# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![Atrael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Atrael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atrael)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-are-you-reading-right-now/201323/81 "2003-09-15T18:40:57Z")
Like Antiochus, I just finished “Angels and Demons” I thought it was ok, although I mostly liked it just for all the Rome highlights. I’m going to take it next time, just to see if any of the places he describes are as he describes them. Right now I’m reading one of the “Area 51” books. Can’t remember who it’s by. I tried reading “Moby Dick”, but really just can’t get into it. ---
**Author:** ![Politzania](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ab097/32.png) [@Politzania](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Politzania)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-are-you-reading-right-now/201323/82 "2003-09-15T18:52:54Z")
Just finished _Callahan’s Legacy_ and _Callahan’s Con_ - both by Spider Robinson. He’s definitely written better - time to let this franchise go. Just started [Ten Little Indians](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0802117449/qid=1063651148/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/002-6554010-5078440?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) by Sherman Alexie - a collection of short stories, based on his Native American experiences. So far, quite good. Hope to pick up [Why Things Bite Back: Technology and the Revenge of Unintended Consequences](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0679747567/qid=1063652274/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-6554010-5078440?v=glance&s=books) from the library on the way home… ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-are-you-reading-right-now/201323/83 "2003-09-15T19:57:01Z")
**Seabiscuit** - not real deep but pretty informative and entertaining. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-are-you-reading-right-now/201323/84 "2003-09-15T21:53:25Z")
I have two books going right now. One is **Charlotte Grey** by Sebastian Faulks. I’m about half way through and it’s very good, though not quite the masterpiece that **Birdsong** was. I’m also reading **Kitchen Confidential, Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly** by Anthony Bourdain. It’s very funny, an autobiography /rant. Despite the opening warning,\*“There will be horror stories. Heavy drinking, drugs, screwing in the dry-goods area, unappetizing industry-wide practices…” \*, reading it still makes me hungry. I have to stop every so often, go to the kitchen and saute something. ---
**Author:** ![Grim\_Beaker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/46a35a/32.png) [@Grim\_Beaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grim_Beaker)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-are-you-reading-right-now/201323/85 "2003-09-15T22:55:50Z")
The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers by Paul Kennedy. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-are-you-reading-right-now/201323/86 "2003-09-15T23:22:11Z")
Just finished: _Never Forget_ by Thom Racina. Hated it. Blah. Now reading: _The Standing Dead_ by Ricardo Pinto _Freaky Friday_ by Mary Rodgers (not much like the movies!) _A Murder of Promise_ by Robert Andrews Julie ---
**Author:** ![legion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/838e76/32.png) [@legion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/legion)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-are-you-reading-right-now/201323/87 "2003-09-15T23:30:56Z")
_Filth_ by Irvin Walsh. Very disturbing. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-are-you-reading-right-now/201323/88 "2003-09-18T00:37:44Z")
Currently reading _Tales of Soldiers and Civilians_ (short stories by Ambrose Bierce). Good stuff. Also reading _Bone and Dream_ by Lake Sagaris. It’s a travelogue/historical non-fiction about the Atacama (sp?) desert in S.America. It’s really lacking any narrative force at this point, but then I’m really only about 90 pages in. ---
**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 18, 2003, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-are-you-reading-right-now/201323/89 "2003-09-18T01:10:46Z")
Hah! I’ve started **Anna Karenina**. So far I’m enjoying it, but I’m only 100 pages in. ---
**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:** [September 18, 2003, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-are-you-reading-right-now/201323/90 "2003-09-18T01:11:06Z")
**To The Nines** by Janet Evanovich It is 9th in her Stephanie Plum series. Laugh out loud funny. I recommend reading them in order. Though each book can stand alone, there is much to be said for the building relationships between Stephanie and the two male leads, Joe and Ranger. ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-are-you-reading-right-now/201323/91 "2003-09-18T01:58:01Z")
I finished the Reichert books. Wow. I was just blown away. Reading now: In Conquest Born by C.S. Friedman. I’m not much of a SF person–and C.S. does like the Apostrophed Names…of the FUTURE!–but I’m just loving it. I loved the Coldfire trilogy, too. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-are-you-reading-right-now/201323/92 "2003-09-18T03:39:55Z")
