# 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:** 8
**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:** [December 26, 2009, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-09-edition/519487/141 "2009-12-26T22:51:26Z")
I just finished _Soulless_, by Gail Carriger; her first novel. It’s a romantic paranormal fantasy with elements of steam punk, set in an alternate Victorian England. It features a soulless spinster, a Scottish werewolf and a Fabulous vampire. It’s pure comedy and admittedly a bit silly, but it was a fun read. I’m taking this next week off, and I’m trying to decide what to read in between working on our annual after-Christmas home improvement project. For Christmas I got: _My Dead Body_, Charlie Huston - looking forward to what I think is the last in the Joe Pitt series. _84 Charing Cross Road_, Helene Hanff - I walked down Charing Cross Road when I was in London this summer. _The Blade Itself_, Joe Abercrombie - I keep hearing good things about this gritty fantasy series. _The January Dancer_, Michael Flynn - No idea what this is about, but I really like Flynn. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2009, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-09-edition/519487/142 "2009-12-26T23:48:58Z")
> [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](#): > > _The Blade Itself_, Joe Abercrombie - I keep hearing good things about this gritty fantasy series. I liked it a lot, but it starts off slow. The first book is almost all character introduction/development, people bumping up against each other, with no real action until the end. This was fine with me though. He wrote another book, _Best Served Cold_, set in the same world. It was almost **all** action, but not quite as satisfying. ---
**Author:** ![Auntbeast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Auntbeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Auntbeast)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2009, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-09-edition/519487/143 "2009-12-27T01:22:55Z")
I’ve just finished book 10 of the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. I love, loved, loved them, very fun reads. So I pick up book 1 of Codex Alera. Um…this was written by the same guy? Wow, am I not enjoying it at all. I actually stopped reading it and have started Gene Wolf’s Shadow of the Torturer, Book 1 of the New Sun series. I think I’m going to need a new Dean Koontz soon. I just enjoy his writing in a rather guilty sort of way. I’m also trying to go through my big stolen list of dystopian fiction and figure out which ones I’ve read. I’m bad about titles and typically have to read a synopsis or the first paragraph to remember it. I can’t even blame it on old age, it has always been a problem. I’ve also had 5 CD’s of Yellow Brick Road at a time, I tend to buy it thinking I don’t have it. This month I also read “One Second After” by Neil Fortschen (sp?) and was really non-plussed since I’ve already read “Alas, Babylon” and his book is an admitted ripoff. ---
**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 27, 2009, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-09-edition/519487/144 "2009-12-27T01:23:19Z")
> [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](#): > > …_84 Charing Cross Road_, Helene Hanff - I walked down Charing Cross Road when I was in London this summer… Anybody who loves books should read that book. It is an ode to bibliophilia, and a funny, touching read in its own right, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2009, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-09-edition/519487/145 "2009-12-27T01:53:20Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Anybody who loves books should read that book. It is an ode to bibliophilia, and a funny, touching read in its own right, IMHO. I am the only person I know who didn’t like the book, and I not only didn’t like it, I fucking hated it. (I was working for a rare-book dealer at the time, and I found her antics as a customer the very opposite of charming – all I could do was imagine the staff at the book shop rolling their eyes at her bumptiousness.) ---
**Author:** ![Gulo\_gulo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bcef8e/32.png) [@Gulo\_gulo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gulo_gulo)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2009, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-09-edition/519487/146 "2009-12-27T02:05:25Z")
I decided I needed to make time to post my last list of books before the new year. Between the new house (and a new dog) it’s been hard to get in reading time. Couldn’t get into “Demons” by Fyodor Dostoevsky and “Shardik” by Richard Adams so both were put aside. Read: **Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain** ~ finally got this through my Paperbackswap site (it’s been on my wishlist forever). Just a fabulous bio & I could almost hear his voice narrating it as I read it. **Innocent Mage (Kingmaker, Kingbreaker, Book 1)by Karen Miller** ~ One of those ‘poor boy targeted by prophecy’ books that was better than most. **The Awakened Mage (Kingmaker, Kingbreaker Book 2) by Karen Miller** ~ Part two of the above. Not as good as the first but still good. **Firmin by Sam Savage** ~ story about a rat born in a bookshop basement & teaches himself to read. He develops a fondness for the bookseller and an author and tags along in