Posted on 05/20/2007 5:23:26 AM PDT by policestory
Freeper Book Club
Thanks to all who gave me some great ideas for conservative novels to read this summer.
I compiled a list of the ones mentioned most and some I checked on Amazon.com. I read the Amazon.com reviews and they seem worthwhile. I ranked them purely by what I think would be good. It is totally arbitrary. I have only read a couple ( which I noted). The rest are Freeper recommendations:
1- Everything by W.E.B. Griffin ( He wrote several series of books "Brotherhood of War"; "The Corps" – I read "Semper Fi"; "Badge of Honor" – this is about the Phila. PD, Men at War and some others. His son wrote one too. I've read most of Griffin's stuff - excellent!)
2- Anything by Tom Clancy (Actually the stuff he wrote in the 1980’s and early 1990’s like "Red Storm Rising" and "Hunt for Red October" - both of which I read - among others. One novel talks about wacko environmentalists).
3- "A Sense of Duty" by Michael P. Tremoglie (A Freeper William Tell 2. Excellent novel exposing hypocrisy and ruthlessness of mainstream media and civil rights industry. Got great reviews by WEB Griffin and Phila Bulletin and Campus Report)
4- "State of Fear" by Michael Crichton
5- Anything by Robert Heinlein (these are science fiction like Starship Troopers, which is really good. No citizenship unless served in military).
6- "The Caine Mutiny" by Herman Woulk (Is this really conservative?)
7- Anything by Tom Wolfe (other than the Right Stuff I don’t know how conservative he is)
8- Unintended Consequences by John Ross (seems interesting)
9- "The Devil is Dead" by John Lafferty
10 - "The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand ( I’ve read this. I don’t know if I’d characterize it as conservative. Some Freepers did though).
11- The Secret Agent and The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
12- The Reckoning ( no author named)
13- Angels in Iron by J. Prata
14- Camp of the Saints by Jean Raspaill
15- The Devil’s Advocate Taylor Caldwell
16- The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books (not sure how conservative or why these are conservative).
17- L. Neil Smith (no novels mentioned)
18 - Neal Stevenson (no books named)
19- Snowcrash ( no author)
20- Crypto-Nomicon: “
21- The Confusion “
22- The System of the World “
23- The Quicksilver: “
24- Interface “
25- Cobweb “
26- Vince Flynn novels
27- September Day
28- Under the Frog by Tibor Fischer.
29- Ninety-three by Victor Hugo
30- Terry Goodkind (no books mentioned)
31- David Gemmel (no books mentioned)
32- John D. McDonald
33- Randy Wayne White
34-Deborah Crombie
35- The Red President, by Martin Gross
36-Ted Dekker
37-William F. Buckley’s spy novels
38- The Thanatos Syndrome by Walker Percy
39 - A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge
Also, for you movie goers check the Renaissance Film Festival in Dallas Texas and the Liberty Film Festival in Hollywood. These are strictly for conservative movies. Maybe we can read these books, find others, and talk about them and some of the conservative movies. It would be kind of cool.
I have read #8 , it is good recommendation
Ping interewsting list of books
I did not see Joel Rosenberg on your list, or David Baldacci.
An older one that I enjoyed was 'China Card' by Thomas Blood. (I think I remember that correctly - it is a red paperback.)
And BTW, I read Camp of the Saints last week. It's hard to believe that this 1975 book completely escaped my notice until recently. As with Atlas Shrugged the villains are very real.
ML/NJ
You could probably add Jerry Pournelle to the ‘approved author’ list. Lot’s of military ‘fish out of water’ sci fi, thinly veiled capitalist/libertarian bent to a lot of ‘em.
David Weber’s Honor Harrington series (the interstellar bad guy is a socialist ‘republic’).
I’m finding I enjoy Lee Child’s Jack Reacher series. Not sure if the author is conservative or not, just like the books.
Evan Hunter also wrote a good one called "Young Lions." It's an oldie but goodie.
I'm an avid book reader and I just like a good novel. It doesn't have to be "conservative" or "bible-based" or anything else like that. The book just has to be well-written and tell a good story.
So that said, there are some good books on this list I've read already and I will check out some of the books on this list I don't know about.
I didn’t see “Prayers for the Assassin” on your list, which I think masterfully illustrates what kind of life we’d have under an Islamist rule in America (even if it has a shameless set up for a sequel).
I love ANY fiction by Michael Crichton, not just “State of Fear”. I have “Next” but haven’t started it yet.
Finally, I used to read William Buckley’s fiction, like “Marco Polo”, and Wilbur Smith’s political thrillers, like “Delta Force” and “Six Days in May”. Smith may not have seen himself as a “conservative”, but his themes sure ring with conservative principles.
For younger readers (and the young at heart), please don’t forget “My Side of the Mountain”, “The Secret Garden”, and “The Little Princess”, all about self-reliance and finding your inner strength in adversity.
Happy reading!
I think the list is of books where you probably won’t get ambushed by a snarky Dan Quayle reference as a passing insult on Republican’s intelligence, or where one of the most evil or immoral characters is a perfect description of Donald Rumsfeld.
That said, I read just about anything I can get my hands on, whether the author is “conservative” or not. I really enjoy mystery/thrillers, like “The Rule of Four”, “The Genesis Code”, and “The Red Fox”, or a really great story, like the six in the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon.
“”The Caine Mutiny” by Herman Woulk (Is this really conservative?) “
It’s a book a conservative can enjoy.
“Must everything we do in life be filtered through the prism of politics?”
I like to be warned if something is contaminated by leftism. I hate buying a book, settling in for a nice read, and getting a rude surprise instead.
Orson Scott Card is fundamentally conservative (in the same way that Stephen King is fundamentally liberal). Card’s latest novel EMPIRE (about a Blue State-Red State civil war) was great fun.
Since you are a solid libertarian then you should not be concerned what others are doing that does not affect you.
I think you described the list almost perfectly. The only thinking lacking was the promotion of conservative thought as is done by Hollywood and Manhattan with liberal thoughts.
Interesting that the libertarian is complaining about what other people are doing when libertarians supposedly believe people should do what they want as long as it doesn’t concern others.
I guess he is not really a libertarian or conservative.
The War In 2020 was a good Book...By R Peters..
I have read #3 also a good recommendation.
David Gemmel was a fantasy writer, but not your cookie-cutter Tolkien-ripoff variety. I've loved everything of his that I had so far and I have a few more books to go. I like them, but I've known a couple of people to say that he's one of those whom you either love or hate.
Sadly, I found out that he passed away a couple of years ago, but he has a lot of work out there.
TS
Belated book-club ping. I just stumbled across this thread from a couple of weeks ago.
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