BESTSELLERS

Los Angeles Times List for May 6, 2007

*--* Fiction weeks on list 1. The Children of Hurin by J.R.R. Tolkien with Christopher 1 Tolkien (Houghton Mifflin: $26) A prequel to “The Lord of the Rings.” 2. The Good Husband of Zebra Drive by Alexander McCall 1 Smith (Pantheon: $21.95) Precious Ramotswe investigates mysterious deaths in a local hospital. 3. The Woods by Harlan Coben (Dutton: $26.95) A New Jersey 1 prosecutor whose sister was murdered years earlier learns that her killer has struck again. 4. I Heard That Song Before by Mary Higgins Clark (Simon & 3 Schuster: $25.95) Two bodies are found on a New Jersey estate, and police suspect the owner. 5. What Is the What by Dave Eggers (McSweeney’s: $26) A 17 Sudanese refugee finds safety and a sense of belonging elusive in America. 6. Fresh Disasters by Stuart Woods (Putnam: $25.95) Stone 2 Barrington takes a mob boss to court for ordering the beating of a man who owes him money. 7. The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano (Farrar, Straus 2 & Giroux: $27) Two poets revive a Mexican realist literary movement in the 1970s. 8. Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult (Atria: $26.95) A small 7 New England town tries to cope after a troubled teen kills 10 at the local high school. 9. April in Paris by Michael Wallner (Nan A. 2 Talese/Doubleday: $21.95) A Nazi translator falls in love with a Parisian woman and is accused of treason. 10. White Night by Jim Butcher (Roc: $23.95) Harry Dresden 3 tries to stop whoever is killing Chicago’s wizards, with a cast of ghouls and vampires.

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*--* Nonfiction 1. The Secret by Rhonda Byrne (Beyond Words: $23.95) The 18 book promises the secret to life distilled from oral tradition, literature, religion and philosophy. 2. Einstein by Walter Isaacson (Simon & Schuster: $32) 3 An examination of the life and genius of Albert Einstein, whose curiosity changed physics forever. 3. A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah (Farrar, Straus & 5 Giroux: $22) A Sierra Leone boy soldier tells of mass slaughter and starting over at a refugee camp. 4. Grace (Eventually) by Anne Lamott (Riverhead: $24.95) 4 The author explores decency, love, forgiveness and finding grace in living. 5. The Mistress’s Daughter by A.M. Homes (Viking: 2 $24.95) The novelist tells of learning at 31 of her adoption and confronting her birth parents. 6. Get in the Game by Cal Ripken Jr. with Donald T. 2 Phillips (Gotham: $26) Ripken distills his eight keys to succeeding at baseball and at life. 7. Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali (Free Press: $26) The 8 Somali-born activist tells of receiving death threats for criticizing how her Muslim faith treats women. 8. The Wild Trees by Richard Preston (Random House: 2 $25.95) A profile of redwood tree advocates and the world they discovered in the forest canopy. 9. How Doctors Think by Jerome Groopman (Houghton 6 Mifflin: $26) How physicians respond to patients’ symptoms, sometimes incorrectly. 10. Where Have All the Leaders Gone? by Lee Iacocca 1 (Scribner: $25) The former Chrysler chief blasts leaders in industry and in the White House.

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