Spanning the Gamut discussion

My two selections are:

Counte of Monte Christo by Alexandre Dumas:

A classic...a tale of revenge and justice. I've always wanted to read this book.

and

The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
by Naomi Klein:

Naomi Klein was on the Colbert Report and the premise of the book was pretty interesting.

My first selection is “Lamb; the Gospel According to Biff”-Christopher Moore. I have had this book recommended to me several times over by multiple people.

"While the Bible may be the word of God, transcribed by divinely inspired men, it does not provide a full (or even partial) account of the life of Jesus Christ. Lucky for us that Christopher Moore presents a funny, lighthearted satire of the life of Christ--from his childhood days up to his crucifixion"Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal

My second choice is "Catch-22" - Joseph Heller
This is my dad's favorite book and for that reason alone I think it will be a good read.


There was a time when reading Joseph Heller's classic satire on the murderous insanity of war was nothing less than a rite of passage. Echoes of Yossarian, the wise-ass bombardier who was too smart to die but not smart enough to find a way out of his predicament, could be heard throughout the counterculture. As a result, it's impossible not to consider Catch-22 to be something of a period piece. But 40 years on, the novel's undiminished strength is its looking-glass logic. Again and again, Heller's characters demonstrate that what is commonly held to be good, is bad; what is sensible, is nonsense.

Yossarian says, "You're talking about winning the war, and I am talking about winning the war and keeping alive."
"Exactly," Clevinger snapped smugly. "And which do you think is more important?"
"To whom?" Yossarian shot back. "It doesn't make a damn bit of difference who wins the war to someone who's dead."
"I can't think of another attitude that could be depended upon to give greater comfort to the enemy."
"The enemy," retorted Yossarian with weighted precision, "is anybody who's going to get you killed, no matter which side he's on."
Mirabile dictu, the book holds up post-Reagan, post-Gulf War. It's a good thing, too. As long as there's a military, that engine of lethal authority, Catch-22 will shine as a handbook for smart-alecky pacifists. It's an utterly serious and sad, but damn funny book.Catch-22