# What are you reading this month, dopers? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 25, 2006, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-reading-this-month-dopers/374011 "2006-09-25T02:47:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2006, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-reading-this-month-dopers/374011/61 "2006-09-26T16:11:45Z")
I am currently reading [The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny On the Bounty](http://www.amazon.com/Bounty-True-Story-Mutiny/dp/B000ESSROE/sr=1-1/qid=1159286944/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-6126412-1128807?ie=UTF8&s=books) by Caroline Alexander, which is extremely fascinating. I also have a copy of [Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq](http://www.amazon.com/Fiasco-American-Military-Adventure-Iraq/dp/159420103X/sr=1-1/qid=1159287003/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-6126412-1128807?ie=UTF8&s=books) by Thomas Ricks, to read on the plane to Ireland in a couple of weeks. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2006, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-reading-this-month-dopers/374011/62 "2006-09-26T20:44:31Z")
I loved **Prep** and identified strongly with the main character, so I sprang for **The Man of My Dreams** in hardback (amazon discount). I’ve just started it and already I am connecting with the characterization of the main character’s dad–he’s just like mine was, with his mood dictating how the rest of us were allowed to act. I also have **Saturday** by Ian McEwen and **Gilead** by Marianne Robinson in the partially-read stack. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2006, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-reading-this-month-dopers/374011/63 "2006-09-26T20:45:37Z")
Pardon me, _Marilynne_ Robinson. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2006, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-reading-this-month-dopers/374011/64 "2006-09-26T21:52:29Z")
I am reading our very own, **Malacandra’s** Dreams of Flight. I am really enjoying it so far, I am about 75% of the way through it. It is a fantasy coming of age story, quite a good read. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_Urquhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@Gordon\_Urquhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_Urquhart)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2006, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-reading-this-month-dopers/374011/65 "2006-09-26T22:11:28Z")
I’m about a third of the way through Robert McCrum’s biography of P.G. [Wodehouse](http://www.amazon.com/Wodehouse-Life-Robert-McCrum/dp/B000HDZ9N8/sr=8-3/qid=1159308310/ref=sr_1_3/002-4050627-9328027?ie=UTF8&s=books). It’s a great read, and I’ll likely be reading McCrum’s **My Year Off** before the year is out. Before that, I’d read **Meet Mr Mulliner** , the seventh or eighth Wodehouse book I’ve read, and which inspired me to read his biography. Prior to that, I’d read and much enjoyed **The Ancestor’s Tale** by Richard Dawkins. I might read **The Selfish Gene** when I’ve finished **Wodehouse** (the biography, not Plum’s entire literary output). ---
**Author:** ![hlanelee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3bc359/32.png) [@hlanelee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hlanelee)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2006, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-reading-this-month-dopers/374011/66 "2006-09-26T22:18:27Z")
**CQE Primer** by the Quality Council of Indiana. Coupled with **Business Statistics** by Triola, Mario, and Franklin. Got to take a test in December. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2006, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-reading-this-month-dopers/374011/67 "2006-09-27T13:57:47Z")
[QUOTE=wonderlust] **twickster** , I’m sorry you’re not enjoying **The Orchid Thief** , which is obviously nothing like the film, but I really loved the book for the amazing history of orchid collecting, the bizarre people inhabiting the sub-culture, and the extremes people will go to for the plants. The swamps and odd folks reminded me of southern gothic fiction. [/QUOTE] I’m enjoying it enough to finish it, but I’m not particularly wowed by it. One possible reason is that that book has been seriously overhyped by now. Another is that I’m not unfamiliar with some of the stuff she’s talking about, since I read a fair amount on plants, gardening, natural history, travel and exploration in pursuit of all of these. Plus, I don’t think the book is particularly well done – it’s repetitive, and not terribly cohesive; it reads more as a series of essays that she didn’t take sufficient time to knit into a single narrative. Plus, there’s a fake interview of herself by herself at the front, which strikes me as pretty :rolleyes: – esp. since she misspells Nicolas Cage’s first name in it, which just seems careless as hell to me. So – I’m finishing it, but I’m pretty damn “meh.” (BTW – never saw the film; may add it to my Netflix queue, may not.) ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2006, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-reading-this-month-dopers/374011/68 "2006-09-27T14:44:06Z")
Re enchantment, Jeffery Paine. (I love the crazy wisdom!) But I just now finished, A River Sutra. _::::swoon::::_ ---
**Author:** ![wonderlust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonderlust/32/7237_2.png) [@wonderlust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonderlust)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2006, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-reading-this-month-dopers/374011/69 "2006-09-27T15:06:00Z")
[QUOTE=twickster] Plus, there’s a fake interview of herself by herself at the front, which strikes me as pretty :rolleyes: – esp. since she misspells Nicolas Cage’s first name in it, which just seems careless as hell to me. [/QUOTE] I read the book before the movie was made, so I never saw that part. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2006, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-reading-this-month-dopers/374011/70 "2006-09-27T16:22:15Z")
[QUOTE=wonderlust] I read the book before the movie was made, so I never saw that part. [/QUOTE] Yeah, I think the less hype you’d heard about this book, the more you’d enjoy it. It’s not a bad book, but it’s making me cranky on a number of levels – all of which are probably more about me than they are about the book itself. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2006, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-reading-this-month-dopers/374011/71 "2006-09-27T16:42:52Z")
