Books as Props

One of the sadder spectacles available to the careful reader is on display whenever politicos pretend to be regular people. For example, our own State Sen. Michele Bachmann pretended to reveal her inner Suzy Homemaker by vacuuming while wearing high heels. Critics who suspected the photo was staged to accompany a semi-admiring newpaper profile might have reconsidered when the Senator was later observed wearing heels while spying on a gay rights rally. She is short, and maybe that's just her footwear of choice.

Minneapolis Mayor Al Hofstede was single when in office, and if memory serves, still lived in his parents' house. The regular guy photo story showed the mayor relaxing at home, reading a book on the couch. A careful reader could see that the book was a prop, unless the mayor enjoyed kicking back with a chemistry textbook.

The reading habits of our president are likewise suspect, as the Rude Pundit points out in So Speed Reading Ain't His Strong Suit: Briefly no.... Has he finished Tom Wolf's I am Charlotte Simmons or hasn't he?

Since I still haven't tackled A Man in Full, which I believe is better book than Wolf's latest 700-pager, I'm not going to diss Bush. After all, he allegedly made it through Yale and Harvard Business School without actually reading a book all the way through. I'm a little behind on my reading myself.

But please spare us readers the book as prop, as flight suit, as telegenic red tie. We do care about what's between the covers, just as we care about what's between the ears.