# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Helena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c68b51/32.png) [@Helena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2007, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/61 "2007-06-24T22:06:15Z")
I just finished Brian Sanderson’s _Mistborn_. I enjoyed it a lot. ---
**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, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/62 "2007-06-24T22:18:10Z")
[QUOTE=Helena] I just finished Brian Sanderson’s _Mistborn_. I enjoyed it a lot. [/QUOTE] Oh, I liked that one. One of the things I liked was how self-contained it was. He could write a sequel (obviously, and he has) but it didn’t end on some horrible cliffhanger. I’m glad for that. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2007, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/63 "2007-06-24T22:24:21Z")
> [@](#): > > I need something light to tide me over till the last Harry Potter book comes out. May I recommend: Stroud’s Bartimaeus trilogy (starting with [The Amulet of Samarkand](http://www.powells.com/biblio/17-9780786818594-7)) Nix’s Abhorsen trilogy (starting with [Sabriel](http://www.powells.com/biblio/7-9780064471831-4)) or for a Harry Potter fix, [The Psychology of Harry Potter: An Unauthorized Examination of the Boy Who Lived.](http://www.powells.com/biblio/9781932100884) ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2007, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/64 "2007-06-24T22:26:29Z")
[QUOTE=nonacetone] I just picked up Jeffery Deaver’s, ‘_The Sleeping Doll_’. I enjoy his books, especially the Lincoln Rhyme novels. This one is starting out pretty good. I think I’ll enjoy it! [/QUOTE] I do too. I’m in the middle of his _The Blue Nowhere_ right now. Oh, and I love the Stephanie Plum books. Oh, and…I’m a guy. ---
**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, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/65 "2007-06-24T22:28:56Z")
[QUOTE=Shoshana] May I recommend: Stroud’s Bartimaeus trilogy (starting with [The Amulet of Samarkand](http://www.powells.com/biblio/17-9780786818594-7)) Nix’s Abhorsen trilogy (starting with [Sabriel](http://www.powells.com/biblio/7-9780064471831-4)) or for a Harry Potter fix, [The Psychology of Harry Potter: An Unauthorized Examination of the Boy Who Lived.](http://www.powells.com/biblio/9781932100884) [/QUOTE] I’d also recommend Angie Sage’s “Septimus Heap” and that one guy’s “Percy Jackson” books for those jonesing for some HP-type storytelling. ETA: Rick Riordan. I hit submit before I went and looked it up. Oops. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2007, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/66 "2007-06-24T22:38:30Z")
I was curled up in front of the heater most of the weekend reading [Kristin Lavransdatter](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristin_Lavransdatter) by Sigrid Undset. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2007, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/67 "2007-06-24T22:55:03Z")
[QUOTE=Cunctator] I was curled up in front of the heater most of the weekend reading [Kristin Lavransdatter](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristin_Lavransdatter) by Sigrid Undset. [/QUOTE] I am \*so \*jealous that you need a heater! Although the weather here in PA \*has \*been rather nice, I \*still \*prefer the cooler weather! ---
**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, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/68 "2007-06-24T23:50:48Z")
[QUOTE=Cunctator] I was curled up in front of the heater most of the weekend reading [Kristin Lavransdatter](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristin_Lavransdatter) by Sigrid Undset. [/QUOTE] Good example of a winter book. Proven by your need for extra heat. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/69 "2007-06-25T00:16:27Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] 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. [/QUOTE] Maybe we could use a [Technicolor time machine](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Technicolor_Time_Machine). 😃 **Nightingale** you probably won’t like the last 1/3 of Ghost. You will probably like the other books much, much better. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/70 "2007-06-25T00:22:29Z")
> [@](#): > > I’d also recommend Angie Sage’s “Septimus Heap” Seconded. I’m partway into **Flyte.** ---
**Author:** ![Alistair\_McCello](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/58956e/32.png) [@Alistair\_McCello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alistair_McCello)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/71 "2007-06-25T02:22:20Z")
I just finished reading: **Shalimar the Clown** - Salman Rushdie **Cat’s Cradle** - Kurt Vonnegut **Fight Club** - Chuck Palahniuk And next on my list to begin reading this week: **Slaughter-House Five** - Kurt Vonnegut **Fragile Things** - Neil Gaiman Plus I have just had the book **Journey to the End of the Night** suggested to me, so I am going to have to look that one up. ---
**Author:** ![Bobotheoptimist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/919ad9/32.png) [@Bobotheoptimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobotheoptimist)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/72 "2007-06-25T02:32:52Z")
_Pagan Celtic Ireland: The Enigma of the Irish Iron Age_ by Barry Raftery and the modestly titled _Ghost Soldiers: The Epic Account of World War II’s Greatest Rescue Mission_ by Hampton Sides ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/73 "2007-06-25T14:15:41Z")
