Best-sellers (hardcover)

Fiction

1. “Double Cross”: by James Patterson (Little, Brown: $27.99) Alex Cross is called back to action when a flurry of murders causes terror in Washington, D.C.

2. “A Thousand Splendid Suns”: by Khaled Hosseini (Riverhead: $25.95) Two Afghan women struggle to survive jihad, civil war and Taliban tyranny.

3. “Playing for Pizza”: by John Grisham (Doubleday: $21.95) A down-on-his-luck pro quarterback finds refuge on a football team in Parma, Italy.

4. “Mister B. Gone”: by Clive Barker (HarperCollins: $24.95) A 13th century demon child’s memoir about his battle with an angel in disguise.

5. “The Chase”: by Clive Cussler (Putnam: $26.95) A detective pursues a bank robber across the West, landing in San Francisco for the 1906 earthquake.

6. “Gentlemen of the Road”: by Michael Chabon (Del Rey: $21.95) An unlikely pair of travelers ply their skills along the Silk Road in the 10th century.

7. “Confessor”: by Terry Goodkind (Tor Books: $29.95) In this final chapter of the “Chainfire Trilogy,” Richard Rahl must find his wife and save the world.

8. “Away”: by Amy Bloom (Random House: $23.95) A survivor of a Russian pogrom arrives in New York in 1924 and soon begins a search for her lost daughter.

9. “The Almost Moon”: by Alice Sebold (Little, Brown: $24.99) A depressed divorcee kills her mother, then tries to understand what drove her to it.

10. “World Without End”: by Ken Follett (Dutton: $35) Four children who witness a murder jockey for power and position as adults in 14th century England.

Nonfiction

1. “Born Standing Up”: by Steve Martin (Scribner: $25) The groundbreaking comedian reflects on his childhood and the evolution of his art.

2. “I Am America (and So Can You!)”: by Stephen Colbert (Grand Central: $26.99) “The Colbert Report” star expounds on the forces destroying America.

3. “The Dangerous Book for Boys”: by Conn and Hal Iggulden (HarperCollins: $24.95) Learn how to tie knots, find true north and other essential skills.

4. “The Daring Book for Girls”: by Andrea J. Buchanan and Miriam Peskowitz (HarperCollins: $24.95) A girls’ handbook of skills and must-have knowledge.

5. “Boom! Voices of the Sixties”: by Tom Brokaw (Random House: $28.95) Reflections on a decade of social change that swept America and its people.

6. “You: Staying Young”: by Michael F. Roizen and Mehmet C. Oz (Free Press: $26) Doctors explain how the body ages and how to counter those effects.

7. “The Long Embrace”: by Judith Freeman (Pantheon: $25.95) The tale of Raymond Chandler and the beautiful, much older woman he married.

8. “Good Dog, Stay”: by Anna Quindlen (Random House: $14.95) The bittersweet recollections of life with Beau, Quindlen’s black Labrador retriever.

9. “Clapton”: by Eric Clapton (Broadway: $26) The guitarist tells all — about the blues, becoming a rock legend, his bouts with addiction and his loves.

10. “The Secret”: by Rhonda Byrne (Beyond Words: $23.95) Life’s secrets distilled from oral tradition, literature, religion and philosophy.

&Copy; Los Angeles Times