# Whatcha Readin' August 2012 Edition
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-2012-edition/629986
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [July 31, 2012, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-2012-edition/629986 "2012-07-31T19:52:05Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)
#### Post date: [July 31, 2012, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-2012-edition/629986/1 "2012-07-31T19:52:05Z")
Dog days of summer are here. That means fall is around the corner!
Still in the middle of _The Clockwork Vampire Chronicles_. Still enjoying it. It is definitely an homage to Gemmell’s _Legend_.
[July’s thread.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=657049)
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### Author:  [@Rhaegar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhaegar)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2012, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-2012-edition/629986/2 "2012-08-01T04:26:07Z")
Been reading the Voyages of the Chathrand series by Redick. Pretty good, although the large cast of characters and location names is quite formidable at first. Once you get past that, the rest of the series becomes a pretty good read.
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### Author:  [@Lunar\_Saltlick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lunar_Saltlick)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2012, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-2012-edition/629986/3 "2012-08-01T14:40:30Z")
I am reading \*Into the Silence \*by Wade Davis. Great, fascinating, huge book about Mallory, the First World War and the early attempts on Everest. Hilarious to read about Mallory’s great distaste for Canadians. He could barely bring himself to speak to a Canadian. “God send me the saliva.”
I am also reading _The Magnificent Ambersons_, by Booth Tarkington. Great novel, and one I have too long put off reading.
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### Author:  [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2012, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-2012-edition/629986/4 "2012-08-01T14:43:08Z")
_Season of the Witch_ by Arni Thorarinsson. It’s a mystery set in Iceland. It’s okay, but ordinary, with some clumsy expository dialogue and confusing scene changes. Might be a problem with the translation.
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### Author:  [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2012, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-2012-edition/629986/5 "2012-08-01T16:20:08Z")
Halfway through _Snow Crash_. It’s older but I went back for it after reading a new Stephenson novel, _REAMDE_. I also recommend _Cryptonomicon_.
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### Author:  [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2012, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-2012-edition/629986/6 "2012-08-01T16:26:42Z")
I’m about 100 pages into _The Hobbit_, which I think I read when I was a kid. I’ll go ahead and admit that I’m somewhat underwhelmed thus far. Is LOTR written with a similar narrative voice?
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### Author:  [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2012, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-2012-edition/629986/7 "2012-08-01T16:34:04Z")
I’m about a quarter of the way through _Cloud Atlas_. It’s a book I would never read myself, but my friend raved about it over and over, so I’m pushing my way through it. I’m liking it so far. It’s…different.
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### Author:  [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2012, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-2012-edition/629986/8 "2012-08-01T16:36:31Z")
> [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](#):
>
> I’m about 100 pages into _The Hobbit_, which I think I read when I was a kid. I’ll go ahead and admit that I’m somewhat underwhelmed thus far. Is LOTR written with a similar narrative voice?
I’m not a huge fan of _The Hobbit_, though I don’t specifically remember the narrative voice. LOTR is more serious, and written more for adults, if that helps.
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### Author:  [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2012, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-2012-edition/629986/9 "2012-08-01T16:40:23Z")
Read _Mightier Than the Sword: Uncle Tom’s Cabin and the Battle for America_, which was AWESOME. And quite a page-turner, which I wasn’t expecting for a non-fiction book about the cultural impact of _Uncle Tom’s Cabin_. For me, the best part was that so often, these days, _Uncle Tom’s Cabin_ seems so dated … it’s like a cliche of itself. This book was a great reminder that what HBS accomplished through her novel is nothing short of amazing.
Also finished _In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin_ by Erik Larsen, which I thought was okay. It’s a fascinating topic (US Ambassador in Berlin during Hitler’s early years in power), but the book uses the antics of the Ambassador’s unhinged daughter to frame the story, and it’s a little too all over the place for me.
Now reading _Bitterblue_, the second (or third, depending on how you’re counting) book in a YA series. Fantasy, quasi-medieval setting, a cluster of kingdoms in which a handful of people are “graced” with unusual powers, some of them vaguely supernatural. I recommend for fans of YA.
I am trying to read _Wolf Hall_, but it’s losing me a bit because of the shifting perspectives.
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2012, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-2012-edition/629986/10 "2012-08-01T16:42:32Z")
Almost finished with _Jennie Gerhardt_, by Theodore Dreiser.
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### Author:  [@TheMerchandise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMerchandise)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2012, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-2012-edition/629986/11 "2012-08-01T16:52:04Z")
I’ve been having a stressful week, so I’m rereading **The Princess Bride** as a sort of comfort blanket.
I just finished **Faithful Place** , the third in Tana French’s Dublin Murder Squad trilogy. This one is the best of the three. In The Woods was good, but suffered from a protagonist that became quite detestable by the end of the book. The Likeness was fun, but so implausible that the genre was more fantasy then mystery. Faithful Place has the perfect blend of sympathetic characters, wrenching family drama and a realistic mystery.
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### Author:  [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2012, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-2012-edition/629986/12 "2012-08-01T16:53:47Z")
> [@TheMerchandise](#):
>
> I just finished **Faithful Place** , the third in Tana French’s Dublin Murder Squad trilogy. This one is the best of the three. In The Woods was good, but suffered from a protagonist that became quite detestable by the end of the book. The Likeness was fun, but so implausible that the genre was more fantasy then mystery. Faithful Place has the perfect blend of sympathetic characters, wrenching family drama and a realistic mystery.
Oooh, I just got her newest, _Broken Harbor_, for my birthday. I can’t wait to crack it open, although I have some library books I need to get through first.
