BESTSELLERS

*--* SO. CAL. RATING Fiction LAST WEEK WEEKS ON LIST

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*--* 1 The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown (Doubleday: $24.95) A 1 77 Louvre curator’s killing leads to clues hidden in Leonardo’s paintings and a secret society with something to hide.

2 The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason 3 17 (Dial: $24) Four Princeton roommates use clues from a 15th century manuscript to find a buried Roman treasure.

3 The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom 7 50 (Hyperion: $19.95) An amusement park maintenance man faces his life, death and afterlife in this three-part parable.

4 Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke 6 2 (Bloomsbury: $27.95) A reclusive magician teams with a risk-taking younger man to delve into England’s magical past.

5 Skinny Dip by Carl Hiaasen (Knopf: $24.95) A shady 2 8 Florida marine biologist thinks he’s offed his wife, but she’s only playing dead as she plots her revenge.

6 The Program by Gregg Hurwitz (William Morrow: $24.95) A -- 1 former federal agent tries to free a Hollywood producer’s stepdaughter from a cult’s clutches by becoming a member.

7 Murder List by Julie Garwood (Ballantine: $25.95) A 14 2 Chicago detective guards a hotel heiress who fears for her life when people whose names she wrote on a pretend “cleansing” list turn up dead.

8 The Romanov Prophecy by Steve Berry (Ballantine: $24.95) -- 1 As Russians vote to bring back the monarchy, an Atlanta lawyer tries to uncover what really happened to the imperial family.

9 The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (Penguin: 12 8 $24.95) In postwar Barcelona, the son of a bookstore owner tries to unearth the story of a long-dead novelist.

10 Trace by Patricia Cornwell (Putnam: $26.95) Medical -- 1 examiner Kay Scarpetta is called back to Richmond, Va., to help her former colleagues determine what killed a 14-year-old girl.

11 Angels & Demons by Dan Brown (Atria: $19.95) A Harvard -- 35 scholar uncovers a vendetta against the Roman Catholic Church by a secret society known as the Illuminati.

12 I, Fatty by Jerry Stahl (Bloomsbury: $23.95) Roscoe -- 4 “Fatty” Arbuckle recounts how his acquittal of rape and murder charges doesn’t save his film career in this faux memoir.

13 Snow by Orhan Pamuk (Alfred A. Knopf: $26) A Turkish poet 4 3 returning from exile in Germany finds himself caught in a society torn between secular and religious forces.

14 Tanequil by Terry Brooks (Del Rey: $26.95) A boy must -- 1 find a mystical tree if he is to free his aunt and restore her as High Druid of Shannara and save their lands.

15 Tijuana Straits by Kem Nunn (Scribner: $25) A washed-up 5 3 surfer gets the chance to help a fellow soul on the run from danger in the no-man’s land along the Mexican border.

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*--* SO. CAL. RATING Nonfiction LAST WEEK WEEKS ON LIST

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*--* 1 Unfit for Command by John E. O’Neill and Jerome R. Corsi 2 4 (Regnery: $27.95) Vietnam vets accuse presidential nominee John Kerry of misdeeds regarding his wartime service.

2 Bushworld: Enter at Your Own Risk by Maureen Dowd 1 5 (Putnam: $25.95) A decade of the New York Times op-ed columnist’s collected works, especially those on Bush pere and fils.

3 Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss (Gotham: $17.50) A 10 21 British novelist and journalist offers her zero-tolerance approach to bad punctuation, drawn from her pioneering BBC series.

4 Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris 3 15 (Little, Brown: $24.95) Popular humorist recounts childhood experiences with his delightfully dysfunctional family.

5 My Life by Bill Clinton (Knopf: $35) The former 8 12 president’s memoirs, from his Arkansas childhood through the highs and lows of his two terms in the White House.

6 American Soldier by Tommy Franks with Malcolm McConnell 5 6 (ReganBooks: $27.95) The former commander in chief of the U.S. Central Command gives an inside look at the war on terror.

7 Skywriting by Jane Pauley (Random House: $25.95) The TV 9 2 newsmagazine’s golden girl explores the ups and downs of a remarkable career, her roots in the heartland and how she redefined herself at midlife.

8 How to Make Love Like a Porn Star by Jenna Jameson with 6 3 Neil Strauss (ReganBooks: $27.95) The adult-movie queen tells how a sexual assault propelled her into a life of porn and drugs.

9 My Personal Best by John Wooden with Steve Jamison -- 3 (McGraw-Hill: $19.95) The iconic former UCLA basketball coach recounts life lessons he’s learned along the way.

10 Imperial Hubris by Anonymous (Brassey’s: $27.50) A senior -- 4 U.S. intelligence official says it’s not democracy and freedom that rile Islamists, but U.S. military, political and economic policy.

11 Democracy Matters by Cornel West (Penguin: $24.95) To be -- 1 a credible exporter of freedom and democracy, the United States first must correct its imperialist ways, the philosopher argues.

12 The Purpose-Driven Life by Rick Warren (Zondervan: 7 79 $19.99) How the “God ordained” principles of worship, community, discipleship, ministry and evangelism bring fulfillment.

13 Persepolis 2 by Marjane Satrapi (Pantheon: $17.95) In a -- 1 sequel to her comic-book memoir, a young woman returning to Iran tests ideas of freedom in a fundamentalist society.

14 Confessions of an Heiress by Paris Hilton (Fireside: $22) -- 1 The do’s and don’ts of beauty, fashion, etiquette -- and life in general -- from the hotel-chain heiress, model and current it-girl.

15 FBI Girl by Maura Conlon-McIvor (Warner Books: $23) The 12 2 daughter of a J. Edgar Hoover-era FBI agent tries to decipher the “code” by which her taciturn father lives.

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