I have been following the Clinton Book Shopand it’s owner manager, Rob Dougherty, for over a year now on Facebook and Twitter. Rob is a strong vocal advocate for buying from your independent bookstore and local businesses, so his interests line up with the goal of Bookstore People. Clinton Book Shop is in New Jersey, which is several thousand miles from me, so I haven’t visited the store, yet. I have noticed on updates an interesting club, one I would love to join, called the Politically Incorrect Book Club. It’s a sellout at Clinton with a waiting list to join. The club is “committed to the belief that each individual is entitled to openly express their thoughts and perspectives without the fear of being dismissed.” I think membership should be required of every politician, I nominate the California legislators to sign up first.
Knowing I was writing this post today, I pondered over what makes a book politically incorrect? Is there a universal definition that people from various view points could agree upon? Or is one person’s politically incorrect book someone else’s text? What do you think?
The books Rob recommends touch on a wide variety of topics, from health care to religion to globalization to politics to foreign affairs, this group isn’t afraid to approach any significant topic. If only the book group could meet via the Internet and we could all join! Until then, pick up duplicate copies of a few of these books (Rob will be happy to send them to you), one for you and one for a gift, then meet and discuss the topic while respect the views of everyone at the table:
- The Lives They Left Behind: Suitcases from a State Hospital Attic,by Darby Penney, Peter Stastny, Lisa Rinzler
- The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power,by Jeff Shariet
- The Limits of Power: The End of American Exceptionalism,by Andrew J. Bacevich
- The Soprano State: New Jersey’s Culture of Corruption, by Rob Ingle and Sandy McClure
- A Year Without “Made in China”: One Family’s True Life Adventure in the Global Economy,by Sara Bongiorni
- Bad Money, by Kevin Phillips
- Palestine Peace, by Jimmy Carter
- The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad,by Fareed Zakaria
- A Letter to America,by David Boren
-
Thank you so much for the shout out for the Clinton Book Shop. Rob is the Manager of the book shop. Harvey Finkel is the owner of the shop.
Love the idea of an on-line P.I. book club. Maybe via SKYPE?
Peace
Rob
-
I corrected your title! Harvey is very lucky to have you!
A book group via Skype, interesting idea! Has it ever been done?
Reply
Recent Articles
-
Wonderful Video of What Happens in a Bookstore at Night
I’ve been in a bit of a posting slump, but I’m working my way out and what better way to start the new year than with this lovely stop action video, “The Joy of Books,” about what happens in Type bookstore at night. I can’t wait to visit Toronto just to stop by Type Books to [...]
-
Scrambling For A Last Minute Gift? Head To Your Local Bookstore!
Farhad Manjoo ignited the latest round of ‘will the local bookstore survive’ with his “Don’t Support Your Local Bookstore” tirade on Slate. (I couldn’t fail to notice that while Salon promotes a campaign to support local bookstores, Slate is bashing them.) Numerous responses Manjoo were published, twitter feeds with special hashtags popped up, and even [...]
-
57th Street Books – Chicago, IL
57th Street, the actual street, is perfect for the meandering bookworm. We started with lunch at the graffiti clad Medici Restaurant. Famous for its burgers and scribbled upon walls and furnishings, we filled the time waiting for our food by adding our own “tags” to the table top. More importantly, within blocks there are three [...]
-
Essay Challenge Recap
I coming in just under the wire this year, this challenge must be completed today!! The Essay Challenge over at Books and Movies is the only one I joined this year, even so, I didn’t keep up with it the way I have the past two years. Not that I haven’t read essays all year [...]
-
Salon says “Support Your Local Bookstore!”
In the latest pitch to keep bookstores alive and well, or at least breathing, Salon.com gave credit to indies for finding and promoting the latest excellent book most of us don’t know: An independent bookstore brings a lot to a city or a town: a showroom for the latest literary releases, an auditorium where authors [...]
-
Small Business Saturday – Shop at Local Businesses on November 26th!
Actually shop at them as much as possible, they are the engine that drives your local economy. But, let’s give the little guys a leg up in the middle of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Drop by a local business, chat with a real person, and contribute to your neighborhood economy by purchasing a Christmas [...]
-
Which authors would you invite to Thanksgiving dinner?
Taking a riff from NPR’s story last week about which deceased composers Miles Hoffman would invite to Thanksgiving dinner, I pondered the same question for authors and asked quite a few friends. Here are the guidelines: which dead authors would you invite to Thanksgiving dinner? Which author would you invite to give a reading Thanksgiving [...]
-
Breaking Dawn – Part 1 Opens Today
One of the pleasures of having a teenage daughter is the opportunity to share silly, girlly experiences. While I understand all of the criticism about the Twilght series, and agree with some, as I’ve written before, I’ve enjoyed the ride. Even more, I’m grateful for the opportunity to share the sheer reading fun with my daughter. [...]
-
Abbey Books & Gifts – Valyermo, CA
I spent just over 24 hours last week at St. Andrews Abbey. I’m not Catholic, but I enjoy joining the monks in the Daily Office. For those of you new to that term (and that would’ve been me a couple of years ago), it’s the practice of pausing at several set times through out the [...]
-
Alexander Book Co. – San Francisco, CA
Alexander Book Co. is a traditional independent bookstore tucked around a corner in downtown San Francisco. Wedged between office towers and the Academy of Arts complex, it’s a cozy respite from steel, glass, and marble. The store even smells like good books waiting to be discovered. The first time I tried to visit the store, [...]
2 comments
Comments feed for this article
Trackback link: http://www.bookstorepeople.com/2009/12/best-gift-for-readers-politically-incorrect-books/trackback/