Bestsellers

Rankings are based on a Times poll of Southland bookstores.

*--* Fiction weeks on list 1. The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly 4 (Little, Brown: $26.99) A luckless attorney defends a studio executive accused of offing his wife and her lover. 2. The Gate House by Nelson DeMille (Grand 2 Central: $27.99) A man and his ex-wife attempt to reconcile years after her affair with a mob boss. 3. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer (Little, 14 Brown: $22.99) The final book in the Twilight saga finds Bella choosing immortality. 4. A Most Wanted Man by John le Carre (Scribner: 4 $28) Turkish Muslims in Germany take in a homeless man who turns out to be a terrorist. 5. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown: 17 $19.99) Bella must choose between her lover and a friend, life and death. 6. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David 17 Wroblewski (Ecco: $25.95) A mute dog breeder is banished by his uncle a la "Hamlet." 7. Extreme Measures by Vince Flynn (Atria: 2 $27.95) CIA operative Mitch Rapp attempts to foil a terrorist plot on American soil while in Afghanistan. 8. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie 14 Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (Dial Press: $22) A writer corresponds with islanders after German occupation. 9. Brisingr by Christopher Paolini (Knopf: 7 $27.50) Eragon, along with his dragon Saphira, must unite the rebel forces to defeat King Galbatorix. 10. The Widows of Eastwick by John Updike (Knopf: 1 $24.95) After years of traveling and remarriage, the witches return to where the mischief began. *--*

*--* Nonfiction weeks on list 1. Goodnight Bush by Erich Origen and Gan 16 Golan (Little, Brown: $14.99) A parody of the children's classic "Goodnight Moon." 2. The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch with 29 Jeffrey Zaslow (Random House: $21.95) A professor's terminal cancer inspires a call to seize life's moments. 3. Hot, Flat, and Crowded by Thomas L. 9 Friedman (Farrar, Straus & Giroux: $27.95) This provocative book offers solutions to overpopulation and the global-warming crisis. 4. Tried by War by James M. McPherson 1 (Penguin Press: $35) An analysis of President Lincoln's role as commander in chief. 5. Dewey by Vicki Myron with Bret Witter 6 (Grand Central: $19.99) The impact a cat named Dewey, who had been left in the after-hours book-return slot, had on an Iowa library and its patrons. 6. The Snowball by Alice Schroeder (Bantam: 5 $35) The life and times of investor Warren Buffett, the "Oracle of Omaha." 7. When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David 21 Sedaris (Little, Brown: $25.99) Musings on life and smoking. 8. A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity by Bill 6 O'Reilly (Broadway: $26) The Fox News commentator explores his childhood and its relevance on his life. 9. The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell 3 (Riverhead: $25.95) A profile of the Puritans who fought the early battle between church and state. 10. My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor 8 (Penguin: $24.95) A brain scientist shares her journey of recovery and insight from loss of brain function. *--*