If you could recommend one literary work to George Bush, what would it be and why?

If you could recommend one literary work to John Kerry, what would it be and why?

George Bush: The Once and Future King, T.H. White

John Kerry: Haroun and the Sea of Stories, Salman Rushdie

The book for both; "The Way" an anthology of American Indian literature. Author(?) Reason; The humor, the sensitivity and because it just came to mind.

OT

Best Poll for undecided Voters;

Since 1956, Weekly Reader students in grades 1-12 have correctly picked the president

http://www.weeklyreader.com/election_vote.asp

Weekly Reader kids select Bush in Presidential Poll

The students who read Weekly Readerís magazines have made their preference for President known: they want to send President Bush back to the White House.

The results of this yearís Weekly Reader poll have just been announced, and the winner is President Bush. Hundreds of thousands of students participated, giving the Republican President more than 60% of the votes cast and making him a decisive choice over Democratic Senator John Kerry.

Since 1956, Weekly Reader students in grades 1-12 have correctly picked the president, making the Weekly Reader poll one of the most accurate predictors of presidential outcomes in history.

For both, "Kim" by Kipling, because it's one of my favorite novels. No other reason.

I suspect some readers would like to recommend some work as a thinly disguised lecture on something or other, but that tends to backfire.

For Bush: He's a busy man, so I'd give him Billy Collins' "The Art of Drowning". He'd be able to read a poem or two, get a smile on his face, then go about his business.

For Kerry: David Sedaris "Holidays on Ice". Kerry looks like he needs something funny in his life, other than THK.

Erin,

Can you please erase that nonsense above by "Poll Troll"? I don't think it answers your question.

For Bush, something about addiction and religious fanaticism . . . maybe William Burroughs' *Naked Lunch*?

And for Kerry, maybe something about going to war for your country and then being treated like a threat to that very nation upon return . . . maybe Michael S. Harper's *Debridement*? Or Leslie Silko's *Ceremony*?

For Bush, maybe something about never admitting when you're wrong . . . about the bravery of sticking to your principles even when they are scary and dangerous . . . maybe *Huck Finn* (esp the famous I'll-go-to-hell scene)?

For Kerry, maybe something about the enduring, powerful tradition of left-wing protest in America . . . maybe Thomas Pynchon's *Vineland*?

blindness, jose saramago.

Bush: The Stranger (in English) -- because it is short, it is French (ok, French via Algeria), it gives the reader insight into the frailty of society, and also shows the reader that he, too, is guilty in someone's eyes.

Kerry: Le Misanthrope (en francais) -- I would like Kerry to actually say what he believes....even if he has to do so in French.

Dear Boo:

Kim is not a thinly disguised lecture? Ha!

Bush: "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad, so he understands just how difficult dealing with a different culture can be.

Kerry: "Tommy," by Rudyard Kipling (yes, I know it's more a poem than a work, but still), to remind him what soldiers really want.

But, then again, I guess on this, the third of November, the issue is comparatively moot.

I'd recommend "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," by Hunter S Thompson, to President Bush, and "Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail" to Sen. Kerry.

For Bush, 2 things: Good Soldier Schweik by Jaroslav Haöek or Catch 22: a good light-hearted novel about the war industry and the naivety of soldiers. Alternatively, I wish Bush would read John Kerry's Vietnam letters (published in Atlantic). they really are profound meditations on war. And Mohnyihan's Secrecy, a historical account of how the CIA exaggerated the threat of its enemy.

for Kerry, I'd recommend Democracy by Henry Adams All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren. But if he's eager to forget about politics, I'd recommend R.K. Narayan's The Guide. And for connecting to the common man, I'd recommend any book by Mike Royko. His essays (which are actually good bits of storytelling) are charming.

Interestingly, I can think of a lot more antiwar films than books. Ballad of a Soldier, Ran, etc.

I assume you mean fiction - as do most of the posters. I recently read a piece by Russell Kirk, in which he said:

"To understand these words "civilization" and "culture," the best book to read is T. S. Eliot's slim volume Notes Towards the Definition of Culture, published forty-four years ago.

Once upon a time I commended that book to President Nixon, in a private discussion of modern disorders, as the one book which he ought to read for guidance in his high office. Man is the only creature possessing culture, as distinguished from instinct; and if culture is effaced, so is the distinction between man and the brutes that perish. "Art is man's nature," in Edmund Burke's phrase; and if the human arts, or culture, cease to be, then human nature ceases to be. "

Bush could use guidance, and Kerry could use relaxation.

For President Bush, The Road To Serfdom by Friedrich Hayek. For Senator Kerry, Man's Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl.

1984 for both of them. Ask them both to comment about the ways in which the book remains relevant to contemporary USA.

anything by Ludwig von Mises. like : 'Socialism', 'the anti-capitalist mentality' or 'planned chaos'!

George Bush: The Grapes of Wrath; while I voted for W and largely support him, there is a lack of true populism in his belief system and I think this book might wake him up to some of the real hardships endured by the working class.

John Kerry: Animal Farm; if anything, Kerry is an elitist who seems to believe that he is better than the common man. Orwell reminds us that egalitarian movements are really founded upon an elite ruling class believing it its superiority while merely paying lip service to the notion of equality for all.

Emma Goldman Psychology of Political Violence Essay

For Bush: The "Tao te Ching" - has excellent succint advice for governing.

For Kerry: "Tuesday's with Morrie" - for simple reflection, introspection and inspiration on the things which are important and what is not.

"Language in Action" by S.I. Hayakawa for both of them. If they were able to read it they would both be in a different profession