BESTSELLERS / PAPERBACKS

Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.

*--* SO. CAL. RATING Fiction 1 The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards (Penguin: $14) A father hides the birth of a twin from his wife.

2 Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See (Random House: $13.95) Two women in 19th century China.

3 The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (HarperSanFrancisco: $13) An Andalusian shepherd boy searches for treasure in Egypt.

4 Predator by Patricia Cornwell (Berkley: $9.99) Kay Scarpetta hunts the killer of a Boston woman.

5 Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman (HarperTorch: $7.99) A man learns that his dead father embodied an African trickster god.

6 March by Geraldine Brooks (Penguin: $14) Imagining the Civil War experiences of Mr. March, father of the “Little Women.”

7 Mary, Mary by James Patterson (Warner Vision: $9.99) FBI agent Alex Cross seeks the killer of a top Hollywood actress.

8 Saving Fish From Drowning by Amy Tan (Ballantine: $14.95) Tourists in Burma make darkly humorous missteps.

9 Dance of the Gods by Nora Roberts (Jove: $7.99) A circle of six prepares to do battle with Lilith the demon queen.

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

*--*

*--* SO. CAL. RATING Nonfiction 1 The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls (Scribner: $14) A memoir of breaking away from dysfunctional parents.

2 Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs (Picador: $14) A boy goes to live with his mother’s psychiatrist.

3 The City of Falling Angels by John Berendt (Penguin: $15) Fire destroys a Venice opera house, baring the city’s heart.

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

5 The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands by Laura Schlessinger (Harper: $13.95) How to manage men.

6 A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle (Plume: $14) How transcending ego can end conflict and suffering.

7 Flags of Our Fathers by James Bradley with Ron Powers (Bantam: $7.99) The men in the iconic Iwo Jima photo.

8 Hegemony or Survival by Noam Chomsky (Owl Books: $13) A critique of America’s quest for global supremacy.

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

10 An Alphabetical Life by Wendy Werris (Carroll & Graf: $15.95) A memoir of the ups and downs in the bookselling biz.

*--*