# Whatcha Readin' August 2012 Edition **URL:** \ **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:** 3
**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 6, 2012, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-2012-edition/629986/41 "2012-08-06T13:36:11Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Just started on _Cleaning House: a mom’s 12-month experiment to rid her home of youth entitlement_, by Kay Wyma. I’m already having some doubts about this one. For instance, her epiphany about how spoiled her kids are was brought on by her teenage son’s fantasizing about whether he’d rather have a Lamborghini or a Porsche. Big whoop. Also, something about the tone of the writing has me thinking she’s going to bring up religious faith soon, and when she does, I’ll be finished reading this book. _sigh_ Or maybe it’ll be full of great ideas for me to implement at home. Well, she made it to page 118 before she drew a parallel between how we give kids responsibilities and how God gives us tasks. I was ready to put this book down anyway; I wasn’t finding anything useful in it. Now on to [Blood Lite III: Aftertaste](http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Lite-III-Kevin-Anderson/dp/1451636245), short humor/horror stories. Ah, this is more like it! ---
**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 6, 2012, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-2012-edition/629986/42 "2012-08-06T14:34:06Z")
> [@tellyworth](#): > > I just finished A Clash of Kings. It wasn’t 5 minutes before I’d changed my mind about not reading past the TV series, so now I’m onto A Storm of Swords. _A Storm of Swords_ is my favorite book of the series. Over the weekend I read _Kingdom of Strangers_, by Zoë Ferraris, which is the third book of a contemporary mystery series set in Saudi Arabia. These are worth a read - the setting is as strange to me as anything depicted in science fiction or fantasy. Women keep their faces covered; men and women use separate building entrances and separate rooms. Unrelated men and women aren’t supposed to talk to each other, making a police investigation rather tricky. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-2012-edition/629986/43 "2012-08-06T15:09:22Z")
Started [Divergent](http://www.amazon.com/Divergent-Veronica-Roth/dp/0062024035/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344265564&sr=8-1&keywords=divergent), another YA novel set in a distopian future. Our heroine lives with her family in one of five factions, into which all citizens are organized. There is a six group, the “factionless” that live apart from society and perform all the really awful jobs, rather like the Untouchable caste in historical India. At 16, you get to choose which faction you’ll join as an adult - everyone takes a test that indicates faction alignment, but you aren’t required to choose that faction or the faction in which you grew up. Our heroine has chosen her faction and is now in initiation, and she’s beginning to realize that all isn’t as it seems - something’s rotten in the state of Denmark. But that’s OK, because she’s hiding her own secrets. It’s good - a quick read, but engaging. I’m finding the characters realistic, although a few of the antagonists are pretty cartoony and one-dimensional. I’m not sure that the motivations of the factions really ring true, but I’ll accept it for this world the author’s building. It’s the first in a (right now) 2 book series, so we’ll see how it goes. I’m about 40% through it. ---
**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 6, 2012, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-2012-edition/629986/44 "2012-08-06T17:18:03Z")
Over the weekend I got sidelined by _The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Volume III: Century_, written by Alan Moore and illustrated by Kevin O’Neill. The first two are set in 1910 and 1969. Not as good as the earlier volumes, I’d say, but still pretty interesting, with so many British pop-culture allusions, I’m sure many are going over my head. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-2012-edition/629986/45 "2012-08-07T12:40:01Z")
I continue my fascination with _[Parade’s End]([Classics Revisited (10)](http://www.bopsecrets.org/rexroth/cr/10.htm#Parade%E2%80%99s) End)_, rereading it & seeking out other works by & about Ford Madox Ford. Thinking it was time to take a break–& read something more American–I picked [Okla Hannali](http://www.keithpurtell.com/kthings/r-a-lafferty.htm) off the shelf. R A Lafferty may be my favorite writer–a master of shaggy dog tales disguised as speculative fiction. Did I wait so long to read this one because it’s all that’s left–unless more of his OOP work comes to light? > [@](#): > > Consider yourself very lucky if you have found and read this book. Only a few thousand copies were printed. Best known for science fiction grounded in the tall tale tradition, Lafferty in 1972 produced this astonishing historical fiction about a Native American named Hannali Innominee, The Choctaw Giant. “Okla Hannali” is a boisterous, eccentric tapestry studded with the language, history and customs of the various cultures who competed for early North America. > > Into this pageant steps Lafferty’s giant… > > Innominee is not only a remarkable fictional character, but he also serves as a representation of several real Native Americans who absorbed and transformed great chunks of European culture to become self-taught polyglots; renaissance men in buckskin. There is also much of the author in frontier eclectic Innominee, which I know from having been acquainted with Lafferty when I was younger. The beautifully intoxicating tall tale is interspersed with crystal-clear prose explaining the removal of the Southern Indians to Indian Territory–and what happened to them there. That part of the story cuts like a knife. The book is back in print; buy it from Amazon or [The Choctaw Nation](http://store.choctawschool.com/detail.aspx?ID=47). ---
