Los Angeles Times bestsellers for Sept. 27, 2009 - Los Angeles Times
Advertisement

Los Angeles Times bestsellers for Sept. 27, 2009

Share via
Fiction Weeks on list
1.The Help by Kathryn Stockett (Putnam: $24.95) The lives of a maid, a cook and a college graduate become intertwined while changing a Mississippi town. 16
2.A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore (Knopf : $25.95) A naive Midwestern college coed takes a job as a nanny for a recently adopted toddler.2
3.The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson (Knopf: $25.95) A hacker implicated in two murders must revisit her past to prove her innocence. 8
4.South of Broad by Pat Conroy (Nan A. Talese: $29.95) A gossip columnist’s homage to a close-knit group of friends from Charleston, S.C.5
5.The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown (Doubleday: $25.99) Harvard professor Robert Langdon uses his symbology skills to find a missing Freemason in Washington, D.C.1
6.Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon (Penguin Press: $27.95) Noir meets ‘60s Southern California groovy in a private eye’s psychedelic quest. 7
7.The White Queen by Philippa Gregory (Touchstone: $25.99) The wars of the Plantagenets, who ruled England before the Tudors, enmeshed with the mystery of the missing princes in the Tower of London.5
8.The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks (Grand Central: $24.99) A brother and sister begrudgingly spend the summer with their estranged pianist father and discover the meaning of unconditional love.2
9.Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press: $17.99) The winners of the annual Hunger Games face the consequences of their victory.2
10.Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown: $19.99) Bella must choose between her lover and a friend, between life and death.62
11.The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press: $17.99) A teenage girl is selected in an annual fight-to-the-death reality show in a post-apocalyptic America.2
12.Shanghai Girls by Lisa See (Random House: $25) Two sisters from Shanghai encounter tragedy and heartbreak as they are sold into arranged marriages in 1930s Los Angeles. 13
13.Alex Cross’s Trial by James Patterson and Richard DiLallo (Little, Brown: $27.99) Detective Cross tells the story of his great-uncle and a lawyer fighting racism and lynchings in a Southern town at the turn of the 20th century.4
14.Blame by Michelle Huneven (Farrar, Straus and Giroux: $25) A recovering alcoholic seeks redemption from the man whose wife and daughter she killed. 1
15.The Magicians by Lev Grossman (Viking: $26.95) A group of aspiring prestidigitators sets out to save the enchanted land of Fillory.5
Nonfiction
1.Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell (Little, Brown: $27.99) An exploration of the background of high achievers.42
2.L.A. Noir by John Buntin (Harmony: $26) Gangster Mickey Cohen and LAPD Chief William Parker battle for control in midcentury Los Angeles. 3
3.Culture of Corruption by Michelle Malkin (Regnery Publishing: $27.95) An investigation into alleged corruption in the Obama administration. 8
4.Zeitoun by Dave Eggers (McSweeney’s: $24) The disappearance of a Syrian American father and good Samaritan in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. 8
5.Crazy for the Storm by Norman Ollestad (Ecco: $25.99) The son of a daredevil tells of his life on the edge and how he survived a deadly plane crash.14
6.A Big Little Life by Dean Koontz (Hyperion: $24.99) A retired service dog renews a sense of life in the bestselling author.1
7.Strength in What Remains by Tracy Kidder (Random House: $26) The saga of a refugee from Burundi, who, with the help of strangers, makes his way to America before going back to start a medical clinic. 3
8.Character Driven by Derek Fisher (Touchstone: $24.99) The Lakers star shares his life lessons and family devotion along his journey to winning four NBA titles.1
9.The Secret by Rhonda Byrne (Beyond Words: $23.95) Life’s secrets, distilled. 120
10.Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man by Steve Harvey ( Amistad: $23.99) The talk-show host lets women inside the mind-set of a man.32
11.A Bright and Guilty Place by Richard Rayner (Doubleday: $25) The sagas of an ambitious young lawyer, a prime suspect in a mob murder and a police photographer paint a picture of early 20th century Los Angeles. 10
12.The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch with Jeffrey Zaslow (Hyperion: $21.95) A professor’s terminal cancer inspires a call to seize life’s moments.72
13.Born to Run by Christopher McDougall (Knopf: $24.95) An exploration of the Tarahumara Indians and their secrets of long-distance running. 32
14.Official Book Club Selection by Kathy Griffin (Ballantine: $25) The comedian and reality show star’s unplugged and uncensored life.1
15.Where Men Win Glory by Jon Krakauer (Doubleday: $27.95) A chronicle of Pat Tillman, the NFL star turned Army ranger whose death in Afghanistan stunned the power structure. 1
Advertisement