# Time for another "Whatcha readin'?" thread. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 26, 2002, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/145003 "2002-12-26T18:50:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![lurkernomore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@lurkernomore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lurkernomore)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2002, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/145003/21 "2002-12-27T01:02:24Z")
I’m about to start Turtledove’s \* How Few Remain \*. Read a few of his, including the 7 \* Worldwars \* and \* Guns of the South \*. Interesting twist - last night, after all the Christmas guests went home, I laid down to finish the book I was reading, \* The Crusading Wizard \* by Stasheff. I finished the book, started to close it, and took a better look at the picture of the author on the back cover. He was seated in front of a Christmas tree. ---
**Author:** ![JayElle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/4bbf92/32.png) [@JayElle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JayElle)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2002, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/145003/22 "2002-12-27T01:10:04Z")
Just started _Athenais_ by Lisa Hilton. It’s a bio about Louis XIV mistress. So far, it’s a promising read. I just finished _The Murder of Helen Jewett_ by Patricia Cline Cohen, and Patricia Cornwell’s Jack the Ripper book. Both were a little disappointing, though still interesting. I got as a gift _Dark Matter, the Private Life of Sir Isaac Newton_ by Philip Kerr. It’s a fictional suspense mystery with Newton as the protagonist. Sounds interesting! ---
**Author:** ![Barney111](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@Barney111](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barney111)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2002, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/145003/23 "2002-12-27T01:14:14Z")
Two days ago I finished _Sometimes a Great Notion_, by Ken Kesey. I first read it in college twenty years ago, and felt at the time it was, quite possibly, _the_ Great American Novel. I discovered my old copy while cleaning the basement, and decided to give it another whirl. It was just as good as I remembered : unique writing style, evocative imagery, tremendous character development, and excellent storytelling. I highly recommend it. Right now I’m reading _The Sigma Protocol_, by Robert Ludlum. It’s fast and fun, but definitely not in the same league as Kesey. ---
**Author:** ![Primaflora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Primaflora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Primaflora)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2002, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/145003/24 "2002-12-27T01:21:07Z")
I’m reading the first Paksennarrion book, _Sheepherder’s Daughter_. Do these getting any more interesting 'cause I think it’s dull, dull, dull. I don’t know what’s next in the queue. I got some fine rubbish reading from the library for the holiday. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2002, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/145003/25 "2002-12-27T01:37:27Z")
This week I finished _The Stars’ Tennis Balls_ by Stephen Fry and _The Gobbler_ by Adrian Edmundson. Guess I’ve been in an English-comedian-cum-novelist sort of mood. Surprisingly, I enjoyed _The Gobbler_ more-- but that may be because I had very high expectations for a Stephen Fry novel, and didn’t really have high hopes for Adrian Edmundson (Vyvian on _The Young Ones_) turning out anything of quality. _The Stars’ Tennis Balls_ is a fairly cut-and-dried revenge tale, and midway through, it drops all pretense of dramatic tension. A bit of a let-down, although Stephen Fry’s language is always charming. _The Gobbler_ is an account of a boozy, philandering television comedian having a tremendous cathartic flame-out. It’s a lot of fun, although disorientingly tense & gory in the last few chapters. Lots of wry in-jokes for those half-way familiar with the intrigues of english film and television. Next up: _The Spirit Cabinet_, by [Paul Quarrington](http://www.quarrington.org/). Paul Quarrington is a genius. I’d like to see more film adaptations of his books. Too bad _Whale Music_ turned out so poorly. I _so_ want to see the Cohen Bros make [_Civilization (And Its Part in My Downfall)_](http://www.quarrington.org/civil.htm). Pleaseohpleaseohpleaseohplease. I wanna see Leonardo DiCaprio chasing after f\*ckpigs. ---
**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:** [December 27, 2002, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/145003/26 "2002-12-27T01:52:47Z")
_Rats, Lice, and History_ is my all-time favorite. _The Botany of Desire The Book on the Shelf Genome_ Recent Ursula K. Le Guin. ---
**Author:** ![David\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@David\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_B)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2002, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/145003/27 "2002-12-27T02:12:30Z")
Just finished _Bad Medicine_, the second in the “Bad Science” series (with _Bad Astronomy_ having been the first). Now I’m reading _Life Evolving: Molecules, Mind, and Meaning_ by Christian de Duve, _A Question of Evidence: The Casebook of Great Forensic Controversies, from Napoleon to O.J._ by Colin Evans, and _Denying Evolution_ by Massimo Pigliucci. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2002, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/145003/28 "2002-12-27T02:16:42Z")
_I’m The One That I Want_ - Margaret Cho The Portable Dorothy Parker ---
**Author:** ![Michele\_in\_SoCal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Michele\_in\_SoCal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michele_in_SoCal)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2002, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/145003/29 "2002-12-27T03:28:06Z")
_Outlander_ by Diana Galbadon. I started it last night. I vowed to read it in a previous thread on this board, “Literary Characters that Make You SWOON,” because so many people mentioned Jamie Fraser from that book that I decided to give it a try! ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2002, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/145003/30 "2002-12-27T04:32:47Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Crusoe:_ > **I’ve just finished Douglas Coupland’s Girlfriend In A Coma, which was slightly disappointing. Coupland obviously wanted to get across a Big Message about making everything you can out of life, but the grand finale jarred with the pace of the rest of the book.** I felt the same way. I actually really enjoyed a good portion of the beginning of that book - everything up until the woman awakens from her coma. Up until that time, the entire book seemed warm and almost sentimental, something I don’t see a lot in books (real warmth, not manufactured warmth). Then there’s a plague and everyone dies … what the hell? It just turned. In the end, I gotta give it an “okay” rating. > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by David B._ > **…A Question of Evidence: The Casebook of Great Forensic Controversies, from Napoleon to O.J. by Colin Evans…** Woah! That guy’s name is my first and middle names! Add a McBride to the end of that and you’ve got me. I’m currently reading _The Bell Jar_ for the millionth time. Just wanted to read it again, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2002, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/145003/31 "2002-12-27T04:56:18Z")
