# Whatcha Readin' Dec 2010 Edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 30, 2010, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-2010-edition/562466 "2010-11-30T21:36:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2010, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-2010-edition/562466/1 "2010-11-30T21:36:27Z")
First and foremost: Tomorrow is my birthday, send cards! I will be 49 - how bad will 50 be? Well the holiday season is here - I will get tons of books. Anyone who doesn’t know what to get me, gets me a book gift certificate. I love it! I am reading _The Spirit Eater (The Legend of Eli Monpress)_ the last in the legend of Eli Monpress (I think.) It just came in yesterday and so I have no idea yet how good it is. [November’s thread.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=583755) ---
**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 1, 2010, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-2010-edition/562466/2 "2010-12-01T03:53:02Z")
Happy Birthday! Don’t be surprised when parts start falling off in your 50s. 😃 Closing in on the end of _Aztec_, by Gary Jennings. About 85% through. Expect to finish it within a week. ---
**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, 2010, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-2010-edition/562466/3 "2010-12-01T04:52:49Z")
And still enjoying it, I hope! ---
**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 1, 2010, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-2010-edition/562466/4 "2010-12-01T04:56:34Z")
Yes, I like it lots. I can see where it may not be everyone’s cup of tea, though. It may help that I’ve studied the Aztecs formally and visited a pyramid or two in Mexico City and so am already a bit familiar with their brutality. “Peaceful natives” my eye! I plan to check out Jennings’ _The Journeyer_ later this month. ---
**Author:** ![lunaticlucas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/87869e/32.png) [@lunaticlucas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lunaticlucas)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-2010-edition/562466/5 "2010-12-01T07:37:22Z")
Just finished the fourth book in the new Nicholas Flamel books. I strongly recommend them if you like books about magic and fantasy. ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-2010-edition/562466/6 "2010-12-01T14:17:33Z")
I’m just finishing up _Three Bags Full_ by Leonie Swann on audiobook. Very beautiful, accented voice and the sheep are hilarious and so sheep-like. I just got done with NanoWriMo so I need to get a Kindle read picked out but have been downloading some samples with nothing really grabbing me yet. Next audiobook in line when I finish TBF is _The Prestige_ by Christopher Priest. ---
**Author:** ![ExcitedIdiot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ea5d25/32.png) [@ExcitedIdiot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExcitedIdiot)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-2010-edition/562466/7 "2010-12-01T14:30:42Z")
I’m reading Better: A surgeon’s notes on performance by Atul Gawande. It’s a fantastic book that mixes case histories, personal anecdotes, and history of the medicine, to discuss the state of his profession. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-2010-edition/562466/8 "2010-12-01T14:47:38Z")
> [@lunaticlucas](#): > > Just finished the fourth book in the new Nicholas Flamel books. I strongly recommend them if you like books about magic and fantasy. You know, I started them like gangbusters, but my interest has waned. I’m not sure why exactly. No doubt I’ll get back to it eventually. ---
**Author:** ![Zjestika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/8edcca/32.png) [@Zjestika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zjestika)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-2010-edition/562466/9 "2010-12-01T14:49:20Z")
I’m reading [John Dies at the End](http://www.amazon.com/John-Dies-End-David-Wong/dp/0312659148/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1291214639&sr=8-1). Pretty good, with gross and absurd imagery and some wonderful turns of phrase, but halfway through I don’t really know where it’s going. It’s less plot-driven, more clever-driven. I like it, though- just hope it becomes more… something. ---
**Author:** ![Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ian_D.Bergkamp)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2010, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-2010-edition/562466/10 "2010-12-01T16:32:20Z")
Just started the fourth Charlie Chan novel, _The Black Camel_. They’re like noir-detective crack, those books are. After I finished the second, I told myself I’d read something else before starting another, just to space them out (there are 6 in total), but I ended up jumping straight into #3 and then straight from #3 to #4. ---
**Author:** ![Future\_Londonite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9dc877/32.png) [@Future\_Londonite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Future_Londonite)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2010, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-2010-edition/562466/11 "2010-12-02T11:58:21Z")
Just finished ‘Against all things ending’ (book 3 of The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant) and sadly I have nothing downloaded onto my kindle yet ☹ Slight hijack - I read the first few ‘Wheel of Time’ books but stopped due to the hiatus that occurred for them to be published. While I enjoyed the first 6 ones, do you guys think I should re-start the series? I’m aware of all the usual criticism but am juts wondering if this series jumped the shark somewhere or not ---
