BESTSELLERS / PAPERBACKS

Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.

*--* SO. CAL. RATING Fiction 1 Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See (Random House: $13.95) Two women bond in 19th century China.

2 Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (Picador: $14) An ailing minister explains his life and beliefs to his young son.

3 The Closers by Michael Connelly (Warner: $7.99) DNA evidence forces the reopening of a 17-year-old murder case.

4 The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead: $14) A writer returns to Kabul to rescue the son of a childhood friend.

5 Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld (Random House: $13.95) An Indiana teen on a scholarship tries to fit in at a Massachusetts prep school.

6 Skeleton Man by Tony Hillerman (HarperTorch: $7.99) A pawned diamond revives the mystery of a 50-year-old plane crash.

7 The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (Penguin: $15) A quest for the truth about a Spanish novelist.

8 Honeymoon by James Patterson and Howard Roughan (Warner Books: $13.95) An FBI agent tracks a female serial killer.

9 Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami (Vintage: $14.95) A Tokyo teen runs from his Oedipal fears.

10 The Third Secret by Steve Berry (Ballantine: $7.99) A thriller based on Our Lady of Fatima’s third secret.

*--*

*--* SO. CAL. RATING Nonfiction 1 Night by Elie Wiesel (Hill & Wang: $9) A teenager’s harrowing year spent in four concentration camps.

2 A Million Little Pieces by James Frey (Anchor: $14.95) A tarnished memoir of addiction and 12-step treatment.

3 Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins (Plume: $15) How the U.S. pressures poor countries.

4 In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (Vintage: $14) The late writer’s masterful account of a Kansas family’s brutal murder.

5 The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson (Vintage: $14.95) A serial killer haunts the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.

6 Collapse by Jared Diamond (Penguin: $17) Why the Maya, the Anasazi and other societies died out.

7 Frantic Transmissions to and From Los Angeles by Kate Braverman (Graywolf Press: $15) Fleeing Los Angeles.

8 The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls (Scribner: $14) A memoir of breaking away from dysfunctional parents.

9 The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell (Back Bay: $14.95) How fads, trends and ideas behave like viruses in a society.

10 The End of Faith by Sam Harris (Norton: $13.95) An examination of religion, terror and reason.

*--*