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1barney67
Celebrity Favorites Part 1
I found this page yesterday at Scholastic publications, a name we all probably know from grade school. Various people were asked to pick 5 of their favorite books. If only for my own benefit, I'm going to note some things that interested me.
http://www.scholastic.com/readeveryday/celeb-bookprints-list.htm
{ETA: A reader correctly pointed out to me that the books chosen by celebrities were based more on their personal influence rather than top five favorites of all time. There was probably some overlap of both favorites and influence. Here is the definition by the Scholastic survey: "A Bookprint is the list of five books that leave an indelible mark on our lives, shaping who we are and who we become. You are what you read."}
Frequent favorites: The Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird, Dr. Seuss, The Giving Tree (a book that makes me so sad I can hardly look at the cover), Gone With the Wind, The Bible, Harry Potter, The Hunger Games and, believe or not, The Brothers Karamazov and War and Peace. There were some surprises, at least to me, and that was why I wrote this thread. I should add I was more interested in names familiar to me, some of the celebrities' picks rather than authors' picks, few of whom I knew.
* First Lady Barbara Bush liked Pride & Prejudice, a book everyone loves but which I found so unbearable I couldn't finish it; the Bible; and three I haven't heard of: The Way We Live Now, The Color of Water, and Something of Value.
* Her husband, President George H.W. Bush chose War and Peace and Franklin and Winston by Jon Meacham. But the real surprise for me was Andersonville by MacKinlay Kantor, the Pulitzer Prize winner from 1955 which has almost been forgotten.
* First Lady/Librarian Laura Bush, as you might expect, proved also to be a serious reader, choosing The Brothers Karamazov, All The Pretty Horses, My Antonia, David McCullough's Mornings on Horseback, Beloved, and (new to me) Bless Me, Ultima.
* Emmy- and Tony Award winner Kristen Chenoweth reveals her Christian sympathies: The Bible, The Purpose-Driven Life, and Left Behind. I don't know about those last two.
* Mrs. Clinton chose West with the Night, a book I enjoyed very much in The Adventure Library series. Another fan of Brothers Karamazov.
* Like all good Southerners, Bill Clinton chose the stoic philosophy of Meditations by Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius (a book popular in the old, stiff-upper-lip south) as well as Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, which I consider one of the greatest American novels; the perennial The Denial of Death (this one kept showing up in Woody Allen's Annie Hall); Macbeth (hmm…); and The Imitation of Christ. Pretty demanding, that last one.
* Cartoonist Jim Davis, creator of Garfield, liked The Call of the Wild, The Godfather, Hawaii by James Michener, and the selected writings of Groucho Marx. I have mixed feelings about The Call of the Wild, which I read in seventh grade, but I would very much like to read something by or about Groucho Marx, as I am a big fan. Harpo's autobiography was excellent and still gets recommended by readers and critics alike.
* I was surprised to see Jeff Foxworthy pick I Know This Much Is True but not so surprised that he picked the Bible, Lone Survivor, Velvet Elvis and one I've never heard of, Same Kind of Different as Me.
* I wasn't too impressed by Bill Gates's selections, though it was nice to see him recommend his dad's book, and not so nice to see The Hunger Games. Surely he can do better.
—to be continued…
I found this page yesterday at Scholastic publications, a name we all probably know from grade school. Various people were asked to pick 5 of their favorite books. If only for my own benefit, I'm going to note some things that interested me.
http://www.scholastic.com/readeveryday/celeb-bookprints-list.htm
{ETA: A reader correctly pointed out to me that the books chosen by celebrities were based more on their personal influence rather than top five favorites of all time. There was probably some overlap of both favorites and influence. Here is the definition by the Scholastic survey: "A Bookprint is the list of five books that leave an indelible mark on our lives, shaping who we are and who we become. You are what you read."}
Frequent favorites: The Catcher in the Rye, To Kill a Mockingbird, Dr. Seuss, The Giving Tree (a book that makes me so sad I can hardly look at the cover), Gone With the Wind, The Bible, Harry Potter, The Hunger Games and, believe or not, The Brothers Karamazov and War and Peace. There were some surprises, at least to me, and that was why I wrote this thread. I should add I was more interested in names familiar to me, some of the celebrities' picks rather than authors' picks, few of whom I knew.
