(Slick Willie) Clinton Releases List of Favorite Books

AP ^ | 11-21-03

[steppenwolffe]

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Ah, nothing like curling up in front of the fireplace with 21 of President Clinton's favorite books.

To coincide with the opening of a Clinton Library-related exhibit of books and gifts he received while president, Clinton has released a list of his 21 favorite books - from his wife's "Living History" to Ralph Ellison's "Invisible Man" to Thomas a Kempis' "The Imitation of Christ."

Clinton's presidential library is to open next November on the south bank of the Arkansas River in downtown Little Rock. A nearby office building, the Cox Creative Center, has hosted a number of preview exhibits, and on Monday opens "America Presents: A Collection of Books and Gifts of the Clinton Presidency." The exhibit runs through Jan. 3.

Copies of Clinton's 21 favorite books will be on display at the Cox building.

Besides Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's autobiography, Ellison's soaring novel of a black man's journey through white America and Kempis' 15th-century treatise on Christian living, other books of note include Maya Angelou's "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" and Thomas Wolfe's "You Can't Go Home Again."

The entire list of Clinton's favorite books, listed alphabetically by author:

"I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," Maya Angelou.

"Meditations," Marcus Aurelius.

"The Denial of Death," Ernest Becker.

"Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-1963," Taylor Branch.

"Living History," Hillary Rodham Clinton.

"Lincoln," David Herbert Donald.

"The Four Quartets," T.S. Eliot.

"Invisible Man," Ralph Ellison.

"The Way of the World: From the Dawn of Civilizations to the Eve of the Twenty-First Century," David Fromkin.

"One Hundred Years of Solitude," Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

"The Cure at Troy: A Version of Sophocles' Philoctetes," Seamus Heaney.

"King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa," Adam Hochschild.

"The Imitation of Christ," Thomas a Kempis.

"Homage to Catalonia," George Orwell.

"The Evolution of Civilizations: An Introduction to Historical Analysis," Carroll Quigley.

"Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics," Reinhold Niebuhr.

"The Confessions of Nat Turner," William Styron.

"Politics as a Vocation," Max Weber.

"You Can't Go Home Again," Thomas Wolfe.

"Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny," Robert Wright.

"The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats," William Butler Yeats.

[steppenwolffe]

"Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics," Reinhold Niebuhr.

I'm impressed that's on his list.

No, not impressed that the book is there. Impressed that he has the ability to read with 0% comprehension.

[Colonel_Flagg]

As religious as he claimed to be, one wonders why "The Bible" isn't on the list.

Oh, wait. Perhaps I know. :)

[PrairieDawg]

"The Imitation of Christ," Thomas a Kempis.

Not sure he read this one very closely either (but who am I to judge?).

FRegards,
PrairieDawg

[Quilla]

I'm surprised "Vox" and "Leaves of Grass" didn't make his list.

[OXENinFLA]

"Moral Man and Immoral Society: A Study in Ethics and Politics," Reinhold Niebuhr.

Blawawawaawawawawwa

[onedoug]

'Forgot Lolita & Das Kapital.

[Taliesan]

It is simply inconceivable that Bill Clinton could read Thomas a Kempis without turning to stone.

[Spok]

"Clinton Releases List of Favorite Books"

Someday he may even have an intern read them to him.

[mountaineer]

That list was compiled by some consultant. I don't believe for a minute that Blubba read anything more sophisticated than "Naked Came the Stranger."

[Lee'sGhost]

I seriously doubt he read any of these, especially Maya Angeloo. Who could stomach a whole book of anti-poetry?

[Spok]

"No, not impressed that the book is there. Impressed that he has the ability to read with 0% comprehension."

It doesn't say he actually read them...

[dead]

He doesn't actually read them. These are his favorite books to hide his "Hustlers" in.

[Lady Jag]

He's lying. You haven't figured that out yet?

[Charles Henrickson]

"Politics as a Vocation," Max Weber.

"Politics as a Vacation," Bill Clinton.

[Argus]

Up next, Clinton's favorite porn videos.

[chiefqc]

How about the rest:

Debbie does Dallas

Thunder Buns

Deep Throat

Everything you wanted to know about oral sex - With many pictures.

The horse and the Lady

1,000,000 and 1 dirty pictures

How to scr** those around you

Lying is the best defense

Never admit that you inhaled

Lying as a life long profession

Never have to work during your lifetime

Never have to pay your debts during your lifetime

Living off of other peoples money

And thelist goes on and on

[TrappedInLiberalHell]

This reminds me of those Amazon.com 'Listmania!' lists, e.g., "So, you want to look like a pompous intellectual liberal...a 21-item list by Bill Clinton"

[Charles Henrickson]

"The Denial of Death," Ernest Becker.

"The Denial of Truth," Bill Clinton.

[twigs]

I agree. This is his list of whatever he believes will complement the legacy he wants to leave, so it is interesting for that. It's also interesting that Homage to Catalonia (my favorite Orwell book) shows what a fraud communism is. I can't imagine that Clinton believes that for a minute. And I also really like Evolution of Civilizations by Quigley. Well worth the reading.

[GOPCajunLady]

"No, not impressed that the book is there. Impressed that he has the ability to read with 0% comprehension."

It doesn't say he actually read them...

Maybe they just look GOOD on his coffee table? :D