The five books (all of which will undoubtedly see sales increases this week) are “The Way Home” by George Pelecanos, “Hot, Flat, and Crowded” by Thomas Friedman, “Lush Life” by Richard Price, “Plainsong” by Kent Haruf, and “John Adams” by David McCullough. It’s a good mix (one thriller, one global explicator, one novel set in a big city, one novel set on the prairie, and one biography) but taken together it means a lot of reading. As CNN points out, the president will have to read 300 pages a day if he really intends to finish all five books during his one-week vacation.I'm reading Pelecanos's book right now (look for my review next week). And I've already read the John Adams book (excellent as pretty much everything McCullough writes). And Lush Life in on my long-term reading list. Always kind of cool when you learn the leader of the free world reads the same books you do, huh?
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Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Me and President Obama are reading the same book
From a story here at the Christian Science Monitor:
Yeah, I was like, "Hey, I've heard of that...ooh, I know that one...hey, I've read that!" etc, etc. I read Lush Life years ago—it's a biography of jazz composer/Ellington collaborator Billy Strayhorn by David Hadjdu. Really well done. Wish I hadn't sold it. Speaking of selling books, I took a bunch to Half Price yesterday. Among them? Kent Haruf's Plainsong. Go figure!
ReplyDeleteAs the article points out, its a good mix of books... almost too good a mix. I wonder which of those is the one he really wants to read.
ReplyDeleteChris - It is cool, huh? I remember thinking the same thing about Clinton and Bush43.
ReplyDeleteTerrence - Here's irony: in the Pelecanos book, one character likes history books...and has all the McCullough books on his shelf. It's like a mirror within a mirror.
if he's like me, he'll toss four of them without finishing. But I hope he's not like me. These lists always seems a little too planned.
ReplyDeletePatti - I'm about 90 minutes from the end of the Pelecanos book and I'll probably be reviewing it for Barrie Summy's Book Review Club next week. However, I might also be writing about it on Saturday for Do Some Damage. It's pretty good, better, I think, than last year's The Turnaround.
ReplyDeletePresidential reading lists: someone needs to compile them all so we can learn some more things about these men.