# Whatcha Readin' Dec 2012 Edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 30, 2012, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-2012-edition/642625 "2012-11-30T23:38:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![wonderlust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonderlust/32/7237_2.png) [@wonderlust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonderlust)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-2012-edition/642625/21 "2012-12-05T03:02:32Z")
> [@Whatcha Readin' Nov 2012 Edition](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-nov-2012-edition/639457/125): > > I need to revisit this one. I’ve read and enjoyed many of Flynn’s books - _Eifelheim_, _The Wreck of the River of Stars_, and the Firestar series - but I bought _The January Dancer_ when it was released, and I abandoned it about halfway through. My notes say that the writing was good but I just wasn’t interested in the plot or the characters or the setting. Maybe I was in some sort of weird mood at the time. As much as I adored\* Wreck of the River of Stars,\* I think we’re in agreement on _January Dancer._ As a slower reader, I ran out of motivation a quarter-way through. It started out really fun, with wonderful imagination and mysterious artifacts, but there was a steep learning curve (a map to become familiar with, many names, many stories, a far-future universe to grasp) and Flynn’s great, dense language – but not enough payoff to push through. This saddens me, because I didn’t love _Eifelheim_ either, and so maybe _Wreck_ is where I should leave him. It did, however, remind me to read Jack McDevitt’s alien artifact books, though, because this is the part I really liked. I just don’t have any interest in Flynn’s galactic political machinations. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-2012-edition/642625/22 "2012-12-05T03:07:13Z")
I just finished watching Season 3 of Deadwood and because I was married to the series for three weeks and because the ending left me swinging in the South Dakota wind, I went to the library and brought home [Deadwood](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52423.Deadwood), by Peter Dexter. My hopes are unrealistically insanely implacably high. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-2012-edition/642625/23 "2012-12-05T03:24:34Z")
Finished _Shadow of the Wind_ by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. Liked it a lot, for the local flavor and the character of Fermin, but probably won’t read the sequel(s?). Started _Mall Purchase Night_ by Rick Cook. It’s set in a shopping mall built on something like Buffy’s Hellmouth, only it’s the entrance to where elves, faeries, and other fantastical critters live. May Day is coming and a new security guard is encountering some weird shit. It’s a lot of fun, and reminds me of something from the 70’s, before horror and supernatural novels turned into gorefests and torture porn. ---
**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 5, 2012, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-2012-edition/642625/24 "2012-12-05T03:28:40Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > … now I’m almost through _All the President’s Men_, by Woodward and Bernstein. The movie is actually a bit better than the book, I’d say! > [@Chefguy](#): > > _Team of Rivals_, Doris Kearns Goodwin (biography of Lincoln, if you don’t know). Hope you’ll have the chance to see _Lincoln_ soon; it’s partly based on the book. Good stuff. I’m almost done with _On the Night Plain_ by J. Robert Lennon, about brothers on a struggling sheep farm in the American West just after World War II, and _Hitler Victorious_, a pretty uneven collection of alt hist short stories edited by Gregory Benford. Also just started reading, with my 13-year-old, _The Rolling Stones_ by Robert A. Heinlein. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-2012-edition/642625/25 "2012-12-05T03:54:14Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > I’m almost through _All the President’s Men_, by Woodward and Bernstein. > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > The movie is actually a bit better than the book, I’d say! Oh, I love the movie. I think I’ve seen it at least a dozen times. But the book makes the whole plot a lot clearer. I’d always steered clear of it because I was afraid it would be just a stale, just the facts, newspaper prose type snooze-fest, but its a pretty snappy read. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-2012-edition/642625/26 "2012-12-05T04:19:20Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Hope you’ll have the chance to see _Lincoln_ soon; it’s partly based on the book. Good stuff. It’s in our neighborhood theater now, and we’ll probably get to it next week. It’s not like it’s going to spoil the ending or anything. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![wonderlust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonderlust/32/7237_2.png) [@wonderlust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonderlust)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-2012-edition/642625/27 "2012-12-05T05:36:12Z")
I’m reading _[Among Others](http://www.amazon.com/Among-Others-Jo-Walton/dp/0765331721/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1354685223&sr=8-1&keywords=among+others)_, by Jo Walton, this years Hugo Award winner. It’s a coming of age novel about a Welsh teen girl, magic, a boarding school, and her deep and abiding love for science fiction novels. Someone posted a page showing [the covers of all the books](http://pinterest.com/tinyampersand/the-books-of-among-others/) mentioned in\* Among Others\*. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-2012-edition/642625/28 "2012-12-05T10:59:56Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > Finished _Shadow of the Wind_ by Carlos Ruiz Zafón. Liked it a lot, for the local flavor and the character of Fermin, but probably won’t read the sequel(s?). > > Started _Mall Purchase Night_ by Rick Cook. It’s set in a shopping mall built on something like Buffy’s Hellmouth, only it’s the entrance to where elves, faeries, and other fantastical critters live. May Day is coming and a new security guard is encountering some weird shit. It’s a lot of fun, and reminds me of something from the 70’s, before horror and supernatural novels turned into gorefests and torture porn. I’ve liked Rick Cook’s _Wizardry_ series, but haven’t tried this one. Let us know what you think. ---
