# Did you get any good books for Christmas? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 28, 2009, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-get-any-good-books-for-christmas/522804 "2009-12-28T15:54:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-get-any-good-books-for-christmas/522804/1 "2009-12-28T15:54:24Z")
As a companion thread to the [Whatcha Readin](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=541992) I thought we could share what books we got. I got: Heat Wave (Nikki Heat) by Richard Castle Sandman Slim: A Novel by Richard Kadrey The Golden City: A Novel (Fourth Realm Trilogy) by John Twelve Hawks Midwinter by Matthew Sturges . ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-get-any-good-books-for-christmas/522804/2 "2009-12-28T16:00:05Z")
I got some good ones for Hanukkah. _Cartoon History of the Modern World_ by Larry Gonick. I’ve been waiting for it since I read the first _Cartoon History_ in 1991. _Catastrophe_ by David Keys. ---
**Author:** ![yanceylebeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yanceylebeef/32/12290_2.png) [@yanceylebeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yanceylebeef)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-get-any-good-books-for-christmas/522804/3 "2009-12-28T16:02:59Z")
Mrs. Lebeef got me a first edition of The Horror in the Museum and Other Collaborations by Lovecraft and others. It’s pretty awesome. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-get-any-good-books-for-christmas/522804/4 "2009-12-28T16:05:18Z")
My daughter shopped from my Amazon wish list: _Unforgiven_ and _The Searchers_ by Alan LeMay _Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America_ _The Ballad of Trenchmouth Taggart_ by M. Glenn Taylor Can we list DVDs too? I made out like a bandit! _The Pallisers_ (BBC series) _The George Eliot Collection_, five movies, including _Middlemarch_ _Up_ _The Hangover_ _Freaks and Geeks_ and the first two seasons of _The Big Bang Theory_ ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-get-any-good-books-for-christmas/522804/5 "2009-12-28T17:04:26Z")
“The Book of Genesis Illustrated” by R. Crumb. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-get-any-good-books-for-christmas/522804/6 "2009-12-28T18:18:35Z")
I got Stephen King’s _Under the Dome_ and Colum McCann’s _Let the Great World Spin_. I’m a little torn because I would love to start on these both right away, but I have a big pile from the library of titles I’m also looking forward to, so those feel more timely. But I _have to_ read the Stephen King while on vacation, I couldn’t carry it to work every day on the train! ---
**Author:** ![misling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3ab097/32.png) [@misling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/misling)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-get-any-good-books-for-christmas/522804/7 "2009-12-28T19:04:54Z")
I got the Tales of the Beanworld recent edition hardcover trilogy. Book 3 is all new material. Hoka Hoka Hey! ---
**Author:** ![Dusty\_Rose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ba8739/32.png) [@Dusty\_Rose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dusty_Rose)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-get-any-good-books-for-christmas/522804/8 "2009-12-28T19:26:58Z")
I got _Outliers_ by Malcolm Gladwell and _Hoodwinked_ by John Perkins. I’m really excited to read _Outliers_. The other I’m not so sure about. ---
**Author:** ![Amber\_in\_Treasury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc79bd/32.png) [@Amber\_in\_Treasury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amber_in_Treasury)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-get-any-good-books-for-christmas/522804/9 "2009-12-28T19:28:26Z")
Yes! i got Turtle Bunbury’s “Dublin Docklands”. Quite fascinating.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![maplekiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@maplekiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maplekiwi)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-get-any-good-books-for-christmas/522804/10 "2009-12-28T19:33:59Z")
I got one about “Why Your Cat Doesn’t Like You.” My daughter borrowed it to read & left it in Auckland. :mad: I also got “Girls Like Us” a biography of Carole King, Joni Mitchell & Carly Simon. I’m enjoying it so far though a lot of it is speculative ( I believe only Carly Simon cooperated with the writing) ---
