PAT KIERNAN morning-news host, NY1

Airport, by Arthur Hailey (Berkley). "I've been an airline passenger hundreds of times, and there are things I never knew until I read this book. There's probably a better way to learn these things, but it's more fun to hear it straight from Mel Bakersfield and his fine staff at Lincoln Airport."

MARIAN SELDES actress, The Play About the Baby

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, by Michael Chabon (Random House). "On the day the Pulitzer Prizes were announced, I was reading it. Brian Murray, who plays The Man in The Play About the Baby, gave it to me when we opened. What a gift!"

JANCEE DUNN MTV2 V.J., writer

1886 Professional Criminals of America, by Inspector Thomas Byrnes (Lyons Press). "A fascinating collection of 19th-century police case studies: sneaks, dishonest servants, and other Victorian crooks."