# Whatcha Readin' August 09 Edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 31, 2009, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-09-edition/504858 "2009-07-31T10:39:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-09-edition/504858/61 "2009-08-08T23:46:22Z")
I finished rereading Robertson Davies’ “Deptford Triology” a couple weeks ago, then read “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” in about two days because I didn’t want to accidentally read something in a movie review that would ruin the book for me. I’m currently enjoying Richard Russo’s “Empire Falls” (which I bought about a year ago, but my wife read it first and then gave it to her son to read, and I just got it back about a month ago :mad:) and after that I think I’m going to finish the Harry Potter series, then see if I can dig up my copy of “The Silmarillion” and see if I can make it all the way through this time. ---
**Author:** ![shellofmyformerself](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f8ce5/32.png) [@shellofmyformerself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shellofmyformerself)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2009, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-09-edition/504858/62 "2009-08-08T23:59:07Z")
I’m actually reading 2 books right now… For work, I’m reading _Positively Outrageous Service_ by T. Scott Gross. I’m scheduled to give a 1-hour lesson on customer service later this month and am using it as a reference. For pleasure, I’m reading _A Dog’s LIfe_ by Peter Mayle. It’s from the dog’s point of view and is quite funny! ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-09-edition/504858/63 "2009-08-09T00:27:08Z")
A few days ago I just finished _The Silmarillion_ for perhaps the fifth time since 1983, as it happens. The more I read it, the easier it gets, and the more I see in it. I encourage anyone who tried it and put it down (and there are many of you) to try again. Don’t get hung up on the names, to the extent possible. I know it’s hard, especially the first time or two, but the book has so much useful stuff about the mythos and backdrop to _The Hobbit_ and _The Lord of the Rings_, I really think it’s worth the effort. Right now I’m reading _American Creation_ by Joseph Ellis, and it’s a little slow off the starting block. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-09-edition/504858/64 "2009-08-09T03:08:33Z")
> [@Enterprise](#): > > Oliver Sacks’s _Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain_. Enjoyable. A bit rambling, and rather unconnected, and not exactly shot through with explanations. But a good read. I found it not worth reading, for the reasons you state. Just got back from vacation, and, as usual, did a lot of reading. The following are worth naming: _The Wicked Day_ by Mary Stewart. Her take on Mordred – after romping through her Merlin trilogy and loving it, I couldn’t pass it up. Again, an interesting take on the legends. (Gonna take a break from Arthuriana before starting _Arthur Rex_, though). _Girl with a Pearl Earring_ by Tracey Chevalier. Novel imagining life in Vermeer’s household. Bought it a couple of years ago to read on my trip to Holland, but didn’t. Liked it, didn’t love it. _The Brother Gardeners: Botany, Empire, and the Birth of an Obsession_ by Andrea Wulf. On gardening in the 18th century, the period during which Britain became the powerhouse in the gardening world. The first third of the book is mostly about John Bartram (a Philadelphian whose homestead is still in existence), who gathered plants and sent them to Peter Collinson, another ardent gardener in London – the “exotic” plants from America started a gardening craze. Also much on Linnaeus and the battle to standardize nomenclature. The last section is about how plants/horticulture/gardening shaped how England handled its empire – a couple of chapters on the _Bounty_, for instance, and what that whole “breadfruit” thing was about. Fascinating stuff and incredibly readable – way more than a lot of garden history is. _Lake Overturn_ by Vestal McIntyre: Novel set in a very small town in Idaho in the late '80s, and the interconnected stories of about a dozen people. It reads like a good 19th-century novel: Not huge amounts of plot, but an absorbing depiction of small-town life. McIntyre writes extremely well – I liked it a lot. There were another three or four “meh” novels, as well, plus Gwen Ifill’s book on black politicians, which was okay – she alternates between overview chapters talking about the change in generations from the Civil Rights behemoths to their children (sometimes literally, sometimes figuratively) and how that’s working out – issues of tradition, class, gender, etc. – with chapters focused on a couple of dozen specific individuals, in more or less depth. The chapter on Obama was, of course, interesting – a lot of the others, not so much. I was skimming like mad in the last half of the book. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-09-edition/504858/65 "2009-08-09T03:11:27Z")
