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Laughing Boy

Laughing Boy

By Oliver La Farge 193 pages Adult

Danny Says

I receive a ton of feedback about the Lazy Readers’ Club, and most of the comments come from women.  Many have asked for more romance-related stories, so I thought I would include this Pulitzer Prize winner that deals with a young Navajo couple’s budding romance.  I was most intrigued by the look at Native American life, especially since I attended junior high and high school near the Four Corners area.
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Ethan Frome

Ethan Frome

By Edith Wharton 68 pages Adult

Danny Says

A classic that is ideal reading for those of you who feel you are stuck in loveless marriages.  There are some pretty awesome twists in this romance, and I must admit I was quite engaged with the story.  Not the book to read if you want a pick-me-up, though.
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The Right Questions

The Right Questions

By Debbie Ford 192 pages Adult

Danny Says

The book is just a tad shorter than the title.  I figure that after reading Ethan Frome you may want to ask yourself how to make a relationship or dream work.  Ford lays out a pretty easy-to-understand roadmap to success for all areas of life.  I love self-help books like this.
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Silent Night

Silent Night

By Mary Higgins Clark 224 pages Adult

Danny Says

This book could just as easily make a Young Adult reading list, as I have recommended it to plenty of high schools and heard raves (especially from girls).  I have to confess that I love Mary Higgins Clark, as her books always entertain and force you to read them straight through to the end.  The teachers at the first elementary school I worked at used to swap her books like trading cards.  I read her books out of sure pleasure.
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The Motorcycle Diaries

The Motorcycle Diaries

By Che Guevara 166 pages Adult

Danny Says

No, I did not include this book because I am infatuated by Communist revolutionaries.  I enjoyed this book because it is one of the few journals that truly captures the simple traveler’s life on the road, and there are very limited travelogues on South America (although I hope to write one based on my experiences in 1996).  A movie version of the book will soon be in theatres.
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Dear Mr. President

Dear Mr. President

By Gabe Hudson 176 pages Adult

Danny Says

I read a review of this book that complained it was actually only 130-140 pages of actual writing, and that immediately drew me to the text.  While it is the author’s debut novel, it is a fairly bizarre and humorous set of tales of veterans’ Gulf War syndromes.  It is not as political as some claim.  Just enjoy it and don’t read too deeply into the situations (e.g. the veteran who grows a third ear).
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Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

By Tom Stoppard 128 pages Adult

Danny Says

If you have never read anything by Tom Stoppard, you are in for a treat.  I rate him as one of the most important playwrights of out time.  You may have seen his screenplay Shakespeare in Love.  This tale is also set in Elizabethan times and focuses on the mundane daily rituals of two minor characters from Shakespeare’s Hamlet.  Hilarious and original, like all of Stoppard’s works.
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Notes from Underground

Notes from Underground

By Fyodor Dostoevsky 136 pages Adult

Danny Says

Never had time to read Crime and Punishment, but you’d like to impress people at cocktail parties?  Here is a novella from Dostoevsky (say his name five times fast), and I must admit that I enjoyed it.  His characters remind me of a cross between Woody Allen and something J.D. Salinger or Albert Camus would create.  It is worth your time.
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The Hedonism Handbook

The Hedonism Handbook

By Michael Flocker 208 pages Adult

Danny Says

I know a lot of stressed people who need to get off to a good start in 2005.  This is the ultimate “anti” self-help book that celebrates butter and booze over diet and exercise.  Read this book, and you just may live the life of Jack Nicholson instead of the dude in the “American Gothic” painting.
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Cool Dead People

Cool Dead People

By Jane O'Boyle 160 pages Adult

Danny Says

I confess, when I don’t link to Amazon via the Lazy Readers’ website, I buy most of my books from a great discount book broker called Edward G. Hamilton (they send me a monthly catalog of books that all cost under $3).  I bought this book for a buck and read it in three hours.  I loved it!  It is filled with fascinating two-page obituaries of people I truly wish I had known.  Inspirational, quirky and fun.
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Daisy Miller

Daisy Miller

By Henry James 98 pages Adult

Danny Says

Great book for those who are having trouble getting to sleep.  I am not a huge fan of Henry James, so I figured I’d recommend one of his shorter books (I believe it was his first big commercial success).  Impress people at cocktail parties by discussing Daisy’s flaws abroad (she is like a 19th century sorority girl scampering around Europe).  This short book is a tad less painful than some of the film adaptations of James’s other works.
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Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress

By Dai Sijie 184 pages Adult

Danny Says

I guess I cannot take credit for discovering this book, as it is a bestseller. All I can say is that this is one of the more interesting books I have read in the past year. A great look into the Chinese Cultural Revolution, the book follows a couple of Chinese peasants who escape misery through literature. Do you think you have one of the world’s worst jobs? Try carrying excrement up hills everyday (I understand that a lot of us think our jobs entail that, but the protagonists in this book literally carry excrement up hills everyday).
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The Tao of Pooh

The Tao of Pooh

By Benjamin Hoff 158 pages Adult

Danny Says

This is an old favorite of mine, as the author offers spiritual awakening by combining the teachings of the great philosophers, Confucius and A.A. Milne. A treat for all ages. 
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The Private Life of the Cat Who...

The Private Life of the Cat Who...

By Lilian Jackson Braun 160 pages Adult

Danny Says

Braun’s “Cat Who” series consists of something like 25 books, and I will confess that this is not the best. It is the shortest, however, and I hope it gives you a taste of what to expect in her more interesting (but longer) mysteries, which usually run 240-320 pages.
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Their Eyes Were Watching God

Their Eyes Were Watching God

By Zora Neale Hurston 219 pages Adult

Danny Says

While the book exceeds my loosely-enforced 200-pages-or-less rule, it is one of those books that I was required to read that actually pleasantly surprised me. Hurston is masterful in her story-crafting and dialogue, and this book makes it evident why she is considered one of the most important African-American women authors of the Harlem Renaissance (which does not refer to the signing of Meadowlark Lemon by the Globetrotters).
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