50 book update

I'm barely hanging on for the 50-book challenge. But I do have two more to add to the list.

1. Game change by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin. This is an "insider" book about the 2008 presidential campaigns. It's mostly unsourced, so it's hard to tell how much is really accurate, but a lot of the stuff about the Obama campaign is information I've read in other books. A lot of the book is dedicated to the Democratic primary and is about how much Hilary Clinton really thought she was going to win. There are lots of details about how the Edwards campaign imploded and how Obama's success surprised the other candidates. Then there's a section on the McCain campaign and the lack of vetting and preparation before choosing Sarah Palin as VP. I realize you have to take unsourced books with a grain of salt, but it's pretty entertaining and I've read multiple chapters in single sittings.

2. Conversations with Myself by Nelson Mandela . This is a collection of letters, journal entries, autobiography transcripts, and transcripts of conversations that Mandela wrote/had during his time in prison. It's fascinating. I'm finding it hard to piece together Mandella's real story from the little fragments, but it's quite interesting to read about his mindset as recorded during the actual prison stay. I plan on reading his actual autobiography, "Long Walk to Freedom," later in the year. Don't be fooled by the fact that Amazon is listing this as by Nelson Mandela and Barack Obama. Obama wrote a very short prologue and definitely should not be listed as a coauthor.