The White House has let it slip that Bush allegedly read a book. According to reports, in his recent vacation in Crawford, Texas, Bush read Albert Camus' The Stranger, where the main character shoots an Arab for no reason.
Albert Camus (1913-1960)
I find it difficult to figure out why Bush was publicized as reading this book. It is by a Frenchman (although his mother's family was Spanish), and the neocons have been bashing the French for years. Camus was also an atheist, and of course Bush would have nothing to do with that view.
On the other hand, those who have read The Stranger know that if you ignore the deeper meanings of what is going on in the plot, it is a rather simple book about a guy who doesn't care about his relationship with his girlfriend, his mother, and who shoots another person for no reason except that maybe the sun was in his eyes at the time. In terms of surface plot, it is hardly tougher than reading My Pet Goat. And it is short.
That, I submit, is why someone gave that book to Bush to read. AND, announcing that Bush read it is the first part of their campaign to fight against the "Is He an Idiot?" campaign. The Stranger is a deep book, but even a stupid fowl can swim across a deep pond.
