The Da Vinci Code has been knocked off, finally, from the #1 spot on the L.A. Times fiction bestseller list. The Rule of Four by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason has moved up from #2. Don't expect the Da Vinci paperback to land any day soon though. Dan Brown's thriller only fell one notch and has been somewhere on the LAT list for 68 weeks; Brown's Angels & Demons tops the paperback bestsellers. On the other coast, The Da Vinci Code had slipped to #2 on the New York Times list last week, but returned to #1 again today by trading places with James Patterson's Sam's Letters to Jennifer.
The Sunday NYT also revisits the case of Jeopardy wunderbrain Ken Jennings, and quotes a cognition scientist noting that while he's probably no genius, Jennings is playing with so much confidence now (after 33 wins and more than $1 million) that "he's going to have to have a terrible day for someone to beat him." Also in the Sunday NYT, Los Angeles Magazine senior editor R.J. Smith chronicles the musical tributes to the late Elliott Smith.
Last look at Van Nuys location