Los Angeles Times Bestsellers

October 28, 2001

FICTION

Southern California Rating

1 THE CORRECTIONS by Jonathan Franzen (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $26) The saga of a dysfunctional Midwestern family living at the end of the20th century. Last Week: 1 Weeks on List: 7

2 THE PAPER DOORWAY by Dean Koontz (HarperCollins: $17.95) A spooky, funny collection of verse for young readers by the horror master, with illustrations by Phil Parks. Last Week: 5 Weeks on List: 2

3 ISLE OF DOGS by Patricia Cornwell (Putnam: $26.95) Kay Scarpetta’s nowhere to be found in this departure for Cornwell--a dark comedy centering on a Chesapeake Bay island. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 1

4 PALE HORSE COMING by Stephen Hunter (Simon & Schuster: $25) A group of gunmen sets out to avenge the horrors being carried out in a Mississippi prison for black convicts, circa 1951. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 1

5 THE GOOD GERMAN by Joseph Kanon (Henry Holt: $26) A newsman covering the Potsdam Conference finds murder and intrigue in the rubble and devastation of postwar Berlin. Last Week: 10 Weeks on List: 2

6 THE FAMILY By Mario Puzo (HarperCollins: $27)

Puzo takes on another crime family--this time it’s a fictionalized account of the 15th century Borgias and their intrigues. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 1

7 STEPPIN’ ON A RAINBOW By Kinky Friedman (Simon & Schuster: $23) The eponymous private investigator and his usual cast of characters search for a friend on the Hawaiian Islands. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 1

8 PAIN MANAGEMENT By Andrew H. Vachss (Alfred A. Knopf: $24) Killer-for-hire Burke returns to help track down a 16-year-old runaway who’s been swallowed up by the streets of Portland. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 1

9 THE WORLD BELOW By Sue Miller (Alfred A. Knopf: $25) A San Francisco woman sifts through the belongings of her late grandmother. Reviewed by Susan Reynolds, Page 11. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 1

10 HOPE TO DIE By Lawrence Block (William Morrow: $25) Private investigator Matthew Scudder unravels the mystery of who killed a Manhattan socialite couple. -- Weeks on List: 1

11 LONG TIME NO SEE By Susan Isaacs (Harper-Collins: $26) The cops have one idea, but sleuth Judith Singer has another when a soccer mom turns up dead in a swimming pool. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 1

12 CARTER BEATS THE DEVIL by Glen David Gold (Hyperion: $24.95) A magician comes of age in the surly, seedy world of 1920s San Francisco and is tied to a U.S. president’s death. Last Week: 13 Weeks on List: 4

13 A BEND IN THE ROAD by Nicholas Sparks (Warner: $23.95) A widower’s romance with a small-town schoolteacher is threatened by the unsettling mystery surrounding his wife’s death. Last Week: 7 Weeks on List: 4

14 ANTRAX by Terry Brooks (Del Rey: $26.95) The middle book of the Shannara trilogy follows a band of Druid warriors battling an evil machine intent on cosmic domination. Last Week: 9 Weeks on List: 4

15 ERASURE by Percival L. Everett (University Press of New England: $24.95) A black professor wrestles with the perception of race in publishing. Reviewed by Paula Woods, Page 5. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 1

NONFICTION

Southern California Rating 1 WAR IN A TIME OF PEACE by David Halberstam (Scribner: $28) Halberstam looks at how the lessons of Vietnam have influenced U.S. policy since the Cold War’s end. Last week: 1 Weeks on List: 4

2 GERMS by Judith Miller, Stephen Engelberg and William Broad (Simon & Schuster: $27) How biological warfare became a real threat. Reviewed by Milton Leitenberg, Page 6. Last Week: 3 Weeks on List: 2

3 HUGHES by Richard Hack (New Millennium: $28) Private memos, diaries and declassified FBI papers throw light onto the ambitions and manias of billionaire Howard Hughes. Last Week: 10 Weeks on List: 3

4 HOW I PLAY GOLF by Tiger Woods (Warner: $34.95.) The links master explains his game in words and pictures, offering tips on the best ways to get from the tee to the cup. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 1

5 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: 2 Weeks on List: 22

6 SAVAGE BEAUTY by Nancy Milford (Random House: $29.95) The life of Edna St. Vincent Millay and her reckless pursuit of poetry and seduction in the early years of the 20th century. Last Week: 4 Weeks on List: 6

7 FOUNDING BROTHERS by Joseph J. Ellis (Alfred A. Knopf: $26) A look at the sometimes fierce debates that the Founding Fathers had regarding the country’s establishment. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 1

8 POLITICAL FICTIONS by Joan Didion (Alfred A. Knopf: $25) Eight essays on American politics between 1988 and 2000 and a lament over the media’s deception of American voters. Last Week: 13 Weeks on List: 4

9 THE POPES AGAINST THE JEWS by David I. Kertzer (Alfred A. Knopf: $27.95) Kertzer argues that the Catholic Church’s historic mistreatment of Jews contributed to the Holocaust. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 1

10 AVA’S MAN by Rick Bragg (Alfred A. Knopf: $25) A portrait of a working-class family patriarch in the Appalachian foothills, able to nurture his clan in the face of enduring hardship. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 1

11 MARIE ANTOINETTE by Antonia Fraser (Nan A. Talese/Doubleday: $35) The Austrian archduchess who became queen of France only to meet her fateful end on the guillotine. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 1

12 PRESIDENT NIXON by Richard Reeves (Simon & Schuster: $35) A portrait of the man in the Oval Office at odds with his administration and the world. Reviewed by Stanley I. Kutler, Page 8. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 1

13 RO L.A. by Patt Morrison (Angel City Press: $30) Tales past and present about Angelenos’ struggles with the Los Angeles River, with photographs by Mark Lamonica. Last Week: 12 Weeks on List: 6

14 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 show people how to manage change. Last Week: 8 Weeks on List: 83

15 JACK by Jack Welch with John A. Byrne (Warner: $29.95) The life and times of a respected CEO, from a Massachusetts childhood to his successful reinvention of General Electric. Last Week: 6 Weeks on List: 5