* First Lady Barbara Bush liked Pride & Prejudice, a book everyone loves but which I found so unbearable I couldn't finish it; the Bible; and three I haven't heard of: The Way We Live Now, The Color of Water, and Something of Value.
* Her husband, President George H.W. Bush chose War and Peace and Franklin and Winston by Jon Meacham. But the real surprise for me was Andersonville by MacKinlay Kantor, the Pulitzer Prize winner from 1955 which has almost been forgotten.
* First Lady/Librarian Laura Bush, as you might expect, proved also to be a serious reader, choosing The Brothers Karamazov, All The Pretty Horses, My Antonia, David McCullough's Mornings on Horseback, Beloved, and (new to me) Bless Me, Ultima.
* Emmy- and Tony Award winner Kristen Chenoweth reveals her Christian sympathies: The Bible, The Purpose-Driven Life, and Left Behind. I don't know about those last two.
* Mrs. Clinton chose West with the Night, a book I enjoyed very much in The Adventure Library series. Another fan of Brothers Karamazov.
* Like all good Southerners, Bill Clinton chose the stoic philosophy of Meditations by Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius (a book popular in the old, stiff-upper-lip south) as well as Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, which I consider one of the greatest American novels; the perennial The Denial of Death (this one kept showing up in Woody Allen's Annie Hall); Macbeth (hmm…); and The Imitation of Christ. Pretty demanding, that last one.
* Cartoonist Jim Davis, creator of Garfield, liked The Call of the Wild, The Godfather, Hawaii by James Michener, and the selected writings of Groucho Marx. I have mixed feelings about The Call of the Wild, which I read in seventh grade, but I would very much like to read something by or about Groucho Marx, as I am a big fan. Harpo's autobiography was excellent and still gets recommended by readers and critics alike.
* I was surprised to see Jeff Foxworthy pick I Know This Much Is True but not so surprised that he picked the Bible, Lone Survivor, Velvet Elvis and one I've never heard of, Same Kind of Different as Me.
* I wasn't too impressed by Bill Gates's selections, though it was nice to see him recommend his dad's book, and not so nice to see The Hunger Games. Surely he can do better.
—to be continued…
3barney67
Celebrity Favorites Part 2
* Multi-award winning actor Tom Hanks looks like a serious reader based on his top five recommendations: My Name is Asher Lev, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, Citizen Soldiers by Stephen Ambrose, Mila 18 by Leon Uris, and Light a Penny Candle by Maeve Binchy. Binchy was highly acclaimed and beloved in her native Ireland, and was one of Ireland's richest women, but she doesn't get much attention here.
* Actress Marcia Gay Harden is another fan of Harry Potter, as well as The Road by Cormac McCarthy, A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin (excellent choice), The Giving Tree, and People of the Lake by Richard Leakey
* Skateboard legend Tony Hawk likes Green Eggs and Ham (come on, that's cheating), the autobiography of Lance Armstrong (now that's really cheating), High Fidelity by Nick Hornby, Endurance by Alfred Lansing (a real man's book), and First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers by Loung Ung.
* Rashida Jones, daughter of Quincy Jones and Peggy Lipton (remember her?) is known from the TV shows The Office and Parks & Recreation, but also is a comic book author. She picked The Giving Tree (so many people love that sad book), Wuthering Heights, a peculiar novel which people either love or hate, and American Pastoral by Philip Roth. I didn't realize that Rashida was a Harvard graduate. Who else would recommend Plato's Symposium? It's about love. That's all I remember.
* The lovely and talented Nicole Kidman, soon to portray Grace Kelly on the silver screen, seems to be recommending books she has been for her children: James the Giant Peach, The Happy Prince, Anne of Green Gables, and The Chronicles of Narnia. Well, she is a Catholic.
I bet you didn't know that Rumer Willis, daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore, was named after novelist Rumer Godden. Demi Moore reads Rumer Godden?
* John Lithgow, actor and children's book author often portrays odd geniuses, so it seems fitting that he chose one of the toughest novels to read, Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner.
