What Obama’s Reading on His Summer Vacation
1. The Way Home by George Pelecanos
2. Hot, Flat and Crowded by Tom Friedman
3. Lush Life by Richard Price
4. Plainsong by Kent Haruf
5. John Adams by David McCullough
This means that El Somnambulo and Obama have at least one book in common. The Bibliophile Who Slumbers is currently reading Richard Price’s “Lush Life”, a fascinating character study masquerading as a police procedural from NYC’s Lower East Side. ‘Bulo also highly recommends “Clockers” by Price, which focuses on the low-level drug trade and the dances that take place between the dealers and the police. Price writes some of the sharpest dialogue around and, unlike the showy David Mamet, it enriches the story rather than calling attention to its author.
Gotta have some George Pelecanos for some crime-based escapist fiction as well.
‘Bulo’s not too pleased to see the perennially-serious but terminally wrong Thomas Friedman on the list, however. El Somnambulo would substitute “Fiasco” by Thomas Ricks, brilliant reporting on how Murphy’s Law controlled the War in Iraq, but Obama’s probably already read that one. And the John Adams bio just seems too (pre-bankrupt) Reader’s Digesterish for ‘bulo.
Still, by the end of his vacation, Obama will have read more books in his time at Martha’s Vineyard than El Somnambulo has read all year.
Which brings him to this question: What are you reading this summer, and what would you recommend to DL’s readers?
Tags: Barack Obama, Summer Reading
I read Hot, Flat and Crowded. There are a lot of interesting ideas in there and I am surprised that Obama hasn’t read it before.
I read The Sex Lives of Cannibals by Maarten Troost while on vacation in Hawaii. It is a quick, fun read that gives you a special insight into some of the crappy UN programs out there.
The Shack–Geek might have an epiphany. And Hef may come around again to some sort of spiritual peace.
Hey El Som,
Matt Taibbi has a side-splitting review of Friedman’s book at:
http://www.alternet.org/story/121617/someone_take_away_thomas_friedman%27s_computer_before_he_types_another_sentence/
Ya gotta go read it. No wonder Friedman is the darling of the Aspen Institute.
Rebecca, that review’s a killer, and makes El Somnambulo more than a little envious of Matt Taibbi. Here’s ‘bulo’s favorite passage, amongst many:
“Like The World is Flat, a book borne of Friedman’s stirring experience of seeing an IBM sign in the distance while golfing in Bangalore, Hot, Flat and Crowded is a book whose great insights come when Friedman golfs (on global warming allowing him more winter golf days: “I will still take advantage of it — but I no longer think of it as something I got for free.”), looks at Burger King signs (upon seeing a “nightmarish neon blur” of KFC, BK and McDonald’s signs in Texas, he realizes: “We’re on a fool’s errand.”), and reads bumper stickers (the “Osama Loves your SUV” sticker he read turns into the thesis of his “Fill ‘er up with Dictators” chapter). This is Friedman’s life: He flies around the world, eats pricey lunches with other rich people and draws conclusions about the future of humanity by looking out his hotel window and counting the Applebee’s signs.”
Plus, he makes mincemeat of Friedman’s tortured pseudo-scientific logic via a graph seeking to make sense out of–wait for it–the size of Valerie Bertinelli’s ass. Sheer genius!
Maybe he should try Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, C.S. Lewis’ The Abolition of Man, Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 or Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom; perhaps all of you should.
“I am not a number; I am a free man!…’Number 6.’