(CNN) - It appears President Obama has to step up his reading pace if he wants to beat his predecessor in one particular measure: how many books a president can polish off a year.
In an interview with the BBC Tuesday, Obama said he is currently reading Joseph O'Neill's 270-page novel "Netherland," a book Obama first said he began back in April.
If Obama is close to finishing the novel, that puts him on less than a 10 book-a-year pace, far less than the close to 100 books President Bush was reportedly able to finish in the same amount of time.
According to former top Bush aide Karl Rove, he and the former president engaged in a friendly wager every year to see who could read more books.
In 2006, Bush read 95 books to Roves 110: a Herculean pace of nearly two books a week - in an election year to boot - for the ex-president. But, according to Rove, Bush's reading slowed a bit in the final years of his presidency, finishing a not-too-shabby 51 books in 2007 and at least 40 in 2008.
And if that's not impressive enough, Rove also said Bush found time to read the Bible "from cover to cover" every year.
While Obama may have had to put aside “Netherland” last month in favor of pages of court briefs with a Supreme Court vacancy to fill, it nevertheless appears the president has some summer reading to do.
From CNN Politics
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It's easy to read when you're sitting in a chair watching the country fall apart.
lets be honest, i dont think george w. bush read 100 books in his life to date. for someone who reads so much, he didnt seem very informed. he certainly seemed to have enough time to read that many books
Of course Obama will never read the number of books that Bush did, the books he reads have words in them instead of pictures.
My guess is Obama is too busy cleaning up the mess Bush made when he wasn't paying attention.
On your mark get set go...let the reading marathon begin!
This was propaganda to believe that Bush read as many books as claimed. He never referenced any or advised what he learned in any reading. As for Rove, well they all appeaar to be liars. So what would be new.
I am tempted to ask about the comprehension of the books in question and I suppose that is why you folks posted this "news" item. Not takin the bait.
I read Netherland and didn't cruise through it either – too much on the topic of Cricket. A worthwhile read but I understand someone who puts it down to finish later -
Is Rove counting 'My Pet Goat?'
I f Obama was more intellegent than Bush maybe we would have seen his college grades or were his a gentlemans C like Kerry. If Obama was really intellegent why was he not an engineer or scientist for his undergrad program like a lawyer I work with. I think he partied like a frat boy in college as his freshman pictures showed him smoking a joint. I see him as no more intellegent than anyother President in recent history. He may feel your pain like Clinton which makes him so popular with the left.
Bush was only able to read so many books because he was on vacation so much. Obama is too busy taking care of repairing all the damage done by the Bush Administration to read so much.
That's because President Obama is...umm...running the country.
first I don;t believe Bush actually read that many books,
second, even so, Obama don't have the leisure time Bush did.
Is this news??? Who cares – I read less than 50 books a year, but my wife reads 130+ books a year. Does that mean I have to keep up w/ her reading?? My reading is targeted, while my wife reads all sorts from Adventure, thriller to detective and romance. The notion that Obama should speed-up his reading because Bush read more trashy stuff within the specified period is preposterous.... He read more books while driving the economy to it's current mess. I will rather read less books and stay focused in the business of governance...
Uhh... and I believe Karl Rove because????
With all the books Bush read, its a wonder anything got accomplished.....wait, nothing did.
It's easy to finish 95 books when you're reading "The Pet Goat." Oh wait, I forgot, Bush didn't actually get to finish that.
Nearly a hundred books a year? Hmmmm. Well, I guess that explains not reading his PDB that warned of the 9/11 attacks.
Glad we settled that.
But Bush wasn't doing anything. Cheney was running the country.
Yeah. But GW counted comic books.
Jeez, I guess he's worst than we thought. He read all these books and yet he still can't pronounce nu-cle-ar. Shame. Shame. I guess he should've spent his time working instead.
I believe everything Karl and George tell me, don't you?
They are trying to re-write history
I don't believe George can read or comprehend.
The neo- feudals are always complaining about Barracks teleprompter- as if they have never seen one
That's because George memorized his speeches- you can tell by the way he recites them- he doesn't even comprehend what he is saying
Remember his first speeches- he was being fed the lines in his ear
maybe they still do that – they just got better at hiding the wire
Ask his daughters if he ever read to them
His father was probably hoping laura would teach him to read
Someone should talk to his grammer school teachers- they know
Karl might read but it won't do him any good
I wish more people would read at their pace.
This is pure nonsense. Bush in no way read 100 books in any year. Rove's exaggerations are obvious. I'd like to see the list of these books – bet W has no clue what they're about.
Surprised?