BESTSELLERS

*--* SO. CAL. RATING Fiction LAST WEEK WEEKS ON LIST 1 The Historian by Elizabeth 1 4 Kostova (Little, Brown: $25.95) A teenager discovers a medieval book and a stash of letters and sets out on a hunt for the real story of Dracula, a quest close to home.

2 A Long Way Down by Nick 2 4 Hornby (Riverhead: $24.95) A quartet of people who met on a London rooftop as they contemplated suicide form a support group for one another.

3 The Mermaid Chair by Sue 3 14 Monk Kidd (Viking: $24.95) A woman who is called home to cope with her troubled mother finds herself drawn to a Benedictine monk on an island off South Carolina.

4 Eleven on Top by Janet 5 2 Evanovich (St. Martin’s: $26.95) Stephanie Plum tries her hand at factory work, a dry cleaners and fast-food service but soon is drawn back to bounty hunting.

5 The Starter Wife by Gigi 7 5 Levangie Grazer (Simon & Schuster: $24) The pampered wife of a studio executive finds her world turned upside down after her husband dumps her for a pop princess.

6 The Da Vinci Code by Dan 6 120 Brown (Doubleday: $24.95) A Louvre curator’s killing leads to clues hidden in Leonardo’s paintings and a secret society with something to hide.

7 The History of Love by -- 6 Nicole Krauss (W.W. Norton: $23.95) A writer escapes the Nazis but loses his life’s love and the will to create, and a teenager attempts to heal her widowed mother’s broken heart.

8 The Da Vinci Code Special -- 18 illustrated Edition by Dan Brown (Doubleday: $35) The blockbuster thriller, complete with images of the artwork, symbols and sites in the text.

9 Specimen Days by Michael 4 4 Cunningham (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $25) Three characters evoke Walt Whitman as they traverse time in this triptych of New York stories.

10 Snow Flower and the Secret -- 1 Fan by Lisa See (Random House: $21.95) Two women in the cloistered society of 19th century China forge a close friendship that is threatened by misunderstanding.

11 Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk -- 8 (Doubleday: $24.95) Several writers eager for fame lock themselves in an abandoned theater for their own grotesque version of “Survivor.”

12 The Closers by Michael 8 8 Connelly (Little, Brown: $26.95) Detective Harry Bosch reunites with partner Kizmin Rider to solve a 17-year-old case after DNA evidence is found on the murder weapon.

13 The Mysterious Flame of 11 2 Queen Loana by Umberto Eco (Harcourt: $22) A rare-book dealer with amnesia tries to learn about his past from the books and papers in his childhood home.

14 Zorro by Isabel Allende -- 6 (HarperCollins: $25.95) The back story of how Diego de la Vega transforms himself into the dashing and legendary figure of colonial California.

15 Extremely Loud and -- 10 Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer (Houghton Mifflin: $24.95) A 9-year-old wunderkind seeks the lock that fits a key belonging to his dead father.

*--*

*--* SO. CAL. RATING Nonfiction LAST WEEK WEEKS ON LIST 1 1776 by David McCullough 1 5 (Simon & Schuster: $32) The historian looks at how the American forces took on the world’s greatest military power in the Revolution’s first battles.

2 Freakonomics by Steven D. 2 11 Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (William Morrow: $25.95) An economist deconstructs statistics and uses numbers to help explain human behavior.

3 The World Is Flat by 4 12 Thomas L. Friedman (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $27.50) How technology and the forces of globalization are connecting -- and changing -- the world.

4 Blink by Malcolm Gladwell 3 25 (Little, Brown: $25.95) Gladwell explores why decisions are so often made in an instant and whether we can really trust those first instincts.

5 You: The Owner’s Manual by 7 9 Michael F. Roizen and Mehmet C. Oz (HarperResource: $24.95) A wry and witty guide to the inner workings of the human body.

6 On Bull... by Harry G. 6 16 Frankfurt (Princeton University Press: $9.95) A leading philosopher takes on society’s view of what sometimes seems to be the fine line between truth and lying.

7 The Truth About Hillary by 5 2 Edward Klein (Penguin: $24.95) A provocative take on New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, her years in the White House and the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

8 Collapse by Jared Diamond -- 17 (Viking: $29.95) A prize-winning author examines why societies such as the Anasazi and the Maya collapsed and what can be done to prevent future die-offs.

9 French Women Don’t Get Fat 10 26 by Mireille Guiliano (Knopf: $22) The chief executive of the French wine conglomerate Clicquot Inc. reveals the French secret of eating for pleasure without the bulge.

10 My Friend Leonard by James 11 2 Frey (Penguin: $24.95) The former cocaine addict’s sequel to “A Million Little Pieces” celebrates the mobster who helped him turn his life around.

11 Natural Cures “They” Don’t 8 2 Want You to Know About by Kevin Trudeau (Alliance Publishing: $29.95) The infomercial mogul touts alternative therapies and supplements.

12 Confessions of a Video -- 1 Vixen by Karrine Steffans (HarperCollins: $24.95) The troubled background behind the glamorous image of a celebrated music video dancer.

13 Killing Yourself to Live -- 1 by Chuck Klosterman (Scribner: $23) A stream-of-consciousness account of a road trip to America’s most notorious rock ‘n’ roll death sites.

14 America (The Book): A -- 27 Citizen’s Guide to Democracy by Jon Stewart et al. (Warner: $24.95) Comedy writers poke fun at U.S. politics and our institutions of democracy.

15 Winning by Jack Welch with 9 12 Suzy Welch (HarperBusiness: $27.95) How to succeed in business (and life) by staying optimistic, making no excuses and getting things done.

*--*