**Author:** ![TheMerchandise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b487fb/32.png) [@TheMerchandise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMerchandise)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-2012-edition/642625/29 "2012-12-05T15:42:32Z")
> [@LawMonkey](#): > > Just started Oliver Sacks’s _ **Hallucinations** _. I’m looking forward to it, because Oliver Sacks is in the dictionary for both “win” and “awesome.” I was lucky enough to meet him last year, after he gave a lecture. He is the most delightful little old man I’ve ever met and I wanted to put him in my pocket and keep him forever. He is also shockingly smart. He didn’t give a prepared lecture, just asked aloud “What should I talk about tonight?” and then launched into a 60 minute monologue, complete with case citations and delightful personal anecdotes. ---
**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 5, 2012, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-2012-edition/642625/30 "2012-12-05T17:12:27Z")
I’m still caught up in a re-read of the Vorkosigan novels. I’m up to \*Memory \*now. Otherwise I just read a charming little murder mystery/comedy of manners: Thus Was Adonis Murdered, by Sarah Caudwell. It’s a contemporary novel published in 1981, but the language is highly stylized, something like a Regency novel, and it’s absolutely hilarious. The characters are a group of young English barristers trying to assist one of their friends who has been accused of murdering someone while on holiday in Venice. ---
**Author:** ![yanceylebeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yanceylebeef/32/12290_2.png) [@yanceylebeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yanceylebeef)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-2012-edition/642625/31 "2012-12-05T17:14:27Z")
I had to put down Patient Zero. I like zombie novels as much as the next guy, but the lead protagonist was such a Mary Sue for the author it wasn’t even funny. This guy is a crack shot, super cop, ex military martial arts expert super man. The scene where he walks into a room of six black ops military delta force/seals types and beats them all up in under five seconds just ruined it for me. It started to read like fan wank. My nightstand book is [The Disappearing Spoon](http://www.amazon.com/The-Disappearing-Spoon-Periodic-Elements/dp/0316051632/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1354727536&sr=8-1&keywords=the+disappearing+spoon) and my daily read is [Existence](http://www.amazon.com/Existence-David-Brin/dp/0765303612/ref=sr_1_sc_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1354727574&sr=1-1-spell&keywords=excistance+Brin). I’m loving them both. Up next is[2312](http://www.amazon.com/2312-Kim-Stanley-Robinson/dp/0316098124/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1354727624&sr=1-1&keywords=2312) thanks to a recommendation on this board a month or so ago. ---
**Author:** ![DZedNConfused](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dzednconfused/32/15991_2.png) [@DZedNConfused](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DZedNConfused)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-2012-edition/642625/32 "2012-12-05T17:46:02Z")
> [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](#): > > I’m still caught up in a re-read of the Vorkosigan novels. I’m up to \*Memory \*now. > > Otherwise I just read a charming little murder mystery/comedy of manners: Thus Was Adonis Murdered, by Sarah Caudwell. It’s a contemporary novel published in 1981, but the language is highly stylized, something like a Regency novel, and it’s absolutely hilarious. The characters are a group of young English barristers trying to assist one of their friends who has been accused of murdering someone while on holiday in Venice. Oh MUST have for the Edward Gorey cover if nothing else! ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2012, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-2012-edition/642625/33 "2012-12-05T18:02:52Z")
I’m on the final book of the Percy Jackson series. I had read the first four a few years ago and enjoyed them, but never finished the series. ---
**Author:** ![TheMerchandise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b487fb/32.png) [@TheMerchandise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMerchandise)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-2012-edition/642625/34 "2012-12-06T14:49:24Z")
I’m reading [A Thread of Grace](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16047.A_Thread_of_Grace) by Mary Doria Russell, which I just decided should be an apartment only read. I’m only 80 pages in and I already know this book will produce at least one episode of ugly crying. So on the train this morning, I started [The Half-Made World](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8198773-the-half-made-world). ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-2012-edition/642625/35 "2012-12-06T17:05:42Z")
