BESTSELLERS

Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.

*--* SO. CAL. RATING Fiction LAST WEEK WEEKS ON LIST 1 Everyman by Philip Roth 1 3 (Houghton Mifflin: $24) A New Jersey ad man with a lifelong obsession about his imminent death reflects on what he’s missed.

2 Promise Me by Harlan Coben 3 2 (Dutton: $26.95) A sports agent becomes a suspect in the disappearance of a teenage girl whom he had promised to help.

3 Beach Road by James -- 1 Patterson and Peter de Jonge (Little, Brown: $27.95) An attorney and former pro basketball player tries to clear a high school star in the murder of three youths.

4 Blue Shoes and Happiness 2 3 by Alexander McCall Smith (Pantheon: $21.95) At the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, Precious Ramotswe tries to slim down while solving dilemmas for her clients.

5 Digging to America by Anne -- 1 Tyler (Knopf: $24.95) A friendship sparked when two couples adopting Korean daughters meet at the Baltimore airport becomes an exploration of culture and family.

6 Suite Francaise by Irene -- 3 Nemirovsky (Knopf: $25) A posthumous novel by a celebrated writer killed at Auschwitz about the Jewish exodus from Paris to a German-occupied village.

7 Two Little Girls in Blue 4 5 by Mary Higgins Clark (Simon & Schuster: $25.95) Parents return from an evening out to discover their 3-year-old twins missing and an $8-million ransom demand.

8 The Debutante Divorcee by 6 3 Plum Sykes (Miramax: $23.95) Having succeeded at finding husbands, several New York City women busily try to get divorces to be swinging singles again.

9 Absurdistan by Gary -- 1 Shteyngart (Random House: $24.95) A melancholy Russian raised in America tries to get back into the country after attending his father’s funeral in St. Petersburg.

10 Dark Harbor by Stuart 11 4 Woods (Putnam: $25.95) A New York lawyer, called to a Maine town because of the death of a cousin and his family, doubts the local police theory of murder-suicide.

11 Definitely Dead by -- 1 Charlaine Harris (Ace Books: $23.95) Telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse goes to New Orleans to investigate the death of her vampire cousin.

12 Dark Tort by Diane Mott 8 2 Davidson (William Morrow: $24.95) Caterer Goldy Schulz investigates the death of a neighbor who worked as a paralegal in a firm filled with paintings of food.

13 The Da Vinci Code by Dan -- 142 Brown (Doubleday: $24.95) A Louvre curator’s killing leads to clues hidden in Leonardo’s paintings and a secret society with something to hide.

14 The Faithful Spy by Alex 14 2 Berenson (Random House: $24.95) A CIA operative who has infiltrated the highest levels of Al Qaeda is sent by Osama bin Laden’s men to attack Americans on their soil.

15 The Saddlemaker’s Wife by -- 1 Earlene Fowler (Berkley: $23.95) A widow inherits a share of a California cattle ranch and discovers that her late husband kept lots of secrets.

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*--* SO. CAL. RATING Nonfiction LAST WEEK WEEKS ON LIST 1 The Year of Magical 3 31 Thinking by Joan Didion (Knopf: $23.95) The author explores the nature of grief and survival in the months after her writer-husband’s sudden death.

2 Marley & Me by John Grogan 1 25 (William Morrow: $21.95) A columnist recalls how Marley, an incorrigible Labrador retriever, flunked obedience school, terrorized a pet sitter and won over his family.

3 Mother: A Cradle to Hold -- 1 Me by Maya Angelou (Random House: $9.95) The renowned poet and essayist celebrates mothers and the remarkable experience that is motherhood.

4 Cesar’s Way by Cesar 4 5 Millan with Melissa Jo Peltier (Harmony: $24.95) The popular TV show host gives tips on understanding and correcting common canine behavior problems.

5 Burnt Toast by Teri -- 1 Hatcher (Hyperion: $24.95) On the heels of her latest hit TV show “Desperate Housewives,” the actress and single mom reveals her struggles in life and work.

6 Possible Side Effects by -- 1 Augusten Burroughs (St. Martin’s Press: $23.95) The author of “Running With Scissors” offers his take on modern life in another collection of memoir-essays.

7 My Life in France by Julia 9 5 Child with Alex Prud’homme (Knopf: $25.95) The late chef’s memoir of her formative years in France, studies at the Cordon Bleu and the best Parisian restaurants.

8 The World Is Flat by 4 55 Thomas L. Friedman (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $30) How technology and the forces of globalization are connecting and changing the world, with updates from the author.

9 Desperate Networks by Bill -- 1 Carter (Doubleday: $26.95) The New York Times reporter describes the topsy-turvy world of the major TV networks in the age of cable and the Internet.

10 Just Peace by Mattie J.T. -- 1 Stepanek with Jimmy Carter (Andrew McMeel: $16.95) A 13-year-old boy with muscular dystrophy espouses world peace in this posthumous book.

11 Guests of the Ayatollah by 13 2 Mark Bowden (Atlantic Monthly Press: $26) A chronicle of the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and the subsequent hostage crisis.

12 You: The Owner’s Manual by -- 22 Michael F. Roizen and Mehmet C. Oz (HarperCollins: $24.95) An anti-aging guru and a heart surgeon offer a wry and witty guide to staying healthy.

13 Freakonomics by Steven D. 5 49 Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (William Morrow: $25.95) An economist deconstructs statistics and uses numbers to help explain human behavior.

14 The Omnivore’s Dilemma by -- 3 Michael Pollan (Penguin: $26.95) A revealing look at the food we eat, the agribusiness that produces it and the corn that is now in nearly everything edible.

15 A Death in Belmont by -- 2 Sebastian Junger (W.W. Norton: $23.95) The author explores whether confessed Boston Strangler Albert DeSalvo murdered a woman near his childhood home.

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