# It's Time for Another "Whatcha Readin'?" Thread! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 8, 2004, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/249231 "2004-06-08T04:11:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![flamingbananas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f4b2a3/32.png) [@flamingbananas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flamingbananas)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2004, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/249231/101 "2004-06-24T18:12:36Z")
I’m reading IT by Stephen King. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2004, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/249231/102 "2004-06-24T19:11:54Z")
I’ve just started a Nixon/Watergate marathon…I’m currently reading David Greenberg’s _Nixon’s Shadow: The History of an Image_. Up next are Leonard Garment’s _In Search of Deep Throat_, Woodward and Bernstein’s _Final Days_, and Fred Emery’s _Watergate: The Corruption of American Politics and the Fall of Richard Nixon_. ---
**Author:** ![pesch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pesch/32/4925_2.png) [@pesch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pesch)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/249231/103 "2004-06-25T00:00:33Z")
I’m taking up book reviewing again. Just finished “The Iraq War” by John Keegan (fair and balanced and uncomfortable whether you’re for or against Bush), and picked up “The Sunday Philosophy Club” by Alexander McCall Smith (out in September) and “Skinny Dip” by Carl Hiaasen (coming next week). Both look like bitchin’ books. Who-hoo! ---
**Author:** ![AbbySthrnAccent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@AbbySthrnAccent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AbbySthrnAccent)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/249231/104 "2004-06-25T04:06:35Z")
Just finished [I had brain surgery, what’s your excuse? an illustrated memoir by Suzy Becker](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0761124780/102-5672696-3453750?v=glance). She is the author of All I Need to Know I Learned from My Cat. It covers from the seizures, through diagnosis, surgery and the year after surgery follow-up with the doctor. It’s about the person, the surgery, the relationships with her partner Karen and her family and with her doctor and therapists. Also her determination to complete a 500 mile AIDS research fund raiser bike ride that she’s helped organize and run for years just months after surgery. It’s witty. It’s frank. It’s thoughtful. It’s emotional. It’s intelligent. It’s a keeper and one I will share with others. ---
**Author:** ![Politzania](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ab097/32.png) [@Politzania](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Politzania)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/249231/105 "2004-06-25T16:24:43Z")
> [@Crescent](#): > > Now I’m reading “Eyewitness to History” edited by John Carey, which is all first hand accounts of history starting with the plague in Athens in 430 B.C. by Thucydides. This is my third go round with this book. Excellent reading for someone with an interest in history. Am working on that book myself - tho the battle descriptions make my eyes glaze over a bit. Thankfully - most are only a couple of pages long, so I just skip to the next bit. Just finished _Impossible Things_ - short story collection by Connie Willis. I think I like her novels better. ---
**Author:** ![Mal\_Adroit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@Mal\_Adroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mal_Adroit)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/249231/106 "2004-06-25T16:33:21Z")
Picked up _The Essential Gore Vidal_ from the library but I’ve yet to really put a dent in it. I was looking for _United States,_ but this seems like a decent sampler of the guy. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/249231/107 "2004-06-25T20:25:25Z")
Recently finished the revised **Gunslinger** and then skipped ahead to **Wolves of the Calla**. I’d recommend both. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/249231/108 "2004-06-25T20:30:54Z")
I just picked up Ivanhoe again. Great book. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/249231/109 "2004-06-25T22:58:46Z")
I finished _Shopaholic Takes Manhattan_ and have started _Digital Fortress_ by Dan Brown. He also wrote _The DaVinci Code_. I keep thinking I’m going start a thread where I’m going to write down all the books in my To-Be-Read pile and ask for suggestions on what to read next, and have everyone else post all the books in their To-Be-Read piles. Would anyone else be interested? I probably wouldn’t be able to make a list till tomorrow or Sunday. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/249231/110 "2004-06-25T23:04:20Z")
_Goin’ Coconuts_, the novelization of the 1978 movie of the same name faturing Donnie and Marie Osmond. It’s madcap hijinks as D&M are pursued through Hawaii by hoodlums bent on stealing Marie’s shell necklace…will they make the big show at the luau in time? It’s worse than it sounds. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Ed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Just\_Ed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Ed)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2004, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/249231/111 "2004-06-25T23:51:16Z")
> [@BiblioCat](#): > > I keep thinking I’m going start a thread where I’m going to write down all the books in my To-Be-Read pile and ask for suggestions on what to read next, and have everyone else post all the books in their To-Be-Read piles. Would anyone else be interested? Cripes, I’ve got a pile of “to-be-read” books, too. I mentioned this to a co-worker recently, and she seemed surprised, but hell, I didn’t think it was that uncommon. ---
