(Random House, $17.) Essays about life and death, good and evil. 5 4 3 WOULDN'T TAKE NOTHING FOR MY JOURNEY NOW, by Maya Angelou. (Davison/Houghton Mifflin, $18.95.) An analysis of canine behavior.

4 3 9 THE HIDDEN LIFE OF DOGS, by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas. (Gold Leaf Press, $14.95.) A woman's near-death experience. (Bantam, $19.95.) Observations on life's pleasures and ordeals by the star of the television show 'Seinfeld.' 3 2 24 EMBRACED BY THE LIGHT, by Betty J. (Simon & Schuster, $23.) The memoirs of the radio and television personality. Weeks This Last On Week Week List Nonfiction 1 1 PRIVATE PARTS, by Howard Stern.

(Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $21.) In Copenhagen and Greenland, a woman investigates a child's mysterious death. 15 15 2 SMILLA'S SENSE OF SNOW, by Peter Hoeg. (Simon & Schuster, $25.) A Texas bounty hunter goes south of the border in pursuit of a train robber and killer. 14 12 12 STREETS OF LAREDO, by Larry McMurtry. (Delacorte, $23.95.) The abduction of their young son creates a crisis for a New York man and woman and for the woman's first lover. (Poseidon, $23.) A single mother and her teen-age daughter go on a spree after winning $60 million in a lottery. (Knopf, $21.) The problems, political and sexual, of a Florida Congressman. (Chronicle Books, $17.95.) The romance of an artist and a secret admirer, told through illustrated cards and letters. 10 13 40 GRIFFIN & SABINE, by Nick Bantock. (Delacorte, $23.95.) A young student's mysterious drowning has repercussions in Victorian England's high society. (Doubleday, $23.50.) A deadly secret, revealed by a lawyer just before he kills himself, presents problems for an 11-year-old boy.

(Doubleday, $17.50.) Frustration, love, hope - and recipes - sampled by a woman on a Mexican ranch. 7 7 28 LIKE WATER FOR CHOCOLATE, by Laura Esquivel. (Chronicle Books, $17.95.) Concluding the 'Griffin & Sabine' trilogy. (Putnam, $24.95.) John Kelly becomes involved in a Pentagon project to rescue prisoners held in North Vietnam.

(HarperCollins, $23.) Two Navajo tribal policemen undertake to unravel a web of politics and murder. (Knopf, $25.) The demon Lasher pursues the witch Rowan and their child a sequel to 'The Witching Hour.' 4 4 4 SACRED CLOWNS, by Tony Hillerman. (Viking, $27.50.) Twenty stories (mostly about the macabre), a teleplay, an essay and a poem. 2 3 2 NIGHTMARES & DREAMSCAPES, by Stephen King. (Warner, $16.95.) A photographer and a lonely farmer's wife in Iowa. Weeks This Last On Week Week List Fiction 1 1 63 THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY, by Robert James Waller.

The crocodile bird ruth rendell review