Books of merit read – Cancun 2008

1. The Audacity of Hope, by Barack Obama – great insight into where we are at as a country and where Barack thinks we can go.

2. A stupid unjust, and Criminal War, Andrew Greeley - This is a collection of the articles he has written about the war in Iraq, published in the Chicago SUN, from 2001 to 2007. WOW! A must read!

3. Playing for Pizza, by John Gisham – John is a good writer, if you like football and Italian food, this is a must.

4. Dark of the Moon, by John Sandford – a “whodonit” that takes place in Southwestern Minnesota, a fast paced easy read.

5. The God Delusion, by Richard Dawkins – A well thought out logical assault on fundamentalism whether Christian or Islamic. He clearly and powerfully shows how destructive fundamentalism is to humans - Great chapters on the moral good and the problems of reading the bible literally.. Unfortunately Dawkins lumps all religions into these two groups and presents atheism as the only choice for the good person.

6. Arrogance, Rescuing America from the Media Elite, by Bernard Goldberg – An interesting perspective on how the media reports events. He suggests that the conservative viewpoint is under represented because so few people in the media are conservative. I found interesting his comment that a newspaper writer told him, they didn’t know anyone who was for the war in Iraq. I would have to say the same, so I guess he has a point.

7. Charlie Wilson’s War, by George Crile – This is a well documented book on the way our government works and how we secretly supplied the Afgans in their war against the Russians.

8. True Believer, by Nicholas Sparks – another well written love story.

6. A thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini, - As riveting as Kite Runner his first book, a powerful view of the plight of women in Afganhistan.

7. Wild Fire, by Nelson DeMille, - a powerful thriller about the solution some would choose to end the terrorist threat – NUKE’em