# Okay, whatcha readin' \*now\*?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-whatcha-readin-now/404779
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [May 20, 2007, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-whatcha-readin-now/404779 "2007-05-20T01:42:03Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 4
### Author:  [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2007, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-whatcha-readin-now/404779/61 "2007-05-21T18:53:16Z")
[QUOTE=Eleanor of Aquitaine]
I’m on a paranormal fiction kick - I’ve just finished Charlaine Harris’s _Altogether Dead_ . . .
[/quote]
I read this on Friday. I didn’t think it was nearly a good as the earlier books in the series, but still “readable,” which to me is like calling a wine “drinkable” – damning with faint praise.
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### Author:  [@Enterprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enterprise)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2007, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-whatcha-readin-now/404779/62 "2007-05-21T19:16:27Z")
I’ve got a big stack of books that are currently being read. The book that goes along with me in my various backpacks is John Irving’s _A Prayer for Owen Meany_. It’s brillant. A co-worker told me she couldn’t stand Irving’s plots, because they were so insane (her words), but I like it.
Then there’s _1815: The Roads to Waterloo_ by Gregor Dallas, which is also very interesting. I’m carrying around with me for whenever I’m looking for a change of pace from Irving Barbara Tuchman’s _The Proud Tower_, a history of the twenty-four years before World War I, this to complement my reading of her astounding _The Guns of August_, which I finished last autumn. I’ve also just read her incredible _A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century_, which had been G.R.R. Martin’s recommendation for anyone interested in the Middle Ages. Finally, for class I have to read _Diamond Grill_ by Fred Wah and _A Chorus of Mushrooms_ by Hiromi Goto, both of which leave me cold. I need a better class…
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### Author:  [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2007, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-whatcha-readin-now/404779/63 "2007-05-21T19:37:18Z")
[QUOTE=Enterprise]
I’ve got a big stack of books that are currently being read. The book that goes along with me in my various backpacks is John Irving’s _A Prayer for Owen Meany_. It’s brillant. A co-worker told me she couldn’t stand Irving’s plots, because they were so insane (her words), but I like it.
[/QUOTE]
I’ve always felt the same way as your co-worker about John Irving. On the other hand, I had no problems with Forrest Gump, so there must be something more to it. Possibly it’s that Forrest Gump was meant to be a comedy, or at least amusing, and John Irving is meant to be taken oh so seriously.
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### Author:  [@Vimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vimp)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2007, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-whatcha-readin-now/404779/64 "2007-05-21T19:43:10Z")
[QUOTE=Larry Borgia]
China Mieville, _Perdido Street Station._ Holy crap, it’s good.
[/QUOTE]
Yeah, but the second novel, The Scar, is way way better.
I’m starting the third [not counting King Rat] Mieville novel, Iron Council. It looks formidable.
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### Author:  [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2007, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-whatcha-readin-now/404779/65 "2007-05-21T19:44:49Z")
[QUOTE=Dung Beetle]
…John Irving is meant to be taken oh so seriously.
[/QUOTE]
Um, not entirely. He’s absolutely writing for humor in spots – like the part about moving the car in the middle of Owen Meany.
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### Author:  [@Vimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vimp)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2007, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-whatcha-readin-now/404779/66 "2007-05-21T19:56:26Z")
In the same vein as China Mieville’s novels are those of Richard K Morgan. His first one out, Altered Carbon is breathtaking, the second, Broken Angels not quite as good. The two are the start of a series with a protagonist named Takeshi Kovacs, who is sort of a twenty-sixth century Philip Marlowe.
Another great novel by Morgan is Market Forces, set in the very near future. Wow, the guy can write!
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### Author:  [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2007, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-whatcha-readin-now/404779/67 "2007-05-21T20:05:06Z")
[QUOTE=twickster]
Um, not entirely. He’s absolutely writing for humor in spots – like the part about moving the car in the middle of Owen Meany.
[/QUOTE]
Yeah, in spots…but then by the end of the book, you’re supposed to be moved or get a message or something. It doesn’t work for me because I’m still going, “But that wouldn’t have happened!”
As I said, I’m not totally sure why I don’t get it, and it’s been quite awhile since I tried it, so I’m not even equipped to argue my own position. Sorry for the hijack!
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### Author:  [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2007, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-whatcha-readin-now/404779/68 "2007-05-21T20:10:59Z")
My Amazon order is in the next town over as of 6:53 this morning. I don’t know if it made it onto the truck today. It consists of:
[Boomsday, Christopher Buckley](http://www.amazon.com/Boomsday-Christopher-Buckley/dp/0446579815/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-4048728-4453765?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1179509853&sr=8-1)
[Five Skies, Ron Carlson](http://www.amazon.com/Five-Skies-Ron-Carlson/dp/0670038504/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-4048728-4453765?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1179509922&sr=8-1)
[Blackwater - The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army](http://www.amazon.com/Blackwater-Rise-Worlds-Powerful-Mercenary/dp/1560259795/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-4048728-4453765?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1179778166&sr=8-1)
I’m most looking forward to Five Skies.
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### Author:  [@DudleyGarrett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DudleyGarrett)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2007, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-whatcha-readin-now/404779/69 "2007-05-21T20:15:05Z")
[QUOTE=mobo85]
_The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich_ by William Shirer. I’m on a WWII kick right now- and I’m learning things about Hitler that I didn’t know before (he wasn’t the top guy right out of the starting gate in '33- he had to use the law to his advantage to get to the top).
