GARDINER, Maine — U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's favorite book, "All the Pretty Horses," is also a top pick of retired Gardiner librarian, Glenna Nowell.
In a letter to Nowell, Annan compared Cormac McCarthy's book to his other favorite, "Siddhartha" by Hermann Hesse.
"In both, the environment — the physical world — is itself a character that shapes events and the actions of the other characters," he wrote.
Nowell, who started polling politicians, athletes, authors and actors in 1988 for an annual list of celebrities' favorite reading materials, said this year's respondents showed unusually fine taste. The list is posted on the library's Web site, www.gpl.lib.me.us, in time for National Library Week April 1-7.
"Most of these books are really of a good literary quality," said Nowell, whose three-book-a-week appetite is sated by anything from light mystery to astrophysics.
When he wasn't speeding around a race track, Eddie Cheever Jr. was exploring the far corners of the universe between the covers of Stephen Hawking's "A Brief History of Time."
"Hawking's formidable mind opens up a part of our universe that to many of us has remained closed due to the complexity of the subject," the 1998 Indy 500 champion wrote.
Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura, who moonlights as a football commentator, chose "Rogue Warrior," Richard Marcinko's book about a top secret counter-terrorist SEAL unit.
Actress Brooke Shields, whose favorites include "The Hours" by Michael Cunningham, is among the more avid readers on Nowell's list.
Singer Janis Ian said her life was changed by Madeleine L'Engle's "A Wrinkle in Time."
Singer Johnny Mathis didn't get into titles, writing that "I read biographies quite a bit and read cookbooks as if they were novels."
Author Ken Follett said he was 12 when he first read Ian Fleming's "Casino Royale" and "It changed my life." He wrote that he has tried to create the same kind of suspense in his own books.
William Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard, called "Democracy in America" by Alexis deTocqueville "the best book on America and one of the best on politics simply."
Margaret Atwood's "The Blind Assassin" was a favorite of two of this year's readers: Nike Inc. Chairman Philip Knight and author Elmore Leonard.
Actress Lainie Kazan called "Blonde" by Joyce Carol Oates "an insightful glimpse into the psychology of an American icon."
Singer Annie Lennox picked a past celebrity favorite, "When Things Fall Apart" by Pema Chodron, saying the author shows how to apply ancient Tibetan teachings to stress-filled modern life.
"It's just amazing how important to people reading is," said Nowell.
Or, as Ian wrote: "Books rock!"