Bush leads and reads

I laugh at David Letterman occasional bit “Great Moments in Presidential Speeches,” where great presidential sound bites are contrasted with a goofy quip, hiccup, or stammer by our current president… alas, the benefit of having every public moment recorded.

But former Bush confidante Karl Rove revealed last week in the Wall Street Journal that the President is a bit of a bibliophile. Rove’s New Year’s Eve 2005 resolution to read one book a week in 2006 became a competition in the Oval Office. Rove always wins, but the number and range of books our president is reading is impressive.

Among the President’s 2006 readings: biographies of Lincoln, Twain, LBJ and Genghis Khan, as well as Travis McGee novels and books on the Middle East and sports.

In 2007, "W" dropped to 51 books to Rove’s 76,including Krushchev’s Cold War and The Shia Revival. In 2008, leading the free world took its toll, with the President at 40 books, including Sears’ Gettysburg, U.S. Grant’s Personal Memoirs, and Halberstam’s The Coldest Winter.

Rove reports that the President reads the entire Bible annually and a daily devotional book. I have declined the annual Bible sprint in recent years, opting instead to see how slowly I can read those 66 books (more like J. Vernon McGee’s five-year “Through the Bible” approach).

I am similarly committing more time to reading and less to TV. After a couple of years of mental atrophy and sloth, I’m regaining my literary groove. My 2008 reading list is below, and challenge all my readers and writing circle partners to ante up and show me your stuff. I need the challenge to reach higher!

Good to Great – Jim Collins (business book)
Come On, People – Bill Cosby (call to discipline, self-determination)
Why Revival Tarries - Leonard Ravenhill (re-read his call to holiness, Christian character and courage)
Replay – Ken Grimwood (time traveling novel, “do-over” fantasy)
The Runner – Christopher Reich (WW2 novel)
The Divine Comedy aka Dante’s Inferno – Dante Alighieri (classic from 1300)
The Constant Gardener – John Le Carre novel on corporate espionage set in Kenya, Germany and Canada
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold – Le Carre novel on cold war
The Looking Glass War – Le Carre novel on cold war
The Shack – William Young
Plus a couple of books for clients (Yes, I’m doing some book promotion now!)

First book read in 2009: My Grandfather’s Son by Clarence Thomas. Amazing memoir!