Surprise and the spectacle of journalists attempting psychoanalysis (tip: never ask the holder of a press card to explain your subconscious) greeted the news that George Bush's choice of reading on his post-inauguration trip to Europe was Tom Wolfe's I am Charlotte Simmons. This tale of a shy rural girl's arrival at university was the easy winner of the Literary Review's Bad Sex award. Who knows what Laura thought?
Next up is the presidential MP3 playlist, the country and baby boomer rock soundtrack to Mr Bush's exercise sessions.
Aide Mark McKinnon, who takes care of the pesky downloading side of things, revealed some of the 250 songs on the first iPod. The International Herald Tribune is interested to discover John Fogerty, who joined the anti-Bush Vote for Change concert tour last year, is one of the president's favourite artists, but its story ends with Mr McKinnon's rather blunt assessment of the selection. "No one should psychoanalyse [it]," he said. "It's music to get over the next hill."
