### Author:  [@Enterprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enterprise)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2007, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-whatcha-readin-now/404779/81 "2007-05-22T10:49:15Z")
[QUOTE=Dung Beetle]
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.
[/QUOTE]
I’m not sure that Irving is meant to be taken seriously everywhere, though now that I’ve finished _A Prayer for Owen Meany_ I’m having a few doubts about whether or not Irving’s trying to prosetylize here. It’s possible he’s only showing us that there are unexplainable things in the world, but it really sounds like he’s making a case for Christianity (and only Christianity…possibly even only a specific denomination of it). As has been said, the car story in the middle is fun, and there are other genuinely comic moments.
The thing that worries me more about Irving (having read _Hotel New Hampshire_, _Meany_, _Ciderhouse Rules_, and _Until I Find You_) is the frequency of kids having sex (or something close to sex), the odd and not at all reassuring mother figures, the frequent loss of or search for fathers, mothers, or both…ah well.
I’m done with _Meany_, so replacing it in my backpack is Vikram Seth’s _Golden Gate_, which I’ve been keeping half-read for too long.
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### Author:  [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2007, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-whatcha-readin-now/404779/82 "2007-05-22T10:52:40Z")
Can’t help on the Margaret Atwood question, sorry. My mind is a sieve on plots of novels, all I can remember, usually, is “liked” or “didn’t like.”
While I’m knocking off Doper recommendations – started Mary Gordon’s _Spending_ last night, which **pseudotriton ruber ruber** first mentioned about a year ago, when we were talking about books about artists.
It’s about a painter who’s giving a public talk, in which she starts complaining about how men artists get all the good muses – women who will support them, financially, emotionally, practically, and serve as their inspiration. Dammit, I want a muse, she says.
And a guy stands up and says, let me be your muse.
And then …
I was up way later than I should have been, last night, reading, just trying to get to a good place to stop.
Wow.
Thanks, **pseud**.
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### Author:  [@Atrael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atrael)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2007, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-whatcha-readin-now/404779/83 "2007-05-22T17:06:44Z")
**SpazCat** , I found that **The DragonBone Chair** totally ruined me for reading any of his other work. I liked the story and characters so much that I refuse to read anything else that is not set in that universe…I know…childish…but the **Memory, Sorrow and Thorn** series was just that good.
I tried to get through _The Art of War_ **gonzomax** but I found it dreadfully boring. So my hat is off to you.
I started reading _[The Lost Diary of Don Juan](http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Diary-Don-Juan-Adventure/dp/1416532501/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-9622772-6769232?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1179853403&sr=1-1)_ but decided that the book had enough racy scenes that I don’t need to be reading it with my wife in her last month of being pregnant. She doesn’t need to be fending off my amorouse advances.
So I’m going to read the latest by C.E. Murphy [Coyote Dreams](http://www.amazon.com/Walker-Papers-Coyote-Dreams-Book/dp/0373802722/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-9622772-6769232?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1179853545&sr=1-1). The latest in her Urban Shaman series. I wasn’t as fond of the last one, but I’ll give the series one more chance.
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### Author:  [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2007, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-whatcha-readin-now/404779/84 "2007-05-22T17:11:57Z")
I’m working my way through the Aubrey/Maturin books; I just finished _HMS Surprise_ and I’ve got _The Mauritius Command_ on hold at the library. Besides that, I’ve currently got _The Secret Book of Grazia dei Rossi_ by Jacqueline Park in my bag, and I finished off Kafka’s _The Trial_, _The Watermelon King_ by Daniel Wallace, _Mansfield Park_ by Jane Austen, _How Right You Are, Jeeves_ by P.G. Wodehouse, _Small Gods_ by Terry Pratchett, and a few others before that.
I’m looking forward to refreshing my memory with \*Stardust \*next, before the movie comes out, and getting through _Treasure Island_…
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### Author:  [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2007, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-whatcha-readin-now/404779/85 "2007-05-22T17:27:22Z")
[QUOTE=Atrael]
\
So I’m going to read the latest by C.E. Murphy [Coyote Dreams](http://www.amazon.com/Walker-Papers-Coyote-Dreams-Book/dp/0373802722/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-9622772-6769232?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1179853545&sr=1-1). The latest in her Urban Shaman series. I wasn’t as fond of the last one, but I’ll give the series one more chance.
[/QUOTE]
Agreed. It is in my queue, but if it isn’t better than the last, it may be the last one of hers that I read. Although I get a good two-fer out of her because once I’m done I pass it off to a friend who likes her.
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### Author:  [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2007, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-whatcha-readin-now/404779/86 "2007-05-22T17:56:30Z")
I’m now reading _Freddy and Fredericka_ by Mark Helprin - the heir to the throne of England is sent to forge his character in the wilderness of America - a contemporary satire.