**Author:** ![AbbySthrnAccent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@AbbySthrnAccent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AbbySthrnAccent)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/249231/112 "2004-06-26T00:04:23Z")
> [@BiblioCat](#): > > I keep thinking I’m going start a thread where I’m going to write down all the books in my To-Be-Read pile and ask for suggestions on what to read next, and have everyone else post all the books in their To-Be-Read piles. Would anyone else be interested? I probably wouldn’t be able to make a list till tomorrow or Sunday. I recently went to a charity sale where I was able to purchase dozens of books all for under $20 total so I’ve got a To-Be-Read shelf on the bookshelf and a stack in the guest room. ---
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/249231/113 "2004-06-26T00:54:12Z")
Just finished _Red Army_, by Ralph Peters. Great ‘what-if’ WWIII book told from the other side. Just sorta putzing around with a generic ‘Encyclopedia of WWII Aircraft’ tome for the time being, trying to decide whats next. Mebbe i’ll hit B&N and get the _Dragonlance_ core books again, I recall them being a great read. ---
**Author:** ![Brutus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Brutus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brutus)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2004, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/249231/114 "2004-06-26T00:56:16Z")
P.S… > [@pravnik](#): > > _Goin’ Coconuts_, the novelization of the 1978 movie of the same name faturing Donnie and Marie Osmond. It’s madcap hijinks as D&M are pursued through Hawaii by hoodlums bent on stealing Marie’s shell necklace…will they make the big show at the luau in time? > > It’s worse than it sounds. Dear God, why? You can get books for free at the library or the Gutenberg Project; What unholy evil possesed you to make you read a novelization of a D&M movie? Or are you doing it for the sick thrill of it all? ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2004, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/249231/115 "2004-06-28T23:15:35Z")
> [@Brutus](#): > > P.S… > > Dear God, why? You can get books for free at the library or the Gutenberg Project; What unholy evil possesed you to make you read a novelization of a D&M movie? Or are you doing it for the sick thrill of it all? Sick thrill. My local public library has a yearly sale of books they’re trying to get rid of for whatever reason, and I always load up. Six bucks for a grocery bag full, this year I got three. I usually come across a few real treasures like a pristine copy of Alan Watts _Three_, or this really great magazine called Parabola I really like, or the writings of Cardozo, and so on. Most of the rest is pretty decent and interesting, like sociology or geology textbooks, or some sort of spy novel or reference book. In addition to that, I also always pick up some crap. Not your run of the mill ordinary bad stuff, I mean some truly, astoundingly world class shit. I almost started a thread on my new crap this year. I also picked up _Kirk Cameron: Dream Guy_. Did you know the huggily kissable star of TV’s “Growing Pains” was named for Captain Kirk from Star Trek? He’s never eaten chocolate, either. At least he hadn’t around 1987 or so. He might have eaten some since the book was written. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/249231/116 "2004-06-29T00:06:51Z")
\*Interesting Times \* by Terry Pratchett _Organizing from the Inside Out_ by Julie Morganstern (Someday I will be organized even if it kills me) ---
**Author:** ![AbbySthrnAccent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@AbbySthrnAccent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AbbySthrnAccent)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/249231/117 "2004-06-29T00:20:59Z")
On the bus I finished Grace in China: An American Woman Beyond the Great Wall, 1934-1974 Eleanor Cooper and William Liu The story of a woman whose love defied prejudice, war and revolution. It’s an interesting window to the past from the point of view of an American woman who had been studying opera in New York and fell in love with a Chinese engineer. He returned to China and she followed him. It covers a turbulent time of Chinese history from before the WW’s to the rise of Communism and the Cultural revolution. This evening I started [[http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0312309635/qid=1088468280/sr=8-1/ref=pd\_ka\_1/104-9700429-0850350?v=glance&s=books&n=507846](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0312309635/qid=1088468280/sr=8-1/ref=pd_ka_1/104-9700429-0850350?v=glance&s=books&n=507846)]The Waiting Child: How the Faith and Love of One Orphan Saved the Life of Another by Cindy Champnella > [@](#): > > _From Amazon_ > **Book Description** > The inspiring true story of a four-year-old Chinese orphan who convinces her adoptive American family to return to China to rescue the little boy she couldn’t forget > > Adopted by an American family at age four, Jaclyn traveled to her new home with a great burden. Her new family had to leave behind a little boy who had been under her charge at the Chinese orphanage where Jaclyn fought the odds against abandonment, institutionalization, and hunger—not for herself, but on behalf of this even smaller child, whom she regarded as her responsibility. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/249231/118 "2004-06-29T00:42:09Z")
Right now, I’m reading a thread in Cafe Society on the Straight Dope Message Board. I don’t know how the rest of y’all can read both this and a book simultaneously. ---
**Author:** ![AbbySthrnAccent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@AbbySthrnAccent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AbbySthrnAccent)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/249231/119 "2004-06-29T02:17:40Z")
What do you think we’re doing while waiting for the thread page to load? Flips page ---
**Author:** ![Hedda\_Rosa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hedda_rosa/32/1204_2.png) [@Hedda\_Rosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hedda_Rosa)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2004, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/249231/120 "2004-06-29T02:44:52Z")
_Lonesome Dove_. I wasn’t sure I’d like it; normally not big into cowboy stuff, but it is great. I see why it won the Pulitzer Prize. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/249231.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/249231.md?page=7)