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 34 Louvre curator’s killing leads to clues hidden in Leonardo’s paintings and a secret society with something to hide.

2 The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom 2 7 (Hyperion: $19.95) An amusement park maintenance man faces his life, death and afterlife in this three-part parable.

3 Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla by Stephen King (Donald 14 2 M. Grant/Scribner: $35) Roland and friends fight to save the Dark Tower in an afflicted farm community and Midtown Manhattan.

4 Blood Canticle by Anne Rice (Knopf: $25.95) Vampire 3 3 Lestat tries to attain sainthood while rescuing a witch from certain death by making her immortal.

5 Blow Fly by Patricia Cornwell (Putnam: $26.95) Forensic 4 5 pathologist Kay Scarpetta is drawn into a series of gruesome murders in Louisiana bayou country.

6 The Tristan Betrayal by Robert Ludlum (St. Martin’s 10 2 Press: $27.95) An American spy in Moscow during World War II later becomes U.S. ambassador there.

7 Love by Toni Morrison (Knopf: $23.95) The late owner of a 5 2 resort hotel in a black seaside community lives on in the ambiguous recollections of those he left behind.

8 Bleachers by John Grisham (Doubleday: $19.95) An NFL -- 9 player returns home to join a vigil for his dying high school football coach and meets a woman he abandoned years before.

9 Shepherds Abiding by Jan Karon (Viking: $24.95) Father 7 2 Tim restores an old and battered nativity scene, and in the process deepens the spirit of Christmas in the tiny village of Mitford.

10 Train by Pete Dexter (Doubleday: $24.95) A black caddy -- 3 and a police detective form an unlikely alliance in this dark tale set in the Los Angeles of the 1950s.

11 The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri (Houghton Mifflin: $24) A 6 8 Bengali couple and their son, named for the Russian writer Gogol, experience cultural jolts after leaving Calcutta for America.

12 The Pleasure of My Company by Steve Martin (Hyperion: 12 6 $19.95) A man suffering from agoraphobia and obsessive-compulsive disorder copes with the vicissitudes of life.

13 Old School by Tobias Wolff (Knopf: $22) A New England -- 1 prep school scholarship student with literary ambitions tries to win an audience with Ernest Hemingway.

14 Split Second by David Baldacci (Warner: $26.95) Disgraced 9 6 Secret Service agents join forces to solve the kidnapping of a presidential candidate and the 8-year-old murder of another.

15 The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold (Little, Brown: $21.95) -- 67 A murdered girl tells the story of her grieving family still learning to cope, the killer and the detective who hunts him.

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

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*--* 1 Dude, Where’s My Country? by Michael Moore (Warner Books: 1 5 $24.95) Advice from the veteran gadfly on how to take back the country from the conservative forces currently running it.

2 Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them by Al Franken 2 13 (Dutton: $24.95) A heaping dose of subversive wit aimed at political leaders and pundits on the right and left.

3 A Royal Duty by Paul Burrell (Putnam: $25.95) Confidant 3 3 and major-domo of the late Princess Diana shares his perspective on her life and reveals their many private talks.

4 Living to Tell the Tale by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Knopf: -- 1 $26.95) The Nobel laureate describes his early life in Colombia and his parents and others who gave rise to his best-known characters.

5 The Purpose-Driven Life by Rick Warren (Zondervan: 5 36 $19.99) How the “God-ordained” principles of worship, community, discipleship, ministry and evangelism bring fulfillment.

6 Broken Music by Sting (Bantam Books: $26) A memoir by the 6 2 British rock star of his working-class childhood and his ascent to the pinnacle of success with the band the Police.

7 Audrey Hepburn, an Elegant Spirit by Sean Hepburn Ferrer -- 1 (Simon & Schuster: $29.95) A son tells his mother’s story from her youth in war-torn Holland to the heights of Hollywood.

8 Who’s Looking Out for You? by Bill O’Reilly (Broadway 7 7 Books: $24.95) Talk-show host mixes outrage at corrupt people and institutions with practical advice.

9 The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle (New World Library: -- 60 $21.95) How to improve all of one’s relationships, encourage happiness and find contentment by living in the now.

10 Every Second Counts by Lance Armstrong (Broadway Books: 14 5 $24.95) The Tour de France champion recalls the triumphs along with the travails of his personal and professional life.

11 Flyboys by James Bradley (Little Brown: $25.95) A history 8 6 of combat in the Pacific during World War II, centered on a group of U.S. Navy and Marine aviators captured and imprisoned by the Japanese.

12 Bushwhacked by Molly Ivins (Random House: $24.95) The -- 4 syndicated columnist and critic of George W. Bush dissects his presidency and finds that he has pursued “crony capitalism” to extremes.

13 Where I Was From by Joan Didion (Knopf: $23) A California 4 7 native daughter recasts the once promising Golden State as a place of wasteful extravagance and greed, built on federal funding.

14 The King of California by Mark Arax and Rick Wartzman 12 3 (PublicAffairs: $30) The tale of J.G. Boswell and the agricultural empire he has built in California’s Central Valley.

15 Franklin and Winston by Jon Meacham (Random House: -- 1 $29.95) An intimate portrait of the unique and crucial friendship of two of the greatest leaders of their generation.

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