Washington Area Bestsellers
Sunday, February 19, 2006; Page BW11
| Paperback | ||
| Fiction | ||
| 1 | THE CLOSERS(Warner, $7.99). By Michael Connelly After two years of retirement, Harry Bosch returns to the LAPD in its new cold-case unit. | 2 |
| 2 | THE BROKER(Dell, $7.99). By John Grisham The CIA finagles the release of an attorney from federal prison to gain access to a satellite surveillance system. | 11 |
| 3 | MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA(Vintage, $14.95) By Arthur Golden.The celebrated geisha, Sayuri, tells of her rise to fame and fortune in 1930s imperial Japan. | 13 |
| 4 | SKELETON MAN(HarperTorch, $7.99) By Tony Hillerman.Leaphorn and Chee hunt for diamonds lost in a 1956 plane collision over the Grand Canyon. | 2 |
| 5 | HONEYMOON(Warner, $13.95). By James Patterson & Howard Roughan.An FBI agent suspects the alluring fianc?e in a wealthy banker's death. | 6 |
| 6 | THE KITE RUNNER(Riverhead, $14). By Khaled Hosseini An Afghan immigrant returns to his Taliban-ruled country in the hope of atoning for a childhood betrayal. | 70 |
| 7 | CORDINA'S ROYAL FAMILY: GABRIELLA & ALEXANDER (Silhouette, $7.99). By Nora Roberts.Passion, danger and noble blood swirl through these two romance novellas. | 2 |
| 8 | GILEAD(Picador USA, $14). By Marilynne Robinson An elderly minister, in failing health, reflects on his enduring faith and a lifetime spent in the same Iowa town. | 4 |
| 9 | THE THIRD SECRET(Ballantine, $7.99). By Steve Berry The final mystery of Fatima--which Pope John Paul II revealed in 2000--may be more than it seems. | 2 |
| 10 | IMPOSSIBLE(Dell, $7.99). By Danielle Steel The owner of an influential gallery begins a tempestuous affair with a younger, somewhat Bohemian artist. | 2 |
| Nonfiction/General | ||
| 1 | NIGHT(FSG, $9). By Elie Wiesel The Nobel laureate's terrifying account of his experience and survival of a concentration camp during World War II. | 12 |
| 2 | A MILLION LITTLE PIECES(Anchor, $14.95) By James Frey.Billed as a memoir of addiction recovery, the author now admits to fabricating/embellishing his tale. | 20 |
| 3 | IN COLD BLOOD(Vintage, $14). By Truman Capote Its melding of crime reportage and a novel's structure made this account of a 1959 Kansas murder an instant classic. | 16 |
| 4 | THE TIPPING POINT: HOW LITTLE THINGS CAN MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE(Back Bay, $14.95) By Malcolm Gladwell.A look at fads and their origins. | 58 |
| 5 | COLLAPSE: HOW SOCIETIES CHOOSE TO FAIL OR SUCCEED(Penguin, $17). By Jared Diamond The fatal consequences of ecological mismanagement. | 7 |
| 6 | ANIMALS IN TRANSLATION: USING THE MYSTERIESOF AUTISM TO DECODE ANIMAL BEHAVIOR (Harvest, $15). By Temple Grandin & Catherine Johnson | 2 |
| 7 | JERUSALEM COUNTDOWN: A WARNING TO THE WORLD (Frontline, $14.99). By John Hagee.Current events fuel this doomsday take on Arab relations with Israel. | |
| 8 | CONFESSIONS OF AN ECONOMIC HIT MAN (Plume, $15). By John Perkins.Charges of financial malfeasance at the expense of developing nations. | 7 |
| 9 | GUNS, GERMS, AND STEEL(Norton, $16.95) By Jared Diamond.The impact of geography and the environment on the course of civilization. | 59 |
| 10 | THE DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY(Vintage, $14.95) By Erik Larson.Serial killer H.H. Holmes preys on Chicago residents amid the bustle of the 1893 World's Fair. | 99 |
| Hardcover | ||
| Fiction | ||
| 1 | CELL(Scribner, $26.95). By Stephen King A mind-altering pulse sent simultaneously through all mobile phones in America turns its recipients into killers. | 3 |
