Trade Paperback Fiction Bestseller List for December 25, 2000 from sales the week ending December 17 Online at www.bookweb.org Thursday, December 21 Published in Bookselling This Week Monday, December 25 For the Book Sense store nearest you, call 1-888-BOOKSENSE or visit www.booksense.com   TRADE PAPERBACK FICTION last week / # of weeks 1 House Of Sand and Fog - A"Top Ten" 76 Pick Andre Dubus III, 0375727345, Vintage, $13.00 In this riveting novel of almost unbearable suspense, three people become dangerously entangled in a relentlessly escalating crisis. 1/38 2 Girl In Hyacinth Blue - A "Top Ten" 76 Pick Susan Vreeland, 014029628X, Penguin, $12.00 Eight vibrant stories that trace the history of a Vermeer painting through its various owners. A Top Ten 'Book Sense 76' Pick. 2/11 3 The Poisonwood Bible - A "Top Ten" 76 Pick Barbara Kingsolver, 0060930535, HarperPerennial, $14.00 Set in the Belgian Congo, an ambitious, beautifully written novel by an indie-bookseller favorite. 3/56 4 The Red Tent - A "Top Ten" 76 Pick Anita Diamant, 0312195516, Picador, $14.00 A fascinating re-imagining of the biblical Dinah, daughter to Jacob and Leah, as well as the lives of all women during that time. 4/50 5 Plainsong - A "Top Ten" 76 Pick Kent Haruf, 0375705856, Vintage, $13.00 A heartstrong story of family and romance, set on the High Plains of Colorado. A Top Ten 'Book Sense 76' Pick. 5/17 6 Ahab's Wife - A "Top Ten" 76 Pick Sena Jeter Naslund, 0688177859, HarperPerennial, $15.00 A grand work of historical fiction that looks at the epic of Moby Dick from another perspective. A Top Ten 'Book Sense 76' Pick. 6/11 7 Chocolat Joanne Harris, 014100018X, Penguin, $12.95 An enchanting, delicious novel about a woman who opens an irresistible chocolate shop in a tiny town in France, moving back up the list due to the upcoming movie. 8/47 8 Waiting Ha Jin, 0375706410, Vintage, $13.00 Just out in paperback, this winner of the National Book Award is an austere and affecting novel about love and politics. 7/13 9 Daughter Of Fortune Isabel Allende, 0060932759, HarperPerennial, $14.00 An elegant, ambitious novel where a brave and independent woman's mid-1800's journey from Chile to a new life in California also becomes a spiritual journey 11/16 10 Motherless Brooklyn - A "Top Ten" 76 Pick Jonathan Lethem, 0375724834, Vintage, $13.00 The brilliantly imaginative Lethem riffs on the classic detective novel in this story of an orphaned Tourette's sufferer working for a small time mobster in Brooklyn. 10/8 11 Interpreter of Maladies Jhumpa Lahiri, 039592720X, Mariner, $12.00 9/35 12 The Hours Michael Cunningham, 0312243022, Picador, $13.00 14/34 13 Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind - A "Top Ten" 76 Pick Ann B. Ross, 0688177751, HarperPerennial, $13.00 13/34 14 The Best American Short Stories 2000 Edited by E.L. Doctorow & Katrina Kenison, 0395926866, Houghton Mifflin, $13.00 -/4 15 Disgrace J.M. Coetzee, 0140296409, Penguin, $13.00 12/7   ON THE RISE   39 Best American Mystery Stories 2000 Edited by Donald E. Westlake & Otto Penzler, 0395939186, Houghton Mifflin, $13.00 A wide-ranging collection of the best of the genre.   The Book Sense Bestseller List is copyrighted and cannot be reprinted without permission from the American Booksellers Association. For information, please contact Michael Hoynes, Marketing Officer, at: (914) 591-2665 ext. 1204, 828 Broadway, Tarrytown NY. Reprint Guidelines.