Saturday, November 15, 2008

A few more reads for you...

After my last book review post, I got back on it and read a few more books since then. First one is The Nine by Jeffrey Toobin. For those that don't know Jeffrey, he's an analyst on CNN. I really liked him because he was rather impartial during the election. Throughout the election, he frequently spoke about the Court and how the next President is going to have a significant impact on the court because there are several justices in there 70s and 80s that most likely will be done soon.

The book itself focused on the Rehnquist Court which saw the same Justices together for over 10 years which is the longest in Court's history. I greatly enjoyed the book and learned a lot about how the Court works and how they come to their decisions. I was also interested in Sandra Day O'Connor's role in the Court as the typical swing vote. She was nominated by Ronald Reagan but was very moderate in her voting record. I dug her moderate positions and wished there were more Justices like her that don't take a right or left approach to the bench...

I also didn't know abortion shows up so much in the Court. I have opinions on this that I want to explain in another post.

Nonetheless, it was a great book and a great read...

After reading about the Supreme Court, I dove into another Brad Thor book...If you don't remember, I read another book by the same author a few months back.

I actually liked this book better than the other one I read. The main character in the book is a bad ass, arrogant, tough as nails secret service agent that doesn't mess around...Basically, the main character, Scot Harvath, is trying to track down an terrorist organization before he wrecks havoc on the US. Awesome stuff.

I'm really liking this author and am going to be digging into the rest of his books. They are quick reads and very action packed. If by chance you have any copies of this dude, please let me know. If not, hopefully they will have them at the library...

Last up is Supreme Courtship by Christopher Buckley...

For those observant readers, I read another book by the same author here. This one though caught my eye while waiting in a grocery store line but Amanda had me wait and gave it to me for my birthday. Buckley is a political satirist and he didn't disappoint with this one. The President in his book finally has a chance to nominate a Supreme Court Justice but he has a congress and senate that aren't too entirely stoked on him so he can't get the first two books through the Judiciary Committee. While watching TV at Camp David, he runs across a TV Court show (ie Judge Judy) and is intrigued by the witty, fiery, Texas female judge. So, he nominates her and because of her popularity, the constituents of the Judiciary Committee members are forced to say OK...You can imagine the rest of the story.

Once again, great funny quick read that was very enjoyable. If you're interested, let me know and I'll let you read it. Also, if you have any of Chris Buckley's earlier books that you're willing to let go for awhile, let me know...

Next up, NixonLand...An 800 page beast about Richard Milhous Nixon...Lovin' it so far.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I've thought about reading "The Nine" a few times. I was interested to learn in law school how often litigation was set-up by special interest groups to alter or modify or "construe" legislation. Still happens a lot today. Interesting.