* The exotic-looking, Cuban-American actress Eva Mendes was not afraid to admit that The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand is one of her favorites, along with Oh The Places You'll Go (another common pick by adults), The Picture of Dorian Gray, Awakening the Giant Within by Tony Robbins (?), and the Tao Te Ching (??) by Lao Tzu. Interesting picks.
* Peggy Noonan: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (a popular pick), Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France (often mentioned in certain political circles, but has anyone really read it?), The Once and Future King by T. H. White (many people like this book, but the anachronisms annoyed me), Profiles in Courage by Ted Sorenson—I mean John F. Kennedy—and the classic biography of Samuel Johnson by Walter Jackson Bate.
—to be continued…
* Multi-award winning actor Tom Hanks looks like a serious reader based on his top five recommendations: My Name is Asher Lev, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, Citizen Soldiers by Stephen Ambrose, Mila 18 by Leon Uris, and Light a Penny Candle by Maeve Binchy. Binchy was highly acclaimed and beloved in her native Ireland, and was one of Ireland's richest women, but she doesn't get much attention here.
* Actress Marcia Gay Harden is another fan of Harry Potter, as well as The Road by Cormac McCarthy, A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin (excellent choice), The Giving Tree, and People of the Lake by Richard Leakey
* Skateboard legend Tony Hawk likes Green Eggs and Ham (come on, that's cheating), the autobiography of Lance Armstrong (now that's really cheating), High Fidelity by Nick Hornby, Endurance by Alfred Lansing (a real man's book), and First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers by Loung Ung.
* Rashida Jones, daughter of Quincy Jones and Peggy Lipton (remember her?) is known from the TV shows The Office and Parks & Recreation, but also is a comic book author. She picked The Giving Tree (so many people love that sad book), Wuthering Heights, a peculiar novel which people either love or hate, and American Pastoral by Philip Roth. I didn't realize that Rashida was a Harvard graduate. Who else would recommend Plato's Symposium? It's about love. That's all I remember.
* The lovely and talented Nicole Kidman, soon to portray Grace Kelly on the silver screen, seems to be recommending books she has been for her children: James the Giant Peach, The Happy Prince, Anne of Green Gables, and The Chronicles of Narnia. Well, she is a Catholic.
I bet you didn't know that Rumer Willis, daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore, was named after novelist Rumer Godden. Demi Moore reads Rumer Godden?
* John Lithgow, actor and children's book author often portrays odd geniuses, so it seems fitting that he chose one of the toughest novels to read, Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner.
* The exotic-looking, Cuban-American actress Eva Mendes was not afraid to admit that The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand is one of her favorites, along with Oh The Places You'll Go (another common pick by adults), The Picture of Dorian Gray, Awakening the Giant Within by Tony Robbins (?), and the Tao Te Ching (??) by Lao Tzu. Interesting picks.
* Peggy Noonan: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith (a popular pick), Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France (often mentioned in certain political circles, but has anyone really read it?), The Once and Future King by T. H. White (many people like this book, but the anachronisms annoyed me), Profiles in Courage by Ted Sorenson—I mean John F. Kennedy—and the classic biography of Samuel Johnson by Walter Jackson Bate.
—to be continued…
4ABVR
Interesting thread -- thanks for the link . . . and the observations!
One observation off the top: The charge to these people was to pick not their five favorite books but the five most influential books in their lives . . . the books that shaped who they are. That strikes me as an important distinction, and one that explains a lot of patterns in the lists that might otherwise seem odd:
-- The preponderance of children's books, and of "stock" titles from American high-school reading lists (because they're the books people read when their characters were being formed)
-- The inclusion of stuff like Reflections on the Revolution in France (Peggy Noonan) or Absalom, Absalom (John Lithgow) that you might read once, but it sticks with you.
-- The (virtual) absence of non-fiction, which (I'm guessing) is an artifact of the respondents being heavily skewed to novelists, actors, musicians, and politicians rather than (say) scientists, historians, or engineers . . . (cf. astronomer Neil de Grasse Tyson's list).