**Mainlines, Blood Feasts and Bad Taste: The Lester Bangs Reader**. It’s a sequel to _Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung_ and includes the one missing essay that I wished had appeared in that collection: Bangs’s brilliant, agonized attempt to come to grips with Miles Davis’s early to mid-‘70s output (here titled "Kind of Grim: Unraveling the Miles Perplex,’ while the version that I tore out of some SoCal tabloid zine back in 1976 is titled “Miles Davis: Depression as an Art Form/Vinyl Therapy by Lester Bangs”). ---
**Author:** ![BethCro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cdc98d/32.png) [@BethCro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BethCro)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-are-you-reading-right-now/201323/93 "2003-09-18T03:45:47Z")
**Hey Nostradamus** by Douglas Coupland. Just finished the ninth by Janet Evanovich … I think she’ll run out of numbers and ideas before Sue Grafton runs out of letters. ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-are-you-reading-right-now/201323/94 "2003-09-18T04:47:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RahRahMah \* > \*\*Slogging through **Atlas Shrugged** by Ayn Rand. Don’t even get me started. I hate every single character. In a deep and personal way. So at least the characters seem real to me, right? Gr. She makes some good points in here, but when she’s wrong shes WAY off. Rand is such a capatalist egotistical…YAR! I’m really too left wing for this book and should stop before I have an aneurism. \*\* It’s OK. I’m a severe conservative and can’t stand the betty. She has a point to make and isn’t afraid to beat you over the head with it. ---
**Author:** ![cajela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@cajela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cajela)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-are-you-reading-right-now/201323/95 "2003-09-18T05:29:53Z")
Ngaio Marsh - The Nursing Home Murder (1930s classic whodunit) Elizabeth Peters - The Golden One (latest in Aemilia Peabody series; this has seen better days; well into the decline now) Cervantes - Don Quixote - I just saw “Lost in La Mancha” - in which Terry Gilliam fails to make a movie. Tragic and funny malorganisation. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-are-you-reading-right-now/201323/96 "2003-09-18T05:34:44Z")
**Secrets of the Flesh** – a carefully researched biography of Colette A book on shopping in Paris **Le Divorce** ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-are-you-reading-right-now/201323/97 "2003-09-18T06:28:05Z")
\*Boyd[/] By Robert Coram and _In the Heart of the Sea_ By Nathaniel Philbrick ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MonkeyMensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMensch)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-are-you-reading-right-now/201323/98 "2003-09-18T06:37:06Z")
God, don’t I hate late night typing… ---
**Author:** ![Waenara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@Waenara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waenara)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-are-you-reading-right-now/201323/99 "2003-09-18T07:20:08Z")
In Progress, but very slowly: **Ilium** by Dan Simmons Unfortunately, I don’t have much time to read for “fun”, since the semester just started. But on the bright side, one of my courses is a Comparative Literature course in Science Fiction. So I’ll be reading about a book a week (except for a few where we’ll be watching films). Just finished: **The Futurological Congress** by Stanislaw Lem Just starting: **The Man In The High Castle** by Philip K. Dick Coming soon: **The Left Hand of Darkenss** by Ursula Le Guin **Tea From An Empty Cup** by Pat Cadigan **Terminal Experiment** by Robert J. Sawyer **White Light** by Rudy Rucker **Virtual Light** by William Gibson ---
**Author:** ![Fish\_Cheer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fish_cheer/32/17179_2.png) [@Fish\_Cheer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish_Cheer)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2003, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-are-you-reading-right-now/201323/100 "2003-09-18T08:19:49Z")
Did “Sourcery” by Terry Pratchett (3rd time) over the weekend. Finished “Alice in Wonderland” (1st time) on Tuesday. Halfway through “The Hobbit” (~5th time) now. Will probably do “At the Mountains of Madness” by HP Lovecraft (2nd time) next. Holidays are great. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-are-you-reading-right-now/201323.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-book-are-you-reading-right-now/201323.md?page=6)