The reviews were good but I find myself unable to have more than a passing interest in the story. Perhaps his other novels are funnier, or else his style of humour just doesn’t appeal to me. I laughed much more when reading Christopher Buckley’s _Little Green Men_.
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### Author:  [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2007, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-whatcha-readin-now/404779/87 "2007-05-22T18:00:21Z")
Since I see that Eric Ambler is mentioned in this thread - I have this collection of his
> **[A Coffin for Dimitrios/Judgement on Deltchev/Passage of Arms: Three Complete...](https://www.amazon.com/Coffin-Dimitrios-Judgement-Deltchev-Passage/dp/0883658054)**
>
> A Coffin for Dimitrios/Judgement on Deltchev/Passage of Arms: Three Complete Novels in One Volume \[Ambler, Eric\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. A Coffin for Dimitrios/Judgement on Deltchev/Passage of Arms: Three Complete Novels...
and I think that _Judgement on Delthchev_ (the middle novel) is excellent - the other two novels were already recommended in this thread (_A Coffin for Demetrios_ and _Passage of Arms_). _Judgement on Deltchev_ is the story of an English playwright, hired by a newspaper to write an article on a political trial in a fictional Balkan country. Of course our journalist soon learns that everything is not as it seems, and that one should be wary when pretty young women ask favours of you.
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### Author:  [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2007, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-whatcha-readin-now/404779/88 "2007-05-22T18:24:44Z")
[QUOTE=Arnold Winkelried]
I’m now reading _Freddy and Fredericka_ by Mark Helprin -… The reviews were good but I find myself unable to have more than a passing interest in the story… I laughed much more when reading Christopher Buckley’s _Little Green Men_.
[/QUOTE]
Agree and agree – couldn’t get more than 50 pages into\* F&F.\* (I realized that if the thought of him running around naked, covered in feathers, outside the palace walls, wasn’t going to make me laugh, I wasn’t going to laugh). And _LGM_ was absolutely a fave – I still comment sadly from time to time about how hard it is to find dwarfs who can pass the security clearance.
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### Author:  [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2007, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-whatcha-readin-now/404779/89 "2007-05-22T18:39:33Z")
I just finished The Dispossessed by Ursula LeGuin, which I thought was excellent. I really, really enjoyed reading it. I think next on the list is probably going to be some Hellblazer graphic novels, The Golden Compass, and some Alastair Reynolds book my friend loaned to me.
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### Author:  [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2007, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-whatcha-readin-now/404779/90 "2007-05-22T18:49:39Z")
I just finished \*World War Z \*and _Fitzpatrick’s War_. The latter was actually a recommendation from Amazon based on my looking up _World War Z._ Not bad. I like Future Histories.
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### Author:  [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2007, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-whatcha-readin-now/404779/91 "2007-05-22T18:52:01Z")
[QUOTE=Arnold Winkelried]
I’m now reading _Freddy and Fredericka_ by Mark Helprin - the heir to the throne of England is sent to forge his character in the wilderness of America - a contemporary satire.
The reviews were good but I find myself unable to have more than a passing interest in the story. Perhaps his other novels are funnier, or else his style of humour just doesn’t appeal to me. I laughed much more when reading Christopher Buckley’s _Little Green Men_.
[/QUOTE]
Helprin wrote my favorite novel, _A Soldier of the Great War_. He also wrote _A Winter’s Tale_, another great book. Neither is a satire, so it’s not that his other books are funnier, it’s that they’re not trying to be funny at all. (There are certainly flashes of humor, bu those aren’t the primary thrust of the books.)
I made it about two-thirds of the way through _Freddy and Fredericka_ before giving up on it. Since I admire his writing so much, I was disappointed to find that I simply could not like that book. Wish I could tell you it gets better, but IMO it doesn’t.
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### Author:  [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2007, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-whatcha-readin-now/404779/92 "2007-05-22T18:53:59Z")
Re: Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
[QUOTE=Khadaji]
Totally agree! I just couldn’t finish it. The footnotes were a big part of why I hated it. Some of them had more text in them then the rest of the text on the page. 1/3 of the way through I realized I just didn’t care what happened and put the book on a shelf. I’ll give it away now that I remember I have it.
[/QUOTE]
I actually plodded through all the way to the finish, because I figured there must be some kind of phenomenal ending to deserve all the praise it got. It was a decent ending, but I really felt it would have made a much, much better 150-page book. I got rid of it immediately and stridently urge everyone I know not to read it. What a monumental waste of time.
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### Author:  [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2007, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-whatcha-readin-now/404779/93 "2007-05-22T19:29:37Z")
[QUOTE=Atrael]
**SpazCat** , I found that **The DragonBone Chair** totally ruined me for reading any of his other work. I liked the story and characters so much that I refuse to read anything else that is not set in that universe…I know…childish…but the **Memory, Sorrow and Thorn** series was just that good.
[/QUOTE]
I know how you feel. I’m that way with several of my favorite fantasy authors. They write one world really well and everything else is just…meh.
