Night-Table Reading

Stephen Hawking's Universe, by David Filkin (Basic Books). "I'm really into science, and Hawking's outlook on the universe is... well, I couldn 't have put it better myself."

The Reader, by Bernhard Schlink. (Pantheon). "An unforgettable novel about love, language, and evil. Morally provocative, it seduces and appalls in equal measure. "

Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Powerful Women of Early Hollywood, by Cari Beauchamp (University of California Press). "It was such interesting reading that I could not put it down. "

Continental Drifts: Travels in the New Europe, by Nicholas Fraser (Seeker & Warburg). "A brilliant, personal, and often very funny tour of Europe and its political and cultural landscape."