BESTSELLERS / PAPERBACKS

*--* SO. CAL. RATING Fiction

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

2 Angels & Demons by Dan Brown (Pocket Books: $7.99) A scholar uncovers a vendetta against the Roman Catholic Church.

3 The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (Penguin: $14) A teenage girl is haunted by her mother’s death.

4 Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (Vintage: $12) An autistic teen seeks out a killer.

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

6 Bergdorf Blondes by Plum Sykes (Miramax: $13.95) Park Avenue princesses search for love and riches.

7 Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer (Perennial: $13.95) A young man’s European journey.

8 The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory (Touchstone: $16) Two sisters vie for the love of Henry VIII.

9 The Taking by Dean Koontz (Bantam: $7.99) A novelist and her ex-priest husband find a changed world after a rainstorm.

10 The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler (Plume: $14) Members of a book group reveal their own foibles.

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*--* SO. CAL. RATING Nonfiction

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*--* 1 The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell (Back Bay: $14.95) How fads, trends and ideas behave like viruses in a society.

2 Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki with Sharon L. Lechter (TechPress/Warner: $16.95) Fiscal parenting.

3 1,000 Places to See Before You Die by Patricia Schultz (Workman: $18.95) Trotting the globe.

4 Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond (W.W. Norton: $16.95) A scientist’s take on Europe’s rise to dominance.

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

6 Bad Cat by Jim Edgar (Workman: $9.95) Meet 244 cats and kittens with attitude, all in living color.

7 Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom (Broadway: $12.95) A columnist learns life lessons from a dying teacher.

8 The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle (New World Library: $14) How to attain enlightenment by living in the now.

9 The Hidden Messages in Water by Masaru Emoto (Beyond Worlds: $16.95) How emotion and words change water.

10 Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi (Random House: $13.95) A professor keeps literature alive for her students.

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Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.