The New York Times Best Sellers List

By: JournalNow Staff | THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published: October 11, 2009

Fiction

1. The Lost Symbol, by Dan Brown. Doubleday, $29.95.

*2. An Echo in the Bone, by Diana Gabaldon. Delacorte, $30. Jamie Fraser and his time-traveling wife, Claire, encounter pirates on the high seas; the seventh Outlander novel.

3. The Last Song, by Nicholas Sparks. Grand Central, $24.99.

4. The Help, by Kathryn Stockett. Amy Einhorn/Putnam, $24.95.

*5. Hothouse Orchid, by Stuart Woods. Putnam, $25.95. A CIA special agent finds that much has changed, and not for the better, when she returns to her Florida hometown.

6. South of Broad, by Pat Conroy. Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, $29.95.

7. Alex Cross's ‘Trial', by James Patterson and Richard DiLallo. Little, Brown, $27.99.

*8. The Year of the Flood, by Margaret Atwood. Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, $26.95. In a violent future society, survivors of a catastrophic pandemic make their way.

*9. Hardball, by Sara Paretsky. Putnam, $26.95. Searching for an old woman's missing son, V.I. Warshawski, the Chicago private investigator, is plunged into the politics of the 1960s.

10. Spartan Gold, by Clive Cussler with Grant Blackwood. Putnam, $26.96.

Nonfiction

*1. Arguing With Idiots, written and edited by Glenn Beck, Kevin Balfe and others. Mercury Radio Arts/Threshold Editions, $29.99. Making the case against big government.

2. True Compass, by Edward M. Kennedy. Twelve, $35.

*3. High on Arrival, by Mackenzie Phillips with Hilary Liftin. Simon Spotlight Entertainment, $25.99. The actress and daughter of Papa John Phillips recalls a life of parties, drugs and a complicated relationship with her father.

*4. American on Purpose, by Craig Ferguson. Harper/HarperCollins, $25.99. The Scottish-born comedian describes his journey to late-night television stardom and American citizenship.

*5. The Greatest Show on Earth, by Richard Dawkins. Free Press, $30. Evidence for evolution; a counterattack on advocates of intelligent design.

6. Where Men Win Glory, by Jon Krakauer. Doubleday, $27.95.

7. Official Book Club Selection, by Kathy Griffin. Ballantine, $25.

8. Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell. Little, Brown, $27.99.

9. Culture of Corruption, by Michelle Malkin. Regnery, $27.95.

*10. The Case for God, by Karen Armstrong. Knopf, $27.95. Armstrong, a former nun, seeks to rescue the idea of God from atheists and literal-minded believers alike.

* -- Indicates first appearance on the list.