Night-table Reading

Mica Ertegün (interior designer): Breathing Lessons, by Anne Tyler (Knopf). "It's an incredibly human book that relates to many of our daily experiences and is beautifully written."

Kathleen Sullivan(TV anchor): Bloom County: Loose Tails, by Berke Breathed (Little, Brown). "After reading files of research and clips, l like to clear my mind and dream in Opus's world of the absurd."

Studs Terkel (author): Paul Robeson, by Martin B. Duberman (Knopf). "What fascinates me most about this book is that someone as multigifted as Robeson could be 'disappeared' and become a nonperson. It was a neat trick, but we turned it."

Peter Horton(actor): The Closing of the American Mind, by Allan Bloom (Simon and Schuster). "A real mind opener to the degree of our own moral, spiritual, and intellectual DEMISE."