Free Republic Book Club, 2/24/05

Tanniker Smith

[Tanniker Smith]

Without any other ideas of what to discuss, how about we get a sense of what the folks have been reading and what you think about them. My suggestion is this:

List, in order, your favorite three conservative books that you recently read. Use your judgment on what "recent" is. If you read "See I Told You So" seven or eights years ago, no, that doesn't count. If you only got around to reading it in the last year or so, okay, include it. But really, I'm interested in finding the books many of us have enjoyed, so that the rest of us can go seek these out. (We can do "books to pass by" another time.)

Please, list only (or at most) three, and please, list only books that you've read and enjoyed, not the ones that you're hoping to read and hope you'll enjoy, or ones that you were told by someone whose opinion you really trust that it is good and you're going to get around to reading it as soon as the library has it available. (You'd be surprised at the conversations I've had concerning books.)

With luck, we'll get a nice response, and I can tally them up when the posting stops.

I start, which will be easy because I've only read three in the past year or so:

1. At Any Cost: How Al Gore Tried to Steal the Election, Bill Sammon
2. Who's Looking Out for You, Bill O'Reilly
3. Let Freedom Ring, Sean Hannity

Again, forget about what you think about them personally, they're both good reads.

By the way, I would have liked to have added Reagan's book of letters, but, sadly, I've been quite busy and I only managed to get a small fraction of the way through the book before I had to return it to the library. (Couldn't renew it -- someone had it on hold.)

TS

[silent_jonny]

"Misunderestimated" by Bill Sammon.

[squarebarb]

If you have a ping list, would you put me on it?

If you wish to discuss political books, you are going to have discussions of politics and not of books.

Convervatives need to begin discussing Literature, in the worst way.

Liberals dominate the arts; almost always with very shoddy theories (p.c., an affinity for anything that is 'dark' and 'edgy' and so on);

There are often very good threads on movies; in which the movies are discussed for their story line, photography, actors, characters, etc. with politics secondary. I am not the one starting this thread and perhaps I shouldn't butt in with an alternative idea and Tanniker's taking on the work is much appreciated,

and it is just a suggestion, but might we discuss fiction? (ducking...)

[AQGeiger]

I'm currently working on "The Case for Democracy" by Natan Sharansky.

While it's not really directly tied to conservatism, I highly suggest Eric Hoffer's "The True Believer." It's a collection of thoughts on what drives fanatical mass movements, the types of individuals who become members of mass movements, and the personalities that start mass movements. I find it invaluable in understanding the mindset of the fundamentalist Muslims that seem so intent on destroying Western civilization. And a number of passages are also very apt descriptions of the liberal moonbats that we find so infuriating. It's important to know one's enemy.

Another excellent title is "A Conflict of Visions" by Thomas Sowell. It's an intriguing look into why the mindset so many liberals have that, despite their own moral relativism, anyone who disagrees with them is genuinely evil.

[carlr]

• Unfit For Command by John E. O`Neill and Jerome R.Corsi,PH.D
  
• How To Talk To A Liberal(If You Must) by Ann Coulter
  
• War Stories II,Heroism In The Pacific by Oliver North.

[snugs]

If you have a ping list, would you put me on it? .

If you do please put me on it too - thanks.

[Tanniker Smith]

Hey, this is sort of the "first meeting" coming to order. Suggestions are welcome. I just didn't want to start with an empty thread, so I put up a topic.

Feel free to go off on a tangent if it gets the folks talking.

TS

[Burn24]

Right on, girl! For instance... I've just read Cormac McCarthy's "Cities of the Plain," and found it breathtaking. Anyone want to talk about it?

[arbee4bush]

On my nightstand and getting ready to start:

A Patriots History Of The United States: From Columbus's Great Discovery To The War On Terror

Larry Schweikart, Michael Patrick Allen

 

Next up: The Case For Democracy: The Power of Freedom to Overcome Tyranny and Terror

Natan Sharansky, Ron Dermer, Anatoly Shcharansky

 

 Now reading :The Pentagon's New Map

Thomas P. M. Barnett

 

And one I am just ordered and am waiting for (release date March 1):

 

Taking Heat : The President, the Press, and My Years in the White House

Ari Fleischer

 

Add me to your ping list if you have one, thanks :)

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

and it is just a suggestion, but might we discuss fiction?

I would love that.

Seconded!

[Tanniker Smith]

Soon as I figure out how, I'll probably put everyone who posts to this thread on it. (I'll remove anyone who doesn't want to be pinged, too.)

I figure that anyone taking the trouble to even bump this thread wants to be included.

TS

[TightyRighty]

I thought it was a good idea.......I'll keep a watch on what happens!

