Southern California Rating:

FICTION

1. STAR WARS, EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE by Terry Brooks (Lucasbooks/Del Rey: $25) The “Star Wars” saga unfolds with Darth Vader’s childhood on a desert planet.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

2. THE TESTAMENT by John Grisham (Doubleday: $27.95) The 10th richest man in the United States has died, and his greedy heirs are circling like hungry vultures.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 13

3. WE’LL MEET AGAIN by Mary Higgins Clark (Simon and Schuster: $25) A suspense novel that explores the evil inner workings of an HMO and some risky medical experiments.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 2

4. EAST OF THE MOUNTAINS by David Guterson (Harcourt Brace: $25) A retired heart surgeon with terminal cancer goes on his last hunt in the woods of the Northwest.

Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 3

5. TARA ROAD by Maeve Binchy (Delacorte: $24.95) People facing heartbreak and disappointment are drawn to a Victorian home on a shabby Dublin street.

Last Week: 12; Weeks on List: 10

6. THE GROUND BENEATH HER FEET by Salman Rushdie (Henry Holt: $26) Orpheus and Eurydice are a couple of modern day rock ‘n’ roll stars.

Last Week: 7; Weeks on List: 3

7. FLEUR DE LEIGH’S LIFE OF CRIME by Diane Leslie (Simon and Schuster: $23) A Hollywood “Upstairs, Downstairs” about a poor little rich girl and her L.A. childhood.

Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 3

8. THE HOURS by Michael Cunningham (Farrar, Straus and Giroux: $22) A haunting triptych of stories structured around Virginia Woolf’s novel “Mrs. Dalloway.”

Last Week: 6; Weeks on List: 8

9. BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES OF THE CENTURY edited by Katrina Kenison and John Updike (Houghton Mifflin: $28) Ernest Hemingway, Willa Cather, Raymond Carver and Co.

Last Week: 8; Weeks on List: 5

10. MOONLIGHT ON THE AVENUE OF FAITH by Gina B. Nahai (Harcourt Brace: $24) A little girl’s search for her magical missing mother in a Tehran ghetto.

Last Week: 5; Weeks on List: 6

11. CRYPTONOMICON by Neal Stephenson (Avon: $27.50) A hunt for gold bullion that connects World War II cryptographers with present-day computer whizzes.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

12. WHITE OLEANDER by Janet Fitch (Little, Brown: $24) When a woman murders her lover, her daughter must face womanhood on her own in a foster home.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

13. CLOSE RANGE by Annie Proulx (Scribner: $25) A collection of raw and lusty stories about luckless characters living in the rough wasteland of Wyoming.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

14. A DANGEROUS FRIEND by Ward Just (Houghton Mifflin: $25) An American’s altruistic goals in Vietnam end in betrayal and death. Reviewed by Tom Engelhardt, Page 6

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

15. FOR THE RELIEF OF UNBEARABLE URGES by Nathan Englander (Alfred A. Knopf: $23) A debut collection of stories rooted in Jewish history and orthodox life.

Last Week: 10; Weeks on List: 2

****

NONFICTION

1. BELLA TUSCANY by Frances Mayes (Broadway Books: $25) Rich, colorful stories of cuisine and Italian life in the villages by the author of “Under the Tuscan Sun.”

Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 5

2. TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE by Mitch Albom (Doubleday: $19.95) A sportswriter’s empowering story about his weekly visits to see an older dying friend.

Last Week: 5; Weeks on List: 71

3. THE GREATEST GENERATION by Tom Brokaw (Random House: $24.95) TV anchor tells the stories of the generation that came of age during the Depression and World War II.

Last Week: 7; Weeks on List: 22

4. LINDBERGH by A. Scott Berg (Putnam: $30) Courageous aviator, loving father, isolationist and, finally, fallen hero: a dramatic American story.

Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 20

5. ALL TOO HUMAN by George Stephanopoulos (Little, Brown: $27.95) Behind the scenes in the Oval Office with one of President Clinton’s best and brightest.

Last Week: 8; Weeks on List: 9

6. MORGAN by Jean Strouse (Random House: $34.95) Not the richest man in the world, but in his time, Pierpont Morgan proved to be the most economically powerful.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 2

7. WOMAN by Natalie Angier (Houghton Mifflin: $25) A poetic, exuberant celebration of womanhood and its unique qualities and influence on the world.

Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 6

8. THE LEXUS AND THE OLIVE TREE by Thomas L. Friedman (Farrar, Straus and Giroux: $27.50) Globalization is the system that replaced the Cold War system.

Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 2

9. BLACK HAWK DOWN by Mark Bowden (Atlantic Monthly Press: $24) A fascinating, detailed account of a badly botched 1993 U.S. raid on Mogadishu.

Last Week: 12; Weeks on List: 4

10. HIGH EXPOSURE by David Breashears (Simon and Schuster: $26) The autobiography of a mountain climber-filmmaker who has climbed Mt. Everest four times.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

11. HOME TOWN by Tracy Kidder (Random House: $25.95) A portrait of a Massachusetts town at the end of the 20th century that focuses on members of its community.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

12. THE COURAGE TO BE RICH by Suze Orman (Riverhead: $24.95) Attention, ‘fraidy-cats: Dump that savings account earning 2% and look for better investments.

Last Week: 11; Weeks on List: 9

13. TRAVELING MERCIES by Anne Lamott (Pantheon: $23) The growth of Lamott’s beliefs and how they helped her overcome grief, alcoholism and bad hair days.

Last Week: 9; Weeks on List: 10

14. THE MAJORS by John Feinstein (Little, Brown: $25) The quest for golfing greatness in four prestigious events: the Masters, U.S. Open, British Open and the PGA.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 4

15. UNCOVERING CLINTON by Michael Isikoff (Crown: $25) A reporter’s account of his embattled efforts to bring to light the stories of Monica Lewinsky, Paula Jones and Co.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 3

Paperbacks

FICTION

1. MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA by Arthur Golden (Vintage: $14) The life and loves of a teahouse entertainer in Kyoto.

2. THE READER by Bernhard Schlink (Vintage: $11) A boyhood fling with an older woman and its aftermath.

3. THE PILOT’S WIFE by Anita Shreve (Little, Brown: $13.95) A woman’s disturbing discoveries after a fatal plane crash.

4. A WIDOW FOR ONE YEAR by John Irving (Ballantine: $14.95) A Dickensian story of a woman with great expectations.

5. DAMASCUS GATE by Robert Stone (Scribner: $14) Foiling a terrorist plan to blow up Jerusalem’s Temple Mount.

6. CHARMING BILLY by Alice McDermott (Delta: $12.95) A family reflects on the life of a deceased relative.

7. BIRDSONG by Sebastian Faulks (Vintage: $13) A soldier takes memories of a doomed affair into World War I.

8. N IS FOR NOOSE by Sue Grafton (Fawcett: $7.99) Kinsey Millhone investigates another detective’s sudden death.

9. THE STREET LAWYER by John Grisham (Dell Island: $7.99) A lawyer’s transformation into a defender of the homeless.

10. DIVINE SECRETS OF THE YA-YA SISTERHOOD by Rebecca Wells (HarperPerennial: $13) Sisterhood in the South.

****

NONFICTION

1. EVERYBODY WAS SO YOUNG by Amanda Vaill (Broadway: $15) Gerald and Sara Murphy and the Lost Generation.

2. FALLING LEAVES by Adeline Yen Mah (Broadway: $13) Life under an oppressive stepmother in mainland China.

3. UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN by Frances Mayes (Broadway: $13) Restoring a cozy home in a glorious Italian landscape.

4. GUNS, GERMS AND STEEL by Jared Diamond (W.W. Norton: $14.95) The part played by this triad in history.

5. OUR DUMB CENTURY by the Onion staff (Three Rivers: $15) Satiric headlines from a popular humor publication.

6. UNDERGROUND GUIDE TO LOS ANGELES Edited by Pleasant Gehman (Manic D. Press: $13.95) L.A.’s dark underbelly.

7. THE HOT ZONE by Richard Preston (Anchor: $7.99) An Ebola virus outbreak and the U.S. Army’s effort to halt it.

8. GIRL BOSS by Stacy Kravetz (Girl Press: $17.95) Running the show like the big chicks.

9. OCTOBER SKY by Homer Hickam (Dell: $6.99) A boy from Coalwood, W. Va., becomes a NASA scientist.

10. AMAZING GRACE by Kathleen Norris (Riverhead: $12.95) Hurdling religion’s obstacles with a poet’s wings.

Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.