This book was fucking hilarious.I read Thank You For Smoking a couple years ago, which is probably Buckley's best known book. It was pretty funny. I happened to see Supreme Courtship at Half Price Books a few weeks ago, along with a shelf full of his other novels that I didn't know existed. I grabbed Supreme Courtship on a whim, and now I plan to go buy the rest of that shelf.President Vanderdamp's ratings are abysmal, because he's doing something unheard for a first-term president: rather than spending his whole term running for reelection, he's actually trying to get shit done. When a Supreme Court position opens up, and his first two nominations are rejected (one for "insufficiently appreciating To Kill A Mockingbird" in middle school), he's at his wit's end. So he picks the most popular judge in the country: Pepper Cartwright, who stars in her own Judge Judy-style television show.By taking a television star and throwing her into politics, Buckley gets to poke fun at Washington, D.C. AND Hollywood, and he does so with glee. I could not stop laughing at this book. The politicians and judges in particular are just so wonderfully terrible.One complaint: Buckley has Pepper Cartwright hailing from a li'l ol' town in Texas called Plano. She uses goofy ass Southern expressions and wear spurs under her robes. Now, some of this can maybe attributed to her upbringing by a retired country sheriff. But I live in Plano (along with 300,000 other people; hardly a small town) and I get made fun of for my Texas accent here. Than again, the rest of Supreme Courtship is so sarcastic and silly that maybe this was intentional on Buckley's part... Christopher Buckley is one of my favorite authors. His books are always funny, his fiction that is. His subject is politics and absurdity and "Supreme Courtship" is one of his best efforts. This story opens with a vacancy on the Supreme Court. President Vanderdamp, highly unpopular with both congress and the people, sends two distinguished, accomplished nominees to the Senate. Dexter Mitchell, head of the judiciary committee and a man who not so secretly want the seat for himself, quickly dispatches the two nominees. In response the president nominates a TV judge. This is a fast moving novel that lends itself to rereads and the jokes are great.
What do You think about Supreme Courtship (2008)?
I think I learned more about the Supreme Court and the battle of getting someone elected. Good read
—amr
Very entertaining. Maybe not literature for all time, but provided a chuckling Saturday afternoon.
—Elle
Christopher Buckley is a funny guy. I enjoyed this book.
—Belle