Part of me is dying to see a graph of "how many people chose book X" . . . but not enough to do the number crunching myself (yet!). :-)
One observation off the top: The charge to these people was to pick not their five favorite books but the five most influential books in their lives . . . the books that shaped who they are. That strikes me as an important distinction, and one that explains a lot of patterns in the lists that might otherwise seem odd:
-- The preponderance of children's books, and of "stock" titles from American high-school reading lists (because they're the books people read when their characters were being formed)
-- The inclusion of stuff like Reflections on the Revolution in France (Peggy Noonan) or Absalom, Absalom (John Lithgow) that you might read once, but it sticks with you.
-- The (virtual) absence of non-fiction, which (I'm guessing) is an artifact of the respondents being heavily skewed to novelists, actors, musicians, and politicians rather than (say) scientists, historians, or engineers . . . (cf. astronomer Neil de Grasse Tyson's list).
Part of me is dying to see a graph of "how many people chose book X" . . . but not enough to do the number crunching myself (yet!). :-)
5ABVR
And . . . a (brief) defense of Bill Gates' taste in books:
>1 barney67: I wasn't too impressed by Bill Gates's selections, though it was nice to see him recommend his dad's book, and not so nice to see The Hunger Games. Surely he can do better.
Ah, but . . . consider that The Hunger Games is on the list along with stuff like Mountains Beyond Mountains and two other non-fiction books about how to avert a future in which resource scarcity, hunger, and preventable disease erode the quality of life (like the future described in The Hunger Games).
Gates -- being a smart guy -- may also recognize that he's playing to a school-age audience here. I wouldn't put it past him to be trying (via the juxtaposition) to underscore the point that The Hunger Games, like a lot of SF, has more than one layer to it . . . and maybe make a few lightbulbs go on over a few young heads.
edited for typos
>1 barney67: I wasn't too impressed by Bill Gates's selections, though it was nice to see him recommend his dad's book, and not so nice to see The Hunger Games. Surely he can do better.
Ah, but . . . consider that The Hunger Games is on the list along with stuff like Mountains Beyond Mountains and two other non-fiction books about how to avert a future in which resource scarcity, hunger, and preventable disease erode the quality of life (like the future described in The Hunger Games).
Gates -- being a smart guy -- may also recognize that he's playing to a school-age audience here. I wouldn't put it past him to be trying (via the juxtaposition) to underscore the point that The Hunger Games, like a lot of SF, has more than one layer to it . . . and maybe make a few lightbulbs go on over a few young heads.
edited for typos
6barney67
4 -- "The charge to these people was to pick not their five favorite books but the five most influential books in their lives . . . the books that shaped who they are."
You're right. I didn't read carefully enough and wasn't taking that into account when I wrote my commentary. It's impossible to say which books were chosen for influence versus enjoyment. There have been books influential in my life which I would not read again or recommend to anyone.
Thank you for reading my observations and commenting on them. I'm glad to know there's someone reading this thread.
{ETA: Bill Gates}
5 -- Right again. I was harsh on Gates, probably because I never liked him. But I can not deny the good he has done for the world. Recently I read a book that changed the way I look at the use of wealth, Ambition by Joseph Epstein. I recommend this book to everyone. Here is Gates's list.
The Catcher in the Rye
The Hunger Games
A Separate Peace
Showing Up for Life by Bill Gates, Sr
The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley
Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder
You're right. I didn't read carefully enough and wasn't taking that into account when I wrote my commentary. It's impossible to say which books were chosen for influence versus enjoyment. There have been books influential in my life which I would not read again or recommend to anyone.
Thank you for reading my observations and commenting on them. I'm glad to know there's someone reading this thread.
{ETA: Bill Gates}
5 -- Right again. I was harsh on Gates, probably because I never liked him. But I can not deny the good he has done for the world. Recently I read a book that changed the way I look at the use of wealth, Ambition by Joseph Epstein. I recommend this book to everyone. Here is Gates's list.
The Catcher in the Rye
The Hunger Games
A Separate Peace
Showing Up for Life by Bill Gates, Sr
The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley
Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder
7barney67
Celebrity Favorites Part 3
* A nod to unlikable actress Sarah Jessica Parker for selecting the wondrous, if enigmatic fantasy novel Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin.