> [@wonderlust](#): > > I’m reading _[Among Others](http://www.amazon.com/Among-Others-Jo-Walton/dp/0765331721/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1354685223&sr=8-1&keywords=among+others)_, by Jo Walton, this years Hugo Award winner. It’s a coming of age novel about a Welsh teen girl, magic, a boarding school, and her deep and abiding love for science fiction novels. > > Someone posted a page showing [the covers of all the books](http://pinterest.com/tinyampersand/the-books-of-among-others/) mentioned in\* Among Others\*. Cool. I’m going to read this, now. ---
**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 6, 2012, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-2012-edition/642625/36 "2012-12-06T21:05:26Z")
> [@wonderlust](#): > > I’m reading _[Among Others](http://www.amazon.com/Among-Others-Jo-Walton/dp/0765331721/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1354685223&sr=8-1&keywords=among+others)_, by Jo Walton, this years Hugo Award winner. It’s a coming of age novel about a Welsh teen girl, magic, a boarding school, and her deep and abiding love for science fiction novels. > > Someone posted a page showing [the covers of all the books](http://pinterest.com/tinyampersand/the-books-of-among-others/) mentioned in\* Among Others\*. I’ve just discovered that Jo Walton has a [blog](http://www.tor.com/Jo%20Walton)on [Tor.com](http://Tor.com) where she reviews new books and discusses old ones. She also has just started a series called “[Something Else Like](http://www.tor.com/features/series/something-else-like)…” where she recommends books similar to an author’s works. So far she’s done Roger Zelazny, Robert Heinlein, and Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan Saga. I’ve only read one book by Walton, _Tooth and Claw_, but I liked it. It was something like a Victorian romantic novel, except with dragons instead of people. > [@TheMerchandise](#): > > I’m reading [A Thread of Grace](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16047.A_Thread_of_Grace) by Mary Doria Russell, which I just decided should be an apartment only read. I’m only 80 pages in and I already know this book will produce at least one episode of ugly crying. A great book, but it’s beyond depressing. I remember being angry and nearly nauseous at the ending. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-2012-edition/642625/37 "2012-12-06T21:40:56Z")
I finished Thackeray’s **The Virginians** about a week ago. I’m kind of kicking myself because it turns out I’ve been reading his books in reverse order (The Newcomes, Pendennis, The Virginians) which results in a certain amount of “Am I supposed to know this character already?” I suppose I could complete the reverse sequence with **Henry Esmond** , but I’ve kind of spoiled the ending already. Currently I’m reading **Our Mutual Friend** by Dickens. ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-2012-edition/642625/38 "2012-12-06T21:50:02Z")
> [@TheMerchandise](#): > > So on the train this morning, I started [The Half-Made World](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8198773-the-half-made-world). I really enjoyed this one, very unique and interesting world-building, although the pace dropped off a little bit in the middle. I thought I’d read another by the same author, but I a little googling doesn’t bring up anything I remember. Hmm. I’ve been re-reading some Diana Wynne Jones, as it becomes available for Kindle. Lovely, and such a pity there will be no more. I also read a collection of her writings on writing, which could have done with a much tighter edit - the same stories were told over and over. Which, actually, come to think of it, was quite interesting, so never mind. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![zeldarae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/f14d63/32.png) [@zeldarae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zeldarae)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-2012-edition/642625/39 "2012-12-06T22:24:28Z")
I’m reading **To Kill a Mockingbird**. It’s been 30 years since I read it in high school, so it’s pretty much all new to me. I’m very much enjoying it as an adult. ---
**Author:** ![wonderlust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonderlust/32/7237_2.png) [@wonderlust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonderlust)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2012, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-2012-edition/642625/40 "2012-12-06T22:37:12Z")
> [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](#): > > I’ve just discovered that Jo Walton has a [blog](http://www.tor.com/Jo%20Walton)on [Tor.com](http://Tor.com) where she reviews new books and discusses old ones. She also has just started a series called “[Something Else Like](http://www.tor.com/features/series/something-else-like)…” where she recommends books similar to an author’s works. So far she’s done Roger Zelazny, Robert Heinlein, and Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan Saga. > > I’ve only read one book by Walton, _Tooth and Claw_, but I liked it. It was something like a Victorian romantic novel, except with dragons instead of people. > A great book, but it’s beyond depressing. I remember being angry and nearly nauseous at the ending. Thank you for this! I avoided reading her because I didn’t like the writing style in Tooth and Claw, not a fan of Victorian stuff, but am really enjoying the new one. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-2012-edition/642625.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-dec-2012-edition/642625.md?page=3)