[QUOTE=Khadaji] \ [The Way Of The Turtle](http://www.amazon.com/Way-Turtle-Methods-Ordinary-Legendary/dp/007148664X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-4071462-4793634?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1182642287&sr=1-1) a book on investing. It is too soon in my reading for me to give an opinion. \ [/QUOTE] Correction. This book is about trading, which probably makes it less interesting to me, but I will still finish it. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/74 "2007-06-25T14:31:27Z")
Just finished \*\*The Wee Free Men \*\* and \*\*A Hatful Of Sky \*\* by Terry Pratchett. I’m now reading \*\*The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell \*\* by Mark Kurlanksy. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/75 "2007-06-25T15:03:19Z")
[QUOTE=AuntiePam] I loved that book! Come back and let us know how you feel about the ending. It was controversial. [/QUOTE] Oo! That will keep me reading; I love a payoff at the end…I am only on page 70 and frankly am intimidated by 700+ pages! I have to say the narrative style is intriguing. Again, I haven’t gotten very far but the style is making me experience the book in a different way. The way the narrator “guides” you around “No, don’t follow her, let’s follow him instead, he’s much more interesting” takes me out of the story to some extent and makes me feel like I am looking from above at some sort of stage or tableau. It’s kind of disconcerting and makes me think a lot more about the author than I normally would, because I think of him as this guy manipulating me through his writing. Unsettling, but an interesting experience. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/76 "2007-06-25T15:18:51Z")
[QUOTE=Lissla Lissar] 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. [/QUOTE] I just finished _The Art of Detection_ & enjoyed it. But it left me hungry for more Mary Russell. (And there’s no hint as to whether we’ll ever get any more, as far as I can tell.) The King book was a “palate clearer” after finishing _The Book of the Long Sun_. Gene Wolfe’s 3 volume _Book of the Short Sun_ is due today from Amazon. Then, I may begin again with _The Book of the New Sun_. (I came late to Wolfe.) In Houston, summer is the time for curling up in front of the air conditioner with a big book! ---
**Author:** ![Vimp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vimp/32/4186_2.png) [@Vimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vimp)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/77 "2007-06-25T15:34:04Z")
I just finished these [The Omnivore’s Dilemma](http://www.michaelpollan.com/omnivore.php) [The Diamond Age](http://project.cyberpunk.ru/idb/thediamondage.html) [Rumo](http://www.lovereading.co.uk/book/854) I especially liked Rumo - will have to read Walter Moers other stuff … On the next up list are [Reading Lolita in Tehran](http://www.powells.com/review/2003_05_27.html) [Stiff](http://www.booknoise.net/stiff/) [To Say Nothing of the Dog](http://www.epiphyte.net/SF/nothing-of-the-dog.html) [The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down](http://www.spiritcatchesyou.com/) ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/78 "2007-06-25T15:42:05Z")
Why does everything on hold at the library always come in on the same day? Waiting for me right now: **The Master Butchers Singing Club** by Louise Erdrich **Quincunx** by Charles Palliser **A Girl Named Zippy** by Haven Kimmel What to do? What to do? ---
**Author:** ![want2know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@want2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/want2know)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/79 "2007-06-25T15:56:02Z")
I’m not a reader of fiction, but am always looking for good non-fiction. I just finished **Lewis Black**'s _Nothing Sacred_ , which was funny in parts but pretty uneven. Also just read **Len Berman**'s _Spanning the World_ , which contains some excellent sports stories as well as some good insight into what’s wrong with pro sports today and possible ways to fix it. Next, I plan on re-reading **Jim Caple**'s _The Devil Wears Pinstripes_ . Caple is a Red Sox fan who works for ESPN and has written a terrific book about the Yankees and their fans. It’s not complimentary by any means, but I found it very entertaining. And I’m a lifelong Yankees fan! My major reading plan this summer is to re-connect with my atheism. Today I am buying **Christopher Hitchens** ’ _God is Not Great_ and **Richard Dawkins** ’ _The God Delusion_ . ---
**Author:** ![Bobotheoptimist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/919ad9/32.png) [@Bobotheoptimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobotheoptimist)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2007, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022/80 "2007-06-25T16:00:24Z")
[QUOTE=Bobotheoptimist] _Pagan Celtic Ireland: The Enigma of the Irish Iron Age_ by Barry Raftery and the modestly titled _Ghost Soldiers: The Epic Account of World War II’s Greatest Rescue Mission_ by Hampton Sides [/QUOTE] To expand, in case anyone cares. Raftery’s _Pagan Celtic Ireland_ is pretty light thus far, exploring the transition from the bronze-age culture to the iron-age. Nice little summery of Hallstatt decline and La Tene expansion before launching into the meat of Irish metalworking and culture. Not really comparable to Herity and Eogan’s _Ireland in Prehistory_, but it’s summer after all. _Ghost Soldiers_ is the book on which the movie _The Great Raid_ was based. The back story and trials which the prisoners endured is far more interesting than the raid itself. This book doesn’t emphasize the misery as much as _River Kwai Railway_ did, so it sounds almost as if the Bataan Death March (and subsequent interment) wasn’t as bad as what the Kwai boys put up with. I’m not sure it’s possible to compare such suffering, especially as one who has never really suffered, so I assume that it’s a difference of writing style rather than a substantial difference in misery. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/summer-books-whatcha-reading/409022.md?page=5)