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### Author:  [@slm2955](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slm2955)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2012, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-2012-edition/629986/13 "2012-08-01T17:57:11Z")
Priceless -Nicole Richie
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### Author:  [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2012, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-2012-edition/629986/14 "2012-08-01T18:37:14Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#):
>
> I’m not a huge fan of _The Hobbit_, though I don’t specifically remember the narrative voice. LOTR is more serious, and written more for adults, if that helps.
Ok, thanks. That’s what I was wondering, if LOTR was written like a YA book. _The Hobbit_ is reminding me a little bit of Jack Vance’s _The Dying Earth_, which I really didn’t like.
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### Author:  [@Politzania](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Politzania)
#### Post date: [August 1, 2012, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-2012-edition/629986/15 "2012-08-01T19:35:11Z")
Still working on the audiobook of _**[The Wind through the Keyhole](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12341557-the-wind-through-the-keyhole)**_ - have finally gotten used to King’s narration, tho his attempt at different voices is a bit cringe-worthy. (To be fair, I suck at voices too, but I’m not narrating a novel!) A bit surprised to still be in the story within a story within a story at about 80% complete, but whatcha gonna do?
Current Kindle read is Markus Zusak’s _**[The Book Thief](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19063.The_Book_Thief)**_ which is beautiful and heartbreaking; I’ve highlighted a bunch of passages of evocative, lyrical phrases & I can definitely see how this has won all the awards it has. I’ll probably revisit this book in audio form someday soon.
Latest library read: _**[Battle Royale](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57891.Battle_Royale)**_ by Koushun Takami. Powerful writing & while there are definitely comparisons to _The Hunger Games_ - Takami got there first and (dare I say?) did it better. Having most every chapter focus on a different student made the situation more visceral (so to speak) - I’ll admit I had trouble keeping track of who was whom - and the foreign-to-me names may have had something to do with it. Recommended to dystopia fans who aren’t afraid of a little non-gratuitous violence. I’ll probably pick up an e-book version of this for myself sometime, as it clocks in at over 600 pages.
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2012, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-2012-edition/629986/16 "2012-08-02T01:48:07Z")
Finished _Jennie Gerhardt_, by Theodore Dreiser. Quite good. I believe I liked it better than _Sister Carrie_. When it came out in 1911, HL Mencken in a review said it was the best American novel he’d ever read after _Huckleberry Finn_. But I still feel it’s below his big, five-star epic, _An American Tragedy_, which was to come out 14 years later. Dreiser said in one interview that he didn’t like _Jennie Gerhardt_ himself.
Next up in my Dreiser anthology: _Twelve Men_. Not a novel but rather a series of essays about men whom Dreiser knew and admired, ranging from his brother Paul to “Culhane, the Solid Man,” who was a sanitorium owner and former wrestler.
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2012, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-2012-edition/629986/17 "2012-08-02T02:22:14Z")
> [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](#):
>
> Ok, thanks. That’s what I was wondering, if LOTR was written like a YA book. _The Hobbit_ is reminding me a little bit of Jack Vance’s _The Dying Earth_, which I really didn’t like.
_The Hobbit_ was definitely written to appeal to younger readers; LOTR, not so much. I highly recommend this book, which has all kinds of great footnotes on Tolkien’s various inspirations and homages, as well as art from the various editions of the book over the years. It also includes “The Quest of Erebor,” which was cut from LOTR, in which Gandalf explains to his Hobbit friends (after the destruction of the One Ring) why he helped Thorin in the first place, and why he chose Bilbo to go along: [Amazon.com: The Annotated Hobbit: 9780618134700: J.R.R. Tolkien, Douglas A. Anderson: Books](http://www.amazon.com/The-Annotated-Hobbit-J-R-R-Tolkien/dp/0618134700/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1343873685&sr=8-1&keywords=annotated+hobbit)
I have about 200 pages to go in George R.R. Martin’s _A Dance with Dragons_ but have set it aside for the moment. Instead I’ve been enjoying Peter Hennessy’s _The Prime Minister_, nonfiction about the top British political leaders since WWII, and how the office has changed - or hasn’t - over the years. I’ve also been reading Robert Lawson’s charming 1953 kids’ book _Mr. Revere and I_, which is written as if told by Paul Revere’s horse - a childhood favorite of mine that I’m now rereading with my two youngest kids.
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### Author:  [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2012, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-2012-edition/629986/18 "2012-08-02T04:08:39Z")
After years of urging by my wife, I’ve discovered the joy of reading P.G. Wodehouse. Just finished a bunch of Blanding Castle stories, now I’m knee deep in Jeeves & Wooster.
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### Author:  [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2012, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-2012-edition/629986/19 "2012-08-02T05:52:18Z")
Re-reading, after many years, Weaveworld by Clive Barker.
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### Author:  [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)
#### Post date: [August 2, 2012, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-2012-edition/629986/20 "2012-08-02T06:28:03Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#):
>
> After years of urging by my wife, I’ve discovered the joy of reading P.G. Wodehouse. Just finished a bunch of Blanding Castle stories, now I’m knee deep in Jeeves & Wooster.
Lucky bloke. I remember that wonderful feeling of ‘discovering’ Wodehouse.
I’ve just finished Michael Palin’s _Halfway to Hollywood_ and ended up re-reading Stephen Fry’s _Chronicles_ to compare the crossovers. Whipped through\* Goodnight Mister Tom\* because the kid had it for school and I wanted to see if it was as depressing as the TV adaptation (yes, sniff)
Currently juggling Ramsey Campbell’s _The Darkest Part of the Woods_, Pratchett’s _Maskerade_, Gaiman’s\* The Graveyard Book\* and Pamela Stephenson’s\* Billy\*.
There’s more, but they’re ‘car books’ that I read only if I’ve arrived early.
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