Los Angeles Times Bestsellers

February 3, 2002

FICTION

Southern California Rating

1 THE CORRECTIONS by Jonathan Franzen (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $26) The saga of a dysfunctional Midwestern family living at the end of the 20th century. Last Week: 1 Weeks on List: 21

2 BASKET CASE by Carl Hiaasen (Alfred A. Knopf: $25.95) Once a hotshot reporter, an obituary writer for a small paper unravels the bizarre causes for the death of a rock star. Last Week: 3 Weeks on List: 3

3 THE MILLIONAIRES by Brad Meltzer (Warner: $25.95) Two brothers who loot the account of a deceased client at a private bank get more than they bargained for. Last Week: 5 Weeks on List: 2

4 ONE DOOR AWAY FROM HEAVEN by Dean Koontz (Bantam: $26.95) UFO-ology hovers over this tale of the FBI’s pursuit of an unusual boy and a woman’s efforts to save a girl from her parents. Last Week: 2 Weeks on List: 3

5 HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE by J.K. Rowling (Scholastic: $25.95) Harry competes in the great Triwizard Tournament and is pursued by the sinister Lord Voldemort. Last Week: 8 Weeks on List: 11

6 PURSUIT by Thomas Perry (Random House: $24.95) An ex-cop hunts down an assassin posing as a mass murderer in a life-or-death cat-and-mouse game. Last Week: 11 Weeks on List: 4

7 SKIPPING CHRISTMAS by John Grisham (Doubleday: $19.95) Grisham takes a holiday from legal thrillers to poke fun at the suburban yuletide ritual. Last Week: 4 Weeks on List: 11

8 THE SIGMA PROTOCOL by Robert Ludlum (St. Martin’s: $27.95) A businessman and a beautiful secret agent pursue a shadowy, powerful cartel around the globe. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 9

9 THE GOOD MEN by Charmaine Craig (Riverhead: $24.95) A village rector and the women he loves cope with their desires as inquisitors hunt for heretics in 14th century France. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 1

10 AUSTERLITZ by W.G. Sebald (Random House: $25.95) An architectural historian retraces the steps of his escape from the Nazis on a kindertransport train. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 5

11 THE PASSION OF ARTEMISIA by Susan Vreeland (Viking: $24.95) A female painter in 17th century Italy recalls her successes and the trials of being a creative, independent woman in a man’s age. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 1

12 JACKDAWS by Ken Follett (Dutton: $26.95) A group of female spies infiltrates a telephone exchange linking France to Germany as the Allies prepare to invade. Last Week: 10 Weeks on List: 7

13 THE OATH by John Lescroart (Dutton: $25.95) A lawyer and a cop sense that something, besides bad medicine, is to blame for several deaths at a San Francisco HMO. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 1

14 VIOLETS ARE BLUE by James Patterson (Little, Brown: $27.95) Police Det. Alex Cross investigates a series of brutal deaths with links to a vampire underground. Last Week: 12 Weeks on List: 9

15 BALZAC AND THE LITTLE CHINESE SEAMSTRESS by Dai Sijie (Alfred A. Knopf: $18) Two Chinese youths use classic Western literature to free their minds in the face of communist re-education. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 6

NONFICTION

Southern California Rating

1 JOHN ADAMS by David McCullough (Simon & Schuster: $35) The story of our second president, a man Thomas Jefferson called “the colossus of independence.” Last Week: 2 Weeks on List: 36

2 BIAS by Bernard Goldberg (Regnery: $27.95) A veteran CBS reporter argues that the mainstream media have been seriously damaged by a liberal, closed-minded worldview. Last Week: 1 Weeks on List: 5

3 WHO MOVED MY CHEESE? by Spencer Johnson (Putnam: $19.95) The co-author of “The One-Minute Manager” uses the parable of mice in a maze to discuss managing change. Last Week: 3 Weeks on List: 96

4 BEST-LOVED POEMS OF JACQUELINE KENNEDY ONASSIS Edited by Caroline Kennedy (Hyperion: $21.95) A selection of Jackie’s favorite verse and some of her own, introduced by her daughter. Last Week: 6 Weeks on List: 13

5 THEODORE REX by Edmund Morris (Random House: $35) The second in a planned biographical trilogy about Teddy Roosevelt, charting his rise from patrician to progressive. Last Week: 4 Weeks on List: 9

6 FIERCE PAJAMAS edited by David Remnick and Henry Finder (Random House: $27.95) Literary laughter from the pages of the New Yorker, from James Thurber to Woody Allen. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 2

7 GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS 2002 (Guinness World Records: $27.95) New feats from the world of human possibilities, from “extreme” body sizes and stunts to sports and music. Last Week: 14 Weeks on List: 7

8 JACK by Jack Welch with John A. Byrne (Warner: $29.95) The life and times of a respected chief executive, from a Massachusetts childhood to his successful reinvention of General Electric. Last Week: 5 Weeks on List: 19

9 THE NO-SPIN ZONE by Bill O’Reilly (Broadway: $24.95) The Fox News commentator presents interviews with famous figures in his tough, no-holds-barred style. Last Week: 15 Weeks on List: 14

10 THE UNIVERSE IN A NUTSHELL by Stephen Hawking (Bantam: $35) The celebrated physicist offers up a look at space, time and the origin and future of the cosmos. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 10

11 A COOK’S TOUR by Anthony Bourdain (Bloomsbury: $25.95) A chef braves Cambodian minefields, icy Russian waters and other ordeals in his quest for exotic cuisine. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 1

12 HUGHES by Richard Hack (New Millennium: $28) How private memos, diaries and declassified FBI papers throw light onto the ambitions and manias of Howard Hughes. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 8

13 THE FINAL DAYS by Barbara Olson (Regnery: $27.95) The Clintons’ last actions in the White House, from pardons to executive orders, with commentary from the late Olson. Last Week: 11 Weeks on List: 13

14 CRASHING THE PARTY by Ralph Nader (St. Martin’s: $24.95) On the road with the outspoken advocate during his 2000 Green Party candidacy for the U.S. presidency. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 1

15 BUCK UP, SUCK UP ... AND COME BACK WHEN YOU FOUL UP by James Carville and Paul Begala (Simon & Schuster: $23) Lessons learned on the campaign trail by two Democratic pundits. Last Week: -- Weeks on List: 1