**Author:** ![statij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c2a13f/32.png) [@statij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/statij)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-get-any-good-books-for-christmas/522804/11 "2009-12-28T19:41:23Z")
Franklin Library limited edition Sot-Weed Factor, signed!! I was shocked. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-get-any-good-books-for-christmas/522804/12 "2009-12-28T19:54:13Z")
_Olive Kitteridge_ by Elizabeth Strout, _Old Filth_ by Jane Gardam, and _Let the Great World Spin_ by Colum McCan. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-get-any-good-books-for-christmas/522804/13 "2009-12-28T19:56:25Z")
> [@maplekiwi](#): > > I also got “Girls Like Us” a biography of Carole King, Joni Mitchell & Carly Simon. I’m enjoying it so far though a lot of it is speculative ( I believe only Carly Simon cooperated with the writing) I enjoyed this book a lot, and gained a lot of admiration for Carole King in her early years! ---
**Author:** ![melodyharmonius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/melodyharmonius/32/21310_2.png) [@melodyharmonius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/melodyharmonius)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-get-any-good-books-for-christmas/522804/14 "2009-12-28T20:08:10Z")
\*The Zombie Survival Guide \*by Max Brooks. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-get-any-good-books-for-christmas/522804/15 "2009-12-28T22:12:38Z")
Roads to Quoz: An American Mosey by William Least Heat-Moon ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-get-any-good-books-for-christmas/522804/16 "2009-12-28T22:35:33Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > Heat Wave (Nikki Heat) by Richard Castle Ooh, I still need to read that. I got _The Associate_ by John Grisham, and I’m about 1/4 of the way in. ---
**Author:** ![Chef\_Troy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Chef\_Troy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chef_Troy)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-get-any-good-books-for-christmas/522804/17 "2009-12-28T23:20:58Z")
I have (literally) two yards of books I haven’t read yet. (I get them at my local dollar store. I just counted, and there are 43 books in two piles, almost all of them hardbacks, that I got for a buck apiece.) I also have a thing for unusual reference books. My collection includes such useful tomes as _The Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins, the Dictionary of Euphemisms and Doubletalk, the Bliss Dictionary of Foreign Words and Phrases in Current English Usage,_ and many more. My wife just added one to my collection at Xmas this year that I think will come in very handy for me as a writer: _ **Talk the Talk: The Slang of 65 American Subcultures** _, by Luc Reid. Not _quite_ A to Z, it has the lingo of groups from Anime and Manga Fans to Witches, Wiccans and Neo-Pagans. If I ever need to write a character who is (for example) a parapsychologist, this book should help me make her sound authentic. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-get-any-good-books-for-christmas/522804/18 "2009-12-28T23:22:40Z")
I’m sure it won’t qualify in a lot of people’s minds, but I got [Scrum Bums](http://www.amazon.com/Scrum-Bums-Get-Fuzzy-Collection/dp/0740750011/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1262042533&sr=8-1), and I can’t wait to get to it. ---
**Author:** ![Chef\_Troy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Chef\_Troy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chef_Troy)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-get-any-good-books-for-christmas/522804/19 "2009-12-28T23:23:12Z")
> [@melodyharmonius](#): > > \*The Zombie Survival Guide \*by Max Brooks. If you like it, be sure to follow it up with _World War Z_. It’s a Studs Terkel-style collection of interviews with a variety of people who survived a zombie apocalypse, covering everything from its Patient Zero to the ongoing mop-up operations. I found it riveting. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-get-any-good-books-for-christmas/522804/20 "2009-12-28T23:38:26Z")
_Everything You Know About Indians is Wrong_ by Paul Chaat Smith, and _How to Think About Weird Things: Critical Thinking for a New Age_ by Theodore Schick I’m looking forward to reading both of them, but have no idea when I’ll get around to either of them: they join the pile of 17 other books that are waiting to be read. _grin_ I might actually pick up _How to Think About Weird Things_ next, though. > [@Dusty\_Rose](#): > > I got **Outliers** by Malcolm Gladwell I keep meaning to put that on my Amazon list! I shall do so right now. 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-get-any-good-books-for-christmas/522804.md?page=2)