloff (Three Rivers Press: $14) Boosting stamina through diet, exercise and spirituality.

4 Why Do Men Have Nipples? by Mark Leyner and Billy Goldberg (Three Rivers Press: $12.95) What’s up, doc?

5 Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (Vintage: $14.95) A serial killer haunts the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.

6 The Book of Sudoku, No. 1 by Michael Mepham (Overlook: $9.95) An introduction to the number puzzle.

7 Su Doku for Dummies by Andrew Heron and Edmund James (Wiley: $9.99) Puzzle-solving hints and 240 puzzles.

8 The Book of Secrets by Deepak Chopra (Three Rivers Press: $14) How to transform negative traits into assets.

9 Capote: A Biography by Gerald Clarke (Carroll & Graf: $17.95) The outsized highs and lows of the writer’s life.

10 Sudoku Easy by Will Shortz (St. Martin’s Griffin: $9.95) Volume 1 of the popular puzzle book.

*--*