Who Cares What Stephen Harper Is Reading?

Okay, let me explain for those of you outside of our borders. Our Canadian prime minister has been the recipient of a book and a letter once a week from the Booker-Prize-winning author Yann Martel. Reason why? Mr Martel would like Prime Minister Harper to read more literature (mainly novels) and expand his horizons (emotionally and intellectually).
I heard Mr Martel speak at a local bookstore this week and take questions from the audience after reading sections from the book. There was praise; there was also an attack that the author easily took out with his wit and intelligence. But I wonder now about the whole project. Yann Martel excluded non-fiction from the list and admitted that he himself did not read a great deal of poetry. This made him suspect to me.
Of course, I have my own list. This is a list of ten books whittled down from my own mental and physical library:
1) Siddhartha by Herman Hesse: This is about a leader forced to grow up and consider the life he is leading and how life should be lived.
2) Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain: All men should read it and learn how a life of cooking can change your life.
3) The Cartoon History of the Universe by Larry Gonick: A quick guide to the history of the world.
4) On the Road by Jack Kerouac: A spirit of freedom and a sense of what the world offers is important.
5) The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane: Any leader who wants to send young people to war should be made to read this slim work of genius.
6) The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley: A life with all its flaws. Needs to be read and understood.
7) The Penguin Book of Interviews: An introduction to the minds of great men and women.
8) Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie: His best book and the one that received the Booker of Bookers (should be on any list).
9) A House for Mr Biswas by V.S. Naipaul: The Nobel-Prize-winning author's best work (a family and a man trying to live as a full human being - inspiring).
10) A History of Reading by Alberto Manguel: A study of the act of reading (a perfect conclusion to the project!)