NIGHTLY READING THREAD: Welcome to Edition #42 of #GMGReads. Every night through this weird time, I'm tweeting out a list of my five favorite books around a general theme—and a link to an indie bookstore where you can order them online....
Here are some of my favorite political satires; life in Washington often inspires ridicule—my friend @JessicaYellin wrote one just last year, SAVAGE NEWS, and @MarkLeibovich's THIS TOWN makes one wonder if any fiction is funnier than real-life in DC.... fountainbookstore.com/book/978077830…
Some of these are DC satires real deep tracks—three date back to the Reagan years—so buckle up and snap up these used copies—they're hard to find! The good news is that DC satire stands the test of time, since, well, life in DC is just as absurd as always. So here we go.....
1) Long before she was Second Lady, Lynne Cheney co-authored a "Weekend at Bernie's"-style 1988 satire of what happened if the VP died and no one noticed, THE BODY POLITIC, with Vic Gold: betterworldbooks.com/product/detail…
(Total aside: In 2000, I was interning for @ABC when Cheney was tapped as Bush's VP, and I tracked down a copy of BODY POLITIC, read it overnight, and Peter Jennings spoke on-air my one-sentence summary of the book. It was, at that moment, the highlight of my journalism career.)
2) Christopher Buckley is the king of DC satires, and his THANK YOU FOR SMOKING and WHITE HOUSE MESS are among his most classic: fountainbookstore.com/book/978081297…
3) Anyone who has ever worked in DC will recognize the truth and absurdity of Peter Benchley's 1986 satire Q CLEARANCE, where a random White House staffer accidentally gets a top clearance he shouldn't and accrues power simply by appearing in-the-know: powells.com/book/-97804416…
4) Two books about campaign life: Peter Lefcourt's THE WOODY in which a US senator is shaken down by a maple syrup kingpin, strandbooks.com/product/978067… and @jenniferclose's THE HOPEFULS, about a campaign romance gone awry: strandbooks.com/product/978110…
5) Lastly, Garrett Epps' 1985 novel THE FLOATING ISLAND, a truly rare find, is one of the best DC send-ups you'll ever come across: betterworldbooks.com/product/detail…
Those are tonight's #GMGReads. What are your favorite political satires or books about politics and life in DC? Share! #avidreadersunite
