What are some good books I can breeze through quickly?

Anything by Dan Brown. Very pulling books that will keep you reading chapter after chapter of cliff hangers. Great style of writing.

Read the whole Harry Potter Saga, if fantasy is allowed.

How about those Harloquin Romance novels? They seem to be easy reads.

Anne Tyler. Although on first reading this question, it sounded like an oxymoron to me.

How about Dean Koontz and Stephen King books?

Stephen King is definitely not a quick read… he says too much.

Jodi Picoult, Alice Sebold

I love Anne Tyler. I’ve read a great many of her books.

How about Harriet Doerr? ‘Stones for Ibarra’ and ‘Consider This, Senora’ are relatively easy reads, yet beautifully crafted fiction. I’m a huge fan. And the fact that she published her first book of fiction at age 74 is inspiring for all those of us who didn’t hit it big at a young age!~

Siddartha was a pretty quick read. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, most of Chuck Palahniuk’s stuff, The Lovely Bones… Does it have to be fiction? If not, Chuck Kloserman is great, Nickel and Dimed, Fast Food Nation, Girl, Interrupted, and David Sedaris are all faster reads.

Irvine Welsh is great author to check out, any of his books really.

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

It is simple and fast reading. He is very good. Most books are around 200 pages.

I second Vonnegut!

Cormac McCarthy’s The Road is only around 200 pages, but you need to be interested in his particular style.

@TitsMcGhee The Lovely Bones is a favorite of mine! It’s a great quick read that keeps you guessing and interested.

I also recommend (depending upon your tastes):

A Rose for the Crown (it’s over 1000 pages I think but each time I read it I finish in 2–3 days b/c it is so good)
Learning to Float
March (it is about the father to the March girls in Little Women)
The Last Time I Wore a Dress (especially great if you like Girl, Interrupted)
Wither, Gone With the Wind (if you haven’t read it already!)
and Jane Eyre

Those are just a few of my favorites that read fast (and have the ability to be read more than once!)

Thirding Vonnegut. John Irving, if acceptable, is also a breeze. I’d recommend The World According to Garp or A Prayer for Owen Meany.

Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye is quick, as is A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain. Catch 22 by Joseph Heller is a classic and short.

Good luck!

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon.

Dating Your Mom by Ian Frazier

Also Catcher in the Rye, if you didn’t have to read it in high school, Song of Solomon, which isn’t short, but you won’t want to put it down, and Brave New World.

Look here for an interesting selection of good short novels. The main page defines “short novel” as anything under 80,000 words.

I understand that you have to make your page count and are looking for fast reads, not necessarily short novels. But short novels do have to get into the story fast, and they can’t waste a lot of space on digressions and extensive descriptions. So they might in fact offer you some options.

My favorite short novel is Silas Marner, a wonderfully insightful probing of the ways of the human heart. It is a great book when you can read it without having to do chapter summaries and take pop quizzes.

I just keep thinking of things… The Stranger by Albert Camus is short, but a little dense. I certainly liked it though.

Interestingly, quite a few of the suggested titles have been discussed just recently right here, from Dan Brown’s right on down to The Stranger. You might want to use fluther’s new search functionality and see if you can find some of them.

If they don’t have to be novels, pick up a few short story collections. Often, you can read an entire story while going to the bathroom! I find short stories must get to the point very quickly, and are usually interesting and satisfying, too.

Great idea, @augustlan! The Best American Short Stories collections are an excellent choice.

I’ve read several of those, and loved them. I also loved O. Henry when I was in high school. Other good collections: Alfred Hitchcock’s and Stephen King’s.

Ah! What about The Great Gatsby or any of Fitzgerald’s short stories? I loved “A Diamond as Big as the Ritz”!

All the “Shopaholic” books are awsome. Also, browse through some other publications about Sophie Kinsella… Im reading one right now called ” Remember me?” Its pretty good and light.

Animal Farm!

I wish I’d taken a pop lit class. “White Teeth” by Zadie Smith is a quick read, and full of fodder to write a paper with.
And Haruki Murakami will blow your mind.

I managed to read 120 pages of Alice in Wonderland on my subway ride from Manhattan to Brighton Beach and back…

Night, by Elie Weisel was amazing. It is a 109 page memoir of a boy who survived the Nazi concentration camps. It took me about an hour to read. What a great hour.