READING L.A.

Alan Kornbluth, salon owner:

“The Hammer of Eden” by Ken Follett (Crown).

“This is a very suspenseful novel, especially if you wonder what happened to all those hippies. Follett brings a group of them into modern times. He is a wonderful writer, better now than he was when he started.”

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Deborah Bander, entertainment industry assistant:

“Confessions of an Art Addict” by Peggy Guggenheim (The Ecco Press).

“Guggenheim negotiates between the sublime and mundane as she records every car trip and impromptu dinner party on her way from being a bored heiress to a patron of the avant-garde.”

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Valerie Wallace, real estate agent:

“Toxin” by Robin Cook (Berkley).

“A girl dies after eating bacteria-laden fast food and her father, a doctor, decides to find out why. Cook’s premise makes for an intense medical thriller that also exposes how an HMO does, or doesn’t, work.”

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John Van Vliet, visual effects supervisor:

“Chief: My Life in the L.A.P.D.” by Daryl F. Gates (Bantam).

“Reading a book like this is like being a witness to history. I think the author would probably make a very interesting dinner guest.”