* The versatile and talented thespian Mandy Pantinkin predictably chose some serious books: Hamlet and The Tempest, the bestselling paperbacks by Shakespeare; the perennial puzzler, Man's Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl; Stefan Zweig's autobiography, The World of Yesterday; and Lincoln's Melancholy by Joshua Wolfe Shenk. The latter makes me wonder if Patinkin suffers from depression.
* The multi-talented, multi-award winning Bernadette Peters. What to say of this luscious, Italian beauty with the Titian locks and creamy complexion? She surprised me by listing as one of her favorites Losing Mum and Pup, Christopher Buckley's memoir about his parents. Bernadette Peters is reading about the Buckleys? Maybe not so unusual. No doubt the subject of multi-talented show-business women attracted Peters to the autobiographies of Mary Tyler Moore, Julie Andrews, and to the children's book Eloise by Kay Thompson. Like any sane, large-hearted person, Peters is a dog lover and follows the advice of Cesar Milan. Or tries to. His methods never worked for me or my dog.
* Daniel Radcliffe, the actor who portrayed the androgynous Harry Potter onscreen, made some interesting choices: The Old Man and the Sea (Hemingway's best in my opinion), Germinal by Emile Zola, and The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov. I considered docking him a few points for recommending a Harry Potter book, but obviously it was a huge influence in his life. But I'm docking him many points for recommending the insufferable Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter Thompson. The only good thing I can say about Thompson is that he spent his last years living alone on a mountain where he could do the least amount of damage to society. Radcliffe read him at the age of 15, which seems about right.
* The annoying, endless chatty reporter Lesley Stahl was not ashamed to admit that she is a big fan of The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, hardly in the same league as her better pick, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.
* TV commentator George Stephanopoulos is better read than I thought: Moral Man and Immoral Society by Reinhold Niebuhr, Sentimental Education by Flaubert; Rabbit, Run by John Updike. But what am I to make of his inclusion of the worldess Curious George? Wait…George…
* Hilary Swank is another fan of Atlas Shrugged. Lots of Rand fans out there. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
* Taylor Swift…uh, no.
* Award-winning, brainy British beauty, actress Emma Thompson named Sherlock Holmes, One Hundred Years of Solitude, George Eliot's Middlemarch, which Shelby Foote once called the greatest novel of all time; and one I've never even heard of, a children's fantasy called The Weirdstone of Brisingamen written in 1960 by Alan Garner. Oddly, ten years after it was published, Garner himself called it one of the worst books written in twenty years. Writers…
* The ruler of Time, Space, and Dimension: Oprah. She likes everything. Let's move on.
* Often called one of the nicest men in Hollywood, though that is not saying much, Henry Winkler really surprised me by recommending The Octopus by Frank Norris. Hardly anyone reads Frank Norris anymore except possibly English majors or graduate students, and if they do it is usually McTeague. The Octopus: A Story of Calfornia, was the first volume in Norris's unfinished The Epic of The Wheat trilogy. It portrayed the conflicts between California wheat farmers and the railroad tycoons of the early 20th century. The Fonz also mentioned The Alienist by Caleb Carr, The Mark of the Assassin by Daniel Silva, The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel, and something called In and Out of the Garbage Pail by Frederick S. Perls. Yeah, that one really threw me. I had to google it and this is what I found from Amazon:
I don't know, Fonz. That don't sound cool.
* A nod to unlikable actress Sarah Jessica Parker for selecting the wondrous, if enigmatic fantasy novel Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin.
* The versatile and talented thespian Mandy Pantinkin predictably chose some serious books: Hamlet and The Tempest, the bestselling paperbacks by Shakespeare; the perennial puzzler, Man's Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl; Stefan Zweig's autobiography, The World of Yesterday; and Lincoln's Melancholy by Joshua Wolfe Shenk. The latter makes me wonder if Patinkin suffers from depression.
* The multi-talented, multi-award winning Bernadette Peters. What to say of this luscious, Italian beauty with the Titian locks and creamy complexion? She surprised me by listing as one of her favorites Losing Mum and Pup, Christopher Buckley's memoir about his parents. Bernadette Peters is reading about the Buckleys? Maybe not so unusual. No doubt the subject of multi-talented show-business women attracted Peters to the autobiographies of Mary Tyler Moore, Julie Andrews, and to the children's book Eloise by Kay Thompson. Like any sane, large-hearted person, Peters is a dog lover and follows the advice of Cesar Milan. Or tries to. His methods never worked for me or my dog.
