READING L.A.

Rachel Ashwell, founder, Shabby Chic:

“Flaubert-Sand: The Correspondence” edited by Alphonse Jacobs (Alfred A. Knopf).

“There is a really lovely perspective on life in these pages, one rarely seen in this day and age.”

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Mike R. Bowlin, chairman and chief executive officer, Arco:

“The Killer Angels” by Michael Shaara (Ballantine).

“An excellent book about Gettysburg, character and leadership. I particularly liked the portrayal of Robert E. Lee and his ability to command a highly independent, disparate and headstrong group of officers.”

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Earl Ofari Hutchinson, radio commentator:

“No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt--The Home Front in World War II” by Doris K. Goodwin (Simon & Schuster).

“Goodwin brings history alive and I love that. She makes me feel like I’m sitting in the room with these people. Every decision that Roosevelt makes, every discussion with his intimates, whether it’s Eleanor or his staff, I feel like I’m there.”

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Michael Woo, co-founder and president of the Independent Fiber Network and former L.A. city councilman:

“Contemporary American Writers Introduce Stories That Held Them in Awe” edited by Ron Hansen and Jim Shepard (HarperPerennial).

“Reading this book is like listening to jazz musicians playing their favorite records and explaining how the music of others influenced their own creativity.”