Beener....
I don't have a whole lot of time to read outside of my coursework and resulting from that is the curse that it's impossible for me to actually read a book from cover to cover. (If you want suggestions on very deep historical reading, I've got plenty of those!)
However, consider these:
Any John Grisham book - I've read all of his, and almost all of them more than once or several times. If I were to suggest just one, it'd be "The Last Juror". I read it at least twice a year and laugh every time, it combines a legal trial and several small town stories. It's my favorite book and that's saying a lot for a kid that has read a lot of books. Another one of Grisham's that you'd enjoy because you've got some washed up high school athlete in you is "Bleachers", which is shorter and still very good.
If you like legal at all, Jeff Benedict's "Little Pink House" is about the Kelo v. City of New London case, easy read and interesting if you're into the eminent domain argument at all. Also, Jonathan Harr's "A Civil Action" is a great environmental legal book about a leaking tannery and a community that gets lukemia. Based on a true story, don't watch the movie - John Travolta is a fag.
The only book I read cover to cover this summer was Sarah Palin's "Going Rouge" Good book. One of my favorite political books is Barbara Bush's "Millie's Book" that talks about the Bush presidency through the eyes of their dog, Millie.
I read "Farmer Boy" by Laura Ingalls Wilder every winter. Might be a kids book but it takes me back to my (nothing like that) childhood in upstate NY every time.
I don't have the titles offhand, but if you go to the library (scary, but you've got kids so take them) and find an outdoors section, you'll find 15 how-to-do hunting books and next to them will be about 6 dusty, cracked books filled with old hunting stories. They are good. Along those lines, "A Sand County Almanac" is on my list to read soon, can't recommend it personally but I've heard nothing but good about it.
