# Pre Christmas 'Whatcha Reading Thread" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 12, 2005, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-christmas-whatcha-reading-thread/335323 "2005-12-12T22:04:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-christmas-whatcha-reading-thread/335323/1 "2005-12-12T22:04:06Z")
I have been long tempted by [The Shadow of the Wind](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0143034901/qid=1134424840/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-3802887-9024113?n=507846&s=books&v=glance) and finally decided to bite the bullet and :::::shudder:::pay full price for it at Borders. ( It was an emergency. I had to have a flat tire repaired.) I’m only on page 25 and am just sucked into this story line. [Mr. Darcy Takes A Wife](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1402202733/qid=1134424960/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/102-3802887-9024113?s=books&v=glance&n=283155) the continuation of Pride & Prejudice…only a bit easier to read and sex. So far, so good. ---
**Author:** ![Kid\_A\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Kid\_A\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kid_A_1)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-christmas-whatcha-reading-thread/335323/2 "2005-12-12T22:17:43Z")
[Microserfs by Douglas Coupland.](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060987049/qid=1134425706/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-2994189-0291222?n=507846&s=books&v=glance) It’s been a good and interesting read so far probably since I’m the target audience for the book. I’ve got about thirty pages left and will probably finish it on Wednesday, on my 4 hour train ride home. I know people greatly dislike Coupland’s writing, to put it mildy, but I love everything I’ve ever read by him. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-christmas-whatcha-reading-thread/335323/3 "2005-12-12T22:22:14Z")
“Ulysses” by James Joyce. While some passages do have a genuinely poetic lyricism, most of it really is as much a slough as you might imagine it to be. Yeesh, this makes most of Faulkner’s works seem positively breezy. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-christmas-whatcha-reading-thread/335323/4 "2005-12-12T22:25:00Z")
[_Never Let Me Go_](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1400043395/qid=1134426052/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-9345732-5432606?n=507846&s=books&v=glance) by Kazuo Ishiguro (the guy who wrote _Remains of the Day_). Very weird, very good so far (I’m maybe a quarter of the way into it). The narrator reminisces about her time in school, and the people she knew then, with two of whom she has relationships of some sort now – it’s one of those books where you figure out the premise as you go along. Very weird, very good. (Oh wait, I already said that 😉 ) ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-christmas-whatcha-reading-thread/335323/5 "2005-12-12T22:55:03Z")
Recently finished **The March** by E. L. Doctor and recommend it highly. Right now I’m on a western binge. After **The Shootist** by Glendon Swarthout, I’m reading **Meridian** by Norman Zollinger and paging through **The Best of the West** , edited by Tony Hillerman. Not fiction so much as original writings from the time. I love western fiction. So sue me. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-christmas-whatcha-reading-thread/335323/6 "2005-12-12T22:57:44Z")
Dammit! I saw the typo right after I hit Submit. Wouldn’t you know this’d be one of those days when the board’s running lickety-split? That’s Doctorow, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-christmas-whatcha-reading-thread/335323/7 "2005-12-12T22:58:31Z")
> [@Art Vandelay](#): > > “Ulysses” by James Joyce. While some passages do have a genuinely poetic lyricism, most of it really is as much a slough as you might imagine it to be. Yeesh, this makes most of Faulkner’s works seem positively breezy. Try [this book](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0520067452/qid=1134427975/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-6594679-9799139?n=507846&s=books&v=glance). I found it very helpful. I’d read each episode twice, once with Gifford, and once on it’s own. [Stuart Gilbert](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0394700139/qid=1134428094/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-6594679-9799139?s=books&v=glance&n=283155) has many flaws, but is a good guide to understanding Joyce’s symbolism, the least important part of Ulysses, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Enterprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/76d3ee/32.png) [@Enterprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enterprise)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-christmas-whatcha-reading-thread/335323/8 "2005-12-12T23:13:59Z")
Just finished reading (as self-assigned classic literature reading) _The Jungle_ by Upton Sinclair. Dunno what to say about it – the story is definitely weak, the message rather powerful until Sinclair loses it and forces the reader to make such leaps of faith and to subject himself to socialist propaganda. Even as a Social Democrat, that was somewhat hard to stomach. Sigh. Next on the self-assigned list is _The Waste Land_, by T.S. Eliot. Looking forward to it, kinda. Apart from the self-assigned classics, I’m reading _Catch-22_ by Joseph Heller, which is all the fun you ever thought it was (which is plenty), Larry Niven’s _A World Out of Time_ (interesting), Elizabeth Longford’s biography of Wellington, _The Years of the Sword_ (somewhat enthusiastic…my only biography of Lord Wellington, I’m taking many of her evaluations with a grain of salt just now); and finally I’m occasionally taking a look into _The Sun Also Rises_, by Ernest Hemingway. Okay, not great. Relatedly, I’ve done some Christmas shopping and got my brother _Fluke – Or, I Know Why the Winged Whales Sing_ by Christopher Moore, which I have high hopes for after the god-damned hilarious _Lamb – The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal_. My mum’s gonna get a German novel, _Der Schwarm_, by Frank Schaetzing, and my Dad’s gonna get a copy of the brillant _Middlesex_ by Jeffrey Eugenides. ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-christmas-whatcha-reading-thread/335323/9 "2005-12-12T23:18:33Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > [_Never Let Me Go_](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1400043395/qid=1134426052/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-9345732-5432606?n=507846&s=books&v=glance) by Kazuo Ishiguro (the guy who wrote _Remains of the Day_). > > Very weird, very good so far (I’m maybe a quarter of the way into it). The narrator reminisces about her time in school, and the people she knew then, with two of whom she has relationships of some sort now – it’s one of those books where you figure out the premise as you go along. Very weird, very good. (Oh wait, I already said that 😉 ) Wait’ll you figure out just what’s going on. It’s VERY weird. And very good. Oh wait, you said that. I loved this book. One of the best two books I’ve read this year. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-christmas-whatcha-reading-thread/335323/10 "2005-12-12T23:33:11Z")