[libertyman]

Hey, the comedian George Carlin had his own book club......does anyone remember his "Join the Book Club" skit? I was listening to it on CD a few days ago--it's HILARIOUS!!!!!

[TightyRighty]

Please add me to your ping list too!

[PatriotGirl827]

BUMP!!!

[506trooper]

Thirdeded

[sandalwood]

What a lovely idea!

As the proud parent of a toddler, my leisure reading consists of whatever part of the paper I get through before the babe decides to take over my time. She doesn't understand why I'd read a big floppy paper when there are dozens of great board books to read to her!

I recently finished How to Speak to a Liberal (if you must) By the divine Ms. Ann Coulter

I must admit, her sarcasm grates the nerves of my better half, but I just love her biting wit. She handily tears down the motivation and mindset of the left, and she writes as carefree and comfortable with who she is as she speaks.

If you enjoy reading her columns but haven't read as many as you would like, this is the book for you. Her comments on 9/11 and the aftermath are particularly pithy.

A really good read, especially for those of us who can't get through a book too quickly, because each column can be read individually, without having to remember where you left off.

[Tanniker Smith]

by the way, folks, if you click on my thread of 2004 books, you'll see that I mostly read fiction. So if that's what you want to talk about, great.

That said, I started this on a suggestion from another thread, and didn't run it by the Higher Ups at FR, so I figured that my first post should be somehow on topic for FR.

Not like that ever stops anyone around here. 8-)

TS

[Tanniker Smith]

ping

[silent_jonny]

I agree that fiction would be great, too.

Please add me to the ping list :)

[Tanniker Smith]

ping-list test ping

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

The three that I have most recently read...

Unfit For Command by John E. O`Neill

Every one read that one so moving right along

For Shame (The Loss of Common Decency in American Culture) By James B Twitchell

Enjoyable but it will make you squirm a bit.

Good to Great by Jim Collins

Ok not exactly a conservative book but this one book gave me more insight into why our nation's government is structured the way it is. And why having a great system is better then having a great leader. Great (or level 5 leaders) are needed to build the system but they build it with the view that they are not going to be around forever so they build it so it will withstand a poor leader.

I swear every GOP leader should read this book.

[libertyman]

But seriously, now...here's a few excellent books you should check out:

--"THE LAW" by Frederic Bastiat (written in 1850; you can also find it on the Constitution Society's web page);

--"THE CONSTITUTIONAL THOUGHT OF THOMAS JEFFERSON", by David N. Meyer;

--"BASIC AMERICAN GOVERNMENT", by Clarence Carson;

--"LOST RIGHTS: THE DESTRUCTION OF AMERICAN LIBERTY", by James Bovard;

--"THE REAL LINCOLN", by Thomas DiLorenzo; &

--"A REPUBLIC, NOT AN EMPIRE", by Pat Buchanan

[squarebarb]

Great! Shall we discuss Burn24's idea? Cities of the Plain is a good start, and in fact the other two of the trilogy as well.

Let's have a certain take on it; for instance, 'Cities Of The Plain as a quest novel'. I believe All The Pretty Horses and The Crossing were also Quest novels;

Quest novels have a central figure who strikes out in search of something -- and finds both helpers and those who impede him/her alng the way.

In Cities of the Plain young Grady is clearly searching out the flip side of the girl he lost in Pretty Horses. McCarthy's language, his sense of landscape, of doomed causes, is so remarkable.

Another suggestion; for those wanting to enhance the discussion, you can shoot over to Amazon, look up the book in question, read customer comments and a review, and pop back here with questions of whatever.

Amazon is a great tool

[sageb1]

"Persecution: How Liberals are Waging War Against Christianity" by David Limbaugh

[exnavychick]

Could you add me to your ping list when you make it? Thanks! :)

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

I have not read that one.

Tell me more.

[silent_jonny]

ping-list test ping

Ping successful!

[squarebarb]

Will check back in later. Cheers for the FR Book Club!

(For all of you interested in Burn24's suggestion, jump over to Amazon to check out Cities of the Plain).

[Jeff Head]

Great thread!. Here's my reading list from the last twelve-eighteen months.

Freeper LS's "A Patriot's History of America" and his upcoming "September Day".

Freeper Travis McGee's "Enemies Foreign and Domestic" and his upcoming "Domestic Enemies".

Freeper James Macomber's "Art & Part" and "Bargained for Exchange".

The entire "Prelude to Glory" series (all nine volumes) about the revoultionary war and constitutional convention by Carter.

All of Michael and Jeff Shaara's books about the Revolutionary and Civil wars.

