GOOD READS

It's a horribly annoying personality trait, the book lover's penchant for quizzing other book lovers about whatever it is they happen to be reading at any particular moment.

Nonetheless, in our never-ending quest to keep our bookshelf perpetually replenished, we asked a handful of Las Vegas performer/bookworms to tell us what they're reading, what they've read and what they return to read over and over.

Here's what they said:

TERRY FATOR

The ventriloquist/singer/impressionist/"America's Got Talent" winner's favorite author is George MacDonald, a 19th-century Scottish author, poet and Christian minister.

Fator's favorite MacDonald work is "At the Back of the North Wind," a children's book published in 1871 that tells the story of a young country boy's adventures with the North Wind.

"I've read it a hundred times," says Fator, who considers the tale's "childlike innocence" a welcome antidote "when you get to the point where life is just so stressful and you feel everything is going too fast."

Then, "I read pretty much any kind of book," says Fator, whose show is scheduled to open next month at The Mirage and whose autobiography is titled "Who's the Dummy Now?" "I love biographies, nonfiction, horror -- I love Stephen King -- but what I've been reading lately is tons of George MacDonald."

MAC KING

"My bookshelves are kind of just all over the place," says comedy magician Mac King, who performs at Harrah's Las Vegas.

But, at the moment, King is engrossed in reading in order Rex Stout's mystery series featuring urbane detective Nero Wolfe, who appeared in 33 novels and 39 short stories from the '30s to the 1970s.

"It's my favorite series," he says. "I think the combination of the detective and this assistant is really great. It's a great example, to me, of a friendship between men."

Also among King's reader recommendations: "Winter's Tale" by Mark Helprin ("I've read that a couple of times"); "The Mezzanine" by Nicholson Baker ("I read all his books; I'm a big fan of his"); Raymond Chandler's private eye novels ("I've read a bunch over and over again"); and books about "recreational mathematics" and science, such as "Genius," James Gleick's biography of physicist Richard Feynman.

RITA RUDNER

The comedian, who performs at Harrah's, is an author herself, with a resume that includes four books (two of them novels), several screenplays, a play and, of course, her own comedic material.

But lately, admits Rudner, "I'm reading what all mothers of 6-year-old little girls read: Junie B. Jones. The whole series, of course. And we're currently reading '(Junie B. Jones and) the Yucky Blucky Fruitcake.' ''

Actually, Rudner says, the books in the series by Barbara Park are "funny books. They're actually amusing to adults as well as children."

Among the more grown-up books Rudner has enjoyed recently are "Zigzag: The Incredible Wartime Exploits of Double Agent Eddie Chapman" by Nicholas Booth ("It was fantastic, and it's a true story") and "Saturday" by Ian McEwan ("He writes with such detail and every sentence is so beautifully constructed").

Husband Martin Bergman also has read John le Carre's latest, "A Most Wanted Man." But, Rudner figures, "because we've been married 20 years, if he reads it, it still counts for me."

GEORGE WALLACE

The comedian, who performs at the Flamingo Las Vegas, counts Barack Obama's autobiography as a recently read favorite.

Otherwise, Wallace spends most of his reading time perusing newspapers and business periodicals and books. Before entering comedy, Wallace had a successful career working in marketing and advertising in New York City.

So, he still reads business and "a lot of self-help," he says, including Joel Osteen's "Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential" and A.L. Williams' "All You Can Do Is All You Can Do, But All You Can Do is Enough!"

Still, Wallace is realistic about the genre. "You read one or two of those self-help books, and they pretty much say the same thing," he says.

PENN JILLETTE

The more verbose half of the comedy/magic duo Penn & Teller says he "used to think I was the kind of guy who read one book at a time."

Now, after having discovered the Kindle, says Jillette, whose show runs at The Rio, "it turns out I was the kind of guy who carried one book at a time."

Among Jillette's recently read or now-being-read books are Nassim Nicholas Taleb's "The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable" ("I like that a lot, but it's a little bit self-help and poppy for my tastes) and Leonard Mlodinow's "The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives" ("a little more math-oriented, a little less self-help, a little less smuggy, preachy, soundbite-off-TVish").

Then, Jillette says, "the one I always have on here is 'Atlas Shrugged' (by Ayn Rand). I read that over and over. And I'm always reading 'Moby Dick,' and I'm also reading 'Don Quixote' all the time."

ANDREW RAGONE

Andrew Ragone, who plays the principal role of Raoul in "Phantom -- the Las Vegas Spectacular" at The Venetian, has been an avid reader all his life and usually reads each night before falling asleep.

Among his recent favorites: "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini, which follows the lives of two women in Afghanistan under the Taliban ("It's just an amazing book. I think I'm always drawn to books that are amazing life stories of interesting people who could be real.").

What book would he take with him if he were stranded on a desert island? Ragone offers up the appropriate "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding.

"That book I have read several times over the years," he says. "It's just so hauntingly real and gives you such insights into human nature."

Contact reporter John Przybys at jprzybys@review journal.com or 702-383-0280.