Los Angeles Times Bestsellers

February 24, 2002

FICTION

Southern California Rating

1 THE SUMMONS by John Grisham (Doubleday: $27.95) A man discovers $3 million in his dead father’s house and hides it from his prodigal brother and a mysterious extortioner. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 1

2 TISHOMINGO BLUES by Elmore Leonard (William Morrow: $25.95) A high diver plunges into the Delta drug trade and the Dixie Mafia after witnessing a murder from atop his rig. Last Week: 3 Weeks on List: 2

3 UP COUNTRY by Nelson Demille (Warner: $26.95) A U.S. Army investigator travels to Vietnam to probe a 30-year-old murder in which the only living eyewitness is an enemy soldier. Last Week: 4 Weeks on List: 2

4 THE CORRECTIONS by Jonathan Franzen (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $26) The saga of a dysfunctional Midwestern family living at the end of the 20th century. Last Week: 1 Weeks on List: 24

5 THE MILLIONAIRES by Brad Meltzer (Warner: $25.95) Two brothers who loot the account of a deceased client at a private bank get more than they bargained for. Last Week: 2 Weeks on List: 5

6 BALZAC AND THE LITTLE CHINESE SEAMSTRESS by Daj Sijie (Alfred A. Knopf: $18) Two Chinese youths use classic Western literature to free their minds in the face of communist re-education. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 7

7 BASKET CASE by Carl Hiaasen (Alfred A. Knopf: $25.95) Once a hotshot reporter, an obituary writer for a small paper unravels the bizarre causes for the death of a rock star. Last Week: 5 Weeks on List: 6

8 UNDER FIRE by W.E.B. Griffin (Putnam: $26.95) A Marine captain tries in vain to alert top brass of an impending invasion by the North at the outset of the Korean War. Last Week: 12 Weeks on List: 3

9 HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE by J.K. Rowling (Scholastic: $25.95) Harry competes in the great Triwizard Tournament and is pursued by the sinister Lord Voldemort. Last Week: 9 Weeks on List: 13

10 A MULTITUDE OF SINS by Richard Ford (Alfred A. Knopf: $25) The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “Independence Day” returns with a collection of stories about adultery and its aftermath. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 1

11 THE DIARY OF ELLEN RIMBAUER by Joyce Reardon (Hyperion: $22.95) The strange occurrences at Rose Red, the haunted mansion setting of an ABC miniseries by Stephen King. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 1

12 THE CAT WHO WENT UP THE CREEK by Lilian Jackson Braun (Putnam: $23.95) Cats and crime go toe-to-toe as Siamese felines Koko and Yum Yum help solve mysteries in Moose County. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 3

13 SKIPPING CHRISTMAS by John Grisham (Doubleday: $19.95) Grisham takes a holiday from legal thrillers to poke fun at the suburban yuletide ritual. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 13

14 HALF A LIFE by V.S. Naipaul (Alfred A. Knopf: $24) A writer drifts from bohemian London to colonial Africa in this tale of the collision of identity, class and politics. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 11

15 I’LL LET YOU GO by Bruce Wagner (Villard: $25.95) A Dickens-inspired fable in which an eccentric family, one of L.A.’s filthy rich, encounters the city’s very poor. Last Week: 10 Weeks on List: 2

NONFICTION

Southern California Rating

1 SELF MATTERS by Phillip C. McGraw (Simon & Schuster: $25) A self-improvement guru and “Oprah” regular teaches readers how to “create your life from the inside out.” Last Week: 1 Weeks on List: 4

2 BIAS by Bernard Goldberg (Regnery: $27.95) A veteran CBS reporter argues that the mainstream media have been seriously damaged by a liberal, closed-minded worldview. Last Week: 2 Weeks on List: 8

3 SHADOW WARRIORS by Tom Clancy with Gen. Carl Stiner (Putnam: $29.95) The recent history of the U.S. military’s Special Forces, and their usefulness when conventional tactics fail. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 1

4 SACRED CONTRACTS by Caroline Myss (Harmony: $25) Lessons in decoding symbols, myths, intuition and coincidences to understand your purpose in life. Last Week: 3 Weeks on List: 2

5 JOURNEY THROUGH HEARTSONGS by Mattie J.T. Stepanek (Hyperion: $14.95) A new collection of poetry from a boy struggling with a rare form of muscular dystrophy. Last Week: 7 Weeks on List: 3

6 WHAT WENT WRONG by Bernard Lewis (Oxford University: $23) An esteemed historian describes the Islamic Middle East’s fall from enlightenment into repression and tyranny. Last Week: 5 Weeks on List: 2

