Bill Clinton's 21 Favorite Books

CBS ^ | LITTLE ROCK, Ark., Nov. 21, 2003 | Editors

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

Presumably, the list comes with a sampling of Clinton's 21 favorite color crayons, as well... :)

[international american]

21 books about himself is the correct answer....

[janetgreen]

I thought "Leaves of Grass" was his fav - didn't he give this one to all his honeys?

[steplock]

May I recommend...

[evad]

on display at the 'Cox' building.

apropos..
..and his number one mostest favoritest book..
Adventures on the BangBoat

[Revolting cat!]

Whatever one may think of Clinton, not reading books is clearly not one of his faults.

Huh? Clearly? Explain.

[Revolting cat!]

Focus group, definitely. Or calculated choices. How else do you explain the first two entries Marcus Aurelius and Maya Angelou? No serious literary reader I know would touch the latter. At best, the list reveals a rather shallow mind.

[Gritty]

They left out this one...

[wideminded]

Whatever one may think of Clinton, not reading books is clearly not one of his faults.

Huh? Clearly? Explain.

I have heard that when Clinton was going to have an expert in some field meet him at the White House, he would often spend the preceding week reading a large stack of books on the subject and would then surprise his guest with the depth of his knowledge.

Also, it does not seem plausible that he would have been able to attend Yale Law School, be a Rhodes scholar, or teach law at the University of Arkansas if he had never read a book.

Even his detractors admit that Clinton is a very bright guy. Of course none of this has much to do with his moral qualities.

[Revolting cat!]

OK, but how do you explain all of that reading resulting in nothing more than strings of tired liberal cliches coming out of his mouth? It's been reported that he has an excellent short term memory, like his momma the gambler, I suppose, who (he not his momma!) never seriously studied while in college and only crammed the nights before the exams. He has a brightness of a shameless street hustler. I simply cannot imagine a relaxed, intelligent conversation with the guy about any of these books.

[duckbutt]

Didn't notice "Leaves of Grass" which he gave to all his Bimbos.

[JusPasenThru]

"The Imitation of Christ" is one of the most devout, worshipful books I've ever read. It's impossible to imagine X42 having actually read this, especially considering his hatred of traditional Christianity.

[Momaw Nadon]

[sgtbono2002]

Antlers in the Treetops by Hoogoosta Moose

[Pedantic_Lady]

Obviously another pack of lies. He probably hasn't even read the Cliff's notes for half of these, but it is the required reading list for the wine-drinking, volvo-driving, PBS-watching, limo-liberals. If you peeled off all the layers of fakeness over the real Bill Clinton, would there be anything there? (personally, I think you'd find a combination of Barry Switzer and Joe Isuzu)

I've probably read more books on that list than he has. Most of them are so goddamned boring, you start praying for a pistol to chew on.

[Bars4Bill]

[tsomer]

But he probably liked the movie better.

[Pedantic_Lady]

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

EVERYBODY says they read this. In fact, I've rarely been a guest in anyone's home who doesn't have a copy of it. WE have a copy of it. EVERYBODY has a copy of it. My husband bought it years ago....I doubt he has ever read it. I had to read it in SPANISH in one of my college classes. I thought I was going to DIE from boredom. It was like a bad acid trip or an Hieronymous Bosch painting. Flying carpets? Women pregnant with lizards? BITE me.

[wideminded]

OK, but how do you explain all of that reading resulting in nothing more than strings of tired liberal cliches coming out of his mouth? It's been reported that he has an excellent short term memory, ... never seriously studied while in college and only crammed the nights before the exams.

1. Even Ken Starr said that he wished he were as smart as Clinton. I think this was in reference to Clinton having been able to easily absorb all the material in law school. Apparently Clinton never needed to study as hard as other people because he is unusually smart.

2. As I recall, prior to his becoming President, Clinton attended a lot of meetings with other governors and politicians where he surprised everyone with the depth of his investigation of various policy issues. He was known as a "policy wonk". Whether or not you agree with his proposed solutions to these problems, or the possible slant of his reading, the other attendees felt that he had done a lot of reading on these issues.

3. It's also been noted that he has an excellent long-term memory.

I simply cannot imagine a relaxed, intelligent conversation with the guy about any of these books.

4. Roger Ebert once had a show where he discussed films with Clinton. Clinton was able to have a relaxed intelligent conversation about all these movies. It was a little shocking that he had had time to see them while he was President. Ebert was surprised at the depth of Clinton's knowledge of films.

5. Apparently he was able to concentrate enough to learn how to play the saxophone quite well.

He has a brightness of a shameless street hustler.

So? A lot of street hustlers are very smart. Neither of us has had an opportunity to discuss literature with Clinton, but his self-centeredness and lack of morality does not preclude his having read many books.

[Bon mots]