FictionCOLD MOUNTAIN by Charles Frazier (Atlantic Monthly:...

Fiction

COLD MOUNTAIN by Charles Frazier (Atlantic Monthly: $24) A Confederate soldier quits the Civil War and heads home. Southern California ranking: 1; Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 18

VIOLIN by Anne Rice (Knopf: $25.95) A phantom violinist torments a grief-stricken widow. Southern California ranking: 2; Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 2

THE ANGEL OF DARKNESS by Caleb Carr (Random House: $25.95) The alienist Kreizler faces a serial killer in old New York. Southern California ranking: 3; Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 7

UNDERWORLD by Don DeLillo (Scribner: $27.50) Coming of age in the Cold War and beyond. Southern California ranking: 4; Last Week: 5; Weeks on List: 8

THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS by Arundhati Roy (Random House: $23) The rise and fall of a South Indian family. Southern California ranking: 5; Last Week: 6; Weeks on List: 17

FLOOD TIDE by Clive Cussler (Simon & Schuster: $26) Dirk Pitt faces a madman controlling a worldwide slave trade. Southern California ranking: 6; Last Week: 7; Weeks on List: 6

THE MAGICIAN’S ASSISTANT by Ann Patchett (Harcourt Brace: $23) A soul-searching widow meets the family of her dead husband. Southern California ranking: 7; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA by Arthur Golden (Knopf: $25) The life and loves of a teahouse entertainer. Southern California ranking: 8; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

FLOWER NET by Lisa See (HarperCollins: $24) Worlds collide when investigators probe two deaths with disturbing American-Chinese connections. Southern California ranking: 9; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 2

THE BEST LAID PLANS by Sidney Sheldon (Morrow: $25) A political dreamer meets a sexy schemer. Southern California ranking: 10; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 7

Nonfiction

DIANA: Her True Story, In Her Own Words by Andrew Morton (Simon & Schuster: $22.95) A revised version of the 1992 biography with new material. Southern California ranking: 1; Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 3

ANGELA’S ASHES by Frank McCourt (Scribner: $24) A bittersweet Irish childhood. Southern California ranking: 2; Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 53

THE ROYALS by Kitty Kelley (Warner: $27) Applying a wrecking ball to the House of Windsor. Southern California ranking: 3; Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 6

CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD, BOOK ONE by Neale Donald Walsch (Putnam: $19.95) Channeling Mr. Big. Southern California ranking: 4; Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 27

INTO THIN AIR: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer (Villard: $24) Recklessness on a mountaintop. Southern California ranking: 5; Last Week: 9; Weeks on List: 27

KILLER INSTINCT: How Two Young Producers Took on Hollywood and Made the Most Controversial Film of the Decade by Jane Hamsher (Broadway Books: $25) The story behind “Natural Born Killers.” Southern California ranking: 6; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 7

DOGS NEVER LIE ABOUT LOVE: Reflections on the Emotional World of Dogs by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson (Crown: $24) Stories about the interior life of man’s best friend. Southern California ranking: 7; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

MAKING FACES: Using Forensic and Archeological Evidence by John Prag and Richard Neave (Texas A & M University Press: $39.95) Tales from the crypts. Southern California ranking: 8; Last Week: 10; Weeks on List: 2

MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL by John Berendt (Random House: $24) Life in an isolated remnant of the old South. Southern California ranking: 9; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 30

THE MAN WHO LISTENS TO HORSES by Monty Roberts with Lucy Grealy (Random House: $23) Turning wild horses into pussycats. Southern California ranking: 10; Last Week: 5; Weeks on List: 11

Paperbacks: FICTION

1. THE CLINIC by Jonathan Kellerman (Bantam: $6.99)

2. AIRFRAME by Michael Crichton (Ballantine: $7.99)

3. KISS THE GIRLS by James Patterson (Warner: $6.99)

4. L.A. CONFIDENTIAL by James Ellroy (Warner: $12.99)

5. A LESSON BEFORE DYING by Ernest Gaines (Vintage: $12)

Paperbacks: NONFICTION

1. THE COLOR OF WATER by James McBride (Riverhead: $12.)

2. DIANA: Her True Story by Andrew Morton (Pocket: $7.50)

3. UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN: At Home in Italy by Frances Mayes (Broadway Books: $13)

4. THE SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE by Stephen R. Covey (Fireside: $12)

5. UNDAUNTED COURAGE by Stephen E. Ambrose (Touchstone/Simon & Schuster: $16)

Rankings are based on a Times’ poll of Southland bookstores.