# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2007, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/41 "2007-06-24T03:14:17Z")
[QUOTE=BethCro] I feel I’d be enjoying the book more on a winter’s day than sitting by the pool. [/QUOTE] That’s how I’m feeling about a couple of Steven Erikson’s books – big fat fantasy, dark and violent, loaded with detail and plot points that might be important later. You have to read every. single. word. I can’t read fat, dark, violent, dense books in the summertime. ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2007, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/42 "2007-06-24T03:20:14Z")
My current non-fiction read is Imperial Life in the Emerald City by Rajiv Chandraskaren (about life in the Green Zone during the 1st year of the US occupation of Iraq.) My current fiction read is The Terror by Dan Simmons (about an 1840s ship trapped in the polar ice while trying to find the Northwest Passage.) Ironically, the first book is much more terrifying than the second one. ☹ ---
**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:** [June 24, 2007, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/43 "2007-06-24T03:28:37Z")
In the New Read pile: **Jamaica Me Dead** - Bob Morris (just finished) **Bermuda Schwartz** - Bob Morris (just started) **Jimi Hendrix Turns 80** - Jim Sandlin (truck book, on Chapter 8) In the Re-read pile: **Thud!** - Terry Pratchett **Lord Valentine’s Castle** - Robert Silverberg **Unto The Breach** - John Ringo In the “Waiting for Amazon to deliver them” pile: **A Deeper Blue** - John Ringo **The Sunrise Lands** - S. M. Sterling **Vorpal Blade** - John Ringo ---
**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 24, 2007, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/44 "2007-06-24T03:33:39Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] In the New Read pile: **Jamaica Me Dead** - Bob Morris (just finished) **Bermuda Schwartz** - Bob Morris (just started [/QUOTE] I think those are the punniest titles I’ve ever seen. And that’s saying a lot. ---
**Author:** ![BethCro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cdc98d/32.png) [@BethCro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BethCro)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2007, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/45 "2007-06-24T04:41:17Z")
[QUOTE=AuntiePam] That’s how I’m feeling about a couple of Steven Erikson’s books – big fat fantasy, dark and violent, loaded with detail and plot points that might be important later. You have to read every. single. word. I can’t read fat, dark, violent, dense books in the summertime. [/QUOTE] I’m glad it isn’t just me. There are so many ‘serious’ books chosen each time this thread comes about, I usually don’t participate. I’ll read trash, long as it passes the time. I often get the Dopers summer best reads in the winter, in paperback (dad doesn’t understand, I need books!). I’ll check out Steven Erikson in the winter - not fond of fantasy, but I definitely need a change from crime/thrillers I can figure out ‘who done it’ within the first 75 pages. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2007, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/46 "2007-06-24T06:28:20Z")
Just finished **Something Rotten** the fourth and last (so far) Thursday Next book, and am in the middle of **The Big Over Easy** the first Nursery Crimes Division book. Both by Jasper Fforde. And still working on the book I’m reviewing. Guns, Germs and Steel is lined up next. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2007, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/47 "2007-06-24T08:59:05Z")
Just finished _The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II_ by Iris Chang and started _The Candlemass Road_ by George MacDonald Fraser. (Except our summer ended already. April here is like August there. We’re into the rainy season now.) ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2007, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/48 "2007-06-24T11:20:31Z")
[QUOTE=Khadaji] If you have trouble finding the sequels, check under “Jim Butcher” instead… 😛 [/QUOTE] :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Terrorcotta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dbc845/32.png) [@Terrorcotta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrorcotta)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2007, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/49 "2007-06-24T12:43:28Z")
[QUOTE=koeeoaddi] I’m also reading **Random Harvest** , by James Hilton. It’s about the life of a post First World War industrialist/politician who woke up on a park bench in Liverpool after the war, not knowing how he got there and with the memory of his war years a blank. So far, it’s keeping my attention. [/QUOTE] I may have to read that since it’s one of my guilty pleasure movies and I am doing retro books this summer. I have a 3-in-1 collection of James M. Cain since someone here had recommended ‘Mildred Pierce" a few months back. I am stunned at the subjects in the book such as rape and incest. "Postman Always RingsTwice’ was good and I have “Double Indemnity” is next. I also found a small cache of smaller, more obscure Tim Powers books on Amazon that I’m following up on. Reading is so cool! ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2007, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/50 "2007-06-24T14:56:58Z")
