FICTION

1. KILL ME IF YOU CAN, by James Patterson and Marshall Karp. (Little, Brown, $27.99.) When a young man finds a bag of diamonds, he gets the attention of the Ghost, a major assassin, and a rival assassin who wants the Ghost gone forever.

2. THE SOOKIE STACKHOUSE COMPANION, by Charlaine Harris. (Ace, $30.) A closer look at telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse, her family and, of course, her lovers.

3. A DANCE WITH DRAGONS, by George R.R. Martin. (Bantam, $35.) After a colossal battle, the Seven Kingdoms face new threats; Book 5 of "A Song of Ice and Fire."

4. A TRICK OF THE LIGHT, by Louise Penny. (Minotaur, $25.99.) Called to a case, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of homicide encounters a world where nothing is as it seems.

5. FLASH AND BONES, by Kathy Reichs. (Scribner, $26.99.) A turbocharged case unfolds for forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan in the series behind the show "Bones."

6. THE LEFTOVERS, by Tom Perrotta. (St. Martin's, $25.99.) In Perrotta's version of the Rapture, Hindus, Buddhists and Muslims as well as Christians mysteriously disappear.

7. ONLY TIME WILL TELL, by Jeffrey Archer. (St. Martin's, $27.99.) The first volume of the Clifton Chronicles tells the story of one family across generations and oceans.

8. THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET'S NEST, by Stieg Larsson. (Knopf, $27.95.) In the third volume of the Millennium trilogy, Swedish hacker Lisbeth Salander and journalist Mikael Blomkvist confront a governmental adversary.

9. THE HELP, by Kathryn Stockett. (Amy Einhorn/Putnam, $24.95.) Three women -- a white socialite and two black maids -- work on a tell-all book about black domestic servants in 1960s Mississippi.

10(x). THE OMEN MACHINE, by Terry Goodkind. (Tor/Tom Doherty, $29.99.) A return to the lives of Richard Rahl and Kahlan Amnell, in a tale of a new threat to their world.

NONFICTION

1. IN MY TIME, by Dick Cheney with Liz Cheney. (Threshold Editions, $35.) The former vice president opens up about his life and nearly four decades at the core of American politics.

2. A STOLEN LIFE, by Jaycee Dugard. (Simon & Schuster, $24.99.) A woman's recollection of being kidnapped at age 11, spending 18 years imprisoned by a convicted rapist and his wife and bearing two daughters by him.

3. UNBROKEN, by Laura Hillenbrand. (Random House, $27.) An Olympic runner's story of survival as a prisoner of the Japanese in World War II.

4. IN THE GARDEN OF BEASTS, by Erik Larson. (Crown, $26.) This portrait of Berlin during the rise of the Nazi Party concentrates on William E. Dodd, who became the U.S. ambassador to Germany in 1933, and his daughter, Martha.

5. THE GREATER JOURNEY, by David McCullough. (Simon & Schuster, $37.50.) The historian explores the intellectual legacy that France settled on its 19th-century visitors.

6. 1493, by Charles C. Mann. (Knopf, $30.50.) Picking up where "1491" left off, the author says that ecological encounters since Columbus have affected much of subsequent human history.

7. AFTER AMERICA, by Mark Steyn. (Regnery, $29.95.) The writer foresees Armageddon for America, which he says has caught up with Europe in the rush to self-destruction. (b)

8. BOSSYPANTS, by Tina Fey. (Reagan Arthur/Little, Brown, $26.99.) A memoir from the former "Saturday Night Live" star and creator of "30 Rock."

9. RAFA, by Rafael Nadal and John Carlin. (Hyperion, $27.99.) The 25-year-old tennis star reveals the secrets of his game and shares the story behind his meteoric rise.

10. COCKTAIL HOUR UNDER THE TREE OF FORGETFULNESS, by Alexandra Fuller. (Penguin Press, $25.95.) Fuller's mother is at the center of this memoir set in Africa.

ADVICE, HOW-TO AND MISCELLANEOUS

1. THE 17 DAY DIET, by Mike Moreno. (Free Press, $25.) Four cycles to help you burn fat every day. (b)

2. GO THE ---- TO SLEEP, by Adam Mansbach. Illustrated by Ricardo Cortes. (Akashic Books, $14.95.) A children's book parody for tired parents.

3. THE DUKAN DIET, by Pierre Dukan. (Crown Archetype, $26.) A program that rejects calorie counting and assigns protein a major role.

4. PRIME TIME, by Jane Fonda. (Random House, $27.) The actress and workout pioneer offers suggestions on exercise, diet, meditation and "successful aging."

5. WHEAT BELLY, by William Davis. (Rodale, $25.99.) An examination of wheat in modern diets and an argument for its elimination.

Rankings reflect sales for the week that ended Aug. 27 at thousands of venues nationwide. 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.