Adult

Speaking of retellings of well-known tales, I used to love watching the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show when I was little, and this book includes all of my favorites from the Fractured Fairy Tale sketches.

I once saw a great piece on Neil Diamond on CBS Sunday Morning, and I was impressed by how down-to-Earth he seemed to be. Wild’s love letter to his idol further enhances my opinion of Diamond as a superstar who never seems to have received his due from critics (fortunately, his fans adore him, and I am now solidly in his corner). A quick “biography” that is just as entertaining in how it chronicles Wild’s musical life as much as Diamond’s.

If the title doesn’t hook you, a glimpse at some of Notaro’s vignettes about her uproarious exploits and truly unique life experiences should provide you with a well-deserved pause from your own troubles.

Sedaris is one of my favorite humorists, and this collection of short stories should make you laugh following a hectic holiday season.

Here’s an endorsement from a tiny author known as J.K. Rowling: “the most remarkable book…I do think (Doyle) is a genius.” Need I say more (by the way, Doyle wrote one of my favorite books, The Commitments)?

A wonderful collection of philosophical quizzes sure to get you to re-examine how you view the world (or, at least, how you currently think you view the world).

Why not start the summer by being able to say you read a Classic in its entirety? At only 72 pages, The Diaries of Adam and Eve highlights the writing style that truly makes Twain one of the greatest American writers of all time. It’s laugh-out-loud funny, while also capturing a moving love story. Gosh – I wish I could write as well as Twain. He provides me endless joy.

I am guessing this is more of a "guy book." While many find this book to be disturbing, I think Palahniuk does a great job of creating characters who struggle to deal with their mundane lives. Maybe I fit the profile of a serial killer for saying this, but I found the book and movie to be hilarious.

A friend insisted I read this to brighten my spirits, and it worked like a charm. Very funny and absurd, and sure to meet the fancy of fans of Cheech & Chong.

Quindlen's reflections on her reading experiences, readers and the state of reading in general is one of the best accounts I have ever read on why books matter.

This summer, why not take a moment to pause and reflect about what really matters. Bender’s touching memoir of seeking simplicity among the Amish while leaving the harried lifestyle so many of us lead is poignant, beautiful writing.

I wanted to begin the new year with a book that could make everyone laugh, cry and think, and I could not think of a finer writer to capture all human emotions than the expert satirist Jonathan Swift (best known for Gulliver’s Travels). This book contains a wonderful collection of Swift’s essays that should bring joy to anyone who is trying to decide who to vote for in 2008’s elections (I have not seen any candidate make as bold of a proposal as Swift’s “modest” idea for solving hunger and overpopulation by encouraging poor Irish folks to eat their babies). This is one of the books that actually attracted me to literature as a teenager (while almost all other reading assigned to me quickly decimated any interest I had in the classics).

With the help of a black ex-GI, some determined German nuns build a chapel in the desert. Short in length but filled with substance, the movie earned Sidney Poitier a well-deserved Oscar in 1963.

This is the perfect type of book for the lazy reader who wants to sound “cultured” at a cocktail party. At under 80 pages, this classic is a terrific introduction into the quick wit of one of literature’s most prized humorists. The play is easily adaptable for modern middle and high school students, as well.

I like to sound intelligent every now and then by including a classic. This book freaked me out in high school, as it tells the story of a man whose African expeditions lead him to the heart of the Belgian Congo and the darkness of man’s desire for power (classically adapted by Francis Ford Coppolla into his Vietnam epic Apocalypse Now). I am always more fascinated learning the story behind the story (the same as the story behind any great painting), and you may find it interesting to know that English was Conrad’s third language (he preferred to write in French).