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Soulless was a very odd little book that I found in the Science Fiction section, but could have easily been found in humor, vampires, old British fiction, and possible lite romance. It is a new book, but it reads charmingly like a 1920s / 1930s English book of manners and drawing rooms murders. I thought it was a perfect antidote to thinking and worrying too much about life.
Then there was Speech*less (I think the picture was an early shot - my book has a * not a - in between the Speech and Less).
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That book is the tale of a idealistic Republican Speech Writer who in 8 years or so proceeds through stints in Congress (where he likes some conservatives, has no respect for most Democrats and really hates Republicans who have abused there power - and finds that is the great majority of both parties). After a spell with a Congressman and Senator Kyl from Arizona (whom he likes), he gets hired by Donald Rumsfield - who he really likes. After Rummy retires he is hired by the White House for the last few years.
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He is a funny writer, except for a hideous blind spot to all Democrats. ALL. He never even explores this knee jerk reaction -but he covers it very little. Mainly he reserves his wrath for Republican turncoats (John McCain & Lindsey Graham do poorly there), Reflexive Republican boosters (anyone who unquestioningly hailed Sarah Palin as the next coming fits into that category) and the professional Washington Fixers (Josh Bolton (Bush's Chief of Staff), Bob Gates and other professional politicians devoid of ideology come to mind). He is funny as hell about it.
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He doesn't really get much of any vibe from Chenney. But he is HIDEOUSLY disillusioned by three people. Kay Baily Hutchinson - who it turns out cares about very little but her J Crew Purse Boys (they carry her purse and discharge it's contents on her command). Karl Rove - who he thinks was less the "brains" behind GW than the asshole that wouldn't admit he was EVER wrong. And Condi Rice - who he complains changed every policy decision late in the President to preserve her reputation regardless of what Bush had promised.
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As for GW - he comes across as a little too loyal to friends and unaware of the world outside the White House. Both Rove and Bush happily admitted they didn't watch the news or read the papers. (As an aside - for the longest time GW, like many of us, thought Hillary Clinton would be the next President and told people just to wait till she had her fat ass behind this desk.)
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It was a really funny book. Takes a while for him to get to Congress (maybe 50 pages) - but once he's there it is a great read. And, even though he falls terribly prey to partisan hackery - he acknowledges that this is what is destroying the country.
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And to read what he says about Charles Schummer is hilarious - even if you are a Democrat.