This class is called "Fiction." Of course you have to read for it! The reading is very manageable as long as you don't procrastinate.
Berman was quite a character. He doesn't own a cell phone and seems like the kind of guy who would live alone in a barren, wood-floored apartment with a mattress on the ground and endless rows of novels as furniture.
He is very understanding in his grading. You can't make below an 85 on the mid-term or final if he feels that your paper shows that you read the book. In fact, you can take the test (of any grade) to his office, have a few minute conversation, and if he feels that you read and understood the book then he'll bump it up to an 85.
There are no excuses in this course - other than being too lazy to read the books. He even says on the first day of class that if you read all the books cover-to-cover, then you will almost assuredly make an A.