Most students questioned at the close of last semester either laughed uproariously at the thought of extracurricular reading during finals or ran hurriedly down Locust Walk emitting snarls and non-sequiturs at our man on the street.

For those who did take enough study breaks last month to glance at something other than a textbook, they struggled to recall the names of the books, never mind names of the authors (we added them).

Next finals week, we promise no literary or otherwise taxing surveys. How about best over-the-counter pain relief medicine? Best and most caffeinated coffee brands? Or, maybe just best reason to ignore our Locust Walk reporter?

• Deirdre Flynn
  Class of 2000, Wharton
  Out of Africa, by Isak Dinesen
  "It has great descriptions of Africa during the colonization period and modernization of a relatively undeveloped country."

• Alex Jackson
  Class of 2000, College
  Dr. Zhivago, by Boris Pasternak
  "It's good stuff. I'm really into Russian culture and it epitomizes it during a key time period."

• Malia Brink
  Class of 2000, Law
  Towing Jehovah, by James Morrow
  "It's about religious cynicism. God dies and falls into the ocean and there's an attempt to tow the body to the Antarctic to freeze it and to evade what would happen if people believed there was no god."

• Jason Terp
  Class of 1999, Wharton
  Power Play, by Tom Clancy
  "It's typical Clancey - high action, technology and lots of concurrent plots that all come together at the end."

• Chris Johnson
  Class of 1999, College
  Letters from Hunter S. Thompson
  "I love it. He talks about things that others don't talk about."

• Hannah Greenstein
  Class of 2001, College
  Power of One, by Bryce Courtenay
  "It's about apartheid in South Africa. It's not like mind candy. There's a lot of substance."

• Gina Faarup
  Class of 2001, College
  Contact, by Carl Sagan
  "It's really very good. It manages to combine science fiction with religion and beliefs."

• Kathy Neuhaus
  Class of 1998, College
  On the Road, by Jack Kerouac
  "I decided I had to read something from the Beat Generation, so I know what it's all about."

• Erik Simpson
  Third Year Grad Student, English
  The Portrait of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde
  "It's terrific ... funny ... brilliant!"

• Next Issue - Our reporter on Locust Walk asks us for the CD you're wearing out right now.