# Time for another installment of . . . "So, whatcha reading?" **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 14, 2001, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-installment-of-so-whatcha-reading/76281 "2001-08-14T22:52:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2001, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-installment-of-so-whatcha-reading/76281/41 "2001-08-15T05:12:40Z")
I just finished [The Star Diaries](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0156849054/qid=997852136/sr=8-1/ref=aps_sr_b_1_1/104-9565637-1541527) and [Why People Believe Weird Things](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0716733870/qid=997852211/sr=2-3/104-9565637-1541527). I’m about to start on Ellison’s _The Invisible Man_, which I’ve been meaning to read for a long time. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2001, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-installment-of-so-whatcha-reading/76281/42 "2001-08-15T05:16:14Z")
Well, I read Sci-Fi/Fantasy mostly and lately I’ve been trying to catch up on some missed classics. I just finished **Ringworld** by Niven which I thought was pretty good. I’m currently reading **I, Robot** and while I don’t always agree with Asimov’s style of writing, his ideas and concepts always make me think. Recently I’ve finished a collection of short stories called **Will the last person to leave the planet please shut off the sun?** by Mike Resnick. I’ll be honest, I’d never heard of the guy until I picked it up (and that was just because the title was cool). Some of his humor is hit and miss, but he has some absolutely amazing stories in there. “For I have touched the sky” is one of the best short stories I’ve read. Right now I’m biding my time until either the third book in George R.R. Martin’s or David Farland’s series hits softbound. Hopefully that’ll be this fall. One non SF/F book I’m interested in is **Guns, Germs and Steel** , a history book by Jared Diamond. Anyone ever read this? ---
**Author:** ![IceQueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/34f0e0/32.png) [@IceQueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IceQueen)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2001, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-installment-of-so-whatcha-reading/76281/43 "2001-08-15T05:37:07Z")
I’m finishing [Three Comrades](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0449912426/qid=997853757/sr=8-1/ref=aps_sr_b_1_1/107-8700406-9050106) by Erich Maria Remarque. Have nobody to discuss it with, whatsoever ☹ ---
**Author:** ![JessEnigma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/cdc98d/32.png) [@JessEnigma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JessEnigma)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2001, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-installment-of-so-whatcha-reading/76281/44 "2001-08-15T05:45:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Lady Juliet \* > \*\*Well today I just finished Pride and Prejudice. It’s now one of my favorite books. I’m such a sucker for romatic books with happy endings. 🙂 > \*\* How sappy is that book? It’s on my summer reading list for English and I really don’t want to read it. I’m not a huge fan of romance novels. Pride and Prejudice flashes **romance** in big neon letters to me. How much am I exaggerating? As for what I’m reading, it’s mostly just my summer reading for English. I’m halfway through _Hamlet_ (would be farther if I didn’t have to stop after every scene and write a summary…ugh…). I finished up _Murder in the Cathedral_ by T.S. Eliot a few weeks ago. That play sounds utterly fantastic read aloud. I was impressed. 🙂 I’m also working my way through _Stranger in a Strange Land_ and the rest of my dad’s science fiction books. I’ll probably pick up LOTR soon, mostly because one of my friends intends to drag me off to the first movie in December. jessica ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2001, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-installment-of-so-whatcha-reading/76281/45 "2001-08-15T05:48:48Z")
**Enderw24** : Re: Jared Diamond - Yep 🙂 . Recommended. In fact with the regularity it gets cited in GQ and GD, I would almost think it could be considered an SDMB requirement 😉 . - Tamerlane ---
**Author:** ![rackensack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@rackensack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rackensack)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2001, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-installment-of-so-whatcha-reading/76281/46 "2001-08-15T06:22:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Enderw24 \* > \*\*One non SF/F book I’m interested in is _Guns, Germs and Steel_, a history book by Jared Diamond. Anyone ever read this? \*\* Absolutely. I’ve been a big fan of Jared Diamond since reading _The Third Chimpanzee_ several years ago. _Guns, Germs, and Steel_ offers a series of fairly convincing hypotheses about the reasons for the different fates of human societies over the last 13,000 years – reasons that have a lot more to do with accidents of geography, climate, flora and fauna, and other factors than with any inherent advantages on the part of the successful cultures. If Diamond has a flaw, it’s that he’s a little too eager to push a conventional environmentalist viewpoint; readers of a conservative mindset may find this somewhat offputting, but it doesn’t really affect the main thrust of his arguments. If I may be so bold, however, I’d suggest reading _The Third Chimpanzee_ first. It does an excellent job of presenting a description of humanity that is solidly based in evolutionary biology and evolutionary psychology, clearly explaining what makes humans distinct from our nearest primate relatives (not a lot, genetically speaking), how those distinctions may have come about, and what that means. It’s an excellent foundation for the very different issues raised in _Guns, Germs, and Steel_. As a