# So, what are you reading right now? And what would you recommend? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 18, 2001, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-are-you-reading-right-now-and-what-would-you-recommend/65857 "2001-05-18T22:51:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Yankee\_Blue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/7ea924/32.png) [@Yankee\_Blue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yankee_Blue)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2001, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-are-you-reading-right-now-and-what-would-you-recommend/65857/21 "2001-05-19T13:59:44Z")
Just finished The Bond Street Burlesque by Raymond Paul. I got it out of curiosity since it’s sort of a mystery based an an actual 19th century crime. It’s pretty good, but I found that once I started it, I already knew the case - a problem with being an historian type. He apparently has two others also based on actual 19th century crimes which I may delve into an a rainy day. also just finshed the Dirty Dozen by Natheson. My only review is “eh”. That means I have to find something new today, but my regular library day isn’t until Tuesday, maybe I should just unearth out my collections of Neil Gaiman’s Sandman to re-read until then… ---
**Author:** ![SkeptiJess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2001, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-are-you-reading-right-now-and-what-would-you-recommend/65857/22 "2001-05-19T14:30:18Z")
I got two new books for Mother’s Day and just finished the first of them – Borderlands of Science by Michael Shermer. I’ll start (and finish) the second – Napalm and Silly Putty by George Carlin – today. I also have a book-on-tape that I’m “reading.” That one is Josephine Tey’s Daughter of Time\*. It’s a historical mystery about Richard III, I always wanted to read it, and got it on tape to listen to while I run every morning. The running thing is very recent, and I figured having a book to “read” while I do it would keep me out there every morning. It’s working so far and the book is every bit as good as I’d heard. ---
**Author:** ![SkeptiJess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@SkeptiJess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkeptiJess)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2001, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-are-you-reading-right-now-and-what-would-you-recommend/65857/23 "2001-05-19T14:32:50Z")
Sheesh. I’m on my way to the library this morning. Maybe I should get a copy of The SDMB For Dummies. Jess (preview is my friend, preview is my friend…) ---
**Author:** ![tiny\_ham](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a183cd/32.png) [@tiny\_ham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiny_ham)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2001, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-are-you-reading-right-now-and-what-would-you-recommend/65857/24 "2001-05-19T14:36:16Z")
Whew! I was just about to suggest that perhaps that Title was a little complex 🙂 jarbaby ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2001, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-are-you-reading-right-now-and-what-would-you-recommend/65857/25 "2001-05-19T15:56:50Z")
I have a tendency to start new books before I’ve finished the old ones. **Reality is What You Can Get Away With** , Robert A. Wilson **Frauds, Rip-Offs and Con Games** , Victor Santoro **Black Hawk Down** , Mark Bowden **A Quick and Dirty Guide to War** , James Dunnigan I’d have to recommend either the **Illuminatus!** or **Schrodinger’s Cat** trilogies. Extremely good books. –sublight. “I like football, and porno, and books about war…” ---
**Author:** ![ColdPhoenix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@ColdPhoenix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColdPhoenix)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2001, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-are-you-reading-right-now-and-what-would-you-recommend/65857/26 "2001-05-19T16:17:45Z")
At the minute I’m reading **The Picture of Dorian Gray** by Oscar Wilde. I would recommend **1984** by George Orwell, **The Saga of the Exiles** (four books) by Julian May, **American Psycho** by Bret Easton Ellis, the **Discworld** novels by Terry Pratchett, and so many more I couldn’t mention them all here. Those were just the first to come to mind. ---
**Author:** ![dodge\_this](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e5b9ba/32.png) [@dodge\_this](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dodge_this)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2001, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-are-you-reading-right-now-and-what-would-you-recommend/65857/27 "2001-05-19T16:17:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jarbabyj \* > **Take no offense to this dodge\_this, but Possession was one of three books in my life that I actually slammed shut and threw across the room at page 100, my head pounding, my teeth grinding…wailing "WHY WHY WHY"** None taken, **jarbaby** - I know how that feels. I didn’t like the book at first and it took me a long while to actually finish it. Four years in fact. But that’s a whole other story for another thread. Another book I picked up at work today - **Up the Agency** by **Peter Mayle**. On the inner workings of an ad agency. Brings back memories for me. Great fun. ---
**Author:** ![ColdPhoenix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@ColdPhoenix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColdPhoenix)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2001, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-are-you-reading-right-now-and-what-would-you-recommend/65857/28 "2001-05-19T16:19:29Z")
And I’ve just remembered **Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas** by Hunter S. Thompson. A very funny book. ---
**Author:** ![Hazel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Hazel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazel)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2001, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-are-you-reading-right-now-and-what-would-you-recommend/65857/29 "2001-05-19T16:33:34Z")
I just started Passage by Connie Willis. I’m enjoying it a lot. I recommend anything by Connie Willis: The Doomsday Book, To Say Nothing of the Dog, The Bellweather… ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2001, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-are-you-reading-right-now-and-what-would-you-recommend/65857/30 "2001-05-19T17:24:02Z")
