Today’s TTT is “bookish wishes”, with an implication that we’re talking about books on our wishlist. I have far too many books to read at the moment as it is (and I mean active interest, like I keep wanting to start my third dish when I’m still chasing peas around from dish the first), so I’ll just do books I looked at on Amazon recently.

Teaser Tuesday

“Jack, oh, Jack! What have they done?!” – FIVE DAYS IN NOVEMBER

The Last Ten Books I Looked at on Amazon

(1) Visions of the Divine: An Artistic Journey Into the Mystery of the Eucharist, Stephen Auth.

(2) The Kennedy Detail: JFK’s Secret Service Agents Break Their Silence, Gerald Blaine & Lisa McCubbin

(3) The Road to Dallas, David Kaiser

Readers who have been bravely enduring my president obsession this past..year:

(4) The Rupture, Regina Kay. A fantasy novel by someone I “grew up with”, in the sense that we met online over a quarter of a century when I was smellincoffee and she was faith130 on the old 3DO gaming forums.

(5) States of the Union: A History of the Union through Presidential Addresses, David Kaiser

(6) 1960: LBJ vs. JFK vs. Nixon: The Epic Campaign that Forged Three Presidencies, David Pietrusza

(7) The Passion of Ayn Rand’s Critics, James Valliant. Earlier this week in a library group, someone posted a question: what do people see in Ayn Rand? I have a mixed opinion on Rand, seeing her philosophy as both invigorating but ultimately damned by its view of humans as primarily philosophical rather than biological creatures — but I tried to write a response to explain artistic integrity in The Fountainhead, or to point out that The Virtue of Selfishness has the same core conceit as any movie in which the main character decides to “follow their dreams”. When I hit “Post”, I was told the original post had been locked for commenting. I was sadly, not surprised. However, it evidently led to me looking for books that talk about Rand in an interesting way. This one was disappointing: it’s less about philosophy and more about the weird interpersonal drama of Rand and her ….boyfriend, I guess.


(8) TR’s Last War: Theodore Roosevelt, the Great War, and a Journey of Triumph and Tragedy, David Pietrusza

(9) Bad Blood: Lyndon B. Johnson, Robert F. Kennedy, and the Tumultuous 1960s, Jeffrey Smith. Annnnd now I have “Bad Blood” stuck in my head.

(10) Alice: Alice Roosevelt Longworth, from White House Princess to Washington Power Broker.

Fun fact: not only am I posting a JFK book today (it was a quickie — mostly pictures) but I have Vendetta, a history of RFK vs Hoffa waiting for me at the post office. I did not imagine catching the Kennedy bug.