Southern California Rating:

Last Week: ---; Weeks on List: 1

2. 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: --; Weeks on List: 4

3. EAST OF THE MOUNTAINS \o7 by David Guterson (Harcourt Brace: $25)\f7 A retired heart surgeon, dying of cancer, goes on his last hunt in the American West.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

4. WE'LL MEET AGAIN \o7 by Mary Higgins Clark (Simon and Schuster: $25) \f7 A suspense novel that explores the evil inner workings of an HMO and some risky medical experiments.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

5. THE GIRL WHO LOVED TOM GORDON \o7 by Stephen King (Simon and Schuster: $16.95) \f7 Lost in the woods, a young girl encounters a strange vision of horror as she searches for her family.

Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 2

6. A NEW SONG \o7 by Jan Karon (Viking: $24.95)\f7 A clergyman and his wife leave their beloved Mitford to shepherd a small congregation on Whitecap Island.

Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 2

7. 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: --; Weeks on List: 6

8. BITTERSWEET \o7 by Danielle Steel (Delacorte: $26.95) \f7 A dissatisfied woman who gave up ambitions for marriage and motherhood finds comfort in the arms of a financier.

Last Week: 1; Weeks on List: 4

9. 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: 13; Weeks on List: 30

10. THE HANDYMAN \o7 by Carolyn See (Random House: $22.95)\f7 The picaresque adventures of a $10-an-hour handyman, drifter and painter in L.A who fixes hearts as well as cabinets.

Last Week: 6; Weeks on List: 6

11. DREAMING SOUTHERN \o7 by Linda Bruckheimer (Dutton: $23.95)\f7 A mother and her children head west on Route 66 to join her husband and get into mishaps along the way.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 11

12. 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: 2; Weeks on List: 12

13. TARA ROAD \o7 by Maeve Binchy (Delacorte: $24.95)\f7 People facing heartbreak and disappointment are drawn to a Victorian home on a shabby Dublin street.

Last Week: 7; Weeks on List: 8

14. 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: --; Weeks on List: 3

15. THE GROUND BENEATH HER FEET \o7 by Salman Rushdie (Henry Holt: $26)\f7 Orpheus and Eurydice are a couple of rock'n'roll stars. Reviewed by Jonathan Levi, Page 2.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 1

****

NONFICTION

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

Last Week: 3; Weeks on List: 3

2. 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: 1; Weeks on List: 69

3. IN THE GARDEN OF OUR DREAMS \o7 by Shirlee T. Haizlip and Harold C. Haizlip (Kodansha: $24)\f7 Memoirs of a marriage; the shocking tale of a perfectly happy couple.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 11

4. 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: 10; Weeks on List: 4

5. THE GREATEST GENERATION \o7 by Tom Brokaw (Random House: $24.95)\f7 TV anchor tells the stories of the generation that came of age during the Depression and World War II.

Last Week: 2; Weeks on List: 20

6. ALL TOO HUMAN \o7 by George Stephanopoulos (Little, Brown: $27.95)\f7 Behind the scenes in the Oval Office with one of President Clinton's best and brightest.

Last Week: 5; Weeks on List: 7

7. TRAVELING MERCIES \o7 by Anne Lamott (Pantheon: $23) \f7 The growth of Lamott's beliefs and how they helped her overcome grief, alcoholism and bad hair days.

Last Week: --; Weeks on List: 8

8. BUSINESS @ THE SPEED OF THOUGHT \o7 by Bill Gates (Warner: $30) \f7 Microsoft's CEO offers a corporate strategy for competing on today's digital playing field.

Last Week: 7; Weeks on List: 4

9. LINDBERGH \o7 by A. Scott Berg (Putnam: $30) \f7 Courageous aviator, loving father, isolationist and, finally, fallen hero: a dramatic American story.

Last Week: 4; Weeks on List: 18

10. BLACK HAWK DOWN \o7 by Mark Bowden (Atlantic Monthly Press: $24) \f7 An account of a botched 1993 U.S. raid on Mogadishu. Reviewed by Edward Luttwak, Page 9.

Last Week: 15; Weeks on List: 2