| 2 | THE DA VINCI CODE(Doubleday, $24.95) By Dan Brown.Ciphers and riddles impede a symbologist's quest for the Holy Grail and a killer's identity. | 98 |
| 3 | SEA CHANGE(Putnam, $24.95). By Robert B. Parker Small-town Mass. sheriff Jesse Stone probes the murder of a visiting Florida heiress with some kinky sexual whims. | 1 |
| 4 | MEMORY IN DEATH(Putnam, $24.95). By J.D. Robb Cop Eve Dallas rebuffs her cruel foster mother's attempt at blackmail--and finds her murdered the next day. | 3 |
| 5 | THE LAST TEMPLAR(Dutton, $24.95) By Raymond Khoury.Modern-day zealots fromthe Knights Templar aim to reclaim a treasure not seen since 1291. | 3 |
| 6 | LOVERS & PLAYERS(St. Martin's, $24.95) By Jackie Collins.A billionaire patriarch summons his three sons (each struggling with personal drama) to NYC. | 1 |
| 7 | THE HOSTAGE(Putnam, $26.95). By W.E.B. Griffin A diplomat's murder, a family held captive and the Iraqi oil-for-food scandal meld in this Charley Castillo thriller. | 6 |
| 8 | GONE(Bantam, $25). By Lisa Gardner P.I. "Rainie" Connor vanishes from her car on a rural Oregon road, leaving police and family to find the truth. | 2 |
| 9 | MARY, MARY(Little, Brown, $27.95) By James Patterson.Hollywood's A-list stars look to Alex Cross to protect them from a vicious serial killer. | 12 |
| 10 | DEATH DANCE(Scribner, $26). By Linda Fairstein A ballerina's grisly murder at the opera affords DA Alex Cooper entree to Lincoln Center's rarefied backstage. | 2 |
| Nonfiction/General | ||
| 1 | MARLEY & ME: LIFE AND LOVE WITH THE WORLD'S WORST DOG(Morrow, $21.95) By John Grogan.For the love of an unruly Labrador. | 9 |
| 2 | THE WORLD IS FLAT: A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY(FSG, $27.50) By Thomas L. Friedman.Globalism's colossal impact. | 44 |
| 3 | MANHUNT: THE 12-DAY CHASE FOR LINCOLN'S KILLER (Morrow, $26.95). By James L. Swanson.John Wilkes Booth's sensational, elusive flight from Washington, D.C. | 1 |
| 4 | YOU'RE WEARING THAT? UNDERSTANDING MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS IN CONVERSATION (Random House, $25.95). By Deborah Tannen | 3 |
| 5 | FREAKONOMICS: A ROGUE ECONOMIST EXPLORES THE HIDDEN SIDE OF EVERYTHING(Morrow, $25.95) By Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner | 43 |
| 6 | STATE OF WAR: THE SECRET HISTORY OF THE CIA AND THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION(Free Press, $26) By James Risen.Exposing a domestic spying program. | 6 |
| 7 | BLINK: THE POWER OF THINKING WITHOUT THINKING (Little, Brown, $25.95). By Malcolm Gladwell The complex psychology behind our snap decisions. | 43 |
| 8 | AT CANAAN'S EDGE: AMERICA IN THE KING YEARS, 1965-68(Simon & Schuster, $35). By Taylor Branch The third and final volume of Branch's civil rights history. | 4 |
| 9 | THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING(Knopf, $23.95) By Joan Didion.A memoir of mourning; winner of the 2005 National Book Award for nonfiction. | 18 |
| 10 | AMERICAN VERTIGO: TRAVELING AMERICA IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF TOCQUEVILLE(Random House, $24.95) By Bernard-Henri L?vy.One Frenchman's view. | 2 |
Rankings reflect sales for the week ended Feb. 12, 2006. The charts may not be reproduced without permission from Nielsen BookScan. Copyright ? 2006 by Nielsen BookScan. (Right-hand column of italicized numbers reflects weeks on this list, which premiered in Book World on Jan. 11, 2004. Advice, reference and self-help books appear on a separate, monthly list.)