**Author:** ![yellowval](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/919ad9/32.png) [@yellowval](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowval)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-2012-edition/629986/46 "2012-08-07T13:27:45Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Just started on _Cleaning House: a mom’s 12-month experiment to rid her home of youth entitlement_, by Kay Wyma. I’m already having some doubts about this one. For instance, her epiphany about how spoiled her kids are was brought on by her teenage son’s fantasizing about whether he’d rather have a Lamborghini or a Porsche. Big whoop. Also, something about the tone of the writing has me thinking she’s going to bring up religious faith soon, and when she does, I’ll be finished reading this book. _sigh_ Or maybe it’ll be full of great ideas for me to implement at home. Isn’t that what all teenage boys fantasize about? That’s just silly. I’m into “The Long Winter” now. Over halfway there! I also haven’t felt the desire to pick up “The Terror” again since I last posted, so I think I’ll let that one go for now. I might try it again in the future. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-2012-edition/629986/47 "2012-08-07T13:30:39Z")
Starting _The Stranger You Seek_ by Amanda Kyle Williams, about a former FBI profiler whose career was ruined by her drinking, and now she’s a private eye working on a serial killer case. Sounds pretty standard, but so far it seems to have some imagination. We’ll see. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-2012-edition/629986/48 "2012-08-08T16:35:46Z")
I finished **Arsenals of Folly** by Richard Rhodes. I was hoping it would be a general history of ICBM’s, similar to his history of the Atomic Bomb and his history of the Hydrogen Bomb, both of which were excellent. Instead it was a abbreviated history of Arms control efforts in the last decade of the Cold War. Sort of interesting, as I was too young at the time to be aware of the details of what was going on at the time, but even with that, I don’t think I’d recommend it. I then read **The Magicians** by Lev Grossman. Which was fun, if kind of depressing. Also, even though I really liked it, I’m not sure I really have much desire to read the sequel. The book ended in a good place, and the evil-Narnia the characters visit was interesting enough to fill out the last third of the first book, but doesn’t really seem interesting enough to support much more then that. Now I’m reading **Millionaire** by Janet Gleeson, a biography of John Law; an early 18th century gambler, fugitive and economist who created a stock market bubble in France and introduced France’s first paper currency. I heard a blurb about him on NPR, then walked into a used book store and saw the biography, figured it was kismet and bought it. Good so far. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-2012-edition/629986/49 "2012-08-08T16:51:27Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > I then read **The Magicians** by Lev Grossman. Which was fun, if kind of depressing. Also, even though I really liked it, I’m not sure I really have much desire to read the sequel. The book ended in a good place, and the evil-Narnia the characters visit was interesting enough to fill out the last third of the first book, but doesn’t really seem interesting enough to support much more then that. That’s my absolute favorite book and even I couldn’t tell you, with 100% uncertainty, that you’d enjoy it. It wasn’t bad in the least, but the ending felt rushed. Seems like it’s the second book in a trilogy. ---
**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 8, 2012, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-2012-edition/629986/50 "2012-08-08T16:53:27Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > I finished **Arsenals of Folly** by Richard Rhodes. I was hoping it would be a general history of ICBM’s, similar to his history of the Atomic Bomb and his history of the Hydrogen Bomb, both of which were excellent. > > Instead it was a abbreviated history of Arms control efforts in the last decade of the Cold War. Sort of interesting, as I was too young at the time to be aware of the details of what was going on at the time, but even with that, I don’t think I’d recommend it… May I recommend _The Secret State_ by Peter Hennessy, about the UK during the Cold War, and British political and military preparations for WWIII? Good stuff. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-2012-edition/629986/51 "2012-08-08T16:57:54Z")
Started and dumped _What I Did_ by Christopher Wakling. It’s from the POV of a six-year-old and it’s annoying as hell. I quite liked the five-year-old in _Room_ by Emma Donoghue, but the writing in this one is a bit cutesy. Picked up [Hell or High Water](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1250004578) by Joy Castro, set in post-Katrina New Orleans. The main character is a newspaper reporter, a woman born in Cuba and brought to the US as a baby by her single mother. When the story starts, she’s been given an assignment that she hopes will take her off the lifestyle page and into serious reporting. I’m really liking the story – lots of interesting details, very engaging, fast-paced. ---
