Here’s are some of Jay’s answers to our summer questions:
Is there one book that you’d recommend to uplift and inspire depressed conservatives this summer?
I should probably say the Bible. In fact . . . maybe I will.
What’s your favorite WFB book and why?
Don’t have a favorite — have many. Probably my favorite novel: Stained Glass. Maybe my favorite collection: Right Reason. (But it could be that that just hit me at the right time.) I’m amazed at The Unmaking of a Mayor. This is probably the most dazzling book about American politics I know.
And umpteen other books are dazzlers, too.
Why do I love these books, or all WFB books? For the same reasons one loves him.
What’s your favorite political movie and why?
Would On the Waterfront qualify? Would The Lives of Others? They share a great theme: standing up to the bully.
Mention Casablanca?
If you could read or reread one classic this summer, what would it be? What are the odds you actually do?
The Odyssey or Hamlet. Zero.
Is there any recent book that’s made you want to buy copies for everyone you know and love? Did you actually make the purchases?
Every once in a while, you read a book that you want to thrust into the hands of every person. You want to say, “See? See?” World War IV: The Long Struggle Against Islamofascism (N. Podhoretz) is such a book for me. I have bought it for people, yes.
More lightheartedly — Miguel Street, an early Naipaul, is a treat. Just to hear the language of the Trinidadian street (c. WW2) is wonderful. Also, the short stories of R. K. Narayan — an early inspiration for Naipaul.
…
Name one book we’re going to be shocked you read.
This isn’t especially a shocker, but, when it came out — in 1985 — I read Brooke Shields’s autobiography. Liked it.
Brookhiser, Skelly, Charen, D’Souza, Hemingway, and more here.