# Summer books -- what'cha reading? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 22, 2007, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022 "2007-06-22T17:06:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2007, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/1 "2007-06-22T17:06:57Z")
The July/August issue of Bookmarks came today. What a wonderful magazine for readers – especially for readers who don’t subscribe to a bunch of newspapers. I bought two of their recommendations – **Softspoken** , a ghost story by Lucius Shepard, and **What the Dead Know** by Laura Lippman. I know the Shepard will be good, but I’ve never read Lippman. Has anyone here read her stuff? Bookmarks says Lippman delivers a novel that “cements her new standing as a literary novelist who just happens to write in the mystery genre. Her multiple narrators are each vivid characters in their own right; the plot is rich with detail – and potential clues; and above all, Lippman gives the sense that much more is at stake than a straightforward whodunit.” Doesn’t that sound good? June’s been a great reading month – I loved **Cloud Atlas** by David Mitchell, **The Book Thief** by Markus Zusak, **The Pesthouse** by Jim Crace, and **The Book of Lost Things** by John Connolly. Today I’m starting **Facing Rushmore** by David Lozell Martin, one of my favorite writers. According to the DJ blurb, America’s monuments are crumbling, and ghost dancers may be responsible. Sounds weird as hell, but Martin is **always** good. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2007, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/2 "2007-06-22T17:17:27Z")
I don’t usually get involved in these threads, but what the heck. I started and finished The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer yesterday. Currently I am knee-deep in The World According to Garp. And I need to go back to the library. I am eyeing that horror thread wondering what else I could get. Hmm… ---
**Author:** ![Hung\_Mung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@Hung\_Mung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hung_Mung)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2007, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/3 "2007-06-22T17:21:07Z")
Studying for the LSAT screwed up my reading, but here’s what I’ve got out: Fallen Dragon by Peter F. Hamilton The Histories by Herodotus (slow going, that) I’m looking forward to Harry Potter and Jasper Fforde coming out later. My bedtime reading is the New Testament which I haven’t really sat down and plugged at since Bible class in high school. My perspective is very different now. ---
**Author:** ![Flutterby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Flutterby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flutterby)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2007, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/4 "2007-06-22T17:31:19Z")
Currently I have [Kushiel’s Justice by Jacqueline Carey](http://www.amazon.com/Kushiels-Justice-Legacy-Jacqueline-Carey/dp/0446500038) on the go. I shall soon have [Valentine’s Resolve by EE Knight](http://www.amazon.com/Valentines-Resolve-Novel-Vampire-Earth/dp/0451461460/ref=sr_1_2/105-4779290-5187626?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1182532977&sr=1-2) and [Devil May Cry by Sherrilyn Kenyon](http://www.amazon.com/Devil-May-Dark-Hunter-Novel-Book/dp/0312369506/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-4779290-5187626?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1182533019&sr=1-1) in my hot little hands. And, of course, Harry Potter. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2007, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/5 "2007-06-22T17:48:05Z")
I’m currently reading _Black Swan Green_ by David Mitchell, which I picked up because **AuntiePam** mentioned it in an earlier book recommendation thread, so thanks! Lord, it’s so funny. I suspect it’s well-written and all those other good things, but I’m not noticing so much because I keep laughing all the time. Another book I picked up recently after seeing it mentioned in one of these threads was _Manhunt: The 12 Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer_ (sorry, I don’t remember who first suggested it) and that was very enjoyable and chock full o’facts about American history. And it was exciting, too. And to prove I am a complete philistine, I will add that all the while I was reading it, I continued to be amazed that anyone caught any criminals, _ever_, before the internet. It simply seems unbelievable that one could organize that extensive of a search armed only with your wits and a telegraph. I finished _Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy_ which is a memoir about the author’s childhood in Cuba during Batista and then later the revolution. While I thought the writing was a little uneven, overall I would recommend it to anyone interested in Cuba during this time. Up next, I am looking forward to Michael Chabon’s new novel with great enthusiasm! ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2007, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/6 "2007-06-22T17:51:56Z")
