Southern California Rankings:FICTION1. BRIDGET JONES’S DIARY by...

Southern California Rankings:

FICTION

1. BRIDGET JONES’S DIARY by Helen Fielding (Viking: $22.95) The New Year’s resolutions of a single, thirty-something girlie Brit, from personal appearance to the perfect man.

Last Week: 3 ; Weeks on List: 2

2. A WIDOW FOR ONE YEAR by John Irving (Random House: $27.95) From childhood to middle age, a woman learns that one must wait a long time to fall in love.

Last Week: 2 ; Weeks on List: 7

3. MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA by Arthur Golden (Knopf: $25) The life and loves of a teahouse entertainer growing up in Kyoto during World War II.

Last Week: 4 ; Weeks on List: 32

4. I KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE by Wally Lamb (ReganBooks: $27.50) A man with a twin brother and dysfunctional parents finds his ancestral roots in Sicily.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

5. SUMMER SISTERS by Judy Blume (Delacorte: $21.95) Friendship between two unlikely girls blossoms and grows through years of hardship and maturity.

Last Week: 6; Weeks on List: 5

6. THE LAST FULL MEASURE by Jeff Shaara (Ballantine: $25.95) The final novel in a trilogy about the Civil War in the years after the Gettysburg turning point.

Last Week: 11; Weeks on List: 3

7. ABOUT A BOY by Nick Hornby (Riverhead: $22.95) A London bachelor’s comfy existence is upended by a needy youngster who squeezes into his life.

Last Week: 9; Weeks on List: 5

8. FREEDOMLAND by Richard Price (Broadway Books: $25) The hunt for an abducted child turns up the heat in a hellish New Jersey town.

Last Week: 1 ; Weeks on List: 5

9. CITIES OF THE PLAIN by Cormac McCarthy (Knopf: $25) A New Mexico rancher duels with a pimp to save the life and win the love of a 16-year-old girl.

Last Week: 5 ; Weeks on List: 6

10. DEAD EVEN by Brad Meltzer (Morrow/Rob Weisbach: $24) Husband and wife lawyers compete on opposite sides of a case that will kill one of them.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

11. COLD MOUNTAIN by Charles Frazier (Atlantic Monthly: $24) A Confederate soldier deserts the Civil War and walks home to his farm and sweetheart.

Last Week: 13; Weeks on List: 46

12. THE STREET LAWYER by John Grisham (Doubleday: $27.95) After being confronted on a city street, an arrogant lawyer becomes a hero for the homeless.

Last Week: 15 ; Weeks on List: 19

13. MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE by Nicholas Sparks (Warner: $20) A single mother searches for a lonely heart who threw a lover’s plea into the ocean.

Last Week: 12 ; Weeks on List: 8

14. BLACK AND BLUE by Anna Quindlen (Random House: $23) A battered wife’s past looms menacingly on the horizon of her new life in another town.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 17

15. YOU BELONG TO ME by Mary Higgins Clark (Simon and Schuster: $25) A psychologist’s interest in a missing woman attracts a killer with an ear for music.

Last Week: 10; Weeks on List: 9

PAPERBACK FICTION

1. DIVINE SECRETS OF THE YA-YA SISTERHOOD by Rebecca Wells (HarperCollins: $13) Sisterhood in the South.

2. THE HORSE WHISPERER by Nicholas Evans (Dell: $7.50) A woman discovers love on the range.

3. THE ANGEL OF DARKNESS by Caleb Carr (Ballantine: $7.99) In this sequel to “The Alienist,” the victims are infants.

4. THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS by Arundhati Roy (HarperPerennial: $13) The rise and fall of an Indian family.

5. UNNATURAL EXPOSURE by Patricia Cornwell (Berkley: $7.99) Kay Scarpetta hunts for a killer in cyberspace.

6. SEEING A LARGE CAT by Elizabeth Peters (Warner Books: $6.99) A tale from the journals of Amelia Peabody.

7. SHE’S COME UNDONE by Wally Lamb (Pocket: $14) A woman’s painful journey of self-discovery.

8. LE DIVORCE by Diane Johnson (Plume: $12.95) Not-so-innocents abroad in France.

9. ASYLUM by Patrick McGrath (Vintage: $12) Murderous sculptor meets psychiatrist’s wife in a mental hospital.

10. THE ALCHEMIST by Paulo Coelho (HarperFlamingo: $13) Transforming life experiences into gold.

NONFICTION

1. TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE by Mitch Albom (Doubleday: $19.95) A sportswriter’s empowering story of his weekly visits to see an older dying friend.

