PAPERBACKS

*--* SO. CAL. RATING Fiction

*--*

*--* 1 Angels & Demons by Dan Brown (Pocket Books: $7.99) A Harvard scholar uncovers a vendetta against the Catholic Church.

2 Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides (Picador: $15) A Greek family embraces the American dream.

3 Life of Pi by Yann Martel (Harvest Books: $14) A boy shares a lifeboat with a tiger on a harrowing trip.

4 The Kalahari Typing School for Men by Alexander McCall Smith (Anchor: $11.95) A Botswana detective has a rival.

5 Deception Point by Dan Brown (Pocket Books: $7.99) A president’s reelection rests on an object buried in the Arctic.

6 Digital Fortress by Dan Brown (Griffin: $14.95) A new technology threatens the balance of international power.

7 The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (Penguin: $14) A teenage girl is haunted by her mother’s death.

8 The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl (Random House: $13.95) A killer in 1865 Boston takes his cues from Dante.

9 Pattern Recognition by William Gibson (Berkley: $14) A market researcher investigates guerrilla clips roaming the Internet.

10 The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho (HarperSanFrancisco: $13) An Andalusian shepherd boy’s quest.

*--*

*--* SO. CAL. RATING Nonfiction

*--*

*--* 1 Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi (Random House: $13.95) A professor keeps literature alive for her students.

2 The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (Vintage: $14.95) How a serial killer haunted the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.

3 1,000 Places to See Before You Die by Patricia Schultz (Workman: $18.95) Trotting the globe.

4 Funny in Farsi by Firoozeh Dumas (Random House: $12.95) An Iranian girl grows up in Newport Beach.

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

6 Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki and Sharon L. Lechter (Techpress: $15.95) Fiscal parenting.

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

8 God’s Secretaries by Adam Nicolson (Perennial: $13.95) How the King James Bible came to be.

9 Calling in “The One” by Katherine Woodward Thomas (Three Rivers Press: $15.95) How to let love into your life.

10 Trump: The Art of the Deal by Donald J. Trump (Warner Books: $5.95) The Donald on his deal-making life.

*--*

Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.