Bush Has Read 60 Books So Far This Year?

Shouldn't he be a little busy running the country? As if it's not bad enough they expect us to believe Bush is dipping into Camus' "The Stranger" and other weighty tomes, the White House now wants us to swallow the story that Bush and Karl Rove are having a book-reading contest and that Bush has read 60 books so far this year, compared to Rove's 50. Richboy pointed out this article to me and asked where I'm at in reading this year. I am an avid book reader and I'm certainly not near 60 books yet. (Of course, I spend two or three hours a day reading newspapers and news websites -- something Bush doesn't bother with.) But look at the recent books on Bush's nightstand: "Mao: The Unknown Story," "Lincoln: A Life Of Purpose and Power," "Polio: An American Story" and other weighty tomes. Two baseball books lighten the load a little. Almost all of them are 400+ page serious reads. Just for fun, I added up the length of the 12 books mentioned: it comes to 5,426 pages! That is a LOT of reading for anyone, much less a President with two countries to occupy and a Middle East meltdown.

Here are the books I've read since February (at least the ones I wrote down in my Palm Pilot)

1. Stowaway by Karen Hesse *** (hey, kids books are the only way I'll keep pace with Bushie)
2. The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi ***
3. Children of the New Forest by Frederick Maryat ** 1/2
4. Writing Home by Alan Bennett *** 1/2
5. Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen *** 1/2
6. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo ***
7. I Say A Little Prayer by E. Lynn Harris *
8. What Becomes of the Broken-hearted by E. Lynn Harris ** 1/2
9. Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris ** 1/2
10. Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris ** 1/2
11. His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik ** 1/2
12. Billy by Pamela Stephenson ** 1/2
13. Two Weeks in the Midday Sun by Roger Ebert *** 1/2
14. Shakespeare's Landlord by Charlaine Harris **
15. Throne of Blood by Naomi Novik ***
16. Angels and Demons by Dan Brown **
17. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown **
18. Marie Antoinette by Antonia Fraser ***
19. Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser ***
20. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen ****
21. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen ***
22. Dead to The World by Charlaine Harris ***
23. Black Powder War by Naomi Novik ***
24. Biggles Learns to Fly by Captain WE Johns ** 1/2
25. Club Dead by Charlaine Harris ***
26. Biggles -- The Camels Are Coming ***
27. Biggles Flies East ***
28. Eisenhower by Stephen Ambrose ***
29. Ladies of Grace Adieu by Susanna Clarke *** 1/2
30. The Most Democratic Branch by Jeffrey Rosen **
31. Lord Hornblower by CS Forester *** 1/2
32. Boondocks: A Right To Be Hostile by Aaron McGruder *** 1/2
33. Boondocks: Public Enemy #2 ***
34. Birth of a Nation: A Comic Novel by Aaron McGruder and Reginald Hudlin ** 1/2
35. Storm Front: The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher **
36. Admiral Hornblower in the West Indies by CS Forester ***
37. The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins *** 1/2
38. Lad: A Dog by Albert Terhune ** 1/2
39. Right As Rain by George Pelecanos *** 1/2
40. Giraffe by J.M. Ledgard *** 1/2

Clearly, I am WAY behind. (But I bet if I added in movies, music, DVDs, TV and theater, I'd leave Bush in the dust.) But I'm not going to take this lying down. I'll be damned if Bush is going to read more books than me this year AND run the country at the same time. Bring it on, Mr. President! And how many books have you read?