# What book are you reading right now? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 13, 2003, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-are-you-reading-right-now/201323 "2003-09-13T02:33:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**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:** [September 14, 2003, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-are-you-reading-right-now/201323/61 "2003-09-14T20:20:47Z")
_The Amber Spyglass_, by Philip Pullman. I like the creativity of Pullman’s world-building, which far exceeds what you usually see in fantasy. On the other hand, this book is just slinging around so many concepts that weren’t mentioned in the first two volumes of the trilogy while leaving loose ends from those two parts that it’s rather disconcerting. ---
**Author:** ![Rainbowthief](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4bbf92/32.png) [@Rainbowthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rainbowthief)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2003, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-are-you-reading-right-now/201323/62 "2003-09-14T23:13:28Z")
I usually read more than one book at once. Right now it’s Tolkien’s **The Fellowship of the Ring** and Alejandro Jodorowsky’s **La danza de la realidad**. ---
**Author:** ![Dissonance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85f322/32.png) [@Dissonance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dissonance)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-are-you-reading-right-now/201323/63 "2003-09-15T00:26:01Z")
Just finished: _China Marine_ by E. B. Sledge. Just started: _Moonheart_ by Charles de Lint. ---
**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:** [September 15, 2003, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-are-you-reading-right-now/201323/64 "2003-09-15T03:12:39Z")
**MonkeyDancing** , Daniel Glick **Who’s Your Caddy?** , Rick Reilly ---
**Author:** ![j\_sum1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/8baadc/32.png) [@j\_sum1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j_sum1)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-are-you-reading-right-now/201323/65 "2003-09-15T07:31:13Z")
Today, **Kangchenjunga the Untrodden Peak** , _Charles Evans_; the story of the first ascent of the world’s third highest mountain. Yesterday, **The Five Love Languages** , _Gary Chapman_. Great stuff. Day before, **Nanga Parbut** , _Karl Herrligkoffer_; account of another first ascent. Before that, **LOTR**. And before that, **Touching My Father’s Soul** , _Jamling Tenzing Norgay_. And always, **Bible** , New King James version. Best of the lot! ---
**Author:** ![Granuaile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecccb3/32.png) [@Granuaile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Granuaile)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-are-you-reading-right-now/201323/66 "2003-09-15T08:26:01Z")
**The Warrior Queens** Antoina Fraser “…the paradox, the politics, the legend and the lives of the sovereign women who have led their nations in war.” Not as cheezy as the blurb sounds. Fraser’s histories are wonderfully researched and are always fascinating. I’ve gotten as far as Boadicea’s battles against the Romans along with **Caesar Against the Celts** Ramon Jimenez Again, as far as Boadicea. ---
**Author:** ![Granuaile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecccb3/32.png) [@Granuaile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Granuaile)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-are-you-reading-right-now/201323/67 "2003-09-15T08:27:28Z")
Make that _Antonia_ Fraser. ---
**Author:** ![nefertari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7bcc69/32.png) [@nefertari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nefertari)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-are-you-reading-right-now/201323/68 "2003-09-15T10:35:11Z")
Nearly finished Moby Dick. Love the way it was written, but I’m finding it really hard to read through the disgusting whale slaughtering passages. Also nearly done with the Gormenghast trilogy by Mervyn Peake, which is great and is nothing like I imagined it would be. Next up: The Cider House Rules - yes another Irving fan 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![HDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/bb73d2/32.png) [@HDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HDS)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-are-you-reading-right-now/201323/69 "2003-09-15T11:47:01Z")
Just finished re-reading Stardust and Coraline and now on Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. I get very sad when I finish a book of his. Actually any good book makes me sad to finish it, the world doesn’t seem quite as real. Almost like I forget about it for a bit. ---
**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:** [September 15, 2003, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-are-you-reading-right-now/201323/70 "2003-09-15T11:48:38Z")
**Warior Queens** is a fascinating book. Lady Fraser is very easy to read and isn’t as gullible, for want of a better word, than many people who write revionistic history. She weighs her sources and reports them fairly and at times sceptically. **Moonheart** is one of my all time favorites by _Charles de Lint._ I just HAVE to visit Ottawa after reading his stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Necromancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ac91a4/32.png) [@Necromancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necromancer)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-are-you-reading-right-now/201323/71 "2003-09-15T12:04:38Z")
Just finished Last Light by Andy McNab and just started Night Over Water by Ken Follet. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-are-you-reading-right-now/201323/72 "2003-09-15T13:04:18Z")