Let’s see: **Children of Hurin** - Tolkien **Omnivores Dilema** - Pollen **The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind** - Jaynes [Found it burried deep in a pile, it’s been a while since I read this.] ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2007, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/7 "2007-06-22T18:24:30Z")
[QUOTE=AuntiePam] I know the Shepard will be good, but I’ve never read Lippman. Has anyone here read her stuff? Bookmarks says Lippman delivers a novel that “cements her new standing as a literary novelist who just happens to write in the mystery genre. Her multiple narrators are each vivid characters in their own right; the plot is rich with detail – and potential clues; and above all, Lippman gives the sense that much more is at stake than a straightforward whodunit.” Doesn’t that sound good? [/QUOTE] Lippman has a mystery series that I really love, it stars Tess Monaghan and is set in Baltimore. But I wasn’t as taken with the only standalone novel of hers that I’ve read: _To the Power of Three_. Still, I’d say she’s got the potential to knock your socks off. I’m reading Tad Williams’s _To Green Angel Tower_, Naomi Novik’s _Black Powder War_, Sue Henry’s _The Tooth of Time_, and Carolyn G Hart’s _Scandal in Fair Haven_. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2007, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/8 "2007-06-22T18:32:11Z")
Just finished _The Ivy Crown_ by Mary Luke and getting started on P.D. James’s _Children of Men_. Before that, I read _The Screwtape Letters_ by C.S. Lewis, _Desolation Island_ by Patrick O’Brian (I’m working my way through the Aubrey / Maturin books), _Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves_ by P.G. Wodehouse, and _The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam_. I’ve got an… eclectic reading list this summer… ---
**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:** [June 22, 2007, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/9 "2007-06-22T18:45:45Z")
I’m about halfway through The Amulet of Samarkand, by Jonathan Stroud, and kicking myself for not having gotten it earlier. I’ve seen it recommended lots of times, but someone here mentioned it again just lately and I finally decided to go for it. I now have all his other books on hold at the library. I also recently read The Top Ten: Writers Pick Their Favorite Books, by J. Peder Zane, which made me realize how few of the “important” books I’ve read. So I listed a lot of the ones that were frequently mentioned and I’m going to at least give them a try. I’m kind of worried about it, because my reading time is so short and generally of poor quality, and furthermore I’m not all that bright. But if these are the great books, I don’t want to miss them. Maybe some of them will sweep me off my feet! The first three are: Anna Karenina, by Tolstoy (this was the number one choice of the writers surveyed for this book); Lolita, by Nabokov; and Middlemarch, by George Eliot. The audiobook I’ll be starting next is The Abolition of Man/The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2007, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/10 "2007-06-22T18:57:24Z")
[QUOTE=Dung Beetle] I also recently read The Top Ten: Writers Pick Their Favorite Books, by J. Peder Zane, which made me realize how few of the “important” books I’ve read. [/QUOTE] This sounds interesting. I love books about books. I recently read Francine Prose’s book on reading and writing. She’s convinced me to stretch myself. She used excerpts from literary greats to illustrate how writers write, and the exerpts were shockingly good, and not “difficult” at all. Chekhov, here I come! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Judith\_Prietht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b19c9b/32.png) [@Judith\_Prietht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Judith_Prietht)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2007, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/11 "2007-06-22T19:04:16Z")
I’m about 2/3 of the way through Rupert Everett’s **Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins** , and it’s fascinating. He’s a pretty good writer, despite a few overly flowery passages and a couple of editing mishaps. But I never knew he was involved with so many women! ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2007, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/12 "2007-06-22T19:46:35Z")
Here’s what I’ve finished so far. **World War Z** by Max Brooks **The War that Made America** by Fred Anderson **First Man in Rome** by Colleen McCullough **Up Front** by Bill Mauldin And I’m just now starting on **The Grass Crown** by Coleen McCullough Marc ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2007, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/13 "2007-06-22T19:54:42Z")
