BESTSELLERS

*--* SO. CAL. RATING Fiction

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*--* 1 Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf (Harvest Books: $12) A day in the life of Clarissa Dalloway and her London coterie

2 Bel Canto by Ann Patchett (HarperPaperbacks: $13.95) Opera mingles with mayhem in South America

3 The Hours by Michael Cunningham (Picador: $13) Three women linked across time by Virginia Woolf’s “Mrs. Dalloway.”

4 Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie (Anchor Books: $10) Literary light in a communist village

5 Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage by Alice Munro (Vintage: $14) Women’s lives

6 The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien (Ballantine: $7.99) Sam and Frodo’s dark journey to destroy the evil ring

7 Gods and Generals by Jeff Shaara (Ballantine: $7.99) Four heroic commanders in the early days of the Civil War

8 Full Tilt by Janet Evanovich and Charlotte Hughes (St. Martin’s: $7.99) Mayhem in South Carolina

9 The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith (Anchor: $11.95) Botswana’s female private eye

10 The Summons by John Grisham (Dell: $7.99) A dead judge leaves his sons an old house that contains a $3-million secret

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*--* SO. CAL. RATING Nonfiction

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*--* 1 Dr. Atkins’ New Diet Revolution by Robert C. Atkins (Quill: $13.95) How a low-carb diet helps shed pounds

2 Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand (Ballantine: $15) How a thoroughbred horse went from also-ran to sports icon

3 Dreaming War by Gore Vidal (Thunder’s Mouth: $11.95) Arguing that greed, not justice, underlies Bush’s focus on Iraq

4 The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz (Amber-Allen: $12.95) A code of conduct based on Toltec wisdom

5 Not for Tourists: Guide to Los Angeles 2003 (Happy Mazza Media LLC: $19.95) The City of Angels, up close

6 Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki with Sharon L. Lechter (Techpress: $15.95) Fiscal parenting

7 Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser (HarperCollins: $13.95) The unappetizing practices of the junk-food industry

8 What to Expect When You’re Expecting by Heidi E. Murkoff et al. (Workman: $13.95) Pregnancy explained

9 Catch Me If You Can by Frank W. Abagnale (Broadway: $14.95) The world-class cons of a high school dropout

10 Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich (Henry Holt: $13) A writer works in low-wage America to see how the poor live

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