James Alexander Thom's "Long Knife" and "Pamnther in the Sky" novels about George Rogers Clark and Tecumseh respectively.

Norman Shwarzkopf's "It doesn't take a Hero".

John Eisenhower's, "So far from God", about the Mexican American War.

Tyrone Martin's, "A Most Fortunate SHip", about the USS Constitution.

Samuel Elliot Morison's, "The Two Ocean War", about the US Navy in World War II.

...and finally, all of Allan Eckert's "Winning America" series, starting with, "The Frontiersman".

[sandalwood]

Thanks - I am looking so forward to this thread - especially the fiction part!

I can't remember the last fictional book I read, so I will live vicariously through this thread.

[Txsleuth]

Thanks for the ping---I was one of the ones on the other thread that urged you to start this Book Club, so I am very happy to see you started it---

Like everyone, I have read Unfit for Command, and I read Tommy Franks book----

The reason I chose Txsleuth as my screen name is because I have been a member of the Mystery Guild Book Club for years--mysteries are my favorite kind of fiction--

I especially like psychological and medical thrillers---so I am definitely open to discussing fiction---

[aberaussie]

Bttt

[oldmom]

If you like fiction with a message, State of Fear by Michael Crighton was good - I particularly liked the charts, graphs, and checkable sites for debunking the global warming nuts.

[SilentServiceCPOWife]

This is a great idea and I'd like to be added to your ping list.

[Alberta's Child]

Wealth and Poverty by George Gilder is a must-read for anyone who espouses the principles of supply-side economics.

[RebelTex]

Speaking of staying on topic, did you hear the one about... ?

;^D

[SilentServiceCPOWife]

What do you think about "The Case For Democracy" so far? I've just begun reading it myself.

[AQGeiger]

Admittedly, I'm not that far into it. I won't be reading anything other than textbooks until I get through the three exams I have next week. What's your impression, though?

[Celtjew Libertarian]

1. Please add me to the ping list.

2. I would like to second (or third ... or fourth) squarebarb's suggestion. Political books, particularly current books, are going to be discussed here anyway. Literature may not.

[Galactic Overlord-In-Chief]

I've read recently and have enjoyed very much:

Men in Black: How the Supreme Court is Destroying America by Mark Levin

Reagan's Revolution : The Untold Story of the Campaign That Started It All by Craig Shirley

Shadow War: The Untold Story of How Bush Is Winning the War on Terror by Richard Miniter

[Brasil]

Ping me, ping me!!

Holy War on the Home Front by Harvey Kushner is the scary book I'm reading now.

p.s.That blue underlined word was self formatted.

[Cannoneer No. 4]

Picked this up at MWR. Don't get much time to read, though.

[SilentServiceCPOWife]

It's very well done. It's easily understood and so far Sharansky is making strong arguments in support of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush's policies regarding "fear states". It is also full of passages that would be profound FR taglines.

[RebelTex]

"Quest novels have a central figure who strikes out in search of something -- and finds both helpers and those who impede him/her alng the way."

hmmm, quest novels, huh.   OK, how about the classics: the Iliad and the Odyssey?  You have Hector and Odysseus. 

And for side stories, there's Diogenes, Jason and the Argonauts, or how about the works of Socrates or Plato?

Seems to me they all have their own quest.  The thirst for knowledge and truth is one of most powerful quests of all.

Unfortunately, these classics seem to have been ignored by our education system for a long time.  But the good news is that you can still find most of them at good libraries.  Now, if we can just get the kids to read them.

[SilentServiceCPOWife]

What did you think about "Men In Black"?

[SweetCaroline]

GOOD, I LIKE THIS IDEA!

[jocon307]

bumping you for later!

It's mysteries all the way for me, but I'll try and post something a little more coherent in the AM. Have recently resumed commuting via mass transit, so I'll have time to READ! again.

bbl! Ping list me too please.

[nutmeg]

fyi

[LittleSpotBlog]

I'd love to join in... please add me to the ping list.

I'm almost finished with "Nine Parts of Desire" by Geraldine Brooks about women under Islam; an older book, but fascinating and timely nonetheless. The religion, among other things, is inherently misogynistic, and it's amazing that women under it survive at all. The very few positive female role models to come out of the Middle East are really interesting to me, if not a little depressing.

Another favorite was "Bush Country : How Dubya Became a Great President While Driving Liberals Insane" by John Podhoretz. That book really summed up what I love about W. Despite the bad rap, he has big ideas and the fortitude to see them through. Also, even though he's crucified for his verbal gaffes, his speeches are actually among the best ever delivered by a president. It's always amusing to me when the lib lesbos at my office go off on how stupid Bush is, etc. I just love that his critics are so consistently wrong!