This is a place to discuss any books that you've read that you consider worthy of mention, ones you are reading now, or those you intend to read.
Books I Am Reading, Have Read, or Plan to Read
- Thread starter Ken Anderson
- Start date
Krystal Shay
Well-known member
I just finished reading a book called, The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius. He was a Roman Emperor and philosopher. I like reading philosophy books from time to time, as long as it doesn’t get too deep; then I am lost. 
If you use Audible books, you can include them as well. I tend not to pay close enough attention when I am listening to a book for it to be the same thing. Years ago, when my wife and I published a monthly statewide newspaper for a year, it was a free newspaper supported by ads, although not well enough for us to continue it. I would drive throughout the state, dropping bundles off, and I would use Audible a lot while doing that. If it didn't annoy my wife, I might play Audible books at night because I can process things reasonably well while asleep, but to play a book otherwise, I find that I lose large portions of it.
Beth Gallagher
Well-known member
I never thought I'd say these words, but I just downloaded Ted Cruz's book "Going Further: The Incomparable Clarence Thomas." I'm a huge fan of Clarence Thomas so I want to read this biography. I have read other books about Justice Thomas, including his own autobiography, but I'm interested in Cruz's spin.
Paul Couillard
Member
I finished (15 Sept 2026) reading "Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America (With a New Afterword the Author)" by Heather Cox Richardson [2024].
Here are some ideas found in the book from the Foreword and the Afterword:
Page XV: "Democracies die more often through the ballot box than at gunpoint."
Page XVI: "The key to the rise of authoritarians, they [social scientists] explained, is their use of language and false history."
Page XVII: The strongman "insists that his policies - which opponents loathe - simply follow established natural or religious rules his enemies have abandoned. Those rules portray society as based in hierarchies, rather than equality, and make the strongman's followers better than their opponents." In World War Two, "Americans went to war against fascism."
Page XVIII: "In the 1930s, the struggle between equality and inequality took shape as a fight between democracy and fascism."
Page XIX: "Whenever it looked as if marginalized people might get a equal voice, designing political leaders told white men that their own rights were under attack. Soon, they warned, minorites and women would take over and push them aside." "Elite enslavers had done this in the 1850s and had come close to taking over the country."
Page XX: "In the years after 1980, a political minority took over Congress . . .". "Freedom House, a nonprofit that charts the health of democracies internationally, 'urgently' called for reforms after a decade in which 'US democracy has declined significantly.' "
Page XX: "Those justifying their embrace of authoritarianism as the future of government in the 21st century say that democracy is obsolete."
Page XXI: "This is a book about how a small group of people have tried to make us believe that our fundamental principles aren't true."
Page 255: "He [Trump] had run for office by courting the racist and sexist base of the Republican party." Trump gave his "endorsement" of white nationalists at the Charlottesville, Virginia "Unite the Right" rally in August 2017.
Page 256: Trump loyalists gained control of the Republican party. MAGA Republicans seek to "impose Christian nationalism" which would establish "old-fashioned racial and gender hierarchy."
Page 257: Those who disagreed with Trump were "cast out" out of the Republican party.
Pages 260, 261: Kevin Roberts had turned the Heritage Foundation into a vehicle for "institutionalizing Trumpism." The Heritage Foundation's "Project 2025" aims to "isolate" the United States, install an "authoritarian leader," end LGBTQ+ rights and abortion, eliminate business regulations, the social safety net, infrastructure, and civil rights protections, etc. It calls for mass privatization.
Page 264: MAGA Republicans and Project 2025 seek to "replace American democracy with an authoritarian leader who would impose the minority's Christian nationalist beliefs on the American people."
Here are some ideas found in the book from the Foreword and the Afterword:
Page XV: "Democracies die more often through the ballot box than at gunpoint."
Page XVI: "The key to the rise of authoritarians, they [social scientists] explained, is their use of language and false history."
Page XVII: The strongman "insists that his policies - which opponents loathe - simply follow established natural or religious rules his enemies have abandoned. Those rules portray society as based in hierarchies, rather than equality, and make the strongman's followers better than their opponents." In World War Two, "Americans went to war against fascism."
Page XVIII: "In the 1930s, the struggle between equality and inequality took shape as a fight between democracy and fascism."
Page XIX: "Whenever it looked as if marginalized people might get a equal voice, designing political leaders told white men that their own rights were under attack. Soon, they warned, minorites and women would take over and push them aside." "Elite enslavers had done this in the 1850s and had come close to taking over the country."
Page XX: "In the years after 1980, a political minority took over Congress . . .". "Freedom House, a nonprofit that charts the health of democracies internationally, 'urgently' called for reforms after a decade in which 'US democracy has declined significantly.' "
Page XX: "Those justifying their embrace of authoritarianism as the future of government in the 21st century say that democracy is obsolete."
Page XXI: "This is a book about how a small group of people have tried to make us believe that our fundamental principles aren't true."
Page 255: "He [Trump] had run for office by courting the racist and sexist base of the Republican party." Trump gave his "endorsement" of white nationalists at the Charlottesville, Virginia "Unite the Right" rally in August 2017.
Page 256: Trump loyalists gained control of the Republican party. MAGA Republicans seek to "impose Christian nationalism" which would establish "old-fashioned racial and gender hierarchy."
Page 257: Those who disagreed with Trump were "cast out" out of the Republican party.
Pages 260, 261: Kevin Roberts had turned the Heritage Foundation into a vehicle for "institutionalizing Trumpism." The Heritage Foundation's "Project 2025" aims to "isolate" the United States, install an "authoritarian leader," end LGBTQ+ rights and abortion, eliminate business regulations, the social safety net, infrastructure, and civil rights protections, etc. It calls for mass privatization.
Page 264: MAGA Republicans and Project 2025 seek to "replace American democracy with an authoritarian leader who would impose the minority's Christian nationalist beliefs on the American people."
Hoot Crawford
Well-known member
The last book I read was "Hillbilly Elegy" by J D Vance. That was a few months ago. Not sure what will be next, or if there will even be a "next". I dunno.