* Daniel Radcliffe, the actor who portrayed the androgynous Harry Potter onscreen, made some interesting choices: The Old Man and the Sea (Hemingway's best in my opinion), Germinal by Emile Zola, and The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov. I considered docking him a few points for recommending a Harry Potter book, but obviously it was a huge influence in his life. But I'm docking him many points for recommending the insufferable Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter Thompson. The only good thing I can say about Thompson is that he spent his last years living alone on a mountain where he could do the least amount of damage to society. Radcliffe read him at the age of 15, which seems about right.
* The annoying, endless chatty reporter Lesley Stahl was not ashamed to admit that she is a big fan of The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand, hardly in the same league as her better pick, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.
* TV commentator George Stephanopoulos is better read than I thought: Moral Man and Immoral Society by Reinhold Niebuhr, Sentimental Education by Flaubert; Rabbit, Run by John Updike. But what am I to make of his inclusion of the worldess Curious George? Wait…George…
* Hilary Swank is another fan of Atlas Shrugged. Lots of Rand fans out there. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.
* Taylor Swift…uh, no.
* Award-winning, brainy British beauty, actress Emma Thompson named Sherlock Holmes, One Hundred Years of Solitude, George Eliot's Middlemarch, which Shelby Foote once called the greatest novel of all time; and one I've never even heard of, a children's fantasy called The Weirdstone of Brisingamen written in 1960 by Alan Garner. Oddly, ten years after it was published, Garner himself called it one of the worst books written in twenty years. Writers…
* The ruler of Time, Space, and Dimension: Oprah. She likes everything. Let's move on.
* Often called one of the nicest men in Hollywood, though that is not saying much, Henry Winkler really surprised me by recommending The Octopus by Frank Norris. Hardly anyone reads Frank Norris anymore except possibly English majors or graduate students, and if they do it is usually McTeague. The Octopus: A Story of Calfornia, was the first volume in Norris's unfinished The Epic of The Wheat trilogy. It portrayed the conflicts between California wheat farmers and the railroad tycoons of the early 20th century. The Fonz also mentioned The Alienist by Caleb Carr, The Mark of the Assassin by Daniel Silva, The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel, and something called In and Out of the Garbage Pail by Frederick S. Perls. Yeah, that one really threw me. I had to google it and this is what I found from Amazon:
A novel autobiography (sic) in which the author applies his theory of focusing on awareness, writing "whatever wants to be written." Partly in poetic form, often playful, sometimes theoretical, the book is a many-faceted mosaic of memories and reflections on his life—in the past and at the moment—and on the origins and continuing development of Gestalt therapy.
I don't know, Fonz. That don't sound cool.
8tardis
Emma Thompson has good taste :) I loved The Weirdstone of Brisingamen - read it many times in my teen years. I still have my old copy. Should re-read.
9anglemark
Alan Garner - now there's a terrific writer. Forgotten? Not on this side of the pond, I think.
11barney67
Celebrity Favorites Part 4: Surprises/Noteworthy Picks
Nnamdi Asomugha (pro football player) -- The Bible.
Barbara Bush -- Pride and Prejudice, The Color of Water, The Way We Live Now, Something of Value.
George H. W. Bush -- Andersonville.
Kristen Chenoweth (actress) -- Left Behind.
Hillary Clinton -- The Return of the Prodigal Son.
Bill Clinton -- The Denial of Death, The Imitation of Christ, The Evolution of Civilizations, Nonzero.
Jim Davis (cartoonist) -- Hawaii.
Kevin Durant (pro basketball player) -- Essentials of Meteorology.
Soleil Moon Frye (actress) -- Song of Myself.
Tom Hanks -- Light a Penny Candle, Mila 18
Marcia Gay Harden (actress) -- A Soldier of the Great War.
Rashida Jones (actress) -- The Symposium.
Nicole Kidman (actress) -- The Chronicles of Narnia.