With regard to _Girlfriend in a Coma_, I’ve had a coupla few beery conversations with Douglas Coupland on the subject of hermeticism-- and that _particular book_ makes quite a bit more sense if you look at it as an alchemical allegory. It’s my favourite of his books, largely for that reason. ---
**Author:** ![presidebt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c37758/32.png) [@presidebt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/presidebt)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2002, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/145003/32 "2002-12-27T05:03:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by interface2x \* > \*\* > I’m currently reading _The Bell Jar_ for the millionth time. Just wanted to read it again, I guess. \*\* Being a fan of this book, I recently bought a 25th Anniversery edition of it as a book-on-tape, read by Frances McDormand. I just can’t say enough about it. Excellent. ---
**Author:** ![brianjedi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@brianjedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianjedi)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2002, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/145003/33 "2002-12-27T05:22:38Z")
I’m working my way through the LOTR books, just because I got a new set for Christmas. I just finished **The Gunslinger: The Dark Tower I** by Stephen King (literally, just minutes ago before I wrote this.) Also got through Alton Brown’s **I’m Just Here For The Food** , which I highly recommend to all fans of _Good Eats._ I also got **A Year at the Movies** by Kevin Murphy, and **Mike Nelson’s Mind over Matters** by, surprisingly, Michael J. Nelson. Now I’m waiting for **Death Rat** to come out. ---
**Author:** ![Strainger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/strainger/32/244_2.png) [@Strainger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strainger)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2002, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/145003/34 "2002-12-27T05:27:37Z")
Just finished _Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism_ by Bishop John Shelby Spong and am starting on a very portable paperback of Aldous Huxley’s _Brave New World_. I’m about 40 pages away from finishing _Asimov’s Chronology of the World_, which isn’t as portable (I’m on vacation and only brought portable books with me). Also have a copy of Anthony Burgess’ _One Man’s Chorus_, a collection of short, but interesting essays, on the back of the can that I’m working through as the opportunities present themselves. ---
**Author:** ![sleeping](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@sleeping](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleeping)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2002, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/145003/35 "2002-12-27T06:27:45Z")
I’m reading _Northern Lights_ , by Tim O’Brien. It’s pretty good–O’Brien’s a great author. Also, _The Master and Margarita_ by Michael Bulgakov (a Great Book) and _Brief Interviews With Hideous Men_ , by David Foster Wallace. Wallace is funny, albeit needlessly philosophical at times (I know he’s trying to ridicule the American psyche, but sometimes it just comes off as being lame.) ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2002, 6:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/145003/36 "2002-12-27T06:33:17Z")
**The Fuck Up** by Arthur Nersesian ---
**Author:** ![Lyllyan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b2d939/32.png) [@Lyllyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lyllyan)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2002, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/145003/37 "2002-12-27T06:58:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Michele in SoCal \* > \*\*_Outlander_ by Diana Galbadon. > > I started it last night. > > I vowed to read it in a previous thread on this board, “Literary Characters that Make You SWOON,” because so many people mentioned Jamie Fraser from that book that I decided to give it a try! \*\* It can be a bit slow at first. Give it until the wedding, then you have my permission to put it down if you want, but I don’t think you will want to. Read The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold today. Quite a good book. Depressing and uplifting at the same time. Starting Brightly Burning by Mercedes Lackey tomorrow. ---
**Author:** ![MrThompson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MrThompson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrThompson)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2002, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/145003/38 "2002-12-27T11:50:17Z")
Just finished “The Handmaid’s Tale”, which was okay, and “Hard Times” which was horrible. I’m sure it’s great if you like that kind of thing, but personally I was really struggling through it. I just started “Crossroads of Twilight”, Robert Jordan’s lastest Wheel of Time thing, which I’m having fun with, and seeing as I’m about to go on holiday I hope to finish off “Ash” by Mary Gentle and “American Gods” by Neil Gaiman both of which I’ve been halfway through for about a year. ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2002, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/145003/39 "2002-12-27T12:40:06Z")
I just finished up the Foundation series by Asimov, at least, 5 of the books, I had read them years ago. Man, that last one “Foundation and Earth” was freekin tedious! Fully half the 500pg book was two of the characters arguing about philosophical stuff (or technical stuff) that would put you asleep if you were there in person. I love the setting and the general gist of the book, but I won’t be reading it again. ---
**Author:** ![Gazelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Gazelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gazelle)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2002, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/145003/40 "2002-12-27T13:42:55Z")
My co-worker and I have been trading sci-fi paperbacks recently. Right now I’m reading **Ubik** by Philip K. Dick and the Xenogenesis series by Octavia Butler. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/145003.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/145003.md?page=3)