respublica

Politicians and books-fiction or non fiction

There seems to be a slew of new books coming out lately on presidents and former presidents.  Seems to happen shortly after every election or after the end of a president's term- tell all, gossipy reads.

For the most part, I don't bother with books like this, but a couple seem like fun and worth the time I'd give up reading the new Dan Brown book.

Barack and Michelle-Portrait of an American Marriage.  Some title, eh?  Interesting that the Kindle price is almost the same as the hardcover.  Written by Christopher Anderson, the same guy who wrote "The Day Diana Died"  and The Day John Died". 

Speech-less-Tales of a White House Survivor-A tell all book about George W. Bush by one of his former speech writers, Matthew Latimer.  Not available on Kindle

The Clinton Tapes-Wrestling History with the President-  A book on Bill Clinton's White House years written from audio tapes made between historian/author Taylor Branch and Clinton during his presidency.  Secret tapes, not known by Clinton's staff.  Again, the Kindle price is no bargain.

What's he reading

I took a look at the stack of books the MAtH (man about the house) took to MIchigan last week.  They're not yet put away, sitting on the kitchen island so before I moved them, I checked out the titles. 

Juvenal Satires
Roman Women (!!)
Grapes of Wrath
Juvenal and Persius
Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton
Hard Times by Studs Terkel
The Temple--Poetry of George Herbert.

I brought loaded into my Kindle two novels, one by Daniel De Silva and another by Brad Thor.  We're not exactly the same type of readers.

A new reading toy

For my birthday which isn't for a couple of months yet, my sister and my mom sent me a Kindle reader.

Just when I thought I'd grown blase about there being anymore surprises in technology, along comes something which just blew me away. 

I love this Kindle.  Reading is easy, it's thin and light and does a whole lot more than just enable you to read a book.  And, speaking of books, it takes about a second for any book ordered to end up in the Kindle and the price is much less than buying a hardback copy. 

We decided to also subscribe to the Washington Post-9.99 a month compared to the really high price we pay to have the New York Times delivered each morning.  We wake up in the morning and the daily Post is already in the Kindle.

The home page

And the book I've started reading.  The Kindle automatically returns to where you've left off when you come back to it.  You can make notes and copy a quote or a paragraph which then goes in a note file on the home page. 

Very amazing.

Bookstore religion

This is a display at a Dallas Border's.

Fun and games at work?

Biden? Best seller?

Political Wire has a post on Joe Biden's new book making the best seller list, the New York Times has it as number 15, total sales between 8000 and 15,000.  The web site also mentions you can buy Promises to Keep:On Life and Politics at Amazon.

Well, best seller...? Amazon has it ranked at 8115, hardly a barn burner.  As contrast, take the new book on the Duke LaCrosse case, Until Proven Innocent, by Stuart Taylor and K.C. Johnson, not even on sale yet.  Amazon has it at 666.

What's in a name?

Thousands of fans waited in line until the midnight sales of the new Harry Potter book began.  All the enthusiasm for these books and the characters in them made me wonder how many boy babies have been/will be, named Harry? 

Khaled Hosseini's new book

Khaled Hosseini, author of the best selling novel, The Kite Runner, will have his second book on sale beginning, I think, today.  Titled, A Thousand Splendid Suns, the story follows two Aghan women who struggle to survive in a harsh male dominated society.

Many people wait impatiently for the latest Harry Potter book, but learning Hosseini had written another book is more than exciting to me.  I never had much interest in reading The Kite Runner, a book which was left at our house by my sister in law.  Then one day I had nothing much to do and decided to give the book a try.  I didn't put it down until I finished it.  So this news about A Thousand Splendid Suns has me cleaning off the track shoes so I can beat what I know will be a rush of Hosseini fans in local bookstores.

The buzz about boys

A new book which is being talked about all over the blogosphere is The Dangerous Book for Boys.  Let them run, get outside and skin their knees, play outdoor games, learn to tie knots.  Looks like an amazing book which is bringing in discussions of games and outdoor activities which everyone used to play:  Tag, throw a ball against a wall, play running bases, bounce or fly, hide and seek, build a fort or clubhouse, crack the whip, kick ball, play in a sandbox, etc etc. 

Get them outside to play.  What did you play at when you were a kid?

Skimming

The New York Times has a story today about a Paris University literature professor who has written a book called, "How to Talk About Books You Haven't Read?"

The premise is you don't really have to take the time to read the whole thing, you can skim it.  Mr. Bayard then offers tips on how to cover up ignorance of a “must-read” book.

Ha.  Maybe I'll go to the bookstore and skim through it rather than buying it.  If he says its OK to skim, it must be OK not having to buy the book.  Irony from a professor of literature, Is the joke on him?

Don't buy this book

O J Simpson is on tour pumping his new book, If I Did It. He also sat down with Fox for an interview, supposedly one which was "unrestricted" in terms of what questions could be asked.

Must we go through this again?  Having OJ back in public view can be as seductive as a bad highway accident.  We don't want to see a tragedy, but we can't help slowing down to look.  Don't watch that Fox segment and don't buy the book.  Send a message through the ratings and book sales that we are finished with OJ and his dreamworld.