[/QUOTE]
That is a fantastic book. Also, check our Albert Speer’s Inside the Third Reich.
I’ve also found the story of Adolf Eichmann to be compelling…
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### Author:  [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2007, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-whatcha-readin-now/404779/70 "2007-05-21T20:28:18Z")
Sophie’s World. It’s pretty good, though somewhat jarring to go from lessons on the history of philosophy to try to figure out the plot.
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### Author:  [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harriet_the_Spry)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2007, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-whatcha-readin-now/404779/71 "2007-05-21T20:32:56Z")
I am currently reading and enjoying \*Sacred Games \* by Vikram Chandra. Next up are \*Boomsday \* by Christopher Buckley (mentioned above) and \*Special Topics in Calamity Physics \* by Marisha Pessl.
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### Author:  [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2007, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-whatcha-readin-now/404779/72 "2007-05-21T20:38:39Z")
[QUOTE=Dung Beetle]
Yeah, in spots…but then by the end of the book, you’re supposed to be moved or get a message or something. It doesn’t work for me because I’m still going, “But that wouldn’t have happened!”
As I said, I’m not totally sure why I don’t get it, and it’s been quite awhile since I tried it, so I’m not even equipped to argue my own position. Sorry for the hijack!
[/QUOTE]
There are no hijacks in a "whatcha readin’ " thread, merely discussions of books and authors. **blissful sigh**
I’m not an uncritical fan of Irving’s, but I have enjoyed several of his books very much – they do operate at their own level of seriousness, though, and I can definitely see not caring for how he goes back and forth between the silly, the surreal, and the sobering.
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### Author:  [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2007, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-whatcha-readin-now/404779/73 "2007-05-21T20:47:52Z")
[QUOTE=twickster]
There are no hijacks in a "whatcha readin’ " thread, merely discussions of books and authors. **blissful sigh**
[/QUOTE]
Well, I wish I could properly oblige you…actually, I just wish I “got” the books! 🙂
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### Author:  [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)
#### Post date: [May 21, 2007, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-whatcha-readin-now/404779/74 "2007-05-21T21:04:35Z")
Right now, I’m re-reading the Harry Potter books so that the backstory is freshly in my mind when _Deathly Hallows_ comes out in July. I’m also halfway through Tolkien’s _The Children of Hurin_, and I’m also a few pages into Ravij Chandrasekaran’s _Imperial Life in the Emerald City_. I tend to juggle two or three books like that.
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### Author:  [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2007, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-whatcha-readin-now/404779/75 "2007-05-22T01:18:22Z")
Now that I’m done with the required geek reading, I can get to my fun geek reading.
I’m reading _Born to Kvetch_ by Michael Wex. It’s an interesting look at Yiddish from a cultural and religious perspective. I’m learning a lot about my own worldview, and that of my ancestors.
Before that, I read _The Devil in the White City_, Erik Larson’s wonderful book about the Columbian Exposition of 1893 and H.H. Holmes’s murders, which won the Edgar award for best true crime book. I first got hooked on Larson when I read _Thunderstruck_, his book about Marconi’s invention of wireless radio and its role in the capture of Hawley Harvey Crippen and Ethel le Neve. Now I want to read _Isaac’s Storm_ about the 1900 Galveston hurricane.
Robin
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### Author:  [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2007, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-whatcha-readin-now/404779/76 "2007-05-22T03:02:31Z")
[QUOTE=twickster]
There are no hijacks in a "whatcha readin’ " thread, merely discussions of books and authors. **blissful sigh**
[/QUOTE]
Well, in THAT case…
The other day I was enjoying a solitary hour at the library ( **blissful sigh** ) and found myself in the A’s. I saw some Margaret Atwood books. “Hm,” I thought. “Now what was the title of that one Atwood book I liked? _Lady Oracle_?” No, that was something else. “_Alias Grace_?” No, that’s about a Victorian murder. Well, what was the title then? It’s the one about the woman who has a secret double life; she has a nice family, and she writes torrid romance novels on the sly, having learned the art from an Italian gentleman who writes nurse novels. The story opens with her having just left home and run away for no discernible reason that I can recall. Amazon is no help with this conundrum. Help me out here, folks!
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### Author:  [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2007, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-whatcha-readin-now/404779/77 "2007-05-22T03:28:37Z")
Wiki says Lady Oracle’s main character is a romance novelist. You’re sure that’s not the one?
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### Author:  [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2007, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-whatcha-readin-now/404779/78 "2007-05-22T04:54:10Z")
I just finished \*The Stolen Child \* and now I’m working on _In the Wake of the Plague: The Black Death and the World It Made_ (which, I’m sorry to say, is so poorly written/edited as to make one wonder why it was so well received).
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### Author:  [@percussion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/percussion)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2007, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-whatcha-readin-now/404779/79 "2007-05-22T05:12:54Z")
catch 22
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### Author:  [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2007, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-whatcha-readin-now/404779/80 "2007-05-22T08:40:25Z")
I just started [The Name of The Wind](http://www.amazon.com/Name-Wind-Kingkiller-Chronicle-Day/dp/075640407X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-4071462-4793634?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1179823109&sr=8-1).
It is an auspicious beginning and has the promise of a good story from a true story teller.
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