Welcome to the Lazy Readers' Book Club, your reading time manager!
This is where you go when you want to read quality books that don't take years to finish. My mission is to increase interest in reading by providing cool, short book recommendations for all ages. From interest comes devotion.
As teachers, parents or whatever state we find ourselves in, we often cannot find time to read for fun, and I think it is important that our children see us reading for pleasure. Therefore, each month I provide book recommendations that are quick and easy to read for personal pleasure. I try not to include any books over 250 pages, and I always include books written for a variety of ages (don't be shy about reading kids' books, though; they are my favorites because they generally have shorter chapters, bigger print and colorful pictures). I hope you find a few moments to enjoy these quick reads in May:
The * stands for “Chemo Not Included.” If you ever want to read a memoir, stick to comedians. They are our most precious commodities, as they have a way of dealing with serious issues lightly. As someone who admires comedians greatly, I was extremely pleased when Lissa Warren at DaCapo Lifelong Books sent me not one but two copies of Schimmel’s compelling page-turner about how humor got him through his battle with cancer. Why does that please me? After I read the books that make my lists, I always donate them to teachers, libraries and literacy charities. This is one I wanted to keep for myself (I gave the other one to a student), as Schimmel does everything a great writer needs to do: he makes you laugh, he makes you cry and he makes you think. Better yet, he does it all in under 200 pages!
I am increasingly drawn to books with great titles, short stories and funny observations about other people’s miseries. This book has all of those things, and I look forward to reading more works by Crosley in the future. An easy read, perfect for a mindless afternoon at the beach.
#03
Life Is So Good
by George Dawson & Richard Glaubman
Amazon says that this book is 272 pages, but my copy is 260 and includes a lot of blank pages. Regardless, I have boasted about this book to too many people to leave it off my recommended readings. This is one of the most inspirational stories I have ever read (I’ve read it twice in the last three months), as it chronicles 103-year-old Dawson’s life and how he learned to read at age 98. Try reading the first chapter without crying (by the way: if you want to focus just on how he learned how to read at age 98, skip ahead to chapter 21).
I teach a lot of African-American teenage girls who complain that there are not a lot of good things out there to read, so they challenged me to read a lot more African-American literature. I guess the great thing about discussing books is that I stumble upon sweet pieces I probably would have never discovered on my own. This wonderful second novel by Whittenberg is a very quick read that reminds me of an African-American version of Dead Poet’s Society (but I enjoy this book a lot more than I enjoyed that movie, and you can email me if you want to know why I am not a fan of that flick).
I have spoken at three school districts in the last month and a half that are discouraging students from reading this book. What “book banners” do not seem to comprehend is that banning books is precisely the way to make a book a bestseller. In fact, I pray that some day I may author a book that causes protests and boycotts. Why anyone would want to ban this book is beyond me. Boys love it, and – frankly – I rejoice whenever I can find a book that boys like that does not include graphic language or images. Kinney is hilarious, and this book should find its way off banned reading lists and on to recommended summer reading. I highly recommend this book (and its recently released sequel).
It seems to be increasingly difficult to find books for teens that do not deal with sex, drugs and guns. I grabbed this book solely because I liked the author’s photo and was excited this was her first book. What I was treated to was a book that relies more on the author’s writing ability than any shock value…a simple and sweet story about a girl that learns the difference between love and a crush.
If you have a boy who does not like to read, I’d recommend checking out Stone Arch Books. They produce all sorts of wonderful books, and I especially enjoy their graphic novels. This gem includes a lot of funny cartoons, writing prompts and discussion questions and works particularly well with 7-10 year-olds.
San Souci is one of my favorite authors/illustrators, and I greatly enjoy his Clubhouse series. Do yourself a favor and grab a copy of this and the other Clubhouse books, which are all silly and beautifully-illustrated and will let older readers like me reminisce of simpler times.
I am sort of addicted to these new scanimation books, as they operate like pop-up books on steroids. I have not shown this book to a single person who has not stopped what they are doing to stare in awe. You must check out this book.
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I hope you are all doing well. I just enjoyed a day of taking my kids to the beach and then to the pool. My little ones are growing so quickly, and I am treasuring these moments while they still want me in their lives. I have also been busily constructing my wife’s Mother’s Day gift, and we are all vacationing in Colorado at the end of the month.
I always get the bulk of my reading done on planes (or hanging out at a Border’s for a day), and I took a lot of planes this last month. I decided to tackle some thicker books that I have been meaning to read, including Tony Horwitz’s excellent A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World, Ladies of Liberty: The Women Who Shaped Our Nation by Cokie Roberts (she is such a gifted woman herself – I miss her on Sunday mornings) and the compelling Standing Tall: A Memoir of Tragedy and Triumph by Rutgers women’s basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer. If you have not noticed, I really like biographies, memoirs and other nonfiction.
Anyhow, enjoy this month’s book selections. I hope you are all reading some wonderful books. Make sure to tell me all about them. If you're an author or a publisher, feel free to send me a copy of your book, and I will consider it for review (as a matter of fact, I am always more likely to mention books that are sent to me…hint, hint).
Some folks take offense that I call this site the "Lazy" Readers' Book Club. I know many of us are avid readers. This site is for everyone who doesn't have time to read thicker books but still have a hunger to read some quality literature. What bothers me is that there are only 24 hours in a day, and hectic schedules often prevent us from one of life's greatest pleasures: reading. By the way: people who read more become better readers, and my experiences have shown me that people who reader shorter books eventually gravitate to longer ones. Indeed, even I find the time to read lengthier books, now that I have developed a taste for shorter ones.
Remember, books and other items purchased from Amazon.com through links from the lazyreaders.com website will directly benefit BookEnds (http://www.bookends.org), a nonprofit organization devoted to increasing children's access to books and community service awareness. All you have to do is visit our website, click on Amazon, and Amazon will donate up to 10 percent of your total purchase to BookEnds. Visitors to our site who have used this feature have already raised a lot of money for this wonderful cause. Keep it up!
Every day I receive emails from people who want to be sent this list of monthly book picks. If you know anybody who would like to be included on the list, ask them to register at our website link, http://lazyreaders.com/contact.html, to receive my monthly recommendations. If you want to be removed from this list, please just say so. I promise that I will never forward anything but my monthly book picks. That's the honest truth - no mortgage rate ads or promises to help you lose 10 lbs. in three hours. I'll just send book recommendations once a month.
Please remember to read for fun and to read to your children, and e-mail me any short books that you'd like to have considered for our lists.
