What Book Are You Currently Reading? (2.0.)

[Middle-aged Europe]

Slaughterhouse-Five

So it goes.

[Schiff for Senate]

I started reading Jeffrey Archer's First Among Equals on Friday night. I had high expectations for it, and so far, it's meeting them. Rooting for Simon Kerslake already. Have read the first six chapters right now.

Meanwhile, I've now read 10 chapters of Alan Dershowtiz's Cancel Culture.

[Schiff for Senate]

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

I might read that one soon. It's at home right now (from the local library), but unsure if I'll be reading it given that I'm currently in the middle of several books right now (nearly done with Cancel Culture, still have a large amount to go in First Among Equals, still need to return to and finish God's Own Party, and need to read Getting to Yes at a set rate of one chapter a week).

[Schiff for Senate]

Am on Chapter 13 (page 150) of First Among Equals.
One chapter to go in Cancel Culture, but then I also want to read the Conclusion and maybe some of the other things he's written at the end of the book.

[Schiff for Senate]

Okay, done with Cancel Culture (ultimately, aside from the Introduction and the 12 chapters, I only ended up reading the Conclusion and skipped the Appendices).

[Schiff for Senate]

Am now starting Chapter 24 of First Among Equals.

[Aurelius]

Read "Empire" by Niall Ferguson.

Now reading "So Far from God: the U.S. War with Mexico, 1846-1848" by John S.D. Eisenhower and "Boone" by Robert Morgan. Eisenhower is a dense and fairly difficult read so I'm taking it slow, a few chapters at a time and interspersing other, easier fare.

[Schiff for Senate]

Finished First Among Equals Thursday evening.

Resumed God's Own Party on Friday, finished the chapter on the Nixon presidency and the chapter on the religious right's grassroots campaign, and am now on the chapter on the Carter presidency.

Also started reading the original Collected Short Stories by Jeffrey Archer - I found it at home and began reading some of the stories I've not yet read. Per my initial count, through reading other collections of Archer's short stories, I've already read 16 of the stories in the book and have just 20 to go. Of those 20, I've now read: "Shoeshine Boy," "Broken Routine," "An Eye for an Eye", "The Luncheon," and "You'll Never Live to Regret It."
I don't think I'll be reading all of the residue 15 at the moment (probably just a couple more), but at some point soon enough, I do intend to.

[Schiff for Senate]

Resumed God's Own Party on Friday, finished the chapter on the Nixon presidency and the chapter on the religious right's grassroots campaign, and am now on the chapter on the Carter presidency.

Finished that chapter and am now on the next (Moral Majority). Will keep my remarks brief but very interestingly, for a long time, the Southern Baptist Convention was very moderate/centrist on abortion (even possibly slightly pro-choice).

[Brother Jonathan]

I've been reading Faith and Political Philosophy: The Correspondence Between Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin, 1934-1964 which is really actually much better than I had expected. I thought I would find it interesting but it honestly has managed to far exceed my expectations. I guess I was expecting a somewhat narrow treatment of the topic, but it is rather broader than just a discussion of faith and political philosophy and goes into some detail on the general work of both Strauss and Voegelin. It's also my first real exposure to Voegelin at length, so that has made it interesting as well.

[Mexican Wolf]

If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name: News from Small-Town Alaska by Heather Lende. Also bought her most recent book Of Bears and Ballots to read afterwards. Been on a bit of an Alaska craze recently.

[Schiff for Senate]

Finally started and finished Animal Farm. Great, great book and is obviously recommended - it's a classic for a reason.

I read the first chapter late last night.
As to the rest, a little after 12.05 PM PT this afternoon I went on a reading blitz and didn't put the book down till I finished it (around 2.15 PM PT).

[Schiff for Senate]

Today I read Chapters 1-3 of Trent Lott's memoir Herding Cats.

