# 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:** 14\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2009, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-09-edition/504858/121 "2009-08-25T18:32:44Z")
Finished reading Stephen King’s **The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon** (a gift) and re-reading Robert E. Howard’s **Almuric**. Also read Robert McLaughlin’s **Pleasure Island**. Fascinating stuff, about what was once New England’s Biggest Amusement Park (built by Cornelius Vanderbuilt Wood, the excommunicated genius who built Disneyland and the forgotten Freedomland) > **[Friends of Pleasure Island | Pleasure Island, Wakefield, Massachusetts,...](http://friendsofpleasureisland.org/)** > > Do you remember Pleasure Island in Wakefield, MA. What a great time. Pleasure Island. Wakefield, MA 01880. Friends of Pleasure Island Organization. Am now reading John Gribbin’s **The Scientists** (another gift). And still working my way through **The Annotated Huckleberry Finn**. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2009, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-09-edition/504858/122 "2009-08-25T18:45:12Z")
> [@Enterprise](#): > > I’m currently reading: > Richard Matheson’s _I am Legend_. Very good. Will be done tomorrow, I think, as it is so short, but it’s an interesting book, and much better than the film. Which film? There are three. I’m currently reading [I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell](http://www.amazon.com/Hope-They-Serve-Beer-Hell/dp/0806527285/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top)by Tucker Max. Basically the author is every spoiled douchebag drunken womanizing frat guy I went to college with telling a bunch of his “I got drunk, hooked up with a girl and shit my pants” stories. Some of them are funny in an “I remember when me and my idiot friends used to get drunk and pull that sort of crap” kind of way but they get repetetive. My fear is that every dork under 25 who reads that is going to now go out of his way to be an even bigger drunken tool in life. ---
**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 26, 2009, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-09-edition/504858/123 "2009-08-26T03:09:04Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > _Truman_ is simply excellent. Haven’t read _John Adams_, just because I’m not much of an Adams fan, although many people have praised the book to me (and suggested the HBO series, too). I’d agree with you about _1776_, although overall I thought it was worthwhile. For other McCullough books, you might want to take a look at _Mornings on Horseback_, which is about Theodore Roosevelt’s childhood and early adulthood, and how he became the man he did. Also, \*Brave Companions \* is a nice collection of short profiles of famous people from American history. Both well worth your time. I have not read _Truman_ yet, but I did enjoy _John Adams_ and _1776_. Plus _The Johnstown Flood_ and _The Path Between the Seas_, the latter about the building of the Panama Canal; seems there was a connection between those two subjects in that, as I recall, one of the wealthy country-club developers at Johnstown had a hand in helping finance the canal. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-09-edition/504858/124 "2009-08-27T11:35:39Z")
Finished _Happy For No Reason_. This book claims it can teach you to be happy from the inside out. As I have said in the past, most of the time I expect to be able to take about 10% away and call it good. This was no exception. There were some good exercises and some good good advice was given. As is common with these kinds of books, take out all the anecdotes and you are left with a pretty slim collection of pages. I understand, perhaps it would be too dry without, but I found myself skipping most of them. Just as a head’s up. I will be starting September’s thread _very_ early this time. I am heading to the UK Saturday night and am not sure when/if I’ll have access to a network. I am guessing I will be still posting, but I’m never sure when I travel. ---
**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 27, 2009, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-09-edition/504858/125 "2009-08-27T12:03:33Z")
Have a safe trip, **Khadaji**. Is it a vacation? I haven’t picked up a book in days, but I’m listening to When You Are Engulfed In Flames, read by the author, David Sedaris. I had tried reading something of his before and it didn’t hook me, but this is better. The kids don’t mind listening either and agree that he reminds them of Lemony Snicket. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-09-edition/504858/126 "2009-08-27T12:21:05Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Have a safe trip, **Khadaji**. Is it a vacation? > > I haven’t picked up a book in days, but I’m listening to When You Are Engulfed In Flames, read by the author, David Sedaris. I had tried reading something of his before and it didn’t hook me, but this is better. The kids don’t mind listening either and agree that he reminds them of Lemony Snicket. No, it is business. But I do get to see parts of London in the evening and we may go to Bath the first weekend in Sept. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-09-edition/504858/127 "2009-08-27T12:26:57Z")
