Kirwin’s 10 Books for Christmas
By Brian Kirwin | Friday, December 9th, 2011 | Catch-AllAt the risk of embarrassing my BD friends, my book choices won’t result in causing someone to sleep through Christmas.
1. Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy
Vincent Bugliosi (Author)
1600-plus pages about everything you would ever want to know about the JFK assassination, and showing how every theory that anyone but Lee Harvey Oswald did it is embarrassingly wrong.
2. I Lost it at the Movies
Pauline Kael (Author)
The book that made me want to be a film critic, until I found out how little film critics make. These aren’t just movie reviews. They are attack ads against bad films. Plus some good essays.
3. The New Prince: Machiavelli Updated for the Twenty-First Century
Dick Morris (Author)
Back when Dick Morris didn’t care about being a tv star and just showed off his smarts. When he autographed my copy of this, he enshrined it to every book list I’ll ever do.
4. Statecraft As Soulcraft: What Government Does
George F. Will (Author)
Tea Party alert. What to know where you’re right and where you aren’t? This book was written when I was a teenager and it’s still true to the last word.
5. Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live, as Told By Its Stars, Writers and Guests
Tom Shales (Author), James Andrew Miller (Author)
Amazingly insightful into a long-running creative success story, and the insanity it takes to make it. Anyone who thinks there is nothing else in the world like a political campaign should read this book.
6. King Kong: The History of a Movie Icon from Fay Wray to Peter Jackson
Ray Morton (Author)
I’m a sucker for books that show how different a story is from conception to final product. Everyone knows King Kong. I loved reading how different it wound up from how it was intended.
7. Outrage: The Five Reasons Why O. J. Simpson Got Away with Murder
Vincent Bugliosi (Author)
Probably my favorite writer. If you read one book about the OJ trial, this is it.
8. Ric Flair: To Be the Man
Ric Flair (Author)
Forget the storylines. This autobiography pulls no punches about the sometimes-too-real world of pro wrestling from someone who saw it all and traded everything for the nightly jeers of an audience.
9. The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern’s Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure
William Goldman (Author)
It’s inconceivable that you wouldn’t want this book!
10. The Making of Star Wars: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film
J.W. Rinzler (Author)
Forget the rest of the movies. The first one is really the one we love, and everything from script revisions to storyboards is in this monster of a book. MUST HAVE!
Be sure to also see what Brian Schoeneman, Shaun Kenney, and Jim Hoeft recommend.
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About the author
The right wants to jeer him. The left wants to censor him. Moderates usually want both. Brian Kirwin is a political consultant and public relations strategist in Virginia Beach with a lightning-rod flair. Brian also serves on the VB Arts & Humanities Commission and frequently appears on Hampton Roads theatrical stages, if only to prove that all actors aren’t liberals. Kirwin’s columns stir up debate and hit the political scene with no punches pulled.
Comments
5 Responses to "Kirwin’s 10 Books for Christmas"
Good list, but are there any of them that don’t require a colon or a subtitle?
The Kael and Flair books are both great choices. Another worthwhile wrestling book is the first volume of Chris Jerico’s memoirs “A Lion’s Tale.”
Not being a BD contributor, I can’t match the highbrow literary knowledge of those who are. But how about a list of the 10 shortest books in history?
10. An Engineer’s Fashion Guide
9. Irish Table Manners (sorry, Shaun)
8. All the Reasons We Need ObamaCare
7. Mike Tyson’s Guide to Dating Etiquette
6. 300 Years of German Humor (sorry, JR)
5. Herman Cain’s Foreign Policy
4. Most Ethical Lawyers in America (sorry, Brian S.)
3. How To Fool the IRS
2. Ron Paul’s Monetary Economics
1. A Liberal’s Primer on National Security
Of all the “lists”, I like yours best because it shows you aren’t just about politics and history but so much more. Your list shows the well rounded real Brian.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and thanks to all BD contributors. You all rock like stars. Even the ones I don’t agree with.
Thanks, Kathy. Wonderfully nice thing for you to say.
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