Southern California Rating:

FICTION

1. HANNIBAL by Thomas Harris (Delacorte: $27.95) The cleverly repulsive sequel to “The Silence of the Lambs,” featuring the villainous hero Hannibal the Cannibal.

Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 2

2. WHITE OLEANDER by Janet Fitch (Little, Brown: $24) When a woman murders her lover, her daughter must learn to face womanhood in a foster home.

Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 7

3. BRIEF INTERVIEWS WITH HIDEOUS MEN by David Foster Wallace (Little, Brown: $24) Turbo-charged stories of egotism and desire in the modern world by a literary wunderkind.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

4. FLEUR DE LEIGH’S LIFE OF CRIME by Diane Leslie (Simon and Schuster: $23) A Hollywood “Upstairs, Downstairs” about a poor little rich girl and her L.A. childhood.

Last Week: 8; Weeks on List: 9

5. THE GIRLS’ GUIDE TO HUNTING AND FISHING by Melissa Bank (Viking: $23.95) As a modern girl grows up looking for love, to whom should she turn?

Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 4

6. L.A. REQUIEM by Robert Crais (Doubleday: $23.95) The eighth in the Elvis Cole series, focusing on Cole’s tough sidekick, Joe Pike, and the murder of Pike’s ex-girlfriend.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

7. TIMBUKTU by Paul Auster (Henry Holt: $22) Homelessness, schizophrenia and dreams of the afterlife, from a dog’s point of view. Reviewed by Jonathan Levi, Page 2.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 2

8. THE TESTAMENT by John Grisham (Doubleday: $27.95) The 10th richest man in the United States has died, and his greedy heirs are circling like hungry vultures.

Last Week: 9; Weeks on List: 19

9. HAVANA BAY by Martin Cruz Smith (Random House: $24.95) Arkady Renko leaves Gorky Park behind to investigate a colleague’s murder in Cuba.

Last Week: 13; Weeks on List: 3

10. THE HOURS by Michael Cunningham (Farrar, Straus and Giroux: $22) A haunting triptych of stories structured around Virginia Woolf’s novel “Mrs. Dalloway.”

Last Week: 6; Weeks on List: 14

11. BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES OF THE CENTURY edited by Katrina Kenison and John Updike (Houghton Mifflin: $28) Ernest Hemingway, Willa Cather, Raymond Carver and Co.

Last Week: 11; Weeks on List: 11

12. DANGEROUS KISS by Jackie Collins (Simon and Schuster: $25) An Italian duke kidnaps a supermodel and faces the wrath of her aunt, sexy film exec Lucky Santangelo.

Last Week: 12; Weeks on List: 3

13. MOTHER OF PEARL by Melinda Haynes (Hyperion: $23.95) A story of friendship across race lines and the tragic struggles of private citizens in a 1950s Southern town.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

14. A GOD IN RUINS by Leon Uris (HarperCollins: $26) An 11th-hour scandal threatens to ruin a scrappy ex-Marine’s run for the U.S. presidency in 2008.

Last Week: 15; Weeks on List: 3

15. CLOSE RANGE by Annie Proulx (Scribner: $25) A collection of raw and lusty stories about luckless characters living in the rough wasteland of Wyoming.

Last Week: 5; Weeks on List: 7

****

NONFICTION

1. SHADOW by Bob Woodward (Simon and Schuster: $27.50) The impact of Watergate on the management of White House scandals, from Ford to Clinton.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

2. LIFE IS JUST WHAT YOU MAKE IT by Donny Osmond and Patricia Romanowski (Hyperion: $22.95) How Osmond survived childhood pop stardom.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

3. THE GREATEST GENERATION by Tom Brokaw (Random House: $24.95) TV anchor tells the stories of the generation that came of age during the Depression and World War II.

Last Week: 9; Weeks on List: 29

4. THE MAJORS by John Feinstein (Little, Brown: $25) The quest for golfing greatness in four prestigious events: the Masters, U.S. Open, British Open and the PGA.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 6

5. HIGH EXPOSURE by David Breashears (Simon and Schuster: $26) The autobiography of a mountain climber-filmmaker who has climbed Mt. Everest four times.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 3

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

Last Week: 6; Weeks on List: 77

7. COMRADES by Stephen Ambrose (Simon and Schuster: $21) The war historian reflects on male friendship in his own life and in the lives of people he has written about.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

8. ANOTHER LIFE by Michael Korda (Random House: $26.95) An insider’s delicious dish on the personalities behind a popular publishing house.

