Washington Area Bestsellers

	Paperback
	Fiction
1	WATER FOR ELEPHANTS(Algonquin, $13.95) By Sara Gruen. An orphan discovers love when he joins a traveling circus amid the Great Depression.	17
2	THE KITE RUNNER(Riverhead, $14) By Khaled Hosseini. An Afghan returns to his Taliban-ruled country to atone for a past betrayal.	129
3	THE EMPEROR'S CHILDREN(Vintage, $14.95) By Claire Messud. A social satire revolving around a vainglorious clique of young Manhattanites.	7
4	DEAR JOHN(Grand Central, $13.99) By Nicholas Sparks. 9/11 upends a budding romance between a soldier and a college student.	3
5	MIDDLESEX(Picador USA, $15) By Jeffrey Eugenides. A genetic anomaly causes a teen to become a hermaphrodite.	20
6	THE MEMORY KEEPER'S DAUGHTER (Penguin, $14). By Kim Edwards. A doctor regrets deceiving his wife about their twins' birth.	59
7	ECHO PARK(Grand Central, $7.99) By Michael Connelly. Det. Bosch suspects political meddling in a killer's guilty plea in a 1993 case.	5
8	THE BOURNE ULTIMATUM(Bantam, $7.99) By Robert Ludlum. A master assassin renews his struggle against an international terrorist.	9
9	SUITE FRAN?AISE(Vintage, $14.95) By Ir?ne N?mirovsky. An unfinished novel exploring French collaboration with the Germans.	12
10	GOLDEN BUDDHA(Berkley, $7.99) By Clive Cussler and Craig Dirgo. A reprint of the first "Oregon Files" thriller -- mercenaries for hire.	1
	Nonfiction/General
1	EAT PRAY LOVE: ONE WOMAN'S SEARCH FOR EVERYTHING ACROSS ITALY, INDIA AND INDONESIA(Penguin, $15). By Elizabeth Gilbert	29
2	THE WORLD IS FLAT: A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY(Picador USA, $16) By Thomas L. Friedman. A further revised edition.	6
3	THE GLASS CASTLE(Scribner, $14) By Jeannette Walls. A daughter's memoir of her eccentric parents and an unorthodox upbringing.	78
4	BLINK: THE POWER OF THINKING WITHOUT THINKING(Back Bay, $15.99) By Malcolm Gladwell. Behind our snap decisions.	21
5	THE TIPPING POINT: HOW LITTLE THINGS CAN MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE(Back Bay, $14.95 ) By Malcolm Gladwell. Fads and their origins.	86
6	THE LOOMING TOWER:AL-QAEDA AND THE ROAD TO 9/11(Vintage, $15.95). By Lawrence Wright The ascent of post-World War II radical Islam.	1
7	FIASCO: THE AMERICAN MILITARY ADVENTURE IN IRAQ(Penguin, $16). By Thomas E. Ricks The choices of U.S. military commanders.	4
8	90 MINUTES IN HEAVEN: A TRUE STORY OF DEATH AND LIFE(Revell, $12.99). By Don Piper. A Baptist minister declared dead returns to life.	9
9	THREE CUPS OF TEA: ONE MAN'S MISSION TO PROMOTE PEACE(Penguin, $15) By Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin	20
10	STUMBLING ON HAPPINESS(Vintage, $14.95) By Daniel Gilbert. A psychology professor examines why we err in anticipating the future.	19
	Hardcover
	Fiction
1	A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS (Riverhead, $25.95). By Khaled Hosseini Two Afghani women cope with a brutish husband.	14
2	PLAY DIRTY(Simon & Schuster, $26.95) By Sandra Brown. Fresh from prison, a former NFL star is offered a tidy sum for an unusual request.	2
3	THE QUICKIE(Little, Brown, $27.99) By James Patterson & Michael Ledwidge A scorned wife finds revenge isn't so sweet.	8
4	SWEET REVENGE(Morrow, $25.95) By Diane Mott Davidson. Rare maps and murder spoil plans for caterer/detective Goldy Schulz.	1
5	THE SANCTUARY(Dutton, $25.95) By Raymond Khoury. U.S. forces in Baghdad stumble across a dire, centuries-old conspiracy.	1
6	AWAY(Random House, $23.95). By Amy Bloom Lillian Leyb, a Russian Jew in mid-1920s NYC, begins a rousing quest to find her lost daughter.	2
7	THE SECRET SERVANT(Putnam, $25.95) By Daniel Silva. When an Israeli agent's murder exposes a terrorist plot, in steps Gabriel Allon.	5
8	LOVING FRANK(Ballantine, $23.95) By Nancy Horan. A fictional look at the bond between Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Cheney.	2
9	POWER PLAY(St. Martin's, $24.95) By Joseph Finder. An aerospace firm's executive retreat turns into a hostage scenario.	1
10	SANDWORMS OF DUNE(Tor, $27.95) By Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson. The denouement of Frank Herbert's "Dune" series.	3
	Nonfiction/General
1	THE DANGEROUS BOOK FOR BOYS (Collins, $24.95). By Conn and Hal Iggulden For boys at heart, a paean to simple pastimes.	17
2	LEGACY OF ASHES: THE HISTORY OF THE CIA (Doubleday, $27.95). By Tim Weiner. Exposing the good, the bad and the ugly in covert ops.	8
3	THE WORLD WITHOUT US (Thomas Dunne, $24.95). By Alan Weisman The fate of the planet if humans ceased to exist.	4
4	LONE SURVIVOR: THE EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT OF OPERATION REDWING ...(Little, Brown, $24.99) By Marcus Luttrell. The Navy SEALs' greatest loss.	11
5	QUIET STRENGTH: THE PRINCIPLES, PRACTICES, & PRIORITIES OF A WINNING LIFE(Tyndale, $26.99). By Tony Dungy with Nathan Whitaker	7
6	GOD IS NOT GREAT: HOW RELIGION POISONS EVERYTHING(Twelve, $24.99) By Christopher Hitchens. Faith and its ill effects.	17
7	HAPPY ENDINGS: TALES OF A MEATY-BREASTED ZILCH(Simon Spotlight, $23.95). By Jim Norton Bawdy comedy from the raucous radio host.	2
8	A LONG WAY GONE: MEMOIRS OF A BOY SOLDIER (FSG, $22). By Ishmael Beah. Recalling the horrors of the civil war in Sierra Leone.	25
9	YOU CAN RUN BUT YOU CAN'T HIDE (Hyperion, $25.95). By Duane "Dog" Chapman. A memoir by the bounty hunter and reality TV star.	2
10	IT'S ALL ABOUT HIM: FINDING THE LOVE OF MY LIFE(Thomas Nelson, $24.99) By Denise Jackson with Ellen Vaughn.	2

Rankings reflect sales for the week ended Aug. 26, 2007. The charts may not be reproduced without permission from Nielsen BookScan. Copyright ? 2007 by Nielsen BookScan. (The right-hand column of numbers represents weeks on this list, which premiered in Book World on Jan. 11, 2004. The advice/miscellaneous list to the right represents sales from 7/30/07 to 8/26/07.)