LOS ANGELES TIMES LIST FOR FEBRUARY 16, 2003

*--* SO. CAL. RATING Fiction

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

2 2nd CHANCE by James Patterson with Andrew Gross (Warner: $7.99) The Women’s Murder Club is back

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

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

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

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

7 Crow Lake by Mary Lawson (Dell: $12.95) Four young siblings lose their parents and try to forge a life in rural Canada

8 The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (Penguin: $14) A teenage girl is haunted by her mother’s death

9 Basket Case by Carl Hiaasen (Warner: $7.99) An obituary writer unravels the bizarre causes of a rock star’s death

10 Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner (Washington Square Press: $13) A tell-all column helps a woman change her life

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*--* SO. CAL. RATING Nonfiction

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

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

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

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

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

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

7 9-11 by Noam Chomsky (Seven Stories Press: $8.95) An alternative view of the U.S.-led war on terrorism

8 The Wisdom of Menopause by Christiane Northrup (Bantam: $18.95) Symptoms and treatments

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

10 The Culture of Fear by Barry Glassner (Basic Books: $15) Hype and paranoia spread by the mass media

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