BESTSELLERS / PAPERBACKS

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

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

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

5 The History of Love by Nicole Krauss (W.W. Norton: $13.95) A writer escapes the Nazis but loses his beloved.

6 The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly (Warner: $7.99) An attorney for a rich woman’s son fears for his own safety.

7 Lifeguard by James Patterson and Andrew Gross (Warner: $9.99) A botched art heist vaults a man onto the most-wanted list.

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

9 The Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger (Broadway: $13.95) A college grad enters fashion publishing.

10 The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (Penguin: $15) A quest for the truth about a Spanish novelist.

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*--* SO. CAL. RATING Nonfiction 1 An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore (Rodale: $21.95) The former vice president cites the evidence for global warming.

2 The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls (Scribner: $14) A memoir of breaking away from dysfunctional parents.

3 Night by Elie Wiesel (Hill & Wang: $9) A teenager’s harrowing year spent in four concentration camps.

4 The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (Vintage: $14.95) A serial killer haunts the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.

5 1776 by David McCullough (Simon & Schuster: $18) How Colonial forces took on the world’s greatest military power.

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

7 The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell (Back Bay: $14.95) How fads, trends and ideas behave like viruses in a society.

8 Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins (Plume: $15) How the U.S. pressures poor countries.

9 The Places in Between by Rory Stewart (Harvest: $14) A trek across post-Taliban Afghanistan.

10 Why Do Men Fall Asleep After Sex? by Mark Leyner and Billy Goldberg (Three Rivers: $13.95) M.D. Q & A.

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Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.