Night-table Reading

Elmore Leonard, author: The Last Worthless Evening, by Andre Dub us (Godine). "I love his attitude, his deceptively simple style, and his flesh-and-blood people."

Drew Barrymore, actress: Roget's Twenty-First Century Thesaurus (Dell). "So no matter what I am reading, I won't miss a thing."

Michael White, producer: Kings, by Christopher Logue (Farrar, Straus & Giroux). "A brilliantly clear and understandable version of Homer's Iliad, books 1 and 2, written in crisp and poetic language."

Vivienne Tam, designer: The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, by Sogyal Rinpoche (HarperSanFrancisco). "It emphasizes the importance of caring for both worlds."