Maybe try some Doctorow?  Loon Lake, Billy Bathgate, etc.
T.C. Boyle is a possibility, too.

Maybe try some Doctorow?  Loon Lake, Billy Bathgate, etc.
T.C. Boyle is a possibility, too.

I wanted to use Billy Bathgate for freshman English at a state u here in Texas, and the dept. decided it was too perverse for the little dears.  I went with Fahrenheit 451 instead.  Disappointing, though.

I wanted to use Billy Bathgate for freshman English at a state u here in Texas, and the dept. decided it was too perverse for the little dears.  I went with Fahrenheit 451 instead.  Disappointing, though.

They all look terribly happy to have landed such a prestigious job.

They all look terribly happy to have landed such a prestigious job.

You could always try We the Living by Ayn Rand.

You could always try We the Living by Ayn Rand.

That does explain laptops, though.

That does explain laptops, though.

Maybe Bleak House.  Pickwick Papers is funny but goes on a bit too long (plus it's occasionally just a bit precious).  Tale of Two Cities is also not a bad place to start.  And Oliver Twist and David Copperfield.
I don't know what it is about Bleak House, though.  It just stays with me.

Maybe Bleak House.  Pickwick Papers is funny but goes on a bit too long (plus it's occasionally just a bit precious).  Tale of Two Cities is also not a bad place to start.  And Oliver Twist and David Copperfield.
I don't know what it is about Bleak House, though.  It just stays with me.

I'm almost always disappointed by the movie version of a book.  All I seem to notice is what's left out that I thought was crucial, how the actors don't look like the characters, and so on.  And in general, there's always more in the book than the movie that's made later.
So, movie first to avoid the disappointment,…

I'm almost always disappointed by the movie version of a book.  All I seem to notice is what's left out that I thought was crucial, how the actors don't look like the characters, and so on.  And in general, there's always more in the book than the movie that's made later.
So, movie first to avoid the disappointment,…

I loved The Hobbit when I was a teen-ager.  I loved it a lot less when I was an adult.  

I loved The Hobbit when I was a teen-ager.  I loved it a lot less when I was an adult.  

It's the Columbo method, Tasha.

It's the Columbo method, Tasha.

I have the Border Trilogy on audiobooks, read (somewhat amusingly) by Brad Pitt, and I barely made it through the second book and had to wait a few weeks before I could go back and finish.  I'm sort of afraid to read them since there won't be the entertainment value of hearing Pitt mispronounce words.

I have the Border Trilogy on audiobooks, read (somewhat amusingly) by Brad Pitt, and I barely made it through the second book and had to wait a few weeks before I could go back and finish.  I'm sort of afraid to read them since there won't be the entertainment value of hearing Pitt mispronounce words.