I’m about to pick up _The Stone Diaries_ this afternoon as part of my “go through Diane Rehm’s [Reader’s Review](http://www.wamu.org/programs/dr/readers_review/)\*” list. What’s the word on it? Any good? Worth my time? Run as fast as I can and don’t look back?
(\*That’s an interesting list to go through if you’re ever in the “what do I read next?” quandary. Some I’ve really liked and some I’ve tossed as hard as I could. Good mix.)
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### Author:  [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2007, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-whatcha-readin-now/404779/94 "2007-05-22T20:43:00Z")
[QUOTE=AuntiePam]
Wiki says Lady Oracle’s main character is a romance novelist. You’re sure that’s not the one?
[/QUOTE]
I looked at Amazon again and maybe that is it. Now I’m totally confused. I’ll put it on hold at the library and find out. Thanks.
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### Author:  [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2007, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-whatcha-readin-now/404779/95 "2007-05-22T21:13:46Z")
_Freddy and Fredericka_ was extremely funny in parts but I only made it about 70% of the way through and skimmed the rest. It got repetitive.
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### Author:  [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2007, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-whatcha-readin-now/404779/96 "2007-05-22T22:16:20Z")
I will be finishing Freddy and Fredericka because I just hate abandoning a book in the middle, and otherwise it will be sitting there in my bookcase, forever giving me an accusing look. But I’ll try _A Soldier of the Great War_ (thanks Jodi!)
I personally loved _Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell_ and recommended to every adult I know who likes the Harry Potter series. I also added to my collection _The Ladies of Grace Adieu_ and if Susannah Clarke writes another book in the same vein I plan on reading it as well. I thought the pseudo-historical footnotes were very entertaining and gave the book a scholarly aspect.
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### Author:  [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2007, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-whatcha-readin-now/404779/97 "2007-05-22T22:47:02Z")
[QUOTE=Arnold Winkelried]
I will be finishing Freddy and Fredericka because I just hate abandoning a book in the middle, and otherwise it will be sitting there in my bookcase, forever giving me an accusing look. But I’ll try _A Soldier of the Great War_ (thanks Jodi!)
[/QUOTE]
Mark Helprin is my favorite living writer and I couldn’t get through _Freddy and Fredericka_. I love the humor in some of his other books, though. _Memoir from Antproof Case_ had some very funny bits and was _almost_ as good as _Soldier of the Great War_.
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### Author:  [@Waenara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waenara)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2007, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-whatcha-readin-now/404779/98 "2007-05-22T23:20:12Z")
I just recently bought the [_His Dark Materials_](http://www.amazon.com/His-Dark-Materials-Omnibus/dp/0375847227/ref=sr_1_1/102-6629451-5735352?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1179875567&sr=8-1) omnibus edition, and I finished _The Golden Compass_ last night and I’m currently starting to read _The Subtle Knife_.
I’m also currently reading [_Buddhism Without Beliefs_](http://www.amazon.com/Buddhism-without-Beliefs-Stephen-Batchelor/dp/1573226564/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-6629451-5735352?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1179875735&sr=1-1) by Stephen Batchelor. It’s pretty interesting - kind of agnostic Buddhism (how Buddhist principles can be useful, even if you don’t believe in the supernatural/religious aspects of Buddhism like reincarnation and karma)
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### Author:  [@Waenara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waenara)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2007, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-whatcha-readin-now/404779/99 "2007-05-22T23:27:47Z")
[QUOTE=KatiRoo]
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!
[/QUOTE]
I agree with you about _Altered Carbon_ and _Broken Angels_. There’s a third book about Takeshi Kovacs - [_Woken Furies_](http://www.amazon.com/Woken-Furies-Takeshi-Kovacs-Novel/dp/0345499778/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-6629451-5735352?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1179876444&sr=8-1), which I thought was very, very good.
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### Author:  [@BunnyTVS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BunnyTVS)
#### Post date: [May 23, 2007, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/okay-whatcha-readin-now/404779/100 "2007-05-23T01:04:45Z")
**Break no Bones** by Kathy Reichs.
I like the TV series **Bones** \* and I spotted this on sale at work so I thought I’d give it a spin.
Awful, simply awful. Totally unsym_pathetic_ characters, a plot that is trying to get more and more labarynthine and _every_ freaking chapter ends with a cliffhanger.
Worst thing though? When I get to the end of a chapter I just can’t resist starting the next one to see what the outcome is, which means I read all the way through that chapter, get to the end and… OGDAMNIT! Edit: Forgot to add that I know what the outcome is every time, but I still turn the bloody page.
\*OK not a great show, but I love the way they developed the relationship between Angela and Hodges, David Boreanaz does a good job switching from gruff to funny, And I’d love to bend Emily Deschanel over the “Magic Reconstruction Table” And show her the bone in my pocket
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