FictionCOLD MOUNTAIN by Charles Frazier. (Atlantic Monthly:...

Fiction

COLD MOUNTAIN by Charles Frazier. (Atlantic Monthly: $24). A confederate soldier abandons the Civil War and takes a long walk home (3). Southern California ranking: 1; Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 6

UNNATURAL EXPOSURE by Patricia Cornwell. (Putnam: $25.95). A serial killer returns, leaving a trail of clues for Kay Scarpetta in cyberspace (1). Southern California ranking: 2; Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 3

PLUM ISLAND by Nelson DeMille. (Warner: $25). Convalescing in a fishing town, a New York cop links local lore with two deaths (2). Southern California ranking: 3; Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 10

CHASING CEZANNE by Peter Mayle. (Knopf: $23). An art theft on the Co^te d’Azur plunges a photographer into the world of the super chic (9). Southern California ranking: 4; Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 10

SPECIAL DELIVERY by Danielle Steel. (Delacorte: $16.95). Two Beverly Hills in-laws become Romeo and Juliet Sr. (4). Southern California ranking: 5; Last Week: 6; Weeks on List: 5

DECEPTION ON HIS MIND by Elizabeth George. (Bantam: $24.95). An immigrant’s murder aggravates racial tensions in an English seacoast town (11). Southern California ranking: 6; Last Week: 7; Weeks on List: 5

LONDON by Edward Rutherfurd. (Crown: $25.95). From ancient times to the present, London’s history is told through the lives of six families (8). Southern California ranking: 7; Last Week: 9; Weeks on List: 9

THE PARTNER by John Grisham. (Doubleday: $26.95). A lawyer takes the money and runs (5). Southern California ranking: 8; Last Week: 8; Weeks on List: 23

THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS by Arundhati Roy. (Random House: $23). Richard Eder, The Times’ book critic, called the novel a “tragedy . . . played out as ornamented princely melodrama.” Southern California ranking: 9; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 6

THE AX by Donald E. Westlake. (Mysterious Press/Warner: $23). An unemployed family man discovers a method for finding work: kill his competition. Southern California ranking: 10; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 2

Nonfiction

ANGELA’S ASHES by Frank McCourt. (Scribner: $24). Bittersweet memories of an Irish childhood (1). Southern California ranking: 1; Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 41

INTO THIN AIR: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster by Jon Krakauer. (Villard: $24) (2). Southern California ranking: 2; Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 15

CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD, BOOK ONE by Neale Donald Walsch. (Putnam: $19.95) (9). Southern California ranking: 3; Last Week: 5; Weeks on List: 15

THE PERFECT STORM by Sebastian Junger. (Norton: $23.95). Our reviewer, Richard Ellis, said the book “brilliantly captures the awesome power of the raging sea.” (6). Southern California ranking: 4; Last Week: 6; Weeks on List: 7

THE MILLIONAIRE NEXT DOOR by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko. (Longstreet: $22). Lives of the rich and fearless (12). Southern California ranking: 5; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

THE GIFT OF FEAR: Listening to the Intuition that Protects Us from Danger by Gavin De Becker. (Little, Brown: $22.95). Coping with societal violence (7). Southern California ranking: 6; Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 6

MARS AND VENUS ON A DATE by John Gray. (HarperCollins: $25). Keep the love light shining (15). Southern California ranking: 7; Last Week: 8; Weeks on List: 2

SIMPLE ABUNDANCE: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy by Sarah Ban Breathnach. (Warner: $17.95). (4). Southern California ranking: 8; Last Week: 9; Weeks on List: 34

THE BIBLE CODE by Michael Drosnin. (Simon & Schuster: $25). Our reviewer, Michael Shermer, called the book “not only an insult to science and to those who are deeply religious, it is also an insult to God” (5). Southern California ranking: 9; Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 8

ANATOMY OF THE SPIRIT: The Seven Stages of Power and Healing by Caroline Myss. (Crown: $25). A chakra a day keeps the doctor away. Southern California ranking: 10; Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

Paperbacks: FICTION

1. CONTACT by Carl Sagan. (Pocket: $6.99)

2. EXECUTIVE ORDERS by Tom Clancy. (Berkley: $7.99)

3. THE THIRD TWIN by Ken Follett. (Fawcett Crest: $7.99)

4. THE SIXTEEN PLEASURES by Robert Hellenga. (Dell: $11.95)

5. AT HOME IN MITFORD by Jan Karon. (Penguin: $11.95)

Paperbacks: NONFICTION

1. DON’T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF by Richard Carlson. (Hyperion: $8.95)

2. THE COLOR OF WATER by James McBride. (Riverhead: $12)

3. ZAGAT SURVEY 1997 LOS ANGELES/SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT GUIDE by Merrill Shindler and Karen Berk. (Zagat: $10.95)

4. INTO THE WILD by Jon Krakauer. (Anchor/Doubleday: $12.95)

5. HIT & RUN: How Jon Peters and Peter Guber Took Sony for a Ride in Hollywood by Nancy Griffin and Kim Masters. (Touchstone/Simon & Schuster: $15)

Based on Times’ poll of local bookstores. National rankings (in parentheses) are from Publishers Weekly.