I read **The Road** yesterday, Cormac McCarthy’s new book. It’s about a man and his son trying to survive after an apocalyptic event – probably something nuclear. It’s very bleak but very affecting, and probably the most realistic PA book I’ve ever read. Yes, people will eat people. It’s a given. Highly recommended. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2006, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-reading-this-month-dopers/374011/72 "2006-09-27T17:17:27Z")
_Fury_ by Salman Rushdie. And the _Florida Life, Health and Variable Annuity Study Manual_. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2006, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-reading-this-month-dopers/374011/73 "2006-09-27T17:43:29Z")
Just finished reading _In Cold Blood_. While I found it fascinating, I was left with the distinct impression that the book could have been whittled down somewhat, as there was a lot of needless repetition. The product, one supposes, of Capote’s anxiousness while awaiting the execution of the killers. My next project is _Bleak House_ (Darles Chickens). I started it a couple of months ago, but had to put it down for one reason or another. Since I liked what I’d read up to that point, I’ll give it another go. ---
**Author:** ![DaddyTimesTwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@DaddyTimesTwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaddyTimesTwo)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2006, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-reading-this-month-dopers/374011/74 "2006-09-27T17:52:23Z")
I got several of Rhys Davies Constable Evans mysteries from the library but could only finish two of them. Somehow the quaintness made me want to puke after two of them in a row. Before that I finished several of Christopher Moore’s novels. That guy is talented and funny. In a more serious vein, I bought Mark Kurlansky’s **1968** and George Crile’s **Charlie Wilson’s War** , both on the recommendation of friends. I’m trying to broaden my horizons, I don’t read much (OK, any) non-fiction and these were touted as both very good and very readable. And I haven’t started either one yet, life and sleep have been keeping occupied. :o ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2006, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-reading-this-month-dopers/374011/75 "2006-09-27T18:01:14Z")
**Primate Behavioural Ecology**. It’s a page turner, for sure. ---
**Author:** ![Caridwen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c89c15/32.png) [@Caridwen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caridwen)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2006, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-reading-this-month-dopers/374011/76 "2006-09-27T18:10:30Z")
**Dreams of Trespass Tales of a Harem Girlhood** by Fatima Mernissi Great book, here’s a little synopsis [http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/mjiyad/forum/messages/204.shtml](http://www.mtholyoke.edu/courses/mjiyad/forum/messages/204.shtml) \*\*The Tale of Murasaki \*\* by Liza Dalby [http://www.randomhouse.com/vintage/read/murasaki/](http://www.randomhouse.com/vintage/read/murasaki/) ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2006, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-reading-this-month-dopers/374011/77 "2006-09-27T18:17:01Z")
I like to read two books at once, and alternate between them. I just finished Scott Smith’s **The Ruins** and Douglas Preston’s **Tyrannosaur Canyon**. Loved the former, thought the latter was mediocre and disappointing. Next up: **Cabinet of Curiosities** , by Douglas Preston (again) and Lincoln Child. I have very high hopes for this one. Simultaneously, I’ll be working on Michael Connelly’s **The Lincoln Lawyer**. I love Connelly’s tough-cop books, but dunno about his entry into Grisham/Turow territory. ---
**Author:** ![Godfrey\_Daniels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Godfrey\_Daniels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Godfrey_Daniels)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2006, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-reading-this-month-dopers/374011/78 "2006-09-27T19:05:08Z")
Just started Turow’s **The Laws of Our Fathers** , with **Self-Consciousness** by John Updike on deck. A friend moved and purged his book collection, so I ended up with several by Updike, all hardcovers in new condition. ---
**Author:** ![Sonia\_Montdore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Sonia\_Montdore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sonia_Montdore)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2006, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-reading-this-month-dopers/374011/79 "2006-09-27T19:48:58Z")
[QUOTE=Guinastasia] I’m re-reading two _Star Wars_ novels and I just checked out a bunch of books from the library as well. I’m reading them two at a time: _Princesses: the Six Daughters of George III_ by Flora Fraser Guinistasia, I’m looking forward to reading that, too! It’s on my Christmas wish list. Since I probably won’t get to read it until January, would you kindly spoil it a little for me? Who does Flora Fraser think fathered Thomas Garth? Does she lean toward the Duke of Cumberland or general Garth? ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2006, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-reading-this-month-dopers/374011/80 "2006-09-27T19:55:09Z")
[QUOTE=Shoshana] I admire people who read twenty or thirty books at once. It’s second only to my admiration of people who stack books all around their offices and homes rather than getting them back on the shelf. (Seriously–I really like this.) [/QUOTE] That is so funny to me, because I really really really wish I could manage to read one book at a time, all the way through. Even more than that, I really really really wish I could stop leaving my books stacked up all over the place. My sister reads one book at a time…it sits on the table next to her reading chair, and when she is done, she puts it away. That is awesome to me, and something I don’t think I could ever do. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-reading-this-month-dopers/374011.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-you-reading-this-month-dopers/374011.md?page=5)