I just finished an interesting SFF novel titled The Age of Ra by a guy named Lovegrove. Based on the idea that the Egyptian gods (well, and all other pantheons too I guess) are real and in an alternate history, they banded together to wipe out all other gods and belief systems about a hundred years ago. Now, the different power blocs on Earth are all dedicated to one or two of the Egyptian pantheon and war with each other based on the familial disagreements between the gods. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-09-edition/504858/66 "2009-08-09T03:32:20Z")
Drove up to [Oblong Books](http://www.oblongbooks.com/NASApp/store/IndexJsp) yesterday. Picked up two books that I’ve just started: _1959: The Year Everything Changed_ by Fred Kaplan and _Castles, Battles, & Bombs: How Economics Explains Military History_ by Jurgen Brauer and Hubert van Tuyll. I also picked up a new Bill Plympton DVD. ---
**Author:** ![DaddyTimesTwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f07891/32.png) [@DaddyTimesTwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaddyTimesTwo)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2009, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-09-edition/504858/67 "2009-08-09T04:14:57Z")
I’m rereading Christopher Moore, finished _Bloodsucking Fiends_, _You Suck_ and _A Dirty Job_ and now I started _Son of a Witch_ (which is not a Chris Moore book) at the end of last week. When I get back the Chris Moore books I’ve lent out they’ll go to the top of the pile. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-09-edition/504858/68 "2009-08-11T17:13:36Z")
Just finished [Johannes Cabal Necromancer](http://www.amazon.com/Johannes-Cabal-Necromancer-Jonathan-Howard/dp/0385528086/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1250010418&sr=1-2). Overall I give it a B-. It was a clever and fast-moving book and fun little bits of British humor thrown in. Johannes Cabal has sold his soul to the devil and now wants it back. He agrees to spend a year trying to get 100 souls in exchange for his. If he fails, he is killed straight off. To help him, the Devil gives him a traveling circus. This was a good premise and mostly well-executed. The last 1/4 of the book was dedicated to his last 24 hours and his need to get two more souls. The ending was not satisfying and left me enjoying the book less overall. But a fun enough read and I do recommend it. I am currently reading A Voice For Princess and enjoying it so far. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-09-edition/504858/69 "2009-08-11T17:30:01Z")
I just finished _The Selected Works of T. S. Spivet_, it started great, but lost it’s way in the middle and by the end it got down right absurd. The more time I have to reflect the more I dislike most of it. I’ve wanted to read something scary for awhile so I decided to pick up _House of Leaves_ as a recommendation from someone on this board. I hope it’s as good as advertised. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-09-edition/504858/70 "2009-08-11T17:58:07Z")
Sounds interesting, **Khadaji**! I’m slowly reading Nation, by Terry Pratchett. So far, so good. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-09-edition/504858/71 "2009-08-11T18:55:09Z")
I’m enjoying “The Winter Rose” by Jennifer Donnelly. It’s not too far from a romance novel, but it’s good and long and a fun romp for the summer. I’m taking notes from this thread as I need some good new material! ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-09-edition/504858/72 "2009-08-11T19:30:54Z")
Just finished _Join Me!_ by Danny Wallace, a mostly-true and very funny story about how he decides to start a collective (“It’s not a cult!” he’s constantly explaining) on a lark, all the while trying to keep his long-suffering Norwegian girlfriend from finding out. Wallace is a Brit with a very dry, understated sense of humor; you can almost imagine him telling the tale in a dimly-lit pub over a pint. I recommend it. And now I see it might be made into a movie… ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-09-edition/504858/73 "2009-08-11T19:36:46Z")