**Author:** ![Mrs.Cake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Mrs.Cake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs.Cake)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-2012-edition/629986/52 "2012-08-08T19:43:34Z")
Just finished Christopher Moore’s _Sacre Bleu_, which I liked quite a bit better than his last few books. Almost gave up on him after the one-two disapointment of _You Suck_ and _Fool_. Getting ready to re-read _Tales of the City_ for the first time in maybe 20 years. Wonder what it will read like now? ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-2012-edition/629986/53 "2012-08-09T14:17:12Z")
I finished _The Stranger You Seek_ and enjoyed it, though I called the identity of the killer about a quarter of the way in. I can still enjoy the craft and the main character was attractive. Now reading _Purgatory Chasm_ by Steve Ulfelder. I don’t know anything about it, but I must have read a good review because I wrote it down in my notebook. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-2012-edition/629986/54 "2012-08-09T14:18:55Z")
Almost done reading _Bangkok 8_, a crime novel set in Thailand. It’s a quick read and I’ve really enjoyed the protagonist, a sarcastic Buddhist detective. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-2012-edition/629986/55 "2012-08-09T15:46:16Z")
I finished _Divergent_, and I liked it enough that I’m waiting for the sequel, _Insurgent_, from the library. Then I started [Dust](http://www.amazon.com/Dust-Joan-Frances-Turner/dp/B0085SL1H0/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1344527081&sr=8-2&keywords=dust+zombies), a YA zombie book told from the zombie’s point of view. I’m about 15, maybe 20 pages in, and it’s not captured me. It’s pretty meh. I don’t buy the mechanism the author has given the zombies to communicate, I’m not satisfied with the characterization, and I’m just not really that interested. I think I’ll let this one go without going any further, and pick up something new at lunch. ---
**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 9, 2012, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-2012-edition/629986/56 "2012-08-09T15:53:00Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Almost done reading _Bangkok 8_, a crime novel set in Thailand. It’s a quick read and I’ve really enjoyed the protagonist, a sarcastic Buddhist detective. That is a good book and very accurate. The vaginal dart shooting is spot on. I knew one girl who could nail a moving target every time without fail. Oddly, and as I’ve mentioned elsewhere on the Board, John Burdett’s names of places in Nana Plaza and Patpong are all real, but he makes up bar names for Soi Cowboy. Dunno why. All I can figure is he doesn’t want to make any waves there – I happen to know Burdett likes Soi Cowboy – but if I were a bar owner, I’d love a mention in his book. The other two books in the trilogy are worth a read, but this one is the best. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-2012-edition/629986/57 "2012-08-09T15:57:43Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > The vaginal dart shooting is spot on. I knew one girl who could nail a moving target every time without fail. I think she’d have had to change her specialty if she kept blinding her customers. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-2012-edition/629986/58 "2012-08-09T16:08:11Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I think she’d have had to change her specialty if she kept blinding her customers. …or switch to ping pong balls! 🙂 Anyway, I am reading **Thomas Becket: Warrior, Priest, Rebel** by John Guy. Its a really good repackaging of the former Archbishop of Canterbury’s life, upbringing and dalliances with Henry II. In the on-deck circle I’ve got **Unholy Night** by Seth Grahame-Smith of Abe Lincoln Vamp Hunter fame. Its a retelling of the birth of Jesus Christ as seen through the eyes of the Three Wise Men, whom are murdering, infamous thieves in this retelling, fleeing Herod’s prison and no doubt having wacky adventures with Jesus, Mary and Joseph in tow. I also have **Firebird** by Jack McDevitt, a sci-fi novel. I’ve never heard of this writer…is he any good? ---
**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 9, 2012, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-2012-edition/629986/59 "2012-08-09T16:10:18Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I think she’d have had to change her specialty if she kept blinding her customers. > [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > …or switch to ping pong balls! There’s always the vaginal bottle-opening trick. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2012, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-2012-edition/629986/60 "2012-08-09T16:54:39Z")
> [@Snickers](#): > > Then I started [Dust](http://www.amazon.com/Dust-Joan-Frances-Turner/dp/B0085SL1H0/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1344527081&sr=8-2&keywords=dust+zombies), a YA zombie book told from the zombie’s point of view. I’m about 15, maybe 20 pages in, and it’s not captured me. It’s pretty meh. I don’t buy the mechanism the author has given the zombies to communicate, I’m not satisfied with the characterization, and I’m just not really that interested. I think I’ll let this one go without going any further, and pick up something new at lunch. For a second I thought you were talking about a [different YA book titled Dust](http://www.amazon.com/Dust-ebook/dp/B004M8SSBO), which is an excellent dark fantasy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-2012-edition/629986.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-august-2012-edition/629986.md?page=4)