I’m slumming with **The Second Rumpole Omnibus** by John Mortimer. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Nemo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ec9cab/32.png) [@Capt.Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2001, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-are-you-reading-right-now-and-what-would-you-recommend/65857/31 "2001-05-19T18:30:39Z")
Just finished “Day of Infamy”. A collection of personal stories about Pearl Harbor. Should be interesting to compare it to the movie. Don’t have it in front of me, so I can’t tell you the author’s name. Same guy wrote “A Night to Remember” about the Titanic. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2001, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-are-you-reading-right-now-and-what-would-you-recommend/65857/32 "2001-05-19T20:00:29Z")
Another City, Not My Own- by Dominick Dunne. It’s a “Novel in the Form of a Memoir” and so far really good. The Collector- by John Fowles, my librarian recommended it to me…being the horror lover that I am. I started 1984 awhile ago and I am thinking of picking it up and finishing it…eh, eventually. As for what I’d recommend…The Other by Thomas Tyron, which I just finished. Neptune- little obsessed? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2001, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-are-you-reading-right-now-and-what-would-you-recommend/65857/33 "2001-05-19T20:12:23Z")
Just finished To Reign in Hell, by Steven Brust. Sort of Paradise Lost meets mid-list heroic fantasy. Not bad, but compared to Brust’s Jhereg (think Tolkien writing The Godfather). Next up, probably finally get up the courage to tackle that Umberto Eco book I’v had lying around for a few months. The title escapes me, and I’m pinned in my chair at the moment by my cat, so I can’t look. Something about an island… ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2001, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-are-you-reading-right-now-and-what-would-you-recommend/65857/34 "2001-05-19T20:29:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Nimune \* > **Just finished To Reign in Hell, by Steven Brust. Sort of Paradise Lost meets mid-list heroic fantasy. Not bad, but compared to Brust’s Jhereg (think Tolkien writing The Godfather).** The next Jhereg book, Issola, is gonna come out on July 6th and will deal with the Jenoine. I shall be camped at the Barnes and Nobel on July 5th. Fenris ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2001, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-are-you-reading-right-now-and-what-would-you-recommend/65857/35 "2001-05-19T22:59:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fenris \* > \*\ ***wring** , if I were _that_ glad to see you, I’d explode. 😃 Fenris \*\* :eek: ---
**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:** [May 20, 2001, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-are-you-reading-right-now-and-what-would-you-recommend/65857/36 "2001-05-20T00:27:03Z")
i’m in the middle of THE ARCHITECT OF DESIRE by suzannah lessard right now. wow, can this woman write! i am in various stages of THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD by david mccullough, THE GREATEST GENERATION by tom brokow, and AT DAWN WE SLEPT by gordon w prange. for very needed comic relief i am getting through DAVE BARRY IS NOT TAKING THIS SITTING DOWN. jarbabyj, you reminded me of dorothy parker. ---
**Author:** ![oldscratch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ed655f/32.png) [@oldscratch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/oldscratch)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2001, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-are-you-reading-right-now-and-what-would-you-recommend/65857/37 "2001-05-20T01:56:58Z")
**The Alienist** by Caleb Carr. Just finished. quite good. Full on historical details. Crime fiction. also reading The Dutch in Japan, 1640 to 1853. A history of the Dutch in Japan during the Tokugawa period. A little dry, but very interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Cyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@Cyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyn)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2001, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-are-you-reading-right-now-and-what-would-you-recommend/65857/38 "2001-05-20T02:26:12Z")
Reading \*\* Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates\*\* by Tom Robbins Just finished \*\* Potshot\*\* by Robert J. Parker—Spencer! Recommend \*\* The Accidental Tourist\*\* and \*\* How Stella Got Her Groove Back\*\* for by-the-pool-wouldn’t-be-caught-dead-with-a-romance-novel reads, although Johannah Lindsay and Jude Deveraux write HOT. Not for fainting maidens! ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2001, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-are-you-reading-right-now-and-what-would-you-recommend/65857/39 "2001-05-20T03:20:52Z")
I’ve got _In a Sunburned Country_but haven’t started it yet (I got behind in return my “so-not-send” card to Quality Paperbacks, so it arrived in the mail the other day. :rolleyes: ) Based on the comments in this thread, I’ll probably give it a go. I’m about seven eighths of the way through Gibbon \*Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,\*which I’ve been reading on and off for four years (look, it’s well-written 18th century prose, but it’s not a page turner). I’m just starting _The Least Dangerous Branch_ (mainly when the Board is slow and I’m waiting for it to load :(). And I’m re-reading _Literary Mayhem_by Myrick Land, a marvellous chatty book about great literary feuds of the past three centuries (the Pope-Colley Cibber feud is probably the best, although Dr. Johnson’s comments on Lord Chesterfield are a hoot.). ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2001, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-are-you-reading-right-now-and-what-would-you-recommend/65857/40 "2001-05-20T03:54:28Z")
**Unintended Consequences** by John Ross. A must-read for any freedom-loving American. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-are-you-reading-right-now-and-what-would-you-recommend/65857.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-are-you-reading-right-now-and-what-would-you-recommend/65857.md?page=3)