Los Angeles Times Bestsellers

*--* Southern California Rating FICTION Last Week Weeks on List

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*--* 1 THE EMPEROR OF OCEAN PARK by Stephen L. Carter (Alfred A. 1 3 Knopf: $26.95) A professor is drawn into the underworld of Washington, D.C., by the secrets of his late father, a federal judge 2 THE NANNY DIARIES by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus 2 17 (St. Martin’s: $24.95) The travails of an overworked and underappreciated Park Avenue caregiver 3 HARD EIGHT by Janet Evanovich (St. Martin’s: $25.95) New -- 1 Jersey’s favorite bounty hunter, Stephanie Plum, faces all kinds of thugs as she hunts for a missing girl and her mother 4 THE LOVELY BONES by Alice Sebold (Little, Brown: $21.95) -- 1 A murdered girl tells the story of her grieving family, the killer and the detective who hunts him. (Reviewed by Paula L. Woods, Page 7) 5 THE BEACH HOUSE by James Patterson and Peter de Jonge 3 2 (Little, Brown: $26.95) A law student seeks his own justice after his brother’s body is found outside a Long Island manse 6 ATONEMENT by Ian McEwan (Nan A. Talese/Doubleday: $26) A 11 16 haunting novel of guilt and redemption that follows several lives through the chaos of England in World War II 7 THE DIVE FROM CLAUSEN’S PIER by Ann Packer (Alfred A. 9 2 Knopf: $24) A young woman flees from her fiance in an attempt to find herself after catastrophe changes their lives 8 A CONVERSATION WITH THE MANN by John Ridley (Warner: -- 1 $24.95) A Harlem-raised black comic’s journey from poverty to “The Ed Sullivan Show” during the tumultuous 1950s and ‘60s 9 MOUNT VERNON LOVE STORY by Mary Higgins Clark (Simon & -- 1 Schuster: $22) The queen of suspense tells the story of the loves and struggles of the first U.S. president, first published in 1969 10 EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED by Jonathan Safran Foer 9 10 (Houghton Mifflin: $24) A comic novel about a man’s search for his family’s past in Ukraine and the history of a forgotten shtetl 11 FIRE ICE by Clive Cussler with Paul Kemprecos (Putnam: 6 3 $26.95) Old Cold War rivals team up to fight a crazed Russian mobster with czarist aspirations and ecological disaster on his mind 12 IN THIS MOUNTAIN by Jan Karon (Viking: $25.95) Father Tim 10 4 and his wife, Cynthia, receive a warm embrace from the townspeople of Mitford on their return from Whitecap Island 13 DEADLY EMBRACE by Jackie Collins (Simon & Schuster: $26) -- 1 Drugs, sex and mayhem are at the roots of journalist Madison Castelli’s twisted family tree in this sequel to “Lethal Seduction.” 14 MORTAL PREY by John Sandford (Putnam: $26.95) Minneapolis 14 6 cop Lucas Davenport is headed for the altar, but first he has to stop the killing spree by his nemesis 15 DEAD MIDNIGHT by Marcia Muller (Mysterious Press: $24.95) -- 1 San Francisco PI Sharon McCone uncovers a mystery involving an employee’s suicide at a hip online magazine

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*--* Southern California Rating NONFICTION Last Week Weeks on List

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*--* 1 STUPID WHITE MEN ... AND OTHER SORRY EXCUSES FOR THE 1 18 STATE OF THE NATION by Michael Moore (ReganBooks: $24.95) Lampooning the Bush administration and more 2 YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS by John McEnroe with James Kaplan 2 2 (Putnam: $25.95) The brash tennis great serves up career highlights laced with insight 3 SELF MATTERS by Phillip C. McGraw (Simon & Schuster: 3 23 $25) A self-improvement guru and “Oprah” regular teaches readers how to “create your life from the inside out.” 4 WHO MOVED MY CHEESE? by Spencer Johnson (Putnam: $19.95) 10 117 The coauthor of “The One-Minute Manager” uses the parable of mice in a maze to discuss managing change 5 THE SEXUAL LIFE OF CATHERINE M. by Catherine Millet 12 3 (Grove Press: $23) A French art critic with a gifted superego looks back on 30 years of indulging her id 6 THE RIGHT WORDS AT THE RIGHT TIME by Marlo Thomas 4 8 (Pocket Books: $25) The actress and author is joined by a host of luminaries sharing words of wisdom they’ve found useful 7 A MIND AT A TIME by Mel Levine (Simon & Schuster: $26) A -- 8 pediatrics professor argues that schools need to teach children based on their individual learning styles 8 A NEW KIND OF SCIENCE by Stephen Wolfram (Wolfram Media: 9 2 $44.95) The universe and other complex systems explained through simple computer experiments 9 EXECUTION by Larry Bossidy, Ram Charan and Charles Burck -- 1 (Crown: $27.50) A recipe for managerial success, from former Honeywell CEO Bossidy and business advisor Charan 10 BODY-FOR-LIFE by Bill Phillips and Michael D’Orso 13 10 (HarperCollins: $26) A 12-week program of weightlifting and cardiovascular exercise along with nutrition and motivation tips 11 GOOD TO GREAT by Jim Collins (HarperCollins: $27.50) How 14 2 a great product, a healthy corporate culture and a disciplined work force can propel a company to success 12 MARTHA INC. by Christopher Byron (John Wiley & Sons: -- 2 $27.95) The story behind domestic diva Martha Stewart and her media and consumer products empire 13 WEALTH AND DEMOCRACY by Kevin Phillips (Broadway Books: 6 4 $29.95) A look at the ways capitalists embrace government influence when they can use it to their advantage 14 MASTER OF THE SENATE by Robert A. Caro (Alfred A. Knopf: 11 9 $35) How LBJ awakened a moribund Senate through civil rights reform and set his sights on the White House 15 SHOOT OUT by Peter Bart and Peter Guber (Putnam: $26.95) 7 4 Two Hollywood veterans describe the clash of egos, artistic vision and economics that go into the making of movies

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