Books for Summer?

For the 5th summer in a row I am attempting to get through Catch-22, one of the most critically acclaimed fiction novels of the 20th century. Problem is this: there are a heckuva lot of characters and long, ridiculous sentences, so when I put it down for awhile I forget what I've read. But I finally got through the chapter about Major Major Major Major and couldn't stop laughing.

I used to read a lot. In 4th grade our teacher, Mrs. Austin, held a reading competition for us. For every five books you read, you got a star, cut out of construction paper and marked with your name. The stars hung from the ceiling of our portable classroom. Each time you earned a star, it was stapled to your previously-earned stars until a little chain formed. Well, I didn't have a lot of friends in 4th grade, but I had a lot of time. Therefore it follows:

(Free Time)^2 - Friends + Competitive Spirit = Lots of Reading Stars

I earned so many stars, in fact, that my teacher stopped giving me stars. I should also credit my reading spree to being a member of the Babysitters Club Book Club. Each month I received three new Babysitters Club books, which I read immediately (Claudia Kishi was my favorite character because we shared the same initials).

These days, though, I hardly read (though I did recently complete Audacity of Hope for our defunct Tuesday Night Pub Club Book Club). Please suggest some good books here. I'll begin the list.

Books I've Been Meaning to Read Because They Were Recommended
- The World is Flat, Tom Firedman (suggested by BFF Andy)
- The DaVinci Code, Dan Brown (suggested by almost everyone I know)
- Divided America: The Ferocious Power Struggle in American Politics Earl Black and Merle Black (suggested by Merle Black, my former professor)
... others??