but george o'hare's books are as witty as jane austen, similar to it. it is a shame to dismiss such books without really having tried them. the point of this book, classics for pleasure, is to encourage people to try different kinds of classics because there's a lot of pleasure to be had from this. >> editor at the washington post, washington post book world, nearly 30 years, you have four prior books about reading. when did you -- what was your reading habits as a kid? >> my mother taught me to read before i started kindergarten. i came from a very working-class steel town. my parents were not readers. my father was a steelworker. as i grew older, i read more and more, he would occasionally get annoyed by this and would order me down to the basement to build something, or outside to play. he wasn't sure he likes his own son becoming such a book worm. they had mixed feelings about it but the more he was critical of my reading, when you are young teenager, the more you want to do it. if parents don't like it must be cool, so i did it more and more often.

but jane austen needs to be read in what is so wonderful about austen is the fact that there are marvelousvies done on her novels, absolutely marvelous. and there's nothing wrong with movies and if you watch "sense and sensibility" or ""ide and prejudice" do it0 times. that's what we do at our house. you will be trained to love only a great movie. as you'll berained only to love a great novel. that is it will form new a distaste for what is vulgar, cheap and thoughtless. and the vulgar and the cheap and the thoughtless is what rules us now. that is the condition of those who are moving from extreme democracy into tyranny and on that happy note, i leave you. [applause] >> it's a great privilege to be able to talk to the next generation of conservatives about what books to read. i'm not going to actually give you a list partly because this book, the political incorrect guide to american literature is essentially full of reading lists, eight of them. one for each of the first eight chapters going through the whole history of literature written in english. instead of telling you our urging you

jane austen needs to be read. what is so wonderful about her is the fact that there are marvelous movies othat are done on her novels. there is nothing wrong with movies. if you watch sense and sensibility or pride and prejudice, you will be trained to love only a great movie. -- as to be trained to only love a great novel. you have a distaste for what is aware, chief, and dollars. the bogor and the cheap in a thoughtless is what role does now. -- the vulgar and the cheap and the palace is what rules us now. on that note, i will leave you. [applause] >> it is a great privilege to be able to talk to you. i'm not going to give you a list. partly because this book is essentially full of reading lists, eight of them, one for each of the first eight chapters it goes to the whole history of literature written in english. instead of telling you are urging you to read certain books, what i want to do is try to persuade you on a theory of how to pick books. essentially, i'm going to make the case that not just those that i

life that i, you know, had the recognition experience when i first read "spencer" and, you know, jane austen and all kinds of things that are echoed in c.s. lewis's writing because he was probably a more obsessive reader than even anyone on this panel, and so now when i read them i give credit to that experience. it is a little bit less like a complete and total immersion. but that is because i am more of a person now than i was then and i also -- i always felt like when i was a child i wanted to grow up, like i didn't want to be innocent and i valued experience and so, i thought of the whole sort of william blake, "songs of innocence and experience" that you have to understand that it -- that experience has value and that was the thing i brought to the books as an adult reader: that interested me so much the fact i didn't know what a reference like dewey defeats truman, and it's sort of spoke to the fact these books were operating on some more interesting level because i did understand and then again maybe i won't, he had moved to a new place, he was nervous and was having problems and that

i would read as much jane austen as possible. jane austen needs to be read. what is so wonderful about that is there are marvelous movies down on her novels. there is nothing wrong with movies. if you watch pride and prejudice or sense and sensibility, you will be trained to love only a great movie. it will form in new aid this taste of what is folder, cheap, and thoughtless. and the vulgar and cheap and thoughtless is what rules us now. on that happy note, i will leave you. i will not give you a list on books to read, is full of reading lists, it goes through the whole history of literary written in english. instead of urging you to read certain books, what i want to do is try to sell you on the theory of what kind of books to read. essentially, i will make the case that not just even those, but if you want to stay involved in politics, it is crucial that you not spend these formative years of your life reading is essentially political books. even though i am editor of the conservative book club, there is plenty of time to read about politics later. the book