their lives. Really good read. **Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach** ~ Reread. I really want to try some of her other books one day. **Island of the Lost: Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World by Joan Druett** ~ GREAT read. Two groups of sailors are shipwrecked on the opposite ends of a unhospitable island south of New Zealand. One group bands together to create shelter & catch food, the other group absolutely falls apart. **The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers** ~ I’m not really a time travel story fan but this was great. Should I try any of his other books? **The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II by Iris Chang** ~ I’m glad I was able to finally get to this book in my to-read pile as I’ve been hearing about it for years. Chilling. **Orgy Planner Wanted: Odd Jobs & Curious Careers in the Ancient World by Vicki Leon** ~ Ok read. I would have liked something a bit more seriously written though. **Flicker by Theodore Roszak** ~ Reread. One of my fave books. I just love the idea of hidden secrets in movies. \*\*House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski \*\* ~ Disappointing. It was too hard to get into the story. (This made 125 books read this year.) Presently Reading: **Gumbo Ya-Ya: A Collection of Louisiana Folk Tales** **In the Woods by Tana French** The many posts on **The Knife of Never Letting Go** now has me intrigued. I didn’t get any books for Hexmas (!!) so I just may have to buy some for myself instead! ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2009, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-09-edition/519487/147 "2009-12-27T04:30:52Z")
> [@Auntbeast](#): > > I’ve just finished book 10 of the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. I love, loved, loved them, very fun reads. > > So I pick up book 1 of Codex Alera. Um…this was written by the same guy? Wow, am I not enjoying it at all. \ I ended up really enjoying this - but agree that the first one is the slowest; and also that it is a \*much \*different series. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2009, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-09-edition/519487/148 "2009-12-27T05:08:54Z")
> [@Gulo\_gulo](#): > > **The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II by Iris Chang** ~ I’m glad I was able to finally get to this book in my to-read pile as I’ve been hearing about it for years. Chilling. Have you read **The Devil of Nanking** by Mo Hayder? An odd but engrossing little book about that horrible event. > [@](#): > > **Flicker by Theodore Roszak** ~ Reread. One of my fave books. I just love the idea of hidden secrets in movies. How funny, I just thought of that book for the first time in maybe decades…I loaned it to someone and got it back. I was wondering if it would be as good as I remembered upon rereading…it sounds like you still really like it. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2009, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-09-edition/519487/149 "2009-12-27T05:15:57Z")
Missed the edit window…what I meant to say was that I never got it back and was thinking of hunting up a used copy of Flicker. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2009, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-09-edition/519487/150 "2009-12-27T05:36:47Z")
> [@Gulo\_gulo](#): > > **The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers** ~ I’m not really a time travel story fan but this was great. Should I try any of his other books? I liked _Earthquake Weather_ but not as much as _Anubis Gates_. I keep meaning to try more of his stuff. > [@](#): > > **Flicker by Theodore Roszak** ~ Reread. One of my fave books. I just love the idea of hidden secrets in movies. This book creeped me right out. I was totally sucked into it - zonk! I wonder if that’s what mind control feels like. The guy had me believing. Powerful stuff. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2009, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-09-edition/519487/151 "2009-12-27T14:25:04Z")
> [@Gulo\_gulo](#): > > **Flicker by Theodore Roszak** ~ Reread. One of my fave books. I just love the idea of hidden secrets in movies. Now I’m intrigued by how much people seem to like it, and I’ve never even heard of it before. ---
**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 28, 2009, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-09-edition/519487/152 "2009-12-28T14:58:02Z")
Finished My Soul to Keep, by Tananarive Due, about > [@](#): > > After marrying David, Jessica becomes haunted by the violent, mysterious deaths of those close to her and discovers that her husband has traded his humanity for immortality and is invoking a forbidden ritual to keep her and their daughter with him forever. A real page-turner. I should really look for more by this author, I’ve read some of her other stuff and enjoyed it as well. Then I read Everything Will Be All Right: a memoir by Douglas Wallace. This is the story of Mr. Wallace’s poor and difficult childhood, and how he broke free of it to become a successful lawyer. It was just okay, I don’t recommend it. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-09-edition/519487/153 "2009-12-28T15:37:08Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Finished My Soul to Keep, by Tananarive Due. A real page-turner. I should really look for more by this author, I’ve read some of her other stuff and enjoyed it as well. I read _The Good House_ and except for one improbable plot point, I liked it a lot. I’m reading _Master and Commander_. Next up will be one of the four books that came at Christmas, _Albion’s Seed, Unforgiven, The Searchers, The Ballard of Trenchmouth Taggart_. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2009, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-09-edition/519487/154 "2009-12-28T15:55:42Z")
