BESTSELLERS

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*--* SO. CAL. RATING Fiction LAST WEEK WEEKS ON LIST 1 S Is for Silence by Sue 2 4 Grafton (Putnam: $26.95) Kinsey Millhone is hired to find out what happened to a woman who disappeared 34 years earlier from a Central California agricultural town.

2 Christ the Lord by Anne 3 8 Rice (Alfred A. Knopf: $25.95) A 7-year-old Jesus returns to Nazareth after the death of King Herod and gradually discovers his power to heal and raise the dead.

3 The Lighthouse by P.D. 1 6 James (Alfred A. Knopf: $25.95) Det. Adam Dalgliesh is called to the Cornish coast to solve the murder of an acclaimed novelist who had upset his very prominent neighbors.

4 Mary, Mary by James 4 6 Patterson (Little, Brown: $27.95) FBI agent Alex Cross seeks the killer of an A-list actress, her chauffeur and a female movie producer as fear sweeps through Hollywood.

5 Memories of My Melancholy 8 9 Whores by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Alfred A. Knopf: $20) A nonagenarian journalist who falls for a 14-year-old virgin prostitute reflects on his life and loves.

6 The March by E.L. Doctorow 11 11 (Random House: $25.95) On the trail as Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman makes his historic sweep of Georgia, routs Confederate troops and destroys the countryside.

7 The Lincoln Lawyer by -- 10 Michael Connelly (Little, Brown: $26.95) An L.A. attorney hired to defend a rich woman’s son fears for his own safety after the murder of his private investigator.

8 A Time to Run by Barbara -- 1 Boxer with Mary-Rose Hayes (Chronicle Books: $24.95) A liberal senator has dirt on a conservative nominee to the Supreme Court, but can she trust her source?

9 Saving Fish From Drowning -- 8 by Amy Tan (Putnam: $26.95) A group’s ill-fated art expedition to Burma is recounted by a friend who has just been murdered by a military junta.

10 The Da Vinci Code by Dan 15 137 Brown (Doubleday: $24.95) A Louvre curator’s killing leads to clues hidden in Leonardo’s paintings and a secret society with something to hide.

11 Forever Odd by Dean Koontz 7 4 (Bantam: $27) Odd Thomas is back, still seeing ghosts as he tries to solve the murder of his friend’s stepfather and foil a wealthy porn entrepreneur.

12 The Camel Club by David -- 7 Baldacci (Warner Books: $26.95) Conspiracy theorists who witness the murder of a Secret Service agent are plunged into a real conspiracy.

13 Veronica by Mary Gaitskill 14 4 (Pantheon: $23) A former fashion model who faces some of life’s ugly realities recalls a friendship with a woman who was an early casualty of AIDS.

14 On Beauty by Zadie Smith 5 14 (Penguin: $25.95) Identity crises, adultery, racial conflict and religious zealotry afflict two families whose lives are a 21st century parallel to E.M. Forster’s “Howards End.”

15 Snow Flower and the Secret 13 22 Fan by Lisa See (Random House: $21.95) Two women in the cloistered society of 19th century China forge a close friendship that is threatened by misunderstanding.

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*--* SO. CAL. RATING Nonfiction LAST WEEK WEEKS ON LIST 1 The Year of Magical 1 13 Thinking by Joan Didion (Alfred A. Knopf: $23.95) The author explores the nature of grief and survival in the months after her writer-husband’s sudden death.

2 Team of Rivals by Doris 3 9 Kearns Goodwin (Simon & Schuster: $35) How country lawyer and one-term congressman Abraham Lincoln used his savvy to bring political rivals into his Cabinet.

3 Our Endangered Values by 6 8 Jimmy Carter (Simon & Schuster: $25) The former president writes of his concern about the rise in Christian fundamentalism and its influence in politics.

4 Marley & Me by John Grogan 8 6 (William Morrow: $21.95) A columnist recalls how Marley, an incorrigible Labrador retriever, flunked obedience school, terrorized a pet sitter and won over his family.

5 Teacher Man by Frank 2 6 McCourt (Scribner: $26) In his third memoir in a series that began with “Angela’s Ashes,” the Irish immigrant plumbs 30 years of teaching high school English in New York City.

6 The World Is Flat by 4 37 Thomas L. Friedman (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $27.50) How technology and the forces of globalization are connecting -- and changing -- the world.

7 Amazing Peace by Maya 7 3 Angelou (Random House: $9.95) The poet writes of the promise of the Christmas season and the hope that the holiday’s spirit can help bring peace to the world.

8 1776 by David McCullough 9 22 (Simon & Schuster: $32) The historian examines how Colonial forces took on the world’s greatest military power in the first battles of the American Revolution.

9 Freakonomics by Steven D. 10 31 Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (William Morrow: $25.95) An economist deconstructs statistics and uses numbers to help explain human behavior.

10 The Elements of Style 5 8 Illustrated by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White (The Penguin Press: $24.95) The classic manual of good writing, updated with fanciful illustrations by Maira Kalman.

11 The Truth (With Jokes) by -- 9 Al Franken (Dutton: $25.95) The liberal comedian points out flip-flops made by the Bush administration and conservative pundits.

12 A Man Without a Country by 11 13 Kurt Vonnegut (Seven Stories Press: $23.95) A collection of recent articles focuses on personal foibles and skewers those in power.

13 Blink by Malcolm Gladwell -- 44 (Little, Brown: $25.95) An exploration of the workings of the human mind and perceptions and whether we can really trust our first instincts.

14 My Friend Leonard by James 13 11 Frey (Penguin: $24.95) The former cocaine addict’s sequel to “A Million Little Pieces” celebrates the mobster who helped him turn his life around.

15 Are Men Necessary? by 12 7 Maureen Dowd (Putnam: $25.95) The columnist ponders relations between the sexes, the value of trapping a man and career women as artful minxes.

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Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.