Has your reading material changed since the election?

I used to love reading mystery / crime novels. Now I find myself relating everything I read to the election and what the * administration has done to the country, and suddenly some of what I'm reading is painful.

I was on a Carl Hiaasen kick over the past few weeks, re-reading some of my old favorites. I found I couldn't enjoy Double Whammy anymore, because I used to laugh at fundamentalist hypocrites, but now I regard them as a threat to the Constitution. In Basket Case, Hiaasen's depiction of media conglomerates was too spot on (sorry LDSJock!) for comfort in light of the effort to get the media to pay attention to election fraud.

I've just started John Grisham's The Pelican Brief, and it struck me that only a few short years ago, I would have considered a plot with a conspiracy to get rid of two Supreme Court Justices in order to stack the bench with right-wingers as far-fetched. Now it seems tame and naive compared to what these bastards are capable of doing.

I wonder if this thing with the books is just one manifestation of the way in which I'm seriously starting to look back at pre-2000 America and see it as almost a different country.

Before the shenanigans that surrounded this election, I was reading mostly non-fic music related books and some fiction, but now I can't get enough of political bios mostly about conservative figures. I want to understand the enemy and perhaps think of creative ways to destroy them (not meant as a personal threat, more of an ideological threat).

I have a hard time reading them for very long at a time, though, because I get too angry. I started reading Plan of Attack, but put it down when I realized I was literally clenching my jaws and grinding my teeth in frustration.

I'm going to go back to them, though, because you make a very good point.

but it is important. I don't read crap like Coulter, because a) I don't beleive that she is taken that seriously, b) she is a nutcase and c) she makes me want to hurt people like her. I don't need that. But, there are plenty of good ones that are competently written and are interesting. I plan on grabbing "Plan of Attack" at the library soon.

during the election all i read were books like "intelligence matters" "Bush world" "chain of command" and more. just read all of them at the same time. couldn't remember what i was reading when. lol

but i needed the reality. i needed to be in the moment.

now i cant look at those books. I haven't gotten through "chain of command" i am scared to get into it. cause its still going on. and its getting worse. look at rumsfeld and Gonzalez, its all too much to face right now.

I have been looking for deepack chopra's new book. i need peace for a moment. i need to look within, because i feel powerless at the moment - i cant change anything thats happening around me. lies are everywhere so i must find some peace within. then emerge stronger for a fight against these animals.

about the lies and feeling powerless. It's almost overwhelming, and maybe that's why it's encroaching so much in my life as to even reflect on my escapism mechanism, which is what the mysteries & crime novels used to be.

I was reading only political stuff before the election, and I'm reading more escapist thriller chase novels now.

Reading fiction has kept me sane since the election. Before the election almost everything I read was related to politics.

I still read newspapers, but I've even cut back on that. I just end up screaming obscenities. I haven't had CNN on since the election, and the only news program I can stomach is Countdown.

Reading was my way of switching off and getting to sleep, which is why I like the mystery/detection sort of novels. I never used to see anything political in them; they were just escapism.

to the reality of the world today. i was reading a paperback a week. loved it. then i got into politics. ugh.

i think right now we all need a bit of meditation.

i used to use "intellegence matters" by senator bob grahm as a sleeping pill. it would just put me to sleep. i should start reading it again. i have had a terrible time sleeping lately.