READING L.A.

Judith Rose, poet and professor:

“The Gettin Place” by Susan Straight (Anchor).

“This exceptionally fine novel, set in 1920s Tulsa during the race riots and in a thinly disguised Riverside in 1992, is the story of a multigenerational African American family. Each character comes alive in this well-plotted, poetically written story.”

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Muriel Carrison, retired professor:

“The Harlot by the Side of the Road” by Jonathan Kirsch (Ballantine).

“Kirsch is a talented, witty writer and an impeccable Biblical scholar. He brilliantly retells ancient Old Testament stories of lust, incest, rape and scandal. We were never told these tales in Sunday school.”

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Elaine Culotti, interior designer:

“Tuscany Interiors” by Paolo Rinaldi (Taschen).

“This book is my favorite right now. It’s to die for. The doorways are amazing and the old country kitchens are fabulous. The chairs are extraordinary; I can’t wait to reproduce them.”

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Erin Barr, advertising supervisor:

“The Tao of Physics” by Fritjof Capra (Shambhala).

“A turned-on physicist tells it like it is--both scientifically and spiritually. Capra shows the amazing similiarities between the sub-atomic world and the world described in intense Eastern philosophy.”