# 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:** 17\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2003, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/145003/81 "2003-01-01T19:16:34Z")
_The Basic Eight_ by Daniel Handler. ---
**Author:** ![RichietheGrenzlander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/87869e/32.png) [@RichietheGrenzlander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RichietheGrenzlander)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2003, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/145003/82 "2003-01-01T20:23:07Z")
Currently reading Simon Reeves’s _One Day in September_, about the Munich Olympics massacre and the retaliations against the terrorists afterward. Ignore Reeves’s “summary” of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; it’s crap. It’s not something you can summarize. The rest of the book is fairly decent so far though. ---
**Author:** ![JungleLove](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/839c29/32.png) [@JungleLove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JungleLove)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2003, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/145003/83 "2003-01-01T21:52:39Z")
\<\\> Biggirl, you call yourself a fan of romantic novels & you have not read the Outlander series? Get thee to a bookstore. Order of series: (1) Outlander (2) Dragonfly in Amber (wonderful!) (3) Voyager (4) Drums in Autumn (5) The Fiery Cross & supplemental work The Outlander Companion. Get the 1st two books at least-- lots of historical detail, first-person narrative, time-travel romance. A seminal work for romantic novels. **The Lovely Bones** by Alice Sebold features a unique plot. **Plagues and Peoples** might be a good companion to **Guns, Germs, & Steel** , although it was published years before GG&S. Right now I am reading **Last Scene Alive** and glomming onto Charlaine Harris’ backlist of Aurora Teagarden & Lily Bard cozy mysteries. ---
**Author:** ![Banger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@Banger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banger)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2003, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/145003/84 "2003-01-02T01:13:32Z")
**LOTR**. ---
**Author:** ![Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c68b51/32.png) [@Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2003, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/145003/85 "2003-01-02T01:26:57Z")
American Gods by Neil Gaiman ---
**Author:** ![elf6c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@elf6c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elf6c)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2003, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/145003/86 "2003-01-02T15:11:35Z")
**Cryptonomicon** by Neal Stephenson ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2003, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/145003/87 "2003-01-02T16:01:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JungleLove \* > \*\*\<\\> > > Biggirl, you call yourself a fan of romantic novels & you have not read the Outlander series? Get thee to a bookstore. > \*\* This is the reaction I _always_ get when amongst romance readers. Even worse, I haven’t read Forever Amber yet either. ---
**Author:** ![Krisfer\_the\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Krisfer\_the\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krisfer_the_Cat)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/145003/88 "2003-01-05T05:14:00Z")
**Memnoch the Devil** by Anne Rice **Blood and Gold** by Anne Rice **The Vampire Armand** By Anne Rice **Interview with the Vampire** by Anne Rice Anyone seeing a pattern here??? ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/145003/89 "2003-01-05T06:41:15Z")
I just borrowed **Oyster** and **Girl in a Box** from the library and haven’t gotten to them yet, so for me it’s more like “what are you gonna be reading soon” ? I also bought paperbacks of **Everything’s Illuminated, The Seal Wife, 2182 khz, and A Beautiful Mind.**. ---
**Author:** ![Daylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/45deac/32.png) [@Daylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylon)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/145003/90 "2003-01-05T11:46:45Z")
Highly highly highly recommend: “The Culture of Fear” by Barry Glassner. great book…really makes you think about the media and society. ---
**Author:** ![wdcsmwscaa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbce88/32.png) [@wdcsmwscaa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wdcsmwscaa)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/145003/91 "2003-01-05T14:05:51Z")
another nod to the Silmarillion…I’m finding it quite enjoyable so far. The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbra Kingsolver. It’s quite interesting, though somewhat of an easy read. As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner. Black Boy, by Richard Wright. It’s an autobiography, which usually isn’t my cup of tea. Very, very good book. ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/145003/92 "2003-01-05T18:22:02Z")
The Aubry and Maturin stories by Patrick O’Brian. There are like twenty of them, right now I am waiting for the library to borrow “The Trulove.” Very good historical novels of the British Naval tradition. Set in the early 1800’s and meticulously researched. I found out what scuttlebutt really means, and why it came to mean gossip, and why we speak of things being good “by and large.” By the way, the series starts with “Master and Commander” and is strictly chronological, but each story stands well on it’s own. Just finished rereading Silmarillion, while I was waiting. Still waiting, and out of books, right now. Tris ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/145003/93 "2003-01-05T19:51:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Triskadecamus \* > \*\*The Aubry and Maturin stories by Patrick O’Brian. > > There are like twenty of them, right now I am waiting for the library to borrow “The Trulove.” Very good historical novels of the British Naval tradition. Set in the early 1800’s and meticulously researched. I found out what scuttlebutt really means, and why it came to mean gossip, and why we speak of things being good “by and large.” > > By the way, the series starts with “Master and Commander” and is strictly chronological, but each story stands well on it’s own. > > Just finished rereading Silmarillion, while I was waiting. Still waiting, and out of books, right now. > > Tris \*\* * * * I’ve read the first 6 or 7 of these nautical tales. The first and second are particularly good. Hey, did you see that there’s a movie called **Master and Commander: The Far Side of the world** coming out this year? I just gotta see it… ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2003, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/145003/94 "2003-01-05T21:45:48Z")
I’m about 1/4-way through _Sometimes a Great Notion_ by Ken Kesey. Was in the Portland area 15 months ago so I can connect with it more than if I hadn’t been. Am enjoying it so far. ---
**Author:** ![Tblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/278dde/32.png) [@Tblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tblue)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/145003/95 "2003-01-06T05:42:22Z")
Whole heap of **Lonely Planet travel guides** for a trip planned later this year. A friend has just lent me **Portrait in Sepia** by Isabel Allende. **Beowulf** , the Seamus Heaney translation. 🙂 I also hope to get my old Asterix Omnibuses (Omnibii?) back at some stage. I need an Asterix fix! I will be reading Pratchetts’ **Night Watch** book as soon as it comes out in the smaller paperback version here (too stingey to pay $$$ for the first edition!) Might revisit **Good Omens** (Pratchett and Gaiman) - always a goody. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2003, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/145003/96 "2003-01-06T05:56:44Z")
I saw a brief mention of the movie “Master and Commander” and from the blurb, it seems that it will include several different books. Not an unreasonable thing, given that some of the sub plots in this series go on for several books. Of course, it won’t be at all the same as the books, since the books spend lots of time explaining British Naval tradition, language, and architecture to a fare thee well. Most moviegoers would not sit through that. I bet you they don’t pick a big fat guy as Aubry, or a skinny dark ugly guy as Maturin, though. Anyone want to place odds on that? But here’s hoping. The thing is perfect for a four or five movie series, in fact, using two or three books per movie. Lots of action inherent in the plot, and an opportunity to add to the not all that well done romance in the original. And I think the minor characters are a rich field for supporting actor Oscars. Lord knows, I loved Killick, and Bonden, as foils. And the ladies themselves, apart from O’brian’s probably deliberately stilted romantic approach, are great characters. Actually, if you took a bunch of actors in their twenties, and thirties, and made a movie every five years or so, you could end up with an entirely believable pair of mature Naval Heroes in about twenty years, and four Oscars each for a few of them. We can hope, can’t we? Tris ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2003, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/145003/97 "2003-01-07T00:49:04Z")
Well, how do Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany grab ya? [http://us.imdb.com/Title?0311113](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0311113) I’ve got to get busy reading the rest of this series. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-for-another-whatcha-readin-thread/145003.md?page=4)