The Reading Post

Weren't the political debates interesting?

All the focus has been on the debaters, as it should be, but what about the moderators? All the moderators of the debates, televised and not, are accomplished authors.

Rick Warren, pastor of a California megachurch, moderated a non-network Q & A session early in the political season. He is, of course, well-known for his works The Purpose-driven Life and The Purpose-driven Church.

Jim Lehrer, anchor of the PBS "The News Hour with Jim Lehrer" is an accomplished author of many novels. His latest is Eureka.

Gwen Ifill, also a PBS broadcaster and newsperson, has a new book coming out in January or February, 2009. Her book is titled Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama.

Tom Brokaw of NBC's "Meet the Press" and his book The Greatest Generation shot to the top of the best-seller lists in 1998. His latest book is Boom!: Voices of the Sixties.

Bob Schieffer, native Texan and CBS host of "Face the Nation," moderated the last of the current series of political debates. He has recently written a book titled Bob Schieffer's America.

All of these books are now (or will be, in the case of Gwen Ifill's forthcoming book) at the Victoria Public Library. All of the authors were selected to moderate these debates, not just because they are prominent in their fields, but because they are literate, intelligent and very articulate. We can learn something and/or enjoy reading every day, and a good place to begin could be with any of their books.

What are you reading?

Well, here we are less than four weeks from election day.

I doubt that there is much out there that could influence the political process at this point, but there are a couple of really good new books recently written.

The War Within: A Secret White House History 2006-2008 is the fourth and final volume of Bob Woodward's historical series detailing the Bush Administration. Woodward is described as "clearly non-idealogical" by the New York Times Book Review, and this book completes his analysis of the Bush Presidency.

Thomas L. Friedman also has a new book entitled Hot, Flat, and Crowded. Friedman is calling for a "green revolution" as a means of energizing and renewing America.

Both speak to issues of the last eight years and look to the future to solve the ills of the world.

What are you reading?