7 THE FINAL DAYS by Barbara Olson (Regnery: $25.95) The Clintons’ last actions in the White House, from pardons to executive orders, with commentary from the late Olson. Last Week: 11 Weeks on List: 15

8 THE UNIVERSE IN A NUTSHELL by Stephen Hawking (Bantam: $35) The celebrated physicist offers up a look at space, time and the origin and future of the universe. Last Week: 9 Weeks on List: 12

9 JOHN ADAMS by David McCullough (Simon & Schuster: $35) The story of our second president, a man Thomas Jefferson called “the colossus of independence.” Last Week: 6 Weeks on List: 39

10 SATISFACTION by Kim Cattrall and Mark Levinson (Warner: $24.95) A star of HBO’s “Sex and the City” and her husband draw on viewer feedback for this guide to pleasing women. Last Week: 4 Weeks on List: 2

11 THE ENVY OF THE WORLD by Ellis Cose (Washington Square: $22) The tangled history of black masculinity and racism in America, with profiles of prominent black men. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 1

12 WHO MOVED MY CHEESE? by Spencer Johnson (Putnam: $19.95) The co-author of “The One-Minute Manager” uses the parable of mice in a maze to discuss managing change. Last Week: 13 Weeks on List: 99

13 LAZY B by Sandra Day O’Connor and H. Alan Day (Random House: $24.95) A memoir-natural history of the Southwest in the 1920s by a Supreme Court justice and her brother. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 1

14 HUGHES by Richard Hack (New Millennium: $28) How private memos, diaries and declassified FBI papers throw light onto the ambitions and manias of Howard Hughes. Last Week: 15 Weeks on List: 10

15 YOU’RE ONLY AS GOOD AS YOUR NEXT ONE by Mike Medavoy with Josh Young (Pocket Books: $27) Memoir of a studio exec’s rise from the Universal mailroom to movie mogul-dom. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 1

PAPERBACKS

FICTION

Southern California Rating

1 THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF KAVALIER & CLAY by Michael Chabon (Picador: $15) Cousins in the comics biz.

2 THE BONESETTER’S DAUGHTER by Amy Tan (Ballantine: $7.99) A ghostwriter uncovers her family’s anguished past.

3 FALL ON YOUR KNEES by Ann-Marie MacDonald (Scribner: $14) The travails of a family in coal-mining Nova Scotia.

4 A WALK TO REMEMBER by Nicholas Sparks (Warner: $6.99) A man recalls the bittersweet love story of his youth.

5 SHOPAHOLIC TAKES MANHATTAN by Sophie Kinsella (Delta: $10.95) A finance guru loses control on a Big Apple trip.

6 1st TO DIE by James Patterson (Warner Vision: $7.99) Four

women track a killer with a penchant for newlyweds.

7 GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING by Tracy Chevalier (Plume: $12) The woman who inspired a Vermeer painting.

8 THE LAST TIME THEY MET by Anita Shreve (Little, Brown:

$13.95) Two poets share a lifelong passion.

9 A FINE BALANCE by Rohinton Mistry (Vintage: $15) A tale of political and personal crises in contemporary India.

10 A PAINTED HOUSE by John Grisham (Dell Island: $7.99) Violence looms over a boyhood in rural Arkansas in 1952.

NONFICTION

Southern California Rating

1 A BEAUTIFUL MIND by Sylvia Nasar (Touchstone: $16) A brilliant mathematics professor’s battle with schizophrenia.

2 FAST FOOD NATION by Eric Schlosser (HarperCollins: $13.95) The unappetizing practices of the junk-food industry.

3 9-11 by Noam Chomsky (Seven Stories Press: $8.95) An alternative view of the U.S.-led war on terrorism.

4 HORNY? LOS ANGELES by Jessica Hundley and Jon Alain Guzik (Really Great Books: $18.95) The city’s hot spots.

5 THE FOUR AGREEMENTS by Don Miguel Ruiz (Amber-Allen: $12.95) Life lessons based on ancient Toltec wisdom.

6 LIFE STRATEGIES by Phillip C. McGraw (Hyperion, $12.95) How to take responsibility for your life to change it.

7 THE WRINKLE CURE by Nicholas Perricone (Warner: $13.95) Using antioxidants to keep the skin looking young.

8 BLACK HAWK DOWN by Mark Bowden (Signet: $7.99) A gritty account of a disastrous 1993 military operation in Somalia.

9 PERSONAL HISTORY by Katharine Graham (Vintage: $15) A memoir by the late publisher of the Washington Post.

10 FOUNDING BROTHERS by Joseph Ellis (Vintage: $14) The genius, cunning and flaws of the nation’s architects.