I’ve finally gotten back into _A Series of Unfortunate Events_. They’re by no means great literature, closer to _Discworld_ novels than anything else I think, but like Discworld, they’re pretty entertaining. I’m reading about one a night, currently on book 9 or 10 out of 13. I’m also reading Anthony Bourdain’s _Typhoid Mary_, a sympathetic history of Mary Mallone. In some ways it’s really interesting; in other ways, he reminds me of Count Olaf dressed as a disco cop, constantly snapping his fingers and saying, “Cool!” He thinks he’s way cooler than he really is, and he spends too much of the book just reprinting vast swaths of other people’s firsthand accounts, interspersed with his own not-terribly-interesting snarky comments and baseless speculation (he goes on at great length about the character traits of a doctor, based only on a single photograph of the doctor). I just finished _A History of the World in Six Glasses_, which officially **rocks**. It talks about how world history was affected by and reflected in the history of beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and Coca-Cola. It’s a fascinating book, history just the way I like it, full of great anecdotes (such as General Zukhov, the Soviet leader who disguised his love of the decadent American soft drink by having Coca-Cola make up a special clear version of the drink that he could store in Soviet-stamped vodka bottles), interspersed with discussions of broad historical themes. Great reading! Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Taters](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/taters/32/2845_2.png) [@Taters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taters)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2007, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/14 "2007-06-22T21:02:13Z")
I just finished _The Rebels of Ireland._ It was a good read, and I had read the first book, _The Princes of Ireland_ some time ago. I’m now looking for some more good books, so I’ll keep my eye on this thread. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2007, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/15 "2007-06-22T21:19:08Z")
Let’s see. Current read [**The Doctor’s Wife**](http://www.amazon.com/Doctors-Wife-Elizabeth-Brundage/dp/B000FKP9WE/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-7292183-3748840?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1182546958&sr=8-1) Started: **The Crimson Pearl and the White** (I know, 2002 called and wants its book back) [**Cellophane**](http://www.amazon.com/Cellophane-Marie-Arana/dp/0385336659/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-7292183-3748840?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1182547045&sr=1-1) **Fahrenheit 451** ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2007, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/16 "2007-06-22T21:27:34Z")
I’ve just re-read the last Harry Potter book, to get ready for the next one. I just finished Tanya Huff’s _Heart of Valor_, the third book in that series. So far I have really enjoyed all of her books. I was thinking about stopping on my way home to get the new Stephanie Plum book to read over the weekend. ---
**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:** [June 22, 2007, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/17 "2007-06-22T21:47:52Z")
I just finished _Revelation Space_ by Alastair Reynolds, and am about to start _Chasm City_ by same. Good hard Space Opera. My only complaint is that the characters are pretty much all unlikeable paranoiacs. I’m in the middle of _The Origin of Species_ by some fellow named Charles Darwin. I must say, while I enjoy a jape as much as the next fellow, this Darwin goes too far. If we take his theory–if he is indeed being serious–to its logical conclusion, we may have to admit that man is cousin to the Orang-utang! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2007, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/18 "2007-06-22T22:16:24Z")
[QUOTE=gigi] **The Crimson Pearl and the White** (I know, 2002 called and wants its book back) [/QUOTE] I loved that book! Come back and let us know how you feel about the ending. It was controversial. ---
**Author:** ![Gulo\_gulo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bcef8e/32.png) [@Gulo\_gulo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gulo_gulo)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2007, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/19 "2007-06-22T23:23:12Z")
I am presently reading [Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1401359795) and loving it. I also have “Last of the Mohicans” at work for my breaks (when I get them). I plan on re-reading the Harry Potters before the new one is released and also have a pile of about 40 books on my bedstand demanding my attention. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2007, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/20 "2007-06-22T23:48:21Z")
[QUOTE=Gulo gulo] I am presently reading [Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1401359795) and loving it. [/QUOTE] This looks yummy, and will be the fourth book I’ve bought today. I’ve never read Russian horror or fantasy. Any cultural differences? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022.md?page=2)