Of course it’s a preposterous title but so is the book I saw on the newsstand today, If Democrats Had Any Brains, They’d Be Republicans.

I get a chuckle from the skin-bag’s titles, they grow more outrageous, desperate and pathetic – someone/thing please have sex with her already! She may actually believe in her own relevance and I applaud the grand illusion.

But at this late stage, nearing 2009, one does have to wonder about her mental state. What year does she think this is? Does she really buy her own bile? Does anybody really - outside the legions of boobs who buy her books? What grand boobs these people must be – saggy and sucked, old and withered. The mammary equivalent to grandma’s cans.

Welcome to bookchat where you can talk about anything...books, plays, essays, and books on tape.  You don’t have to be reading a book to come in, sit down, and chat with us.

The purpose of reading is to change and grow.  Good literature, good music, and good movies challenge us to change our view of the world.  We grow larger and stronger in spirit.  We accept that challenge when we pick up a good book, listen to music, watch a movie and enter into the world the creator of the work presents.

In long novels, the main characters also grow and change.  Watching this journey of the soul keeps us reading and makes the characters memorable.

That is why we can’t forget Natasha and Pierre in Tolstoy’s War and Peace.  This is why we cannot forget Sidney Carton in A Tale of Two Cities.  This is why Jo Marsh lives in our hearts as created by Louisa May Alcott in Little Women.  

Asher Heimermann, 14, writes about Jerome Corsi.

So what is Netroots Nation about?  Is it just about the conference, and the thrill of once a year seeing a virtual community become physically manifest?  Is it about the panels?  the volunteer activities?  the drinking?  the late night poker games we may have forgotten to invite you to?  Is it all just a set-up that allows me to play Alex Trebek once a year?

Yes to all of that, of course, but there's also the substance -- it's about figuring out how to use technology to influence the public debate.  Each of us.  We have real power -- to promote candidates, to pressure candidates to pass legislation, to change hearts and minds and, ultimately, the world.

Through the annual Netroots Nation convention -- and starting this month, through a series of regional salons that will be held throughout all year long -- we want to strengthen our community, inspire action and serve as an incubator for ideas that challenge the status quo and ultimately affect change in the public sphere.

Those same values are the basis for Markos Moulitsas Zúniga's forthcoming book (as in, "this week"), "Taking on the System: Rules for Radical Change in a Digital Era." **

[You may know him as "Kos".]

For our first Netroots Nation regional event, to be held this Wednesday night in San Francisco, we're doing something new: We're kicking off the release of Markos' book tour, and we want to give you a chance to be part of the experience. Markos isn't touring like he did last time around, but you can still get your signed copy of the book now.

Join our virtual host committee for a donation of $125 to Netroots Nation, and we'll send you a signed copy of "Taking on the System."

Obvs, Markos knows how it's done -- how to take grassroots energy, apply technology and make change happen. In this book, he shares practical guidelines on how grassroots movements can thrive in the age of global information.

Will you help us kick off the release of this important book and support the mission of Netroots Nation?  Or would you rather just harness the power of the Internet to learn about cakes gone badly and let Jerome Corsi dominate the bestseller list?  

[** Full disclosure: Yes, as most of you know, Markos is a client of mine.  No, he didn't ask me to write this.  But I am chairman of the board of directors of Netroots Nation.]

Crossposted at Strategy08.

Jerome Corsi's craptacular book is being widely criticized, but McCain seems to think his outrageous claims are hilarious.

Next week, I will be away and bilssha will be filling in.

If you like to trade books, try BookMooch.

I've started cataloging what I've read on shelfari

cfk has bookflurries on Weds. nights
pico has literature for kossacks on Tues. nights, but it's on hiatus (although he had one diary last week, and promises to return in August!)

sarahnity has books by kossacks, now its own series, on Tuesday nights

With Jerome Corsi in the news with his new book. few have noticed some of Jerome's previous projects. one that really caught my attention was his book with Kenneth Blackwell:

Kenneth Blackwell and Jerome R. Corsi. Rebuilding America: A Prescription for Creating Strong Families, Building the Wealth of Working People, and Ending Welfare. WND Books, May 4, 2006. ISBN 1581825013

so who is Kenneth Blackwell?

Welcome to bookchat where you can talk about anything...books, plays, essays, and books on tape.  You don’t have to be reading a book to come in, sit down, and chat with us.

