BEST BOOKS

Weeks on List [1] THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, by Stieg Larsson. (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard, $14.95.) A hacker and a journalist investigate the disappearance of a Swedish heiress. 57 [2] THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE, by Stieg Larsson. (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard, $15.95.) A Swedish hacker becomes a murder suspect. Excerpt 18 [3] LITTLE BEE, by Chris Cleave. (Simon & Schuster, $14.) The lives of a British woman and a Nigerian girl collide. 23 [4] ONE DAY, by David Nicholls. (Vintage, $14.95.) Checking in year by year on the confused, halting romance of two children of the ’80s. Excerpt 5 [5] UNDER THE DOME, by Stephen King. (Gallery, $19.99.) Trapped by an invisible force field, a Maine town falls prey to a devious politician. 3 [6] CUTTING FOR STONE, by Abraham Verghese. (Vintage, $15.95.) Twin brothers, conjoined and then separated, grow up amid the political turmoil of Ethiopia. Excerpt 26 [7] BEST FRIENDS FOREVER, by Jennifer Weiner. (Washington Square, $15.) Childhood friends, estranged in high school, reunite years later when one needs help. 12 [8] SWIMSUIT, by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro. (Grand Central, $14.99.) A former cop, now a reporter, investigates the disappearance of a supermodel. 6 [9]* THE LACUNA, by Barbara Kingsolver. (Harper Perennial, $16.99.) A young American growing up in Mexico becomes friends with artists and radicals; later, in the United States, he is menaced by McCarthyism. 1 [10] THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN, by Garth Stein. (Harper Paperbacks, $14.99.) An insightful Lab-terrier mix helps his owner, a struggling race car driver. 59 [11] SARAH’S KEY, by Tatiana de Rosnay. (St. Martin’s Griffin, $13.95.) A contemporary American journalist investigates the roundup of Jews in Paris in 1942. 76 [12]* CHARLIE ST. CLOUD, by Ben Sherwood. (Bantam, $15.) Years after a man survives a car crash that kills his brother, their bond endures; originally published as "The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud." 1 [13] THE ALCHEMIST, by Paulo Coelho. (HarperOne, $14.99.) A Spanish shepherd boy goes to Egypt in search of treasure. 138 [14] WATER FOR ELEPHANTS, by Sara Gruen. (Algonquin, $13.95.) A young man — and an elephant — save a Depression-era circus. 87 [15] HER FEARFUL SYMMETRY, by Audrey Niffenegger. (Scribner, $15.) A woman haunts the flat she’s left to her twin nieces near Highgate Cemetery in London. Excerpt