How I'll Spend My Summer Vacation

''I'm going to catch up on my reading. Zora Neale Hurston's Dust Tracks on a Road and Their Eyes Were Watching God and James Baldwin's Another Country are on my list, and so is that Michael Jackson bio! I'm looking forward to Jungle Fever and Dying Young and to watching some old Marlene Dietrich movies. And I'll be listening to the new albums by Luther Vandross and Keith Washington.''
— Jody Watley, singer, working on Affairs of the Heart

''I'm going to watch all the reruns of Roseanne Barr's show, since I was working most nights it aired. I'm going to read a book on language, but I can't remember the name of it.''
— Victoria Jackson, star of Saturday Night Live

''I want to hear the new Chris Whitley album [Living With the Law].''
— Brad Pitt, actor, Thelma & Louise

''I'm doing research into Restoration comedy because I want to produce one next year in L.A. They're all about the sex wars with an enormous amount of humor in them — things Americans love.''
— Amanda Donohoe, star of L.A. Law and Dark Obsession

''After a long NBA season, I'm looking forward to doing nothing for a while. I will be catching up on some film classics I have missed, such as Dances With Wolves.''
— Marv Albert, NBC sportscaster

''I want to see Jungle Fever and get the new Elvis Costello album [Mighty Like a Rose].''
— Tim Robbins, star of Jacob's Ladder

''First, I want to go see The Secret Garden. It was one of my favorite books growing up. Then I want to see the Cirque du Soleil. It's fabulous. The other day, they invited me to fly on the trapeze after the show — now I'm hooked.''
— Karen Witter, actress, ABC's One Life to Live (and a trained acrobat)

''Leonard Part 7. If we're denied that, anything with John Ritter in it.''
— Penn Jillette, currently starring on Broadway in Penn & Teller: The Refrigerator Tour

''A French remake of The Marrying Man.''
— Teller

''I've got this little book called The Coast of Chicago [by Stuart Dybek]. I chose it because I'm shooting a new romantic comedy in Chicago and also because it's only about 170 pages long. I can read it in little bites before I fall asleep every night. But what I'm really looking forward to is the fall and winter when I can watch videotapes of all the summer movies I'm going to miss while I'm working.''
— Barnet Kellman, director of Murphy Brown

''I'm looking forward to seeing Robin Hood. I like the whole idea of escaping in summer movies — going with a big crowd and laughing and screaming at the screen together.''
— Geena Davis, star of Thelma & Louise

''It's very boring, but I want to read the book The Creation of the American Republic by Gordon S. Wood.''
— Ron Silver, star of Reversal of Fortune

''I'm really looking forward to Backdraft. Ron Howard is like the Quincy Jones of movies — you see his name and you know you're going to see something fabulous. I may or may not read J. Randy Taraborrelli's account of Michael Jackson. It's probably fascinating, but I'd hate to read something that may be fallacious.''
— Luther Vandross, R&B singer, Power of Love