Well I'm on a tall ship kick. Just finished the Mutiny on the Bounty trilogy, Two Years before the Mast and am almost done with O'Brian's Master and Commander.

Read "Terror"...one of the best pieces of litearture AND adventure suspense ever, about a British arctic exploration trapped in the frozen north for three years while being hunted one by one by a giant polar bear. Now reading "An Army At Dawn", an in depth discussion about US's military maturing in North Africa. "King Leopold's Ghost", describing Belgium's (et al) occupation and PR campaign to win the hearts & minds of the West while killing more Africans than Hitler did Jews. "Wreck of the Medusa", which reads like a sick parody of how this administration's shipwrecked and cannibalized the Nation. Bill Bryson's "A Short History of Nearly Everything", the finest & wittiest layman discussion of normally overwhelming scientific theories from the BigBang to Evolution to Microbes that I've ever come across. There's just too damn much to read and too little time to read it.

I am reading Shakespeare After All written by Marjorie Garber. Boy that Richard the III was a complicated character.

I am reading Drop Dead Beautiful by Jackie Collins....
I need all the entertainment I can get....LOL

C'mon Dennert, where do you come up with this crap? You cite a New York Times Article that gets its information from Pat Schroeder, president of the American Association of Publishers. A person who also happens to be a democrat and formerly one of the most liberal members of Congress. A person who in the article refers to conservative readers as "the Karl Roves of the world".

Can you come up with a more biased source?

It is pretty smug of democrats to hail them selves as "the party of inclusion and intellectualism". Ha! Don't make me laugh. You're not going to persuade many conservatives to vote for your party if you keep thinking that anybody who doesn't agree with your liberal beliefs must therefore be inferior. Now that you've insulted 50% of the population yet again don't expect them to join your snooty little book club.

This is so uninformed, smug and naive. I'm glad to know the Democrats can't think of anything more productive to do in an election season than isolate themselves from anyone who might have a different point of view or political affiliation, form little blue book clubs where they will pat themselves on the back, while they discuss their superior intellectualism and choice of reading material. The Republicans will just have to be content to continue to dominate the political landscape in Ventura County.

Bubba,

I think you missed my point.

This isn't a who reads more thread. I was interested in what my readers, regardless of political affiliation read.

The New York Times article was actually forwarded to me by a Republican and that got the ball rolling. I paired it with a Democratic book reading club who sent in an e-mail.

You said: "Now that you've insulted 50% of the population yet again don't expect them to join your snooty little book club."

It isn't my club. I just posted their announcement.

I have updated the post with information about Bush's book reading.

Maybe if you took the time to read my post instead of attacking me for insulting people you'd find more common ground. I never said The New York Times was right but I did say I wasn't interested in arguing their "who reads more" idea. I still am not interested in that argument.

Here is the type of common ground I am interested in:

I saw on Bush's reading list the book The Stranger. I also recently read the book. I was surprised Bush had read it and I would be curious about his reaction to it. Who else has read it?

"Alexander II" and "The Great Influenza" are two very good books. Both contain a lot of insight into WHY things happened the way they did: how Alex II's reform policies set Russia up for failure and how the flu raced around the world in such deadly fashion.

Does anyone actually believe that our host would NOT publish a similar topic if it was sent in by a Repub book club? Get real and get out in the world a bit.

GS, Were you surprised your reading list and Bush's match up? Maybe you two have more in common.

I posted the book club as a segue into talking about what books my readers are into.

Brian, I had no idea you were so sinister.

I was also amazed to hear Bush tries to read 100 books a year.

I just finished Studs Terkel's "The Good War." Fascinating variety of interviews from around the globe -- though don't agree with Terkel's philosophy. I believe he's still alive and in his 90's.

Brian, I've read "The Stranger", but it's been a few years.

I've also read, "Lincoln: A Life of Purpose and Power" by Richard Carwardine about a year and a half ago while on vacation. I've read other Lincoln books, but this seemed to make Lincoln less myth and more of a working President with goals rather than some of the larger than life versions I've read in the past. A very good read.

I read many books, but it appears not as many as others. A lot of times I read journal articles, magazine and newspaper stories, and trend related information regarding the economy and society.

What is the best book you ever read?

Scott, Let me think about that best book question. Might take some time. Are you including both fiction and nonfiction?

Maybe if Bubba was an artist he would understand nuance.

Bubba Kidd when you click on the link what do you see?

Of course they do. So do pop-ups - but I really hate it when people don't warn me first. If you're not prepared, they can be quite frightening. Really though, I'd like to know which party colors inside the lines better.

Who knew people would get so riled up over books?

Well I've been reading A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

"More than two decades later, it is hard to imagine the Revolutionary War coming out any other way." --George W. Bush, Martinsburg, W. Va., July 4, 2007

Sounds like a well-read guy to me!

The best book I've read in a long time is "Infidel," a recent memoir by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. She is an amazing woman who writes about growing up in Somalia under Islam. She eventually became a refugee to the Netherlands and a few years later was elected to their parliament. She collaborated with Theo Van Gogh on a documentary about the suppression of women under Islam. Van Gogh was murdered because of it.
Funny, I learned of her and the book watching the Colbert Report on Comedy Central. Click on my name to get a link to the interview.

Anything with the word Central in it is bound to be funny.

Brian,
This is interesting. Fact, Bill Clinton (Liberal) was always the smartest guy in the room. Fact, George Bush (Conservative) is always the dumbest guy in the room. Reading obviously helps! P.S. I did not post as "Babble Kidd".

Thomas Friedman has just come out with his 3rd edition (Release 3.0) of THE WORLD IS FLAT. Thankfully, it came out in paperback for its first run. Paul Krugman is always a go-to.

Will Ferrel on YOU TUBE with my 9th grader.

Finishd Harry Potter Book 7 a couple of weeks ago. Started to read Orhan Pamuk's SNOW.

My wish list of books to read includes "John Adams" by David McCullough. I need more time!

If you want to better understand philosophy through examples found in humor, you will really enjoy "Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar."

I have the "John Adams" book if you want to borrow it. I probably won't get to it for six months or so.

I think Bush should read a book about Ronald Reagan. In 1983 Reagan "Cut and ran" after the bombing of marines in Beirut. Reagan was correct in seeing that it would be insane to keep U.S. forces in the Middle East, so he pulled them all out, he cut and ran. I had to laugh yesterday when Bush said Iraq was like Vietnam. A year ago Bush said Iraq and Vietnam were totally different. Republican John Warner today said he wants our troops out of Iraq by Christmas.

I can't believe bush reads that much or at all. He is the most inarticulate politician I've ever heard. I don't mean that as insult, but come on, do you really believe he actually reads that much. Maybe he could pass his books on the troops in Iraq, who are fighting for his right to read as much as he wants while the war is going on.

Disbelief,
I know for a fact that Cheney made Bush read several Richie Rich comic books in order to help him understand the current economic situation as it relates to the sub-prime meltdown.

Just finished 'Next Man up'. Great insiders look at Pro Football from the draft to the final game.

Leslie:

I have a copy of John Adams on CD book, if you want it. Quite frankly, I didn't think it lived up to the hype.

A book I came across this morning and I'm putting on my wish list is "Rocketeers: How a visionary Band of Business Leaders, Engineers, and Pilots is boldly Privatizing Space."

I left a link.

Scott - I might take you up on the book, but have to clear some time first. Thanks for the offer!

Another book I liked that I read last fall was "#1 Ladies Detective Agency" - humorous and pleasant. It's a whole series but I've just read the one.

Has anyone read - "My Pet Goat"? Totally enlightening.