I didn't think I'd made it so hard. :-(
Everyone's honest; no one went out and googled the answer to one of the books. :-0
Here are some clues if anyone still wants to guess.
(1) Book 1 (Rooter) quote: Second volume of a four-volume science fiction work. Contains a pronunciation guide for Portuguese names.
(2) Book 2 (Pyle) quote: The recent film version of the novel saw an Oscar nomination for one of the leads.
(3) Book 4 (Dolphin) quote: The Circus.
(4) Book 5 (Bunny) quote: A first novel by a 28-year-old author. Fans waited ten years for the next book.
The post with the quotes is here:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/aswanargent/19616.html
(Don't know why I can't link without showing the whole address ...)
Going to lunch now. Back later to do "Monster Mash" lyrics.