Southern California Rating:

Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 6

2. WHITE OLEANDER \o7 by Janet Fitch (Little, Brown: $24) \f7 When a woman murders her lover, her daughter must learn to face womanhood in a foster home.

Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 4

3. CLOSE RANGE \o7 by Annie Proulx (Scribner: $25)\f7 A collection of raw and lusty stories about luckless characters living in the rough wasteland of Wyoming.

Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 4

4. THE HOURS \o7 by Michael Cunningham (Farrar, Straus and Giroux: $22)\f7 A haunting triptych of stories structured around Virginia Woolf's novel "Mrs. Dalloway."

Last Week: 6; Weeks on List: 11

5. STAR WARS, EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE \o7 by Terry Brooks (Lucasbooks/Del Rey: $25)\f7 The "Star Wars" saga unfolds with Darth Vader's childhood on a desert planet.

Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 4

6. THE GIRLS' GUIDE TO HUNTING AND FISHING \o7 by Melissa Bank (Viking: $23.95) \f7 As a modern girl grows up looking for love, to whom should she turn?

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

7. BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES OF THE CENTURY \o7 edited by Katrina Kenison and John Updike (Houghton Mifflin: $28)\f7 Ernest Hemingway, Willa Cather, Raymond Carver and Co.

Last Week: 9; Weeks on List: 8

8. THE TESTAMENT \o7 by John Grisham (Doubleday: $27.95) \f7 The 10th richest man in the United States has died, and his greedy heirs are circling like hungry vultures.

Last Week: 8; Weeks on List: 16

9. THE ORPHAN GAME \o7 by Ann Darby (William Morrow: $25)\f7 The coming-of-age of a girl in the '60s and her undesired pregnancy, as told by herself, her mother and her great aunt.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

10. EAST OF THE MOUNTAINS \o7 by David Guterson (Harcourt Brace: $25)\f7 A retired heart surgeon with terminal cancer goes on his last hunt in the woods of the Northwest.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 5

11. JUNETEENTH \o7 by Ralph Ellison (Random House: $25)\f7 A dying senator relives memories with an African American pastor from his youth and discovers what has bonded the two together.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

12. MOONLIGHT ON THE AVENUE OF FAITH \o7 by Gina B. Nahai (Harcourt Brace: $24) \f7 A little girl's search for her magical missing mother in a Tehran ghetto.

Last Week: 11; Weeks on List: 9

13. TURN OF THE CENTURY \o7 by Kurt Anderson (Random House: $24.95)\f7 A twisted adventure, set in the year 2000, when corruption permeates society.

Last Week: 10; Weeks on List: 2

14. FOR THE RELIEF OF UNBEARABLE URGES \o7 by Nathan Englander (Alfred A. Knopf: $23)\f7 A debut collection of stories rooted in Jewish history and orthodox life.

Last Week: 14; Weeks on List: 4

15. THE POISONWOOD BIBLE \o7 by Barbara Kingsolver (HarperCollins: $27.50)\f7 An evangelical Baptist missionary takes his wife and children to the Belgian Congo in 1959.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 32

****

NONFICTION

1. MY ONE GOOD NERVE \o7 by Ruby Dee (John Wiley and Sons: $16.95)\f7 Musings and memories detailing the African American experience, specifically raising a family in America.

Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 2

2. WAY OF THE BOOTSTRAPPER \o7 by Floyd H. Flake, Donna Marie Williams and Maxine Waters (HarperSanFrancisco: $23)\f7 Solving modern problems with time-honored methods.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

3. WOMAN \o7 by Natalie Angier (Houghton Mifflin: $25)\f7 A poetic, exuberant celebration of womanhood and its unique qualities and influence on the world.

Last Week: 9; Weeks on List: 9

4. TWILIGHT OF THE WAGNERS \o7 by Gottfried Wagner and Della Couling (St. Martin's: $25)\f7 A dark history of the Wagner family and its anti-Semitic past.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

5. TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE \o7 by Mitch Albom (Doubleday: $19.95)\f7 A sportswriter's empowering story about his weekly visits to see an older dying friend.

Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 74

6. I'M A STRANGER HERE MYSELF \o7 by Bill Bryson (Broadway: $25)\f7 A return to America after a 20-year absence prompts a humorous discussion of America's absurdities.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

7. ENCORE PROVENCE \o7 by Peter Mayle (Alfred A. Knopf: $23)\f7 A return to southern France prompts memories of good times and a critique of American culture.

Last Week: 8; Weeks on List: 2

8. ANOTHER LIFE \o7 by Michael Korda (Random House: $26.95)\f7 An examination of the people in, and the transformation of, the book publishing industry.

Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 2

9. THE LEXUS AND THE OLIVE TREE \o7 by Thomas L. Friedman (Farrar, Straus and Giroux: $27.50) \f7 Globalization has replaced the Cold War system, though many resist its call.

Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 5

10. BELLA TUSCANY \o7 by Frances Mayes (Broadway: $25)\f7 Rich, colorful stories of cuisine and Italian life in the villages by the author of "Under the Tuscan Sun."

Last Week: 5; Weeks on List: 8