READING L.A.

Bernard Cooper, author:

“The Collected Stories of Alice Munro” by Alice Munro (Alfred A. Knopf).

“I am trying to read every story Munro has ever written, particularly the ones in the third person. I am drawn to her because she is so rangy and unpredictable and discursive. She takes turns that seem endless, until the story’s end.”

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Brook Lee, Miss Universe 1997:

“A Family Love Story” by Edward Mangus and the Mangus family (Muddy Creek Press).

“It’s about how a Canadian family copes with their son, Brad, born with Down’s syndrome. What he couldn’t express in words, Brad could express in dance. His parents and siblings learned to just let Brad be Brad; they let him dance, and the world fell in love with him.”

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Steve Diner, union carpenter/superintendent:

“Underboss” by Peter Maas (HarperCollins).

“This is probably the most real book about organized crime that I’ve read. Perhaps because I’m a union worker, it fascinates me that a nefarious organization like the Mafia can have such an influence over some unions. Maas explains a facet of society a lot of people aren’t aware of.”

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Samantha Briggs, teacher:

“Ornament and Silence” by Kennedy Fraser (Alfred A. Knopf).

“This collection of essays is about women who have gotten lost in the shuffle of history. Fraser writes wonderfully about Virginia Woolf, Nina Berberova, Edith Wharton, Flaubert’s mistress and Matisse’s wife--all of whom lived, undeservedly, in the shadow of others.”