One of the reasons I took it was to hear his defense for his comments at Thurmond's centennial in 2002. Anyway, some of the book so far is revealing: it clearly shows he's far from some civil rights crusader. See Chapter 3, where he discussed the University of Mississippi - which he was then attending - and James Meredith wanting to become its first black student, and the entire drama with Ross Barnett. Rather than coming out firmly on Meredith's side in the book, which I'd have expected him to say (maybe in reality he didn't support civil rights back then, but in the book, I'd imagine he at least pretended he was a staunch civil rights supporter from the beginning - anything else isn't exactly a good look for him and doesn't exactly help when combined with his comments at Thurmond's centennial and his defense of them) he was a little more wishy-washy, going no further than saying that he didn't want to bring embarrassment to the college and that's why he didn't support members of his fraternity joining in the anti-Meredith demonstrations and that it was too late to turn back the clock anyway (he didn't really talk about how Barnett and segregationists were wrong, but just said that it was too late to 'turn back the clock' and discussed how trying to do so would bring embarrassment to the college - not how it would be the morally wrong thing to do). And in the second-to-last paragraph, he says he was angry with the federal government for intervening to let Meredith finally attend, that local/statewide officials had the situation under control and that it didn't require federal intervention. Not sure about that since Barnett was hell-bent against letting Meredith attend and he didn't actually attend until the government intervened....so this almost seems like a kind of implicit endorsement of segregation / condemnation of Meredith's eventual attendance. Because there is no way that Meredith would have gotten to attend Ole Miss, at least not for a while, if not for the federal intervention Lott lamented (certainly, I don't think local and statewide officials would have let him attend unless there was some backlash against them first, which wouldn't have happened for at least a while).

[Schiff for Senate]

Will soon be starting Chapter 9: Senatorial Priviledge in Herding Cats. Where I've reached, Lott has just won the 1988 senate election in MS and is about to become a senator.

[Schiff for Senate]

Will soon be starting Chapter 9: Senatorial Priviledge in Herding Cats. Where I've reached, Lott has just won the 1988 senate election in MS and is about to become a senator.

The book was due to the library and as nonrenewable as coal, so I had to pause it midway (got returned on Sunday, the absolute latest it could have). Have read the first 10 chapters. It's on hold again and when it comes back to me I'll finish it off.

Meanwhile, I haven't done any reading for the past couple of days but intend to pick up God's Own Party where I last left off, and/or start The Mating Season by P.G. Wodehouse and Peril by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

Finished reading "Who Moved My Cheese?" some time ago.

[PSOL]

Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut

I’m sorry for you having to pull through with that kitsch trash

[Brother Jonathan]

The American Presidency: An Intellectual History by Forrest Mcdonald

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut

I’m sorry for you having to pull through with that kitsch trash

Why would you go out of your way to make a rude and dickish comment like this? Just let people enjoy what they're reading without trashing it.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Have picked back up Sexual Desire by Roger Scruton. Very dense, very worthwhile.

Hadn't heard of this one by him.  I'll have to pick it up some time.

I've been reading Faith and Political Philosophy: The Correspondence Between Leo Strauss and Eric Voegelin, 1934-1964 which is really actually much better than I had expected. I thought I would find it interesting but it honestly has managed to far exceed my expectations. I guess I was expecting a somewhat narrow treatment of the topic, but it is rather broader than just a discussion of faith and political philosophy and goes into some detail on the general work of both Strauss and Voegelin. It's also my first real exposure to Voegelin at length, so that has made it interesting as well.

This is one I definitely mean to read at some point, as I'm interested in both Voegelin and Strauss.  Recently I've been going through parts of The Eric Voegelin Reader.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

[Schiff for Senate]

In God's Own Party, nine chapters down, two to go.
Will begin reading The Mating Season either tonight or tomorrow (likely tomorrow).

[Beet]

Finished reading "Who Moved My Cheese?" some time ago.

Great little book. Reminded me of Watership Down.

As for me, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers. Masterful! One of the very greatest American classics.

[beaver2.0]

For Want of a Nail by Robert Sobel

Good book but the author vastly overestimates numbers in the book.  I'm pretty sure California's population could not increase 2000% in one decade.