Last Week: 10; Weeks on List: 5

9. ENCORE PROVENCE by Peter Mayle (Alfred A. Knopf: $23) A return to southern France prompts memories of good times and a critique of American culture.

Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 5

10. DRAWING THE LINE by Paul Conrad (Los Angeles Times: $24.95) A collection of the cartoonist’s political drawings, spanning the ‘60s through President Clinton’s impeachment trial.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

11. PLOTS AND CHARACTERS by Millard Kaufman (Really Great Books: $24.95) A history of the art of storytelling in Tinseltown featuring the bombshells and bosses of the Golden Age.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

12. THE LEXUS AND THE OLIVE TREE by Thomas L. Friedman (Farrar, Straus and Giroux: $27.50) Globalization has replaced the Cold War system, though many resist its call.

Last Week: 8; Weeks on List: 8

13. SHOW ME THE MAGIC by Paul Mazursky (Simon and Schuster: $25) A memoir of the actor-director’s life including portraits of Peter Sellers, Federico Fellini and others.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

14. THE PROFESSOR AND THE MADMAN by Simon Winchester (HarperCollins: $22) How the editor of the Oxford English Dictionary was helped by a brilliant mental patient.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 28

15. EVERY MAN A TIGER by Tom Clancy and Chuck Horner (Putnam: $27.95) The art of war, particularly modern air power, as told by a master storyteller and a general.

Last Week: 13; Weeks on List: 4

Paperbacks

FICTION

1. MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA by Arthur Golden (Vintage: $14) The life and loves of a teahouse entertainer in Kyoto.

2. THE READER by Bernhard Schlink (Vintage: $11) A boyhood fling with an older woman and its aftermath.

3. BRIDGET JONES’S DIARY by Helen Fielding (Penguin: $12.95) A thirtysomething deals with love.

4. SUMMER SISTERS by Judy Blume (Dell: $7.50) Unlikely friendship blossoms between two girls.

5. THE PILOT’S WIFE by Anita Shreve (Little, Brown: $13.95) A woman’s disturbing discoveries after a fatal plane crash.

6. THE GENERAL’S DAUGHTER by Nelson DeMille (Warner: $7.50) A military woman’s murder reveals Army secrets.

7. CHARMING BILLY by Alice McDermott (Delta: $12.95) A family reflects on the life of a deceased relative.

8. HIGH FIDELITY by Nick Hornby (Riverhead: $12.95) A pop music fanatic describes his most memorable breakups.

9. THE SEVILLE COMMUNION by Arturo Perez-Reverte (Harvest Books: $14) Faith and greed collide over an old church.

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

****

NONFICTION

1. ANGELA’S ASHES by Frank McCourt (Touchstone: $14) Overcoming an Irish childhood during the Depression.

2. GOD SAID “HA!” by Julia Sweeney (Bantam: $11.95) A family faces cancer with humor and grace.

3. SHIP OF GOLD IN THE DEEP BLUE SEA by Gary Kinder (Vintage: 14) Salvaging a bullion-laden, sunken steamer.

4. BITCH by Elizabeth Wurtzel (Anchor: $14.95) A celebration of defiant women through the ages.

5. DEPTH TAKES A HOLIDAY by Sandra Tsing Loh (Riverhead: $13) Essays on the surreal side of life in the L.A. suburbs.

6. SEAT OF THE SOUL by Gary Zukav (Fireside: $13) The inward transformation of the human soul.

7. EVERYBODY WAS SO YOUNG by Amanda Vaill (Broadway: $15) Gerald and Sara Murphy and the Lost Generation.

8. FALLING LEAVES by Adeline Yen Mah (Broadway: $13) Life under an oppressive stepmother in mainland China.

9. OUR DUMB CENTURY by the Onion staff (Three Rivers: $15) Satiric headlines from a popular humor publication.

10. SINS OF THE CITY by Jim Heimann (Chronicle Books: $18.95) L.A. noir photographs from the ‘20s to the ‘50s.

Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.