# Whatcha Readin' Dec 09 Edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 30, 2009, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-09-edition/519487 "2009-11-30T17:02:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-09-edition/519487/21 "2009-12-01T09:57:29Z")
I’m reading A Spell of Winter by Helen Dunmore and Being Dead by Vivian Velde. As for recently finished books, I have a new nomination for “You’re kidding, right? They paid them to write this?”: House by Ted Dekker & Frank Peretti. Wow, was that awful. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-09-edition/519487/22 "2009-12-01T10:24:30Z")
Malcolm Gladwell’s _What the Dog Saw_ because of a Dope thread about how some reviewer had ripped Gladwell to bits. Looks like good fun so far. ---
**Author:** ![Steampunk\_Willie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@Steampunk\_Willie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steampunk_Willie)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-09-edition/519487/23 "2009-12-01T11:12:37Z")
Just finished rereading the entire Preacher comic series. I _can not_ believe I was reading that in class in 7th grade. Still would like to see this as an episodic HBO or Showtime show. My old crazy French friend at work Yvette gave me a book that I will start reading tonight but I can’t remember the name. It is a modern retelling of the Rasputin story in Washington DC. The author is a dead white guy who wrote 20-30 books starting in his late 50s. Any clue, anyone? I am also currently reading Killing the Buddah: A Heretic’s Bible because I just found out my friend Debra has a chapter about her in it. ---
**Author:** ![Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/46a35a/32.png) [@Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walker_in_Eternity)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-09-edition/519487/24 "2009-12-01T11:27:05Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > OK, the important stuff first: Tomorrow I turn 48 (send cards!) 🙂 > > I am reading Jim Butcher’s _First Lord’s Fury_ and really enjoying it. > > [Link](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=538145)to last month’s thread. I too am enjoying the writing of Jim Butcher, I’m working my way through the Dresden Files, so far I’m on book five, Death Masks. Really good fantasy fiction. Bob the skull is my favourite of the supporting cast. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-09-edition/519487/25 "2009-12-01T13:11:32Z")
> [@yellowval](#): > > Happy birthday! You are truly one of my favorite posters and I appreciate you starting this thread each month. I hope you have a wonderful day tomorrow. What a nice thing to read this morning. Thank you for that gift on my birthday. And thanks for the other birthday greetings as well! ---
**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:** [December 1, 2009, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-09-edition/519487/26 "2009-12-01T15:44:13Z")
For Jane Austen fans: ["Jane Austen and the Navy" - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=542103) ---
**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:** [December 1, 2009, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-09-edition/519487/27 "2009-12-01T16:09:31Z")
Last night I bailed on What the Dog Saw, and started on Peter and the Sword of Mercy, by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. It’s the fourth in their series of Peter Pan prequels. Ahhh, _now_ I’m having fun! ---
**Author:** ![JoseArcadio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc348/32.png) [@JoseArcadio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoseArcadio)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2009, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-09-edition/519487/28 "2009-12-01T16:26:51Z")
_Lanark_ by Alasdair Gray; about 50 pages to go. Enjoying it very much so far but am a bit worried about the direction the end is going; I’ll hold off forming my verdict until I’ve finished it. ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2009, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-09-edition/519487/29 "2009-12-02T03:26:23Z")
The Book of Basketball by Bill Simmons. It is unputdownable. ---
**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:** [December 3, 2009, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-09-edition/519487/30 "2009-12-03T01:47:52Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > OK, the important stuff first: Tomorrow I turn 48 (send cards!) 🙂 Happy Birthday, young 'un! 😃 > [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](#): > > I’d never read _Don Quixote_, and we saw a great small-theatre production of “Man of La Mancha” so I’m actually reading D Q. I enjoyed that myself. It didn’t feel like I had to “plod” through it, but then I read it at home at night during a cold Albuquerque winter while the wind was howling outside, so it was a nice, cozy setting, reading it in my toasty apartment with a big mug of hot chocolate. Myself, I’m about halfway through Somerset Maugham’s _Of Human Bondage_ and enjoying it immensely. As usual, I should have been finished with it by now, but it seems harder and harder to squeeze in much reading time. The hero’s sojourns in Heidelberg and Paris: I see that expat communities have changed very little in the past 100 years; I recognize many of these characters. And I caught the couple of brief, unnamed Paul Gaugin cameo appearances, described by the character Clutton as someone he’s met recently in Brittany, and it’s up to the reader to know who he’s talking about; he was, of course, the indirect subject of Maugham’s later novel _The Moon and Sixpence_. Where I am now, the hero, Philip Carey, has recently become enamored with the slatternly waitress Mildred Rogers, and this mirrors so very exactly the way farangs (Westerners) over here fall head over heels in love with bargirls. A truly uncanny resemblance. Maugham did, of course, spend some time in Bangkok, but that was long before the days of bargirls. One wing of our world-famous Oriental Hotel, on the bank of the Chao Phraya River that runs through Bangkok, is named for him. And legend has it that Maugham showed up at the Oriental from Burma with a huge dose of malaria and was so sick that the German manager of the hotel insisted he be removed, because he did not want anyone dying in his hotel. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-09-edition/519487/31 "2009-12-03T05:43:37Z")
> [@bup](#): > > **Theodore Rex**. So far I’ve learned that American troops waterboarded people in the Philippines, and that was against policy, and they were court-martialed. > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > There’s obviously much more to it than that; I love that book. Edmund Morris really _gets_ Theodore Roosevelt: his love of nature, his joy in life, his patriotism, his “muscular Christianity,” his love of his wife and family, his relishing of the Presidency, his playfulness, his intellectual curiosity, etc. Morris’s first book in the anticipated trilogy, _The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt_, is also well worth a read. I am working my way through _The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt_ and it is great reading. I will surely pick up \*Theodore Rex \*soon after. Of course I find Theodore Roosevelt to be one of the most compelling figures in American History and our greatest President. ---
**Author:** ![messalina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9dc877/32.png) [@messalina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/messalina)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-09-edition/519487/32 "2009-12-03T07:24:59Z")
_Yellow Back Radio Broke Down_ by Ishmael Reed _He Knew He Was Right_ by Anthony Trollope _Astral Dynamics: A New Approach to Out-of-Body Experience_ by Robert Bruce ---
**Author:** ![messalina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9dc877/32.png) [@messalina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/messalina)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-09-edition/519487/33 "2009-12-03T07:28:21Z")
Ah, Mildred Rogers. If you can imagine it, Bette Davis portrayed her in the 1934 film version. The film obviously didn’t begin to do the book justice, but Ms Davis sure put a spin on the way I saw Mildred. I hope you enjoy the novel. He’s got to be one of my favorite authors. I’m actually disappointed I didn’t read the Moon and Sixpence before Of Human Bondage solely to have caught the Clutton reference… ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-09-edition/519487/34 "2009-12-03T12:24:16Z")
I’m approaching the end of The _Devil’s Alphabet_ by **Daryl Gregory**. Fifteen years ago a small mid-West town was hit by a devastating series of illnesses… Good, if a little bit icky when it comes to the ‘charlie’ mutants’ symptoms and their alleviation! It feels a lot like a James Blaylock novel, but not so whimsical… ---
**Author:** ![kombatminipig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5ac83/32.png) [@kombatminipig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kombatminipig)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-09-edition/519487/35 "2009-12-03T12:48:58Z")
Just started reading **Tolstoy’s** \* War and Peace\*, as part of my long going quest of becoming a pretentious twat. It’s started off quite well, though. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-09-edition/519487/36 "2009-12-03T13:41:41Z")
Just finished _The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Timothy Ferriss_ which has a lot of interesting ideas. Many of them not practical for my line of work and the rest of which I do not have the energy to try at this time - but I am glad I read it and will keep it on my shelf. ---
**Author:** ![plankter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ba0ec/32.png) [@plankter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plankter)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-09-edition/519487/37 "2009-12-03T14:06:54Z")
Finished **Nine Gates** , the book I mentioned last month. The scope of the original mission has widened and the stakes are much higher at the end of this volume, but it’s building in a plausible way and I like the characters. Looking forward to the next installment. I borrowed **Leviathan** by Scott Westerfeld and tore through it in two days. It’s a rousing adventure set in an alternate history/steampunk WWI, with two young protagonists. Because so much of the plot depended on fantastic technology, the illustrations by Keith Thompson were much appreciated. I don’t think it’s too much of a spoiler to predict that girls will like this story as much as boys (it’s marketed as YA). Supposedly there’s a sequel in the works. I have no books checked out from the library at the moment - what a strange feeling that is! Of course there’s a pile of used paperbacks to read, I just have to decide what’s first. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-09-edition/519487/38 "2009-12-03T14:16:57Z")
I tried over the last couple of weeks to read Leon Uris’ _Mitla Pass_, but I’ve been bored to sleep within 50 pages. This is the first of his books that failed to catch my interest. It’ll be a flip of a coin that decides if I start Stephen King’s _Insomnia_ or _Cell._ Have I mentioned how much I love used book sales? ---
**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:** [December 3, 2009, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-09-edition/519487/39 "2009-12-03T14:30:54Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > …Of course I find Theodore Roosevelt to be one of the most compelling figures in American History and our greatest President. Well, he was no Washington, but he was pretty damned good. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2009, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-09-edition/519487/40 "2009-12-03T16:11:43Z")
I’m reading [Dog Eat Dog](http://www.amazon.com/Dog-Eat-Jerry-Jay-Carroll/dp/0441007406/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259856425&sr=1-1) by Jerry Jay Carroll, the sequel to _Top Dog_. Bogey has made it back to this world after joining in a Good v. Evil fight in an alternate world where he encountered various monsters, an angel, an evil wizard, and Satan (who appeared to him as Elvis Presley). It’s a nice mix of fantasy and reality and adventure and social commentary, with some philosophizing about God and why he doesn’t pay more attention to the worlds he created. I’m starting to wish Carroll had written more than three books. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-09-edition/519487.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-09-edition/519487.md?page=3)