counterbalance to _Guns, Germs, and Steel_, I also recommend _The Origins of Virtue: Human Instincts and the Evolution of Cooperation_, by Matt Ridley. Ridley used to be Washington editor of _The Economist_, which should give you some idea of his political viewpoint, and the last third of _The Origins of Virtue_ makes a strong libertarian argument concerning the nature of private property and the deleterious effect of government. I’m not sure I’m prepared to go all the way with him, but his argument is pretty persuasive; in any case, I learned more about why humans interact with each other as they do from this book than from any two others I’ve read. ---
**Author:** ![AbbySthrnAccent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eb9ed0/32.png) [@AbbySthrnAccent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AbbySthrnAccent)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2001, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-installment-of-so-whatcha-reading/76281/47 "2001-08-15T13:58:43Z")
Current book club reading: [A Tree Grows in Brooklyn](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/006092988X/qid=997883091/sr=1-1/ref=sc_b_1/002-6844548-7797652) Other titles recently read _and enjoyed_, leaving out the books I didn’t appreciate as much: [Cry, the Beloved Country](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0684818949/qid=997882983/sr=2-1/ref=aps_sr_b_1_1/002-6844548-7797652) [Angle of Repose](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/014016930X/qid=997883180/sr=2-3/002-6844548-7797652) [Girl with a Pearl Earring](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0452282152/ref=sim_books/002-6844548-7797652) [Galileo’s Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140280553/ref=pd_ecc_rvi_b_1/002-6844548-7797652) [Longitude : The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140258795/ref=sim_books/002-6844548-7797652) ---
**Author:** ![MissBHaven](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missbhaven/32/7170_2.png) [@MissBHaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissBHaven)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2001, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-installment-of-so-whatcha-reading/76281/48 "2001-08-15T14:21:22Z")
~sob~ NOTHING! I moved & I packed my books & I can’t find them!!! ~sob~ ---
**Author:** ![Legomancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/779978/32.png) [@Legomancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Legomancer)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2001, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-installment-of-so-whatcha-reading/76281/49 "2001-08-15T14:28:19Z")
I just finished ‘Newton’s Cannon’ by J. Gregory Keyes. I picked it up in a used book store. It was okay, but I’m not fired up to get the rest of the series (of _course_ it’s a series - it’s impossible for sci-fi or fantasy books to not be at least part of a trilogy.) Now I’m reading a book on Buddhism. I don’t know what will be next. I went through a long spell of pop science books and I’m now mostly reading fluffy stuff, so the Dark Elf Trilogy might be next. What do you know, it’s a trilogy! Whoever mentioned Lemony Snicket - my wife loves those books. I have only read the first one, but I thought it was really funny. ---
**Author:** ![Francesca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9fc348/32.png) [@Francesca](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francesca)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2001, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-installment-of-so-whatcha-reading/76281/50 "2001-08-15T14:31:53Z")
I’m reading **A Prayer For Owen Meany** by John Irving _again_. I love this book so much. I think this is my fifth reading, and it gets better every time. No one builds characters like John Irving. I am also wading through **Philosopher: A Kind of Life** by Ted Honderich. It’s his autobiography and he was my professor at university. I feel proud to know him. ---
**Author:** ![thinksnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thinksnow/32/2849_2.png) [@thinksnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thinksnow)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2001, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-installment-of-so-whatcha-reading/76281/51 "2001-08-15T14:41:29Z")
_We Were Soldiers Once…and Young: Ia Drang: The Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam_ by Harold G. Moore _If Chins Could Kill, Confessions of a B-Movie Actor_ by Bruce Campbell. _A Confederacy of Dunces_ by John Kennedy Toole and _Maybe (Maybe Not) : Second Thoughts from a Secret Life_ by Robert Fulghum I’ve been working away at them at random, reading each as the mood hits. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2001, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-installment-of-so-whatcha-reading/76281/52 "2001-08-15T14:56:56Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by rackensack \* \*\* > [@](#): > > _The Origins of Virtue_ … > I’m not sure I’m prepared to go all the way with him…\*\* Sorry, I just found the phrasing kinda humorous. Thanks rackensack, I’ll look into The Third Chimpanzee and see if it looks interesting. I wish I had done this all BEFORE school starts because heavy books and textbooks don’t mix too well. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2001, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-installment-of-so-whatcha-reading/76281/53 "2001-08-15T14:58:26Z")
It’s so rare for me to get a few uninterrupted hours. I started **The Accidental Tourist** last weekend when the inlaws were here and everyone else was playing cards (I hate playing cards) - I hope to finish it within a couple of weeks. For shorter reads, I’m enjoying **Uncle Rue’s** story guy threads… ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2001, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-installment-of-so-whatcha-reading/76281/54 "2001-08-15T15:24:32Z")
