BEST AUTHOR. BEST. : LISA SCOTTOLINE [ 2 ]

.-  WHAT'S the last great book you read?

The fabulous '' Full Bloom,'' by my daughter, Francesca Serritella. '' Strangers in Time,'' by David Baldacci. '' The Florios of Sicily,'' by Stefania Auci.

The audiobook of '' The Lehman Trilogy ,'' by Stefano Massini, narrated by the great Edoardo Ballerini.

'' Shantaram,'' by Gregory David Roberts. '' The Golem and the Jinni,'' by Helene Wecker.

.-  Are there any classic novels that you only recently read for the first time?

'' The Leopard,'' by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa.

.-  You've been a real booster for your daughter and her work. Who was that for you?

My mother. When I got published, she made a poster with my picture, captioned Local Author.

She drove with it in the back window of her Dodge Omni for the next 15 years. That's love.

.-  What's the last book you recommended to a member of your family?

I recommended '' The Creative Act : A Way of  Being,'' by Rick Rubin, to Francesca, and she loved it, too.

Rubin narrates the audiobook, which offers genuine insight about life and art, mixed with Zen balm.

.-  What's the last book you read that made you laugh?

Nate Bargatze's charming audiobook of his memoir, '' Big Dumb Eyes,'' Gary Shteyngart's '' Little Failure.''

I also loved Barbra Streisand's audiobook of her memoir, '' My Name Is Barbra.''

She's a goddess, a phenomenal storyteller and laugh-out-loud funny.

.-  You took a class with Philip Roth as a Penn undergraduate. What was he like as a professor?

It was like taking physics with Einstein. Each week, Roth would deliver an extemporaneous lecture about the novel he'd assigned us. 

It wasn't a class, it was a virtuoso performance.

The World Students Society thanks The New York Times.