The DelawareLiberal Summer Book Club
With Memorial Day here already I would like to throw this out to everyone. There has been a discussion going on about a book club around DelawareLiberal. I think summer is an excellent time to give it a try.
Here’s what I propose:
- One book per month, starting now.
- This summer’s theme should be The Candidates
- First Book is Obama’s Dreams From My Father or Audacity of Hope. Let me know your preference.
- Second book would be a McCain Book (Faith of my Fathers or Worth the Fighting For).
- The third is TBD (Bob Barr, anyone?)
- We convene around 4th of July (Obama), middle of August (McCain) and Labor Day (TBD) either in person or online.
What do you think?
Tags: Delawareliberal Business
I think it’s a great idea but how do I avoid shelling out money for McCain’s book?
Isotope: get on the list to borrow it from your local library. If they don’t have they will order it for you upon request. I share your concern. Good Luck.
What it Takes by Richard Ben Cramer remains one of the best books for understanding presidential campaigns from the inside.
We could also read either Cliff Schecter’s book on McCain or even David Brock’s (which is more of a study in how the Media gets seduced, I think). Buying Blue and all of that…
I am with Isotope.. not putting any $ down for the McCain book. May read it from the library.
How about something non-political or is that blasphemous to suggest?
geek
The only book Barr has written, to my knowledge, is one on the impeachment of Clinton. However, he did have a regular column in the Atlanta Journal Constitution, which could be tapped for his views.
If one really wanted to tap his views, which–painfully–I don’t.
As alternatives, if you wanted to do the philosophy rather than the candidate, there is Ron Paul’s new book or Mary Ruwart’s.
There is also a really good book on modern third party candidacies that goes–I think–up through Perot, but I’d have to track down the title.
Why not It Takes a Village? Or would that put you in the horrible position of having to actually say something positive about HRC? 🙂
I’m glad to see lot of traction for this idea. Everyone (except for Dominique) has really contributed great comments.
Sorry. Bad joke.
I just don’t think I could make myself read a book about McCain.
I’ve purchased books — for review — from people I don’t like and don’t want to support financially: Jimmy Carter, Al Gore, Bill Clinton, Amanda Marcotte and the utterly repugnant Joe Wilson. Y’all can do the same.
But I’ve got to say: the books you’ve suggested are almost certainly both lame and uninformative; books by candidates almost always are, and they are designed to further a campaign, not do anything radical like stimulate your mind.
Dom – I’ll tell you what, if Hillary is still in the race when we start reading the third book (mid Aug). We’ll read her book.
Honestly, if I had gotten off my ass earlier, we may have read her book. But as it is, it wouldn’t fit.
My intent with a McCain and an Obama book is that we hear about them from them. Perhaps it will be fodder for discussion, perhaps it will make us recoil in disgust. I don’t know.
How about this question to start: Which Obama book should we read?
I would start with the Audacity of Hope since it deals with Obama the candidate, but I’m fine with either.
I suggest we cut it down to 2 weeks per book, I think we can handle that. Also, put a regular piece of mind book in between….
I don’t know if people can handle 2 weeks per book over the summer but I am game to try.
Why not have everybody who has a blog and participates post their own review of the book and then have a central discussion?
I agree with Pandora–I’d do Audacity of Hope for Obama (but partly because I already have a copy 🙂 )
I think a book every other week would be pushing it. We are trying to make this a fun activity, not a grueling “Gotta get in 100 pages today” kind of event.
That’s 2 votes for Audacity, and my vote for Dreams…
And Steve, I love the coordinated review idea. Perhaps all of us write our reviews and then time them to all go up at a specified time, so that one cannot influence the others… That could be fun.
I’ll vote with Steve and Pandora — Audacity of Hope. Whatever the McCain one is, we should pick it early enough so folks can reserve it at the library of get it used (which puts no money is McCain’s pocket).
If Bush can read 60 books a year Geek, we can do one every other 🙂
but hey, if your idea is to torture me by basically suggestly wasting my summer reading 3 books by politicians telling us how great they are…I’m all in!
snark intended
I was kind of thinking the same thing. Why not read biographies instead of autobiographies? Wouldn’t that provide a more objective pov (assuming it’s not a hatchet job)?
I have a copy of Faith of my Fathers if anyone wants to borrow it.
I would have had some good political-centric books to peruse…except the sender of those books doesn’t know how to mail a friggin’ package!!!
Stupid Dr. Nick is an mail-idiot.
I’ll give you 50 grand to put your doppleganger to sleep.
I read “Audacity of Hope” a while back, way before Obama was a contender…..the book is friggin excellent….he wrote it himself (McCain used a ghost writer) & he is an amazing writer…..please do not dismiss this as crap it is NOT!!!
The chapter on the constitution should be required reading for everyone……I was very impressed….
Oh & “The Audacity of Hope” is not an autobiography….it is subtitled “Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream”.
It is a book about policy & this country’s potential….and it’s very readable….
is not an autobiography
Oh, that’s good! I’m pretty cynical about autobiographies.
Geek
This is late, but I wanted to make an alternate proposal; instead of reading about the candidates, how about let’s read about the parties instead.
Two books.
On the Dem side Crashing the Gate: Netroots, Grassroots, and the Rise of People-Powered Politics by Jerome Armstrong and Markos “the kos” Moulitsas Zuniga. It is the best insider view of the changes in the party and the rise of the netroots to challenge the DLC that I have read; it also explains (even though it was written in 2006) why Obama would have such an edge against Clinton this year.
On the GOP side Ryan Sager’s The Elephant in the Room: Evangelicals, Libertarians and the Battle to Control the Republican Party, which discusses how the religious right took over the GOP in the 1990s and from an internal perspective how the Bush presidency through 2006 destroyed the traditional Republican coalition.
What interests me about both these books is that they were published in 2006, but if you read them you get a great understanding of what’s happening now, but without all the campaign rhetoric.
Added teaser: Crashing the Gate has the best summary/analysis of the rise of Howard Dean I’ve seen anywhere.
Just for your consideration as an alternative.