**Author:** ![TheMerchandise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b487fb/32.png) [@TheMerchandise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMerchandise)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2010, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-2010-edition/562466/12 "2010-12-02T14:22:58Z")
I just finished the audiobook of Christopher Moore’s _A Dirty Job_. A reread for me, but first time on audiobook. The narrator is nothing special, but the book is so good. Moore’s one of my favorite contemporary authors. I’m in the middle of _City of Glory_, by Beverly Swerling. It takes place in New York during the war of 1812. It seems like Swerling took a casual approach to her historical research, but makes up for it with plenty of high melodrama and intrigue. There’s so much going on, it’s hard to put this book down to go to bed at night. I would recommend this for anyone who likes Philipa Gregory and wants to branch out into a new time period. ---
**Author:** ![MTRG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71c47a/32.png) [@MTRG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTRG)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2010, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-2010-edition/562466/13 "2010-12-02T15:29:00Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Yes, I like it lots. I can see where it may not be everyone’s cup of tea, though. It may help that I’ve studied the Aztecs formally and visited a pyramid or two in Mexico City and so am already a bit familiar with their brutality. “Peaceful natives” my eye! > > I plan to check out Jennings’ _The Journeyer_ later this month. I am just finishing up **The Journeyer** , and did enjoy it. I will say that it is a bit more graphic than **Aztec**. Jennings books are very entertaining. For me, they are a very good mix of “real” history, very colorful characters, and smut. I noticed that some of the reviews of Jennings books, **Journeyer** , in particular, were critical of him including hetro and/or homosexual scenes in these books. I tend not to agree. I think that these scenes help create a level of realism and help the reader develop a better sense of what it was like to live back then. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2010, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-2010-edition/562466/14 "2010-12-02T15:58:34Z")
I’ve been trying to read “Rothstein: The Life, Times, and Murder of the Criminal Genius Who Fixed the 1919 World Series”. Trying to keep straight all the crooked lawyers, gamblers, and politicians. When I came across this , I almost just gave it up: _Katcher didn’t footnote, didn’t cite sources, so his allegation is difficult- if not impossible- to verify. But it may indeed be true._ WTF? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2010, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-2010-edition/562466/15 "2010-12-02T16:40:43Z")
Just finished _Declaration: The Nine Tumultuous Weeks When America Became Independent, May 1-July 4, 1776_ by William Hogeland, which was good if more narrow than I had hoped, and started _Into the Storm_ by Taylor Anderson, a SF novel which I started before but didn’t finish. ---
**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 4, 2010, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-2010-edition/562466/16 "2010-12-04T02:59:09Z")
Just read _Knights_ by Julek Heller and Deirdre Headon, which is a well-illustrated but not too historically accurate book on knights in armor, the Crusades, heraldry, siege warfare, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2010, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-2010-edition/562466/17 "2010-12-04T13:18:45Z")
Finished _The Spirit Eater_ the third in the series of the Legend of Eli Monpress. I enjoyed it - although the first is still the best of the series. I had stated that I thought this was the last, but I was wrong, more are coming. ---
**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 7, 2010, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-2010-edition/562466/18 "2010-12-07T13:36:44Z")
Happy belated birthday, **Khadaji**! Well, so far in the month of December I have read almost nothing and I’m starting to get mean! I’m going to have to give my current Bill Bryson back to the library because people with time to read are waiting for it. So I picked up a less overdue book from the pile: _Cut Your Grocery Bill in Half with America’s Cheapest Family_, by Steve and Annette Economides. It’s been all fluffy pep talk so far. I also cast an eye over _The Satanic Bible_ by Anton LaVey, which my fourteen year old son asked me to get him from the library. I read it when I was a teen and promptly forgot what it said. Suffice it to say that now I remember why I forgot. ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2010, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-2010-edition/562466/19 "2010-12-07T13:53:10Z")
I just started _The Prestige_ on audiobook. I love the movie and so far am really enjoying the book as well but it is a different experience than it would have been before I knew the twist. Still, I’m about an hour into it and it’s pretty great regardless. I didn’t know there would be a modern component so that part is like reading a new to me novel at least. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2010, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-2010-edition/562466/20 "2010-12-07T13:59:17Z")
_A Curtain Falls_, a detective novel set in 1906 New York. Stefanie Pintoff’s debut _In the Shadow of Gotham_ was Edgar-nominated, and I’m enjoying this one too. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-2010-edition/562466.md?page=2)