BESTSELLERS / PAPERBACKS

*--* SO. CAL. RATING Fiction

*--*

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

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

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

4 The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (Harvest: $14) A time traveler falls in love with a teen heiress.

5 Blue Dahlia by Nora Roberts (Jove: $7.99) A widowed mother of two boys returns to Tennessee to renew her life.

6 Skipping Christmas by John Grisham (Dell: $6.99) A couple’s decision to skip Christmas comes back to haunt them.

7 The Sinister Pig by Tony Hillerman (HarperTorch: $7.99) Navajo detectives investigate a stranger’s death.

8 The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (HarperSan Francisco: $13) An Andalusian shepherd boy seeks treasure in Egypt.

9 Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (Picador: $15) A Greek family embraces the American dream.

10 The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri (Mariner: $14) A Bengali couple and their son try to find their way in America.

*--*

*--* SO. CAL. RATING Nonfiction

*--*

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

2 The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (Vintage: $14.95) How a serial killer haunted the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.

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

4 Destination: Morgue! by James Ellroy (Vintage: $13.95) Crime, real and imagined, in this latest Ellroy collection.

5 Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki and Sharon L. Lechter (TechPress/Warner: $15.95) Fiscal parenting.

6 Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz (Amber-Allen: $12.95) A code of conduct based on Toltec wisdom.

7 World Almanac and Book of Facts 2005 (World Almanac Books: $11.95) Just the facts, ma’am.

8 The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States (Bantam: $2.95)

9 1,000 Places to See Before You Die by Patricia Schultz (Workman: $18.95) Trotting the globe.

10 What to Expect When You’re Expecting by Heidi E. Murkoff et al. (Workman: $13.95) The ABCs of pregnancy.

*--*