President Bush read 40 books in 2008?

According to Karl Rove's column in the Wall Street Journal this morning, him and President Bush have an ongoing friendly reading competition over the past few years. That's very healthy on several fronts and having a sitting president with an interest in reading is impressive. But does President Bush really have such a voracious appetite for books? According to Rove, Bush has read a 186 books over the past 3 years! It's a little hard to believe considering what we think we know about the president from his mannerisms. His reading list from 2008 is as follows...

His reading this year included a heavy dose of history -- including David Halberstam's "The Coldest Winter," Rick Atkinson's "Day of Battle," Hugh Thomas's "Spanish Civil War," Stephen W. Sears's "Gettysburg" and David King's "Vienna 1814." There's also plenty of biography -- including U.S. Grant's "Personal Memoirs"; Jon Meacham's "American Lion"; James M. McPherson's "Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief" and Jacobo Timerman's "Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number."

That's certainly a heavy dose of history...

Anyway, if its true, then I am very surprised on two fronts. Firstly, I had no idea President Bush even read. He doesn't come off to me as a book worm. But 40 books or more a year? Though not impossible, my second gripe with this claim is how a president, of the United States no less, finds time to do that?

Either way, I'm embarrassed for myself. I need to catch up on my reading list.