Finished **Confederacy of Dunces** and I thought it was great. Now I’m reading **Tender is the Night**. For 1934 it’s pretty hawt. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2009, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-09-edition/504858/74 "2009-08-11T19:46:39Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Just finished _Join Me!_ by Danny Wallace, a mostly-true and very funny story about how he decides to start a collective (“It’s not a cult!” he’s constantly explaining) on a lark, all the while trying to keep his long-suffering Norwegian girlfriend from finding out. Wallace is a Brit with a very dry, understated sense of humor; you can almost imagine him telling the tale in a dimly-lit pub over a pint. I recommend it. And now I see it might be made into a movie… It’s in the TBR pile. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-09-edition/504858/75 "2009-08-12T02:02:06Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Finished **Confederacy of Dunces** and I thought it was great. I’d read reports a few years ago of that finally being made into a film. Then nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-09-edition/504858/76 "2009-08-12T02:27:47Z")
I just finished _Cloud Atlas_, and I liked it, but not as much as I expected to. The writing was quite good but the nested story format turned out to be a little gimmicky. The stories were only superficially connected. A couple of plot elements were hackneyed, although one of the characters makes obvious references to them so I suppose it was deliberate. Maybe my expectations were too high. ---
**Author:** ![unwashed\_brain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a9adbd/32.png) [@unwashed\_brain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unwashed_brain)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-09-edition/504858/77 "2009-08-12T13:20:22Z")
380 pages into **Midnight Tides** by Steven Erikson. I’m a bit put off by this book’s 960-page aside on the Tiste Edur, but I mostly enjoy Erikson’s writing and am interested to see how Trull Sengar’s long story turns out. Also reading **Clean Code** by Robert C. Martin. About a 120 pages in. Nothing earth-shattering, but it’s proven a good reminder to stay disciplined in my profession. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-09-edition/504858/78 "2009-08-13T04:12:10Z")
I am reading “The Price of Glory - Verdun 1916”. Written in 1962, it is still a good read. One thing I find annoying- and this applies to all books- it is written in English. So why do you have to throw in passages in French with no translation? (I don’t understand French). ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-09-edition/504858/79 "2009-08-13T04:23:03Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > I remember liking Tamsin, but at this late date I couldn’t tell you why. 🙂 What’s not to like about ghost cats? So, I’ve given up on **Speaks The Nightbird** at least for now. I finished **Industrial Magic** , and just started the next in the series - **Haunted**. I also read **What-The-Dickens** by Gregory Maguire, and \*\*Skylight Confessions \*\*by Alice Hoffman. I think the British have a perfect word for the Maguire book - twee. It had potential, but it didn’t meet it by half, and he went surprisingly overboard with cutsieness. On the other hand, I quite liked Skylight Confessions, even if the family wasn’t as believable as the bookjacket promises. ---
**Author:** ![Enterprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/76d3ee/32.png) [@Enterprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enterprise)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2009, 7:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-09-edition/504858/80 "2009-08-13T07:18:34Z")
I’m done with _I am Legend_. A brilliant book. I knew of the ending, but it was slightly different than what I had assumed it would be like – I thought that it would turn out that ALL the vampires he had been killing had long since been part of a new society! It’s actually more bleak this way – that new society rests on a very wobbly basis, as Matheson implicitly points out when he talks about mutations. The pills keep back the bacteria now, but what if they do mutate? I’m also done with Lovecraft. I liked the 3rd Omnibus much better – “The Colour out of Space” and “The Haunter in the Dark” were actually quite scary. I’m going to read “Herbert West, Re-Animator” in a zombie lit anthology next, and then wait a little before going into more Lovecraft. I also took Frank Norris’s _The Octopus_ off the shelf and finished it. Great read – in fact I can wholeheartedly recommend all of Norris’s writings, which have an essential humanity to their depiction of the characters that I find astounding. Whatever their quirks, unless they are greedy capitalists, they are quite likeable. It’s quite a change from Stephen Crane, a very different sort of Naturalism (if it even is naturalism, I’m having my doubts). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-09-edition/504858.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-09-edition/504858.md?page=5)