I’ve just recently read: _P Is For Peril_ by Sue Grafton _Seven Up_ by Janet Evanovich _The Handmaid’s Tale_ by Margaret Atwood _The Weight Of Water_ by Anita Shreve _The Last Time They Met_ by Anita Shreve _Dreamcatcher_ by Stephen King And I am currently reading: _Big Stone Gap_ by Adriana Trigiani _A Painted House_ by John Grisham ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2001, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-installment-of-so-whatcha-reading/76281/55 "2001-08-15T15:38:14Z")
Just Finished: **The Feast of Love** , by Charles Baxter. First rate new fiction. Excellent. Just started: **A Month in the Country** , by James Lloyd Carr. Short novel published in 1980. The Guardian Fiction Prize winner. I think I’m going to like it. Next two: **This Band Could be Your Life** , Michael Azerrad, which I found out about here on this board. That was my time. Looking forward to it. and: **We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families - Stories from Rwanda** , Philip Gourevitch. It’s been on my list for a long time, finally getting around to it. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2001, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-installment-of-so-whatcha-reading/76281/56 "2001-08-15T16:00:26Z")
Some of my summertime reads – The Weight Of Water by Anita Shreve (disappointing) Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur S. Golden (luxurious) Girl With a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier (engrossing) Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver (masterful!) Philip K. Dick short stories, vols. 1 and 2 (amazing) As well as re-reading some favorites, when I’m between trips to the library and bookstore – Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry (perfect) The Lost World by Michael Crichton (stimulating) To Kill a Mockingbird (annual) The World According to Garp (memorized) 😉 ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2001, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-installment-of-so-whatcha-reading/76281/57 "2001-08-15T16:00:59Z")
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been reading a bizarre mixture of Bruce Catton (_Mr. Lincoln’s Army_ right now) and Terry Pratchett (four of the _Discworld_ novels, plus _Strata_). I’m also reading _Louie, Louie_, a book about how the song came to be a cultural icon; and I recently re-read _Dune_ for the first time in 25 years. _Dune_ is, of course, the well-known (and very well-written) book about a would-be messiah trying to find a path between two opposing evils. I’m just as unsatisfied with the ending as I was in 1976. **Enderw24** , let me add my voice to those praising _GG&S_. I think its fans on this board number into the hundreds, and deservedly so. He asks a big question - how come civilization developed so much faster and further in some places than in others - and comes up with some fairly persuasive answers. My father and I see the world very differently, and it’s one of the few nonfiction books we both praise highly. ---
**Author:** ![Bumbazine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbazine/32/362_2.png) [@Bumbazine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbazine)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2001, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-installment-of-so-whatcha-reading/76281/58 "2001-08-15T16:25:34Z")
A couple of threads here about a month ago prompted me to go back and re-read some of my Hal Clement books. I read _Cycle of Fire, Fossil,_ and _Mission of Gravity._ Then, for comparison, I re-read Robert L. Forwards _Dragon’s Egg._ Although I still love Hal Clement, I’m going to have to give R.L. Forward a slight edge for clarity. I know he has a better editor. Last week I spent the week reading \* Specifications for Filing Form 1098, 1099, 5498, and W-2G Magnetically or Electronically\* by IRS, Dept. of the Treasury, (don’t ask) and to clear my palate, over the weekend I read _How to Speak Minnesotan_ by Howard Mohr. Incidentally, I just ordered _The Golden Compass_ from Amazon a few days ago. Looking forward to a good read there. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2001, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-installment-of-so-whatcha-reading/76281/59 "2001-08-15T16:26:20Z")
Shadow, by Bob Woodward. Concerns the changes in the Presidency brought on by the investigative reporting style borne of Watergate. A scandal by scandal accounting of the Presidency since Nixon. It also gives a very clear, concise analysis of how a penny-ante land deal gone bad in a podunk state like Arkansas almost resulted in the President of the United States, the most powerful man in the world, being convicted of lying about getting a blow job from a moonstruck, coweyed intern in a blue dress. Fascinating stuff. Also re-reading A Tale of Two Cities. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” That whole introductory paragraph is just about the best damn thing ever written, period. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2001, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-installment-of-so-whatcha-reading/76281/60 "2001-08-15T16:28:36Z")
> [@](#): > > I’ve been working away at them at random, reading each as the mood hits. I can_not_ do this. I am a serially monogomous girl, even unto literature. I read one book, finish it, then start another. I’m intrigued by all you guys with multiple books going at once (the bus book, the bedside book, the lunch book); I tote around a single book until I’m done with it, then pick up another. Maybe I’m just not bright enough to keep multiple plots/subjects straight, but I’ve never enjoyed reading more than one book at once. ZYADA, if you like regencies, do you read Joan Wolf? She’s my favorite of the throwaway bodice-ripper genre. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-installment-of-so-whatcha-reading/76281.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-installment-of-so-whatcha-reading/76281.md?page=4)