When James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director and author of “A Higher Loyalty,” reads fiction, it’s “almost always something my kids are reading, so I can … pretend to be cool.”

What books are on your nightstand?

“Grant,” by Ron Chernow (actual nightstand); “The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Defender of the Realm 1940-1965,” by William Manchester and Paul Reid (living room table).

When and where do you like to read?

In bed and in the living room.

What was the last truly great book you read?

“Why the West Rules — for Now,” by Ian Morris, a sweeping look at the patterns of human history and a glimpse at the future.