# 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:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2009, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-get-any-good-books-for-christmas/522804/41 "2009-12-29T20:41:19Z")
I bought myself \*\*Towing Jehovah \*\* and the two follow-up books and **The Accidental Time Machine** for Christmas. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2009, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-get-any-good-books-for-christmas/522804/42 "2009-12-29T21:13:48Z")
The second volume of _Mastering the Art of French Cooking._ ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2009, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-get-any-good-books-for-christmas/522804/43 "2009-12-29T21:42:48Z")
I got Vol. 1 of the Bloom County Library, Valley of the Dolls, and a British history book. ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-get-any-good-books-for-christmas/522804/44 "2009-12-30T02:15:44Z")
I got _Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend_ by Larry Tye and _Gate at the End of the Stairs_ by Lorrie Moore. Asked for and did not get _The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science_ by Richard Holmes. Yep, cribbed my Christmas wishlist off the New York Times Best of the Year list… ---
**Author:** ![Chicagojeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@Chicagojeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicagojeff)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-get-any-good-books-for-christmas/522804/45 "2009-12-30T02:32:19Z")
I got the newest Malcolm Gladwell book “What the dog saw”… also used my gift card to get Tasim Ansary’s “Destiny Disrupted” History thru islamic eyes… ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2009, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-get-any-good-books-for-christmas/522804/46 "2009-12-30T02:41:47Z")
I got a book called _Cincinnatus_, which I’d never heard of (and hey! I live very close to Cincinnati!) and King’s _Under The Dome_, which I started yesterday and am about halfway through. I like it, its classic King. ---
**Author:** ![Skylark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Skylark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skylark)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-get-any-good-books-for-christmas/522804/47 "2010-01-01T18:55:25Z")
My friend is a big 20th century literature guy (Vonnegut, Roth, Bukowski, Murakami, etc) who loaded up on Thomas Pynchon for me. I am a big reader, mostly the news and non-fiction. Very little fiction. I’ve _heard_ of Thomas Pynchon, something about a gravity rainbow, and that’s about it. The Crying of Lot 49, Gravity’s Rainbow, V, Mason & Dixon. So I’ve got some homework for me this new year. ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-get-any-good-books-for-christmas/522804/48 "2010-01-01T20:29:22Z")
> [@infinitii](#): > > C.G. Jung’s posthumous (masterpiece?) The Red Book. > > One of the coolest books I own, just paging through it. I haven’t had time to absorb anything out of it yet. The SO got me this, totally unexpectedly (due to the steep price). I’ve been traveling since Dec. 24 and haven’t even had a chance to do more than open it, but I know what I’m doing with all of my free time in Jan. I also bought myself some great yoga and Buddhism books at Boddhi Tree in West Hollywood. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-get-any-good-books-for-christmas/522804/49 "2010-01-01T20:30:29Z")
Using my Borders gift card, I acquired Brandon Sanderson’s **Warbreaker** (which is quite engaging) and Dan Simmons’ **Drood** (which I haven’t started yet.) ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-get-any-good-books-for-christmas/522804/50 "2010-01-01T20:37:34Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Using my Borders gift card, I acquired Brandon Sanderson’s **Warbreaker** (which is quite engaging) and Dan Simmons’ **Drood** (which I haven’t started yet.) I put \*\*Warbreaker \*\*down for a while, but still think I will pick it up and finish it. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2010, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-get-any-good-books-for-christmas/522804/51 "2010-01-03T01:07:07Z")
A few - **Ysabel** by Guy Gavriel Kay, his most recent fantasy novel. **Gabriel Fauré** by Jessica Duchen. A biography of the turn of the twentieth century French composer **A Well-Mannered Storm** by Kate Braid. A set of poems that centre around the poet’s simultaneous discovery of the recordings of Glenn Gould while struggling with her own hearing loss. **Opened Ground: Poems 1966 - 1996** by Seamus Heaney. **Lawren Harris - In the Ward - His Urban Poetry and Paintings** edited by Gregory Betts. This one is particularly fascinating, as I had no idea that Lawren Harris had ever written poetry. It covers a geographical area of Toronto that has been completely destroyed which we now know only through his paintings, and reflects on a period of Toronto history (the 1920s) when the Arts scene was just starting to blossom. Looking forward to spending a lot of time with this one. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-get-any-good-books-for-christmas/522804.md?page=2)