OFF AND READING : If you enexpectedly had the next week off, what would you read?

Penn Jillette, half of Penn and Teller: Jonathan Weiner’s “Beak of the Finch,” even though I don’t have next week off. Teller, the smaller, quieter half: “the vintage Menchem,” a zippy collection of piguant essays by a writer I intend to idolize.

John fleck, Performance arrtist/actor: “Nothing specil: Living Zen,” by Charlotte Joko Beck and “Angels in the Forest,” by; Marguerite Young.

Mark Ridley-Thomas, L.A. city councilman: “The conative Connection: Uncovering the Link Between Who Yor Are and How you Perform,” by Kathy Koble.

Linda Griego, president, Rebuild L.A. Anything by Tony Hillerman.

Susan Goldberg Kent, city librarian, L.A. Public Library: Probably Norman Mailer’s “Oswald’s Tale.”

Richard W. Riley, U.S. education secretary: “Truman,” by David McCullough.

Susan Love, surgeon, director of the Revlon-UCLA Breast Center: “The Passion,” by Jeanette Winterson.

Gary Ross, screenwriter (“Big,” “Dave”): Probably “Smilla’s Sense of Snow,” by Peter Hoeg. I might read Doris Kearns Goodwin’s “No Ordinary Time.” One of those.

Eric Karros, first baseman, Dodgers: “The Rainmaker,” by John Grisham.

Research: Emily Gest and Allessandra Djurklou