> [@silvermist](#): > > The Keepsake by Tess Garritsen. Like her style, fast moving. I love Gerritsen. I met her last year – you see that name and you don’t expect a tiny little Asian woman! She was delightful. I’m reading \*Annie’s Ghosts \*by Steve Luxenberg, an associate editor at the _Washington Post_. He learned, upon his mother’s death, that she had had a secret sister who was mentally retarded and schizophrenic, and he decided to do an investigative reporting job on her. Takes him into the mental health system of the 1930s and deep, dark family secrets. Very interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-09-edition/504858/128 "2009-08-27T13:35:06Z")
I can’t seem to finish anything lately… **The Darwin Awards 5** … dropped dead of boredom **Why We Suck** by Dr. Denis Leary… too much Denis Leary **Word Freak** … A book about Scrabble players that is too wordy (ironic, ain’t it?) But I checked out **Already Dead** by Charlie Huston based on a recommendation in the “Enough With the Vampires!” thread, so let’s hope it’s good. ---
**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 27, 2009, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-09-edition/504858/129 "2009-08-27T13:45:45Z")
I finished Mary Roach’s _Spook_, which I liked, although I agree it wasn’t as good as _Stiff_. I need to get a copy of \*Bonk \*now. I just finished the second book in Robin Hobb’s Liveship trilogy. I’m liking these, but they are very long and slow. I happened to read a review of the first book which threw in a giant spoiler for the whole trilogy. It’s irritating, because it leaves me wondering at which point I would have figured it out on my own. There was a strong hint towards the end of this second book. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2009, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-09-edition/504858/130 "2009-08-27T13:57:59Z")
Blowing the dust off an old volume I got at a used book sale: last night, I dove into Leon Uris’ _Armageddon_. ---
**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 27, 2009, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-09-edition/504858/131 "2009-08-27T17:13:48Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > …I haven’t picked up a book in days, but I’m listening to When You Are Engulfed In Flames, read by the author, David Sedaris. I had tried reading something of his before and it didn’t hook me, but this is better. The kids don’t mind listening either and agree that he reminds them of Lemony Snicket. I’m a big Sedaris fan, as readers of these SDMB book threads know, and half the fun is in his delivery. I just finished his audiobook of _When You Are Engulfed in Flames_ and mostly liked it (“Town and Country” was my favorite story), although I think _Barrel Fever_ and _Me Talk Pretty One Day_ are better collections of his stories. ---
**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 27, 2009, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-09-edition/504858/132 "2009-08-27T17:34:10Z")
I’ve got some other audiobooks coming first, but I’ll definitely pick up some more Sedaris down the road. ---
**Author:** ![Quint](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/76d3ee/32.png) [@Quint](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quint)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2009, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-09-edition/504858/133 "2009-08-28T05:09:20Z")
> [@ProfessorX](#): > > Starting up Moneyball finally. It’s been sitting on my shelf for along time despite tons of recommendations, so I finally decided to bite the bullet and read it. I would love to hear what you thought. I enjoyed this book way more than I thought I would. Sadly the only book I had time to read this august was [City of Thieves](http://www.cityofthievesbook.com/) by David Benioff. Can’t reccomend this one highly enough, a really fantasic novel. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2009, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-09-edition/504858/134 "2009-08-29T14:43:20Z")
As mentioned above, I may be away for awhile. Although I do expect to have internet access, I’m starting September’s thread early. Here is a [Link](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=11498477#post11498477) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-09-edition/504858.md?page=6)