Last Week: 1 ; Weeks on List: 25

2. SHIP OF GOLD IN THE DEEP BLUE SEA by Gary Kinder (Atlantic Monthly: $27.50) A modern-day adventure to retrieve $450 million from a sunken steamer.

Last Week: 5 ; Weeks on List: 3

3. THE NINE STEPS TO FINANCIAL FREEDOM by Suze Orman (Crown: $23) Practical tips for avoiding stress, making good savings plans and managing money.

Last Week: 10 ; Weeks on List: 11

4. EASY RIDERS, RAGING BULLS by Peter Biskind (Simon & Schuster: $25) How the sex-drugs-and rock ‘n’ roll generation of filmmakers saved Hollywood.

Last Week: 2 ; Weeks on List: 10

5. TITAN by Ron Chernow (Random House: $30) A biography of John D. Rockefeller Sr. that draws upon unpublished interviews with the industrial tycoon.

Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 3

6. THE GIFTS OF THE JEWS by Thomas Cahill (Nan A. Talese/Doubleday: $23.50) How a nomadic people heard the Almighty’s voice and transformed the world.

Last Week: 7 ; Weeks on List: 12

7. A PIRATE LOOKS AT FIFTY by Jimmy Buffett (Random House: $24.95) The songwriter-author reflects on his ventures around the globe aboard his seaplane.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

8. A MONK SWIMMING by Malachy McCourt (Hyperion: $23.95) The brother of Frank McCourt offers a bawdy antidote to a sad childhood.

Last Week: 8 ; Weeks on List: 2

9. WE ARE OUR MOTHERS’ DAUGHTERS by Cokie Roberts (Morrow: $19.95) Female activists, politicians, soldiers and others who are challenging the role of women in society.

Last Week: 3 ; Weeks on List: 7

10. ANGELA’S ASHES by Frank McCourt (Scribner: $24) A bittersweet lyrical memoir of a poverty-stricken childhood in a rain-soaked Irish city.

Last Week: 9 ; Weeks on List: 84

11. MAKE GENTLE THE LIFE OF THIS WORLD by Maxwell Taylor Kennedy (Harcourt Brace: $20) Homage to the legacy of Robert F. Kennedy from his youngest son.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

12. STORY by Robert McKee (ReganBooks: $25) Plot techniques and and other methods of writing for the silver screen from a veteran screenwriter.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 19

13. THE MILLIONAIRE NEXT DOOR by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Lanko (Longstreet Press: $22) Lives of the rich and famous, including golden parachutes.

Last Week: 11 ; Weeks on List: 22

14. THE MAN WHO LISTENS TO HORSES by Monty Roberts (Random House: $23) Homespun philosophy from a trainer who turns wild horses into pussy cats.

Last Week: 12 ; Weeks on List: 22

15. A NIGHT WITHOUT ARMOR by Jewel (HarperCollins: $15) A poetry collection about hard knocks and deep thoughts by the pop singer.

Last Week: 6; Weeks on List: 3

PAPERBACK NONFICTION

1. BRAIN DROPPINGS by George Carlin (Hyperion: $9.95) The comedian’s look at the humorous absurdity of modern life.

2. THE PERFECT STORM by Sebastian Junger (HarperPerennial: $13) Fishermen trapped in the fury of an Atlantic storm.

3. UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN by Frances Mayes (Broadway: $13) Making a home in a glorious Italian landscape.

4. PERSONAL HISTORY by Katharine Graham (Vintage: $15) The heiress at the helm of the Washington Post.

5. TEAM RODENT by Carl Hiaasen (Ballantine: $8.95) The greed behind the gleam of the Walt Disney company.

6. FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS by Hunter Thompson (Vintage: $11) A gonzo-journalist on a magic carpet ride.

7. THE COLOR OF WATER by James McBride (Riverhead: $12) A black musician’s homage to his white mother.

8. INTO THIN AIR by Jon Krakauer (Anchor Books: $7.99) Risk and recklessness on Mt. Everest.

9. WAIT TILL NEXT YEAR by Doris Kearns Goodwin (Fireside: $13) Growing up a fan of the Brooklyn Dodgers.

10. A CIVIL ACTION by Jonathan Harr (Vintage: $13) David versus an industrial Goliath in Massachusetts.

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Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.