[Clive]
The blogger series continues with two more choices. First up is the always outspoken Stephen Pollard, newspaper columnist, political biographer and newly installed president of the Brussels-based think tank, the Centre for the New Europe.
I’ve just re-read John Kennedy Toole‚Äôs "A Confederacy of Dunces". I’m not a great fan of fiction, so the fact that I must have read it at least twenty times probably says as much about me as it does about the book. It is, by quite a long way, the greatest novel of the twentieth century (a judgement based on the most profound of all criteria ‚Äì near total ignorance of the relevant material).
I won’t reveal the "plot"; if you haven’t read it, drop everything and do so NOW. The gist can be gained from the derivation of the title, which is Swift’s epigraph that: "When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him." Toole is a Dostoevsky for the modern age. His book explains politics, democracy, welfare, family, education, society and life. It is, to use a much-overused word, truly a work of genius.
And here’s the selection of Iain Dale, leading Tory activist, TV pundit and purveyor of inside news from Westminster.
Richard Nixon was one of the finest political writers of the twentieth century. I first read "In the Arena" in the early nineties; it inspired me to explore all of his other books. In this semi-autobiographical work, he talks about what it takes to be a politician who can make a difference in the world. Whatever his failings, his words both inspire and entertain. He has a lightness of style which is untypical of politicians of his generation. Too many people close their ears to him because of Watergate. They are missing out on a literary and political treat. He has a lot to teach us, if only we are prepared to listen.
The Dish 