READING L.A.

Pierce Brosnan, actor:

“Awakening the Mind, Lightening the Heart,” by the Dalai Lama (HarperCollins).

“This is a book that I return to again and again. I had the privilege of meeting the Dalai Lama at the Museum of Tolerance in Beverly Hills. He sat there twiddling his thumbs. Now my son, Sean, is having all the fun; he’s reading ‘Catcher in the Rye.’ ”

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Bill Lee, Western regional counsel, NAACP Legal Defense Fund:

“Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America,” by Garry Wills (Simon & Schuster).

“I’ve always had a generic view of Lincoln without realizing what he did to develop American nationalism. Before the Gettysburg Address, we spoke of the United States in the plural and, afterward, in the singular.”

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Linda Goldstein Knowlton, movie producer:

“Stolen Tongue,” by Sheri Holman (Grove Atlantic).

“I’m obsessed with relics (which this novel is full of--including, yes--a tongue), but the book also offers a powerful insight into people’s lives in the Middle Ages. It takes place on that border between paganism and Catholicism.”

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Lynda Palevsky, community activist:

“The Book of Tibetan Elders: The Life Stories and Wisdom of the Great Spiritual Masters of Tibet,” by Sandy Johnson (Riverhead).

“These are interviews with Tibetan elders living in exile since the Chinese invasion in 1959. They do not speak like victims. All hope to return someday to Tibet, but they carry the beauty and wisdom of their country inside them.”