[QUOTE=AuntiePam] I’m tempted to try her fiction. Have you read any of it? [/QUOTE] Not yet. I might. Hmm. I think I’ll read _The Art of Detection_, by Laurie King, this week. I keep eyeing it, and I’ve read all her Mary Russell novels. It’ll probably be good. ---
**Author:** ![Zjestika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/8edcca/32.png) [@Zjestika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zjestika)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2007, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/51 "2007-06-24T16:40:32Z")
I just finished [King Dork](http://www.amazon.com/King-Dork-Frank-Portman/dp/0385732910/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-5416244-9450343?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1182702939&sr=8-1) by Frank Portman and I though it was great. It had the most clever turns of phrases; I really loved the writing. Someone here recommended it, I think, though I can’t recall who. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2007, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/52 "2007-06-24T17:13:16Z")
I need to stay out of this thread. I just ordered King Dork, and while looking at that book, was distracted by \*[this](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0763624020/ref=pd_dp_1c_1_5/104-6592342-5631928) and bought that one too! \*The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Vol. 1: The Pox Party ---
**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 24, 2007, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/53 "2007-06-24T17:14:51Z")
I’m one of the few people who wasn’t terribly enthused about Octavian Nothing. I didn’t feel good about that book. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2007, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/54 "2007-06-24T17:26:40Z")
Well **now** ya tell me! 😉 ---
**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 24, 2007, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/55 "2007-06-24T17:37:31Z")
[QUOTE=AuntiePam] Well **now** ya tell me! 😉 [/QUOTE] I know. :smack: Sorry. Buuuuut, I do seem to be unusual in not loving it. And I didn’t hate it! Honest! ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2007, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/56 "2007-06-24T20:57:00Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] IIn the “Waiting for Amazon to deliver them” pile: **A Deeper Blue** - John Ringo **Vorpal Blade** - John Ringo [/QUOTE] Same here. The problem is I can read them faster than he can write them. I’m not sure how to solve this problem. ---
**Author:** ![Nightingale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecae2f/32.png) [@Nightingale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightingale)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2007, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/57 "2007-06-24T21:30:07Z")
I’ve just started working my way through John Ringo’s _ **Ghost** _ series, as well as Janet Evanovich’s _ **Stephanie Plum** _ novels. Hopefully those will carry me thru the next month until the final Harry Potter book hits the stands. ---
**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:** [June 24, 2007, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/58 "2007-06-24T21:39:51Z")
[QUOTE=Rick] Same here. The problem is I can read them faster than he can write them. I’m not sure how to solve this problem. [/QUOTE] Maybe if we used a whip? **Nightingale** , just a word about the **Ghost** books: They get better. **Ghost** is ok. **Keldar** is much better, and **Chooser of the Slain** and **Unto The Breach** better than that. ---
**Author:** ![Lucky\_13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucky_13/32/13209_2.png) [@Lucky\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky_13)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2007, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/59 "2007-06-24T22:01:02Z")
I just bought _Literacy and Longing in L.A._ yesterday. I need something light to tide me over till the last Harry Potter book comes out. Speaking of which, I need to dig up the other 6 HP books and look them over ASAP. ---
**Author:** ![Nightingale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecae2f/32.png) [@Nightingale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightingale)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2007, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/60 "2007-06-24T22:02:53Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] **Nightingale** , just a word about the **Ghost** books: They get better. **Ghost** is ok. **Keldar** is much better, and **Chooser of the Slain** and **Unto The Breach** better than that. [/QUOTE] I’m glad to hear that. I’m about two thirds of the way through **Ghost** , and have been getting a little tired of Ringo’s gratuitous BDSM passages. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022.md?page=4)