FICTION

December 1, 2009 at 5:16PM

FICTION

1. UNDER THE DOME, by Stephen King. (Scribner, $35.) When a Maine town is trapped by an invisible force field, a sanctimonious and hypocritical politician takes over.

2. THE LOST SYMBOL, by Dan Brown. (Doubleday, $29.95.) Robert Langdon among the Masons.

3. FORD COUNTY, by John Grisham. (Doubleday, $24.) Stories set in rural Mississippi.

4. THE HELP, by Kathryn Stockett. (Amy Einhorn/Putnam, $24.95.) A young white woman and two black maids in 1960s Mississippi.

5. THE LACUNA, by Barbara Kingsolver. (Harper/HarperCollins, $26.99.) A young American growing up in Mexico becomes friends with artists and radicals; later, in the United States, he is menaced by McCarthyism.

6. THE GATHERING STORM, by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson. (Tor/Tom Doherty, $29.99.) Book 12 of the Wheel of Time fantasy series.

7. TRUE BLUE, by David Baldacci. (Grand Central, $27.99.) An ex-cop in Washington struggles to clear her name.

8. ICE, by Linda Howard. (Ballantine, $22.) A brutal ice storm traps a young soldier on leave who has just rescued a woman.

9. KINDRED IN DEATH, by J.D. Robb. (Putnam, $26.95.) Lt. Eve Dallas investigates the brutal murder of a colleague's daughter; by Nora Roberts, writing pseudonymously.

10. PURSUIT OF HONOR, by Vince Flynn. (Atria, $27.99.) Counterterrorism operative Mitch Rapp must teach politicians about national security following a new Al-Qaida attack.

NONFICTION

1. OPEN, by Andre Agassi. (Knopf, $28.95.) The tennis champion's autobiography.

2. HAVE A LITTLE FAITH, by Mitch Albom. (Hyperion, $23.99.) A suburban rabbi and a Detroit pastor teach lessons about the comfort of belief.

3. A SIMPLE CHRISTMAS, by Mike Huckabee. (Sentinel, $19.95.) Christmas memories from the former Arkansas governor and Republican presidential aspirant. (b)

4. SUPERFREAKONOMICS, by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. (Morrow/HarperCollins, $29.99.) A scholar and a journalist apply economic thinking to everything: the sequel.

5. WHAT THE DOG SAW, by Malcolm Gladwell. (Little, Brown, $27.99.) A decade of New Yorker essays.

6. ARGUING WITH IDIOTS, written and edited by Glenn Beck, Kevin Balfe and others. (Mercury Radio Arts/Threshold Editions, $29.99.) The case against big government. (b)

7. LAST WORDS, by George Carlin with Tony Hendra. (Free Press, $26.99.) The life of the comedian, who died in 2008.

8. THE BOOK OF BASKETBALL, by Bill Simmons. (Ballantine/ESPN, $30.) ESPN.com's Sports Guy crunches big questions in NBA history.

9 (x). TOO BIG TO FAIL, by Andrew Ross Sorkin. (Viking, $32.95.) The 2008 financial implosion on Wall Street and in Washington, by a New York Times reporter and columnist.

10. OUTLIERS, by Malcolm Gladwell. (Little, Brown, $27.99.) Why some people succeed, from the author of "Blink."

ADVICE, HOW-TO AND MISCELLANEOUS

1. DIVINE SOUL MIND BODY HEALING AND TRANSMISSION SYSTEM, by Zhi Gang Sha. (Atria, $27.99.) The divine way to heal. (b)

2. IT'S YOUR TIME, by Joel Osteen. (Free Press, $25.) Prayers, stories and tools for moving forward in Christian faith.

3. GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS 2010, edited by Craig Glenday. (Guinness, $28.95.) Tallest, fastest, youngest, most.

4. THE PIONEER WOMAN COOKS, by Ree Drummond. (Morrow/HarperCollins, $27.50.) Cowboy-tested recipes from the proprietor of ThePioneerWoman.com. (b)

5. KNOCKOUT, by Suzanne Somers. (Crown, $25.99.) Advice and interviews with doctors offering innovative cancer treatments.

An (x) indicates that a book's sales are barely distinguishable from those of the book above. A (b) indicates that some bookstores report receiving bulk orders. Rankings reflect sales for the week ending Nov. 14 at thousands of venues.

about the writer

about the writer

More from Minnesota Star Tribune

See More
card image
J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE, ASSOCIATED PRESS/The Minnesota Star Tribune

The "winners" have all been Turkeys, no matter the honor's name.

In this photo taken Monday, March 6, 2017, in San Francisco, released confidential files by The University of California of a sexual misconduct case, like this one against UC Santa Cruz Latin Studies professor Hector Perla is shown. Perla was accused of raping a student during a wine-tasting outing in June 2015. Some of the files are so heavily redacted that on many pages no words are visible. Perla is one of 113 UC employees found to have violated the system's sexual misconduct policies in rece