Washington Area Bestsellers

	Paperback
	Fiction
1	THE COLLECTORS(Grand Central, $9.99) By David Baldacci. The Camel Club reunites to solve a murder at the Library of Congress.	2
2	WATER FOR ELEPHANTS(Algonquin, $13.95) By Sara Gruen. An orphan discovers love when he joins a traveling circus amid the Great Depression.	19
3	THE KITE RUNNER(Riverhead, $14) By Khaled Hosseini. An Afghan returns to his Taliban-ruled country to atone for a past betrayal.	131
4	ACT OF TREASON(Pocket, $9.99) By Vince Flynn. Unorthodox CIA agent Mitch Rapp copes with an attack on a presidential candidate.	2
5	74 SEASIDE AVENUE(Mira, $7.99) By Debbie Macomber. Another spell in Cedar Cove, Wash., and a crisis for a chess superstar.	2
6	AT FIRST SIGHT(Grand Central, $7.99) By Nicholas Sparks. Jeremy Marsh and Lexie Darnell cope with the stress of engagement.	2
7	KILLER DREAMS(Bantam, $7.99) By Iris Johansen. A rogue scientist aims to exploit a drug that transforms people into zombies.	2
8	EXILE(St. Martin's, $9.99) By Richard North Patterson. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict propels this murder whodunit.	2
9	THE EMPEROR'S CHILDREN(Vintage, $14.95) By Claire Messud. A social satire revolving around a vainglorious clique of young Manhattanites.	8
10	THE MEPHISTO CLUB(Ballantine, $7.99) By Tess Gerritsen. A grisly, demonic-ritual style murder challenges Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles.	1
	Nonfiction/General
1	EAT PRAY LOVE: ONE WOMAN'S SEARCH FOR EVERYTHING ACROSS ITALY, INDIA AND INDONESIA(Penguin, $15). By Elizabeth Gilbert	31
2	THE OMNIVORE'S DILEMMA: A NATURAL HISTORY OF FOUR MEALS(Penguin, $16) By Michael Pollan. Surprising origins of foodstuffs.	2
3	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.	3
4	THE WORLD IS FLAT: A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY(Picador USA, $16) By Thomas L. Friedman. A further revised edition.	8
5	THE GLASS CASTLE(Scribner, $14) By Jeannette Walls. A daughter's memoir of her eccentric parents and an unorthodox upbringing.	80
6	IMPERIAL LIFE IN THE EMERALD CITY: INSIDE IRAQ'SGREEN ZONE(Vintage, $14.95) By Rajiv Chandrasekaran. A bureau chief reports.	1
7	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.	11
8	BLINK: THE POWER OF THINKING WITHOUT THINKING(Back Bay, $15.99) By Malcolm Gladwell. Behind our snap decisions.	23
9	THREE CUPS OF TEA: ONE MAN'S MISSION TO PROMOTE PEACE(Penguin, $15) By Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin	22
10	THE LOST: A SEARCH FOR SIX OF SIX MILLION (HarperPerennial, $15.95). By Daniel Mendelsohn A quest to learn the fate of a great-uncle's family.	21
	Hardcover
	Fiction
1	A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS (Riverhead, $25.95). By Khaled Hosseini Two Afghani women cope with a brutish husband.	16
2	THE WHEEL OF DARKNESS (Grand Central, $25.99). By Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child. Aloysius Pendergast returns.	2
3	BONES TO ASHES(Scribner, $25.95) By Kathy Reichs. A cold case becomes personal for forensic anthropologist Tempe Brennan.	2
4	LORD JOHN AND THE BROTHERHOOD OF THE BLADE(Delacorte, $25). By Diana Gabaldon Lust, murder and treason haunt the Grey clan.	2
5	THE QUICKIE(Little, Brown, $27.99) By James Patterson & Michael Ledwidge A scorned wife finds revenge isn't so sweet.	10
6	TREE OF SMOKE(FSG, $27). By Denis Johnson This hefty novel knits together the lives of diverse characters coping with the maelstrom of Vietnam.	1
7	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.	3
8	THE ELVES OF CINTRA: GENESIS OF SHANNARA (Del Rey, $26.95). By Terry Brooks. The last Knights of the Word rally to save humanity.	2
9	GARDEN SPELLS(Bantam, $20) By Sarah Addison Allen. Two sisters, endowed with their family's magical gift, are reunited.	2
10	SONGS WITHOUT WORDS(Knopf, $24.95) By Ann Packer. Liz and Sarabeth, pals since childhood, find their tight bond tested as adults.	1
	Nonfiction/General
1	GIVING: HOW EACH OF US CAN CHANGE THE WORLD(Knopf, $24.95). By Bill Clinton Extolling the virtues of volunteering and charity.	1
2	DEAD CERTAIN: THE PRESIDENCY OF GEORGE W. BUSH(Free Press, $28) By Robert Draper. Sanctioned by the White House.	1
3	THE DANGEROUS BOOK FOR BOYS (Collins, $24.95). By Conn and Hal Iggulden For boys at heart, a paean to simple pastimes.	19
4	MOTHER TERESA: COME BE MY LIGHT (Doubleday, $22.95). Ed. by Brian Kolodiejchuk Intimate, revealing letters from the Catholic nun.	1
5	THE ISRAEL LOBBY AND U.S. FOREIGN POLICY (FSG, $26). By John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt. A critical, provocative appraisal.	2
6	THE WORLD WITHOUT US (Thomas Dunne, $24.95). By Alan Weisman The fate of the planet if humans ceased to exist.	6
7	THINGS I OVERHEARD WHILE TALKING TO MYSELF (Random House, $24.95). By Alan Alda The actor's musings on a life in search of meaning.	1
8	LONE SURVIVOR: THE EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT OF OPERATION REDWING ...(Little, Brown, $24.99) By Marcus Luttrell. The Navy SEALs' greatest loss.	13
9	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.	10
10	QUIET STRENGTH: THE PRINCIPLES, PRACTICES, & PRIORITIES OF A WINNING LIFE(Tyndale, $26.99). By Tony Dungy with Nathan Whitaker	9

Rankings reflect sales for the week ended Sept. 9, 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. Advice, reference and self-help books appear on a separate, monthly list.)