[What books did you get for XMas](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=11930368#post11930368) companion thread. ---
**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:** [December 30, 2009, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-09-edition/519487/155 "2009-12-30T21:29:30Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > I am the only person I know who didn’t like the book, and I not only didn’t like it, I fucking hated it. > > (I was working for a rare-book dealer at the time, and I found her antics as a customer the very opposite of charming – all I could do was imagine the staff at the book shop rolling their eyes at her bumptiousness.) I’m afraid I’m another who liked it. Due to your comments, perhaps, I found her a little obnoxious in the beginning but her humor (and the gift-giving) won me over. I would have liked to read more of their letters. I’m planning to watch the movie soon. I’m reading Christopher Moore’s _You Suck: A Love Story_. I really like Moore’s writing, but this isn’t going to be one of my favorites. I don’t like the main characters very much - I wasn’t crazy about them in _Bloodsucking Fiends_, either. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2009, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-09-edition/519487/156 "2009-12-31T00:29:33Z")
It is to laugh. Elizabeth Kostova (_The Historian_) has a new book coming out and Amazon thinks I should buy it. As if. Over my dead body. Not if it was the only book left in the world. Not if you paid me a gazillion billion trillion dollars. I’m starting [The Left Hand of God](http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_0_20?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=the+left+hand+of+god+hoffman&sprefix=the+left+hand+of+god) because I haven’t read any new fantasy for awhile and because I like the cover (UK covers are always better). Reviews are mixed and not very encouraging but I’ll give it a go. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2009, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-09-edition/519487/157 "2009-12-31T18:39:27Z")
[Link to Jan 2010 thread.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=11941718#post11941718) ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-09-edition/519487/158 "2010-01-01T03:22:16Z")
Yesterday, I read **The Old Man and The Sea** , which I’ve been meaning to for quite a while. I don’t have much of an opinion on it, other than to be glad I never had to listen to certain windbag college classmates discuss it. I’m about half way through **The Little Stranger** by Sarah Waters. Does it ever get any more interesting? I’m only slogging through it based on possitive reviews. A whole lot of not much has happened over the first 200 pages. I’m also reading **The Night Country** by Stewart O’Nan, which I’m also tempted to bail on. So far the narration by the ADD ghost(s?) is deeply unappealing. December hasn’t been a good book month for me. I sent A Spell of Winter back to the library unfinished too. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-09-edition/519487/159 "2010-01-01T05:32:47Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > I’m about half way through **The Little Stranger** by Sarah Waters. Does it ever get any more interesting? I’m only slogging through it based on possitive reviews. A whole lot of not much has happened over the first 200 pages. I want to tell you something that might make it more interesting for you, but it’d be a spoiler. It made my top ten for 2009, and it also showed up on some lists from real critics. > [@](#): > > I’m also reading **The Night Country** by Stewart O’Nan, which I’m also tempted to bail on. So far the narration by the ADD ghost(s?) is deeply unappealing. I liked this one but I think it was because of the way O’Nan set the mood – the atmosphere sucked me in. O’Nan is sometimes better with atmosphere than with story. > [@](#): > > December hasn’t been a good book month for me. I sent A Spell of Winter back to the library unfinished too. I dumped that one too. Don’t even remember what it was about. ---
**Author:** ![kidneyfailure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9f8e36/32.png) [@kidneyfailure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidneyfailure)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2010, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-09-edition/519487/160 "2010-01-01T05:53:09Z")
> [@Steampunk\_Willie](#): > > Just finished rereading the entire Preacher comic series. **I _can not_ believe I was reading that in class in 7th grade**. Damn, what school did you go to?! The guy at my old comic shop wouldn’t even sell it to me when I was 16 or 17 because it was “suggested for mature readers.” Great story, though. And there supposedly was a movie based on it in the works at some point. They even made up some good make-up for “Arseface.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-09-edition/519487.md?page=7)