Jay's Summer Reading List

Since we're past mid-summer now, I thought I'd share my summer reading list and some recommendations of books.

With the important 2010 election coming up, my focus has been on current events, as it often is.  Right now, I am reading Andrew McCarthy's "The Grand Jihad."  It is a highly important book which explains the goals, desires, and methodologies of Islamists, and the American Left's (un)witting alliance with them.  MUST reading for anyone who doubts the reality of the Global Jihad.

I completed Dick Morris's "2010: Take Back America: A Battle Plan."  Ok, Dick Morris is the most shamelessly self-promoting pundit, author, political hack out there.  Still proud of his work with Bill Clinton, Morris has come back to his roots pushing conservative causes, and his book is full of facts, figures, and debating points.  If you care about what happens in this election, this would be a useful resource.

Also recently completed, Zev Chavets' biography of Rush Limbaugh, "Rush Limbaugh: An Army of One."  It's a very fair (to a conservative) portrait of Limbaugh, and Chavets clearly "gets" Limbaugh, which most members of the media do not.  If you're a Limbaugh fan, you'll find it interesting.  If you are willing to to really learn what makes Limbaugh tick and effective, you'll likewise find it interesting.  If you're just a left-wing mouthpiece and fan of Keith Olbermann, well, save your money, and go back to watching those infomercials that run after Maddow and Olbermann and Matthews have regaled you and your 5 other pals on MSNBC.

On CD, I am reading "Twelve Ordinary Men" by John MacArthur.  It's a walk through the seeming ordinariness of Jesus's 12 closest disciples, and how they were really just ordinary men, who later accomplished extraordinary things.  Not just a great walk through the New Testament, but also a treatise on leadership.

So, that's what I have completed this summer.  Since we're talking books, what have these taken me from - well, my life goal is to complete the Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian.  Great books and two wonderful characters crafted by O'Brian.

I admit, I haven't read or seen "The Blind Side" by Michael Lewis, but, I have read "Liar's Poker" and "Moneyball."  If you haven't read those seminal works by Lewis, you should.

Finally, for this post, I have a trio of what I consider classic must reads for your consideration, JD Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye" should be read by every male, preferably in the 16-20 year age group.  An American classic.  And, who wants to say they grew up and didn't read it.

An eclectic offering would be "A Confederacy Of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole.  This is a college age book, and again, one most college-age American males should make themselves familiar with.

While I am no Objectivist, Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" is just as relevant now as it was when it was an anti-Communist manifesto.  Read it.  And then, re-read it.