At the moment, I’m reading the newest Rumpole book, **Rumpole Rests His Case** , with a biography of Jonathan Edwards and Donald Kagan’s newest on The Peloponnesian War on deck. ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-are-you-reading-right-now/201323/73 "2003-09-15T13:10:31Z")
An enormous stack of Nigella Lawson cookbooks. In the last three days I just finished **The Seven Storey Mountain** (Thomas Merton), **On Prayer** (C.S. Lewis), and **Shadows Of Ecstacy** (Charles Williams). I’m on one of my occasional reading kicks. Speaking of kicks, reading **Shadows** gave me the definite desire to kick Charles Williams. I keep trying, mostly because he’s an Inkling, but I really don’t like him. Liked the Lewis book, though, and am in love with Merton. I dunno what I’ll read next. I’ve got **Crime And Punishment**. Maybe that. ---
**Author:** ![Ruby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@Ruby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruby)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-are-you-reading-right-now/201323/74 "2003-09-15T13:16:47Z")
I just finished **Mary, Called Magdalene** and am now reading **East of Eden**. ---
**Author:** ![dead0man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/edb3f5/32.png) [@dead0man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dead0man)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-are-you-reading-right-now/201323/75 "2003-09-15T14:02:08Z")
**Sweet Thursday** by John Steinbeck Its the sequal to **Cannery Row**. I’ve read 1/4 of it so far and its been easy reading as Steinbeck always seems to be. ---
**Author:** ![Morgainelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Morgainelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgainelf)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-are-you-reading-right-now/201323/76 "2003-09-15T14:26:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by spooje \* > \*\*Just finished _Lies and the lying liars who tell them_ by **Al Franken**. > > Great book. \*\* Halfway through the Al Franken book. I went away this weekend and forgot to take it with me - started going through withdrawl. I agree - great book. Also just started the **Poisonwood Bible**. The author escapes me. I’m on chapter two, and so far it hasn’t really grabbed me. I’m about a quarter into **All the Shah’s Men** by Stephen Kinzer. Fascinating look at the history behind the Middle East’s animosity towards the west. ---
**Author:** ![Judith\_Prietht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b19c9b/32.png) [@Judith\_Prietht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Judith_Prietht)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-are-you-reading-right-now/201323/77 "2003-09-15T14:38:52Z")
I’m about a third into Irvine Welsh’s **Porno** , the pseudo sequel to **Trainspotting** and **Glue**. So far it’s a good read, although I think I prefer Welsh in the short story/novella format. There’s a lot of similarity (and sometimes “borrowing”) between his stories and Roald Dahl’s. I’ve got several things lined up on the coffee table: **House of Leaves** by Mark Danielewski **Gun, With Occasional Music** by Jonathan Lethem (I really want to get my hands on his latest, **The Fortress of Solitude** and I loved **Motherless Brooklyn**.) **Winter’s Tale** by Mark Helprin **The Crimson Petal and the White** by Michel Faber **Galileo’s Daughter** by Dava Sobel **The Corvette Navy: True Stories From Canada’s Atlantic War** by James B. Lamb ---
**Author:** ![NE\_Texan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e99b99/32.png) [@NE\_Texan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NE_Texan)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-are-you-reading-right-now/201323/78 "2003-09-15T15:45:57Z")
_Declare_, by Tim Powers. ---
**Author:** ![BarnOwl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e95f7d/32.png) [@BarnOwl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BarnOwl)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-are-you-reading-right-now/201323/79 "2003-09-15T16:12:58Z")
Just read Dan Brown’s “Angels and Demons,” (utterly preposterous, even for a thriller)and “The Da Vinci Code,” (well done, but terribly anti-Catholic, anti-Christian); Franken’s “Lies and the lying liars…” (quite good), “Reading Big Lies,” by Joe Conason. Saner and more literate than Franken. On order, Molly Ivins “Bushwhacked.” I guess it’s apparent that I am neither a conservative nor a Bush fan. ---
**Author:** ![statheist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9adbd/32.png) [@statheist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/statheist)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-are-you-reading-right-now/201323/80 "2003-09-15T16:13:45Z")
**The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.** - I’m about two hundred pages in and it’s excellent. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-are-you-reading-right-now/201323.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-are-you-reading-right-now/201323.md?page=5)