“ **Tepper Isn’t Going Out,** ” by Calvin Trillin. It’s a very funny book about a guy who, even though he keeps his car in a parking garage, seeks out a parking space on the street after work every day. He sits there, reading the NY Post until his meter time runs out. After a little item about him appears in an underground newspaper, strangers start lining up at his car door to ask his advice. ---
**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 12, 2005, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-christmas-whatcha-reading-thread/335323/11 "2005-12-12T23:38:38Z")
Right now I’m in the middle of Richard North Patterson’s _**[Conviction](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345450205/qid=1134430472/sr=2-2/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_2/104-9903136-1533526?s=books&v=glance&n=283155)**_ (a testament to my weakness for mass-market thrillers). I was in Borders on Saturday and was pleasantly surprised to find that my favorite author has a new novel out, so next up I’ll be reading _**[The Lighthouse](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/030726291X/qid=1134430555/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-9903136-1533526?s=books&v=glance&n=283155)**_ by P.D. James. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2005, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-christmas-whatcha-reading-thread/335323/12 "2005-12-12T23:46:02Z")
I’m working on The Brightonomicon by Robert Rankin. It’s very entertaining and funny in a Doug Adams sort of way. (I know I’m supposed to like Christopher Moore too, but for some reason he just doesn’t do it for me.) My car book is Don’t know much about mythology : everything you need to know about the greatest stories in human history but never learned, by Kenneth Davis. I haven’t had a chance to do more than nibble at it yet. Other than that: several books about throwing a cheap wedding. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-christmas-whatcha-reading-thread/335323/13 "2005-12-13T00:21:18Z")
\*\*[At the Tomb of the Inflatable Pig](http://tinyurl.com/dkfhc) : Travels Through Paraguay \*\* by John Gimlette. Absolutely fascinating. Not only is Gimlette a hell of a writer, but Paraguay’s history is amazing. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-christmas-whatcha-reading-thread/335323/14 "2005-12-13T00:38:12Z")
just finished “the lady and the panda,” nearly done “the last panda”. next up “titan” and “the fords”. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-christmas-whatcha-reading-thread/335323/15 "2005-12-13T01:20:07Z")
Finished \*\*To Rule The Waves: A History of the Royal Navy \*\* over the weekend. Next up is **Spices: The Scents of Paradise**. The surrent truck book is **If At All Possible, Involve A Cow** , a history of college pranking through the ages. ---
**Author:** ![pokey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ebca7d/32.png) [@pokey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pokey)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-christmas-whatcha-reading-thread/335323/16 "2005-12-13T02:40:43Z")
> [@Misnomer](#): > > next up I’ll be reading _**[The Lighthouse](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/030726291X/qid=1134430555/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-9903136-1533526?s=books&v=glance&n=283155)**_ by P.D. James. 🙂 I just started that. I’m also reading **The Consolations of Philosophy** by Alain De Botton. I’ve been having a phase the last few months of reading Alain De Botton in the bathtub. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-christmas-whatcha-reading-thread/335323/17 "2005-12-13T02:52:53Z")
> [@Athena](#): > > Wait’ll you figure out just what’s going on. It’s VERY weird. And very good. Oh wait, you said that. > > I loved this book. One of the best two books I’ve read this year. _Just_ got to the part where they spell it out – or start to spell it out, I suspect. Yikes! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Big\_Cheese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8baadc/32.png) [@The\_Big\_Cheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Big_Cheese)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-christmas-whatcha-reading-thread/335323/18 "2005-12-13T03:09:19Z")
I’m reading… **“Lusitania - An Epic tragedy”** by Diana Preston. She did a lot of research, and it’s pretty good. I’m learning a lot. A Vanderbilt, very powerful and rich family at the time, was on the ship, torpedoed by the Germans in 1915. I like history stuff. Also a travel guide on **Montreal** , becaue I may very well be going there in spring! ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-christmas-whatcha-reading-thread/335323/19 "2005-12-13T07:08:46Z")
Some mystery entitled _Fearful Symmetry_. Can’t remember the author. Just bought it today. Hope it’s good. ---
**Author:** ![manx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@manx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manx)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2005, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-christmas-whatcha-reading-thread/335323/20 "2005-12-13T07:58:56Z")
Just finished _The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas_ by John Boyne. It’s brilliant, quite heartbreaking. Reminded me a lot of _Millions_, another book ostensibly for children, but able to be enjoyed by adults, too. I have a copy of Robert Fisk’s _The Great War For Civilisation_ waiting for me to read at work in January, when things have calmed down a little. At home I’ve been rereading my least favourite Harry Potters - the fourth and the sixth, and really enjoying them this time round, and I’m settling into _Featherstone_, by Kirsty Gunn, who wrote _Rain_. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pre-christmas-whatcha-reading-thread/335323.md?page=2)