BESTSELLERS / PAPERBACKS

Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.

*--* SO. CAL. RATING Fiction 1 The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai (Grove: $14) A retired judge is caught up in Nepal’s independence movement.

2 The Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards (Penguin: $14) A father hides the birth of a twin from his wife.

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

4 The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri (Mariner: $14) A Bengali couple and their son try to find their way in America.

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

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

7 The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (Scribner: $12.95) A portrait of Jazz Age decadence and excess.

8 Naruto, Vol. 13 by Masashi Kishimoto (VIZ Media: $7.95) A 12-year-old ninja in training struggles to excel.

9 The Old Wine Shades by Martha Grimes (Signet: $9.99) Richard Jury searches for a mother and her autistic son.

10 Talking to the Moon by Noel Alumit (Carroll & Graf: $14.95) A Filipino postman confronts his fears after being shot.

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*--* SO. CAL. RATING Nonfiction 1 Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (Penguin: $15) A journey of self-discovery in Italy, India and Indonesia.

2 The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion (Vintage: $13.95) A meditation on grief and survival.

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

4 The Measure of a Man by Sidney Poitier (HarperSanFrancisco: $14.95) The actor on his values.

5 Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama (Three Rivers: $14.95) The senator traces his mixed-race heritage.

6 Law of Attraction by Michael J. Losier (Michael J. Losier: $14.95) How positive energy helps your life.

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

8 A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn (Harper Perennial: $18.95) From 1492 to the present.

9 Russian Thinkers by Isaiah Berlin (Penguin: $16) Takes on Tolstoy and Turgenev that inspired Tom Stoppard’s latest plays.

10 The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle (New World Library: $14) How to attain enlightenment by living in the now.

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