Fueled in part by old-fashioned gossip-column tongue wagging, Christopher Andersen's The Day Diana Died has landed on the list. Biographer-to-the-stars Andersen offers a riveting -- if arguable -- take on the immediate events surrounding the Aug. 31 tragedy, most notably Queen Elizabeth's allegedly chilly reaction to the news. Diana-pegged book sales in this country have been mostly lackluster; even last winter's much-hyped Death of a Princess never caught on. Day, with 350,000 copies in print after three pressruns, is proving the exception.
FICTION WEEKS ON LIST
1 RAINBOW SIX Tom Clancy, Putnam, $27.95 2 2 I KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE Wally Lamb, ReganBooks, $27.50 11 3 THE FIRST EAGLE Tony Hillerman, HarperCollins, $25 3 4 SUMMER SISTERS Judy Blume, Delacorte, $21.95 12 5 POINT OF ORIGIN Patricia Cornwell, Putnam, $25.95 6 6 MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE Nicholas Sparks, Warner, $20 19 7 MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA Arthur Golden, Knopf, $25 38 8 A WIDOW FOR ONE YEAR John Irving, Random House, $27.95 16 9 BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY Helen Fielding, Viking, $22.95 11 10 A NIGHT WITHOUT ARMOR Jewel Kilcher, HarperCollins, $15. 8
nonFiction
1 TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE Mitch Albom, Doubleday, $19.95. 42 2 THE DAY DIANA DIED Christopher Andersen, Morrow, $27. 1 3 SUGAR BUSTERS! H. Leighton Steward, Morrison C. Bethea, M.D., Sam S. Andrews, M.D., and Luis A. Balart, M.D., Ballantine, $22 16 4 A PIRATE LOOKS AT FIFTY Jimmy Buffett, Random House, $24.95 11 5 THE 9 STEPS TO FINANCIAL FREEDOM Suze Orman, Crown, $23 22 6 THE MILLIONAIRE NEXT DOOR Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko, Longstreet, $22 56 7 IN THE MEANTIME Iyanla Vanzant, Simon & Schuster, $23 19 8 ANGELA'S ASHES Frank McCourt, Scribner, $24 99 9 MARILU HENNER'S TOTAL HEALTH MAKEOVER Marilu Henner with Laura Morton, ReganBooks, $24 11 10 A WALK IN THE WOODS Bill Bryson, Broadway, $25 11
TRADE PAPERBACKS
1 DIVINE SECRETS OF THE YA-YA SISTERHOOD Rebecca Wells, HarperPerennial, $13.50 28 2 DON'T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF Dr. Richard Carlson, Hyperion, $10.95 71 3 chicken soup for the teenage soul J. Canfield, M.V. Hansen, and K. Kirberger, Health Communications, $12.95 63 4 THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS Arundhati Roy, HarperPerennial, $13 15 5 LITTLE ALTARS EVERYWHERE Rebecca Wells, HarperPerennial, $13 3 6 UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN Frances Mayes, Broadway, $13 46 7 INTO THE WILD Jon Krakauer, Doubleday/Anchor, $12.95. 50 8 THE BEANIE BABY HANDBOOK Les and Sue Fox, West Highland Publishing, $6.95 26 9 D-DAY: JUNE 6, 1944 Stephen E. Ambrose, S&S/Touchstone, $17. 2 10 DON'T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF WITH YOUR FAMILY Dr. Richard Carlson, Hyperion, $11.95