John Lithgow (actor) -- Absalom, Absalom!
Eli Manning (pro quarterback) -- Where The Red Fern Grows.
Eva Mendes (actress) -- The Fountainhead, Tao Te Ching.
Thandie Newton (actress) -- The Mill on the Floss.
Peggy Noonan (columnist) -- Samuel Johnson.
Sarah Jessica Parker (actress) -- Winter's Tale.
Jim Parsons (actor) -- Sears Roebuck & Co. Catalog.
Mandy Patinkin (singer, actor) -- Lincoln's Melancholy.
James Patterson (hack) -- The Bridge of San Luis Rey.
Bernadette Peters (singer, actress) -- Losing Mum and Pup.
Zac Posen (fashion designer) -- Paradise Lost.
Daniel Radcliffe (actor) -- The Master and Margarita.
Christina Ricci (actress) -- The Chronicles of Narnia.
Harry Smith (TV news anchor) -- The Bible.
Lesley Stahl (TV reporter) -- The Fountainhead.
George Stephanopoulos (TV political commentator) -- Moral Man and Immoral Society, Sentimental Education.
Francisco X. Stork (novelist & lawyer) -- The Living, Franny and Zooey, King Lear.
Amar'e Stoudemire (pro basketball player) -- The Bible.
Hilary Swank (actress) -- Atlas Shrugged.
Emma Thompson (actress) -- Middlemarch, The Weirdstone of Brisingamen.
Justin Tuck (pro football player) -- The Bible, Raising Cain.
Brian Williams (TV news anchor) -- The Warrior Elite.
Henry Winkler (The Fonz) -- The Octopus.
Nnamdi Asomugha (pro football player) -- The Bible.
Barbara Bush -- Pride and Prejudice, The Color of Water, The Way We Live Now, Something of Value.
George H. W. Bush -- Andersonville.
Kristen Chenoweth (actress) -- Left Behind.
Hillary Clinton -- The Return of the Prodigal Son.
Bill Clinton -- The Denial of Death, The Imitation of Christ, The Evolution of Civilizations, Nonzero.
Jim Davis (cartoonist) -- Hawaii.
Kevin Durant (pro basketball player) -- Essentials of Meteorology.
Soleil Moon Frye (actress) -- Song of Myself.
Tom Hanks -- Light a Penny Candle, Mila 18
Marcia Gay Harden (actress) -- A Soldier of the Great War.
Rashida Jones (actress) -- The Symposium.
Nicole Kidman (actress) -- The Chronicles of Narnia.
John Lithgow (actor) -- Absalom, Absalom!
Eli Manning (pro quarterback) -- Where The Red Fern Grows.
Eva Mendes (actress) -- The Fountainhead, Tao Te Ching.
Thandie Newton (actress) -- The Mill on the Floss.
Peggy Noonan (columnist) -- Samuel Johnson.
Sarah Jessica Parker (actress) -- Winter's Tale.
Jim Parsons (actor) -- Sears Roebuck & Co. Catalog.
Mandy Patinkin (singer, actor) -- Lincoln's Melancholy.
James Patterson (hack) -- The Bridge of San Luis Rey.
Bernadette Peters (singer, actress) -- Losing Mum and Pup.
Zac Posen (fashion designer) -- Paradise Lost.
Daniel Radcliffe (actor) -- The Master and Margarita.
Christina Ricci (actress) -- The Chronicles of Narnia.
Harry Smith (TV news anchor) -- The Bible.
Lesley Stahl (TV reporter) -- The Fountainhead.
George Stephanopoulos (TV political commentator) -- Moral Man and Immoral Society, Sentimental Education.
Francisco X. Stork (novelist & lawyer) -- The Living, Franny and Zooey, King Lear.
Amar'e Stoudemire (pro basketball player) -- The Bible.
Hilary Swank (actress) -- Atlas Shrugged.
Emma Thompson (actress) -- Middlemarch, The Weirdstone of Brisingamen.
Justin Tuck (pro football player) -- The Bible, Raising Cain.
Brian Williams (TV news anchor) -- The Warrior Elite.
Henry Winkler (The Fonz) -- The Octopus.