The New York Times today has a front page story on a new book, Obama Nation, which is apparently filled with factual errors and is by the same guy that wrote an anti-Kerry book 4 years ago.

http://www.nytimes.com/...

So I have not read the book, so don't look for a review here.  But I am curious about the claim to be a #1 bestseller.  The Times vaguely refers to "bulk sales."

Note: I'm the author of the book, Barack Obama: This Improbable Quest, but I'm not part of the Obama campaign.

David Freddoso's new book, The Case Against Barack Obama: The Unlikely Rise and Unexamined Agenda of the Media's Favorite Candidate is a badly-written hatchet job, full of errors and distortions and smears. The author, who works for the right-wing National Review and published his book with Regnery (which printed Unfit for Command, one of the Swiftboating attacks on John Kerry in 2004), simply fails to prove his key assertions, preferring to rely upon a bunch of false attacks, McCarthyist-style denunciations of Obama's associations, and extreme conservative attacks on abortion rights, all of it padded with lengthy digressions on topics unrelated to Obama and his record.

If you like to trade books, try BookMooch.

cfk has bookflurries on Weds. nights
pico has literature for kossacks on Tues. nights, but it's on hiatus (although he had one diary last week, and promises to return in August!)

sarahnity has books by kossacks, now its own series, on Tuesday nights

Last week, I looked at unread great books.  I thought I'd do part 2 today, but there were way too many nominations for a poll, so, instead:

Top ten!  Name your ten favorite books or series.  Great or trashy.  Fiction or nonfiction.  Fun, serious, weighty, light .... go for it!

Welcome to bookchat where you can talk about anything...books, plays, essays, and books on tape.  You don’t have to be reading a book to come in, sit down, and chat with us.

When my children were small and I hungered to talk with adults, I enjoyed reading Montaigne’s Essays because it seemed as if we were having a conversation as we sat together at lunch perhaps.  That kind of essay or journal writing that includes the reader is wonderful.

I've been a Costco shopper for years; as opposed to that Arkansas company that will remain nameless, I've always felt that Costco embraced progressive values...

...and then I went shopping there this morning.

CUE VAN HALEN! Might as well jump...

Fellow Kossacks –

I have a problem here that needs immediate attention.  I am an itinerate college history professor and have picked up a course for the fall at the last minute.  The class is the standard US history survey and I have a question about a particular kind of book I am looking for.  

So, join me below the flip for my problem.

Normally on Tuesday evenings, I publish the list I've been keeping of books that have been published by kossacks (or former kossacks or close relatives of kossacks).  This week, I will be a bit busy tonight, so I'm publishing it early.  Please check it out and be sure to buy anything that catches your fancy.  They can all use your support.

As usual, if you know of any any authors who I am missing, respond in the comments or send me email.  If you're an author who'd like to be added to the list anonymously, email me and I'll be happy to leave off your dKos ID.  

This series will be going on hiatus for a few weeks, but I will be back at the end of the month with any new additions.  In the mean time, if you like to talk about books, be sure to check out the weekly diary series  What Are You Reading and Bookflurries.

If any author below feels misclassified by my system, just let me know and I'll be happy to move you to whichever section you think best describes your work.

In honor of the death of the great patriot for freedom, I wanted to tell the story of the time I tried to smuggle his book The First Circle into the former Soviet Union.  

There was an avalanche in the Karakorum on August 1st, killing at least 9, probably 11 climbers, including Korean, Pakistani, Nepali, and Italian climbers.  Reports are still coming in, but it will undoubtedly be the worst single day in K2 climbing history.  This is the world's second highest mountain at 8,611 metres/28,251 ft., and one of its most dangerous.    

If you like to trade books, try BookMooch.

cfk has bookflurries on Weds. nights
pico has literature for kossacks on Tues. nights, but it's on hiatus (although he had one diary last week, and promises to return in August!)

sarahnity has books by kossacks, now its own series, on Tuesday nights

I got the idea for this week's diary from a comment by Frankenoid in last week's diary, where she asked us about great books we haven't read.  Of course, given the number of books, no one has read any but a small fraction.  But I'm talking about great books.  Even then, there's too many.  Lists of the "100 best" are full of books I haven't read.  So, let's make it "10 great books you haven't read yet".  I'm going to select books I actually might read and enjoy.

So, below the fold, I list my 10.  In the comments, you can do the same.  I'll round up the most mentioned books, and next week, we can vote