# Whatcha Readin' December 2011 Edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 30, 2011, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-december-2011-edition/604613 "2011-11-30T21:19:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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 7, 2011, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-december-2011-edition/604613/21 "2011-12-07T16:35:57Z")
Finished both 1Q84 and Reamde over the Thanksgiving Holiday, and now I’m burning through A short History of Nearly everything, with The Swerve up next. Also the third in the Strain Trilogy and The Prague Cemetery on deck. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-december-2011-edition/604613/22 "2011-12-07T17:18:21Z")
Didn’t start _Anil’s Ghost_ as planned – the negative reviews at Amazon put me off, at least for awhile. Recently finished _The Eyre Affair_ by Jasper Fforde. I like the concept and I like Thursday Next so I’ll read more of these. I picked up five of them at the library sale. Started _The Gallows Thief_ by Bernard Cornwell – my first Cornwell. ---
**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 7, 2011, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-december-2011-edition/604613/23 "2011-12-07T17:20:13Z")
I think I shall be reading **Reamde** for the next three of these threads. ---
**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 7, 2011, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-december-2011-edition/604613/24 "2011-12-07T18:38:38Z")
> [@koeeoaddi](#): > > I think I shall be reading **Reamde** for the next three of these threads. Yeah, it’s pretty chunky. It does have a much better ending that most of his previous novels, though, so you’ve got that going for you. Which is nice. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-december-2011-edition/604613/25 "2011-12-07T18:57:14Z")
> [@yanceylebeef](#): > > Finished…1Q84… And?! I have read a bunch of reviews but no “first-hand” impressions. Wha’dja think? ---
**Author:** ![Politzania](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ab097/32.png) [@Politzania](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Politzania)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-december-2011-edition/604613/26 "2011-12-07T19:21:15Z")
First off, thanks to \*\*Delphica \*\* and **Snickers** for their recommendation of _ **The Knife of Never Letting Go** _ by Patrick Ness - and may I add, this novel is AMAZING as an audiobook; I can’t imagine it having the same impact just reading it on the printed page. (Tho I am curious how the “noise” was depicted in book form & on reading other reviews - I didn’t have to decipher the written dialect). Nick Podehl was the narrator and his performance was superb! I couldn’t help but see Manchee as Dug from the Disney/Pixar film _Up_ and his portrayal of Aaron was truly frightening. It’s certainly not a happy book; and the neverending peril was a bit wearing; still, I have _ **The Ask and the Answer** _ audiobook on hold & am eagerly awaiting it. ---
**Author:** ![Keweenaw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Keweenaw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keweenaw)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-december-2011-edition/604613/27 "2011-12-07T19:34:02Z")
Read Reamde, then went on to [Ready Player One](http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-Ernest-Cline/dp/030788743X). Both were very good, I especially liked Ready Player one. Reading Stephen King’s 11/22/63 now. Oh yea, forgot one. On the drive to Thanksgiving the family listened to [The Emerald Atlas](http://www.amazon.com/Emerald-Atlas-Books-Beginning/dp/0375868704) audiobook. Also very good. ---
**Author:** ![Politzania](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ab097/32.png) [@Politzania](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Politzania)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-december-2011-edition/604613/28 "2011-12-07T19:37:06Z")
[Wanted to make sure I hadn’t already posted about this one] Another case where the audiobook experience may be better than the hardcopy (writer’s quirk: no quotation marks for dialog) : _ **The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death** _ by Charlie Huston. It’s not normally the type of book I’d read - a crime novel with an unlikable protagonist & LOTS of profanity! But Paul Michael Garcia, the narrator, really brought the characters to life - Po Sin was my personal favorite. I had an inkling of what caused Web’s issues (tho he was probably a dick before that) pretty early on; but the reveal was still pretty powerful. There’s violence & gore & things just keep getting worse for Web - but Huston has some interesting things to say about human relationships along the way. ---
**Author:** ![Blackberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-december-2011-edition/604613/29 "2011-12-07T20:20:19Z")
I’m reading \*\*After Dark \*\*by Haruki Murakami. First book I’ve read by him and it’s really good! I’m already on the waiting list at the library for several more of his books. I just finished **The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake** , and I’m glad to be done with it. It was basically nothing but weird symbolism that I didn’t get the point of. Before that was **Super Sad True Love Story** , a dystopian book that I liked a lot. And before that was **Gone by Michael Grant, which is a young adult dystopian/sci-fi deal where everyone over the age of 14 disappears in this town. It was good and it’s a series so I’ll be reading the rest of it soon, plus I recommended it to my 11-year-old. I think anyone who likes the Hunger Games** would like it. Finally there was \*\*The Fortunate Son \*\*by Walter Mosley. Lots of symbolism there too (I don’t like books that you have to sit around all day analyzing them to get the point, I’m just not that deep I guess) but the story itself was also very interesting, so I was impressed. ---
**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 7, 2011, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-december-2011-edition/604613/30 "2011-12-07T20:20:52Z")
> [@Politzania](#): > > Another case where the audiobook experience may be better than the hardcopy (writer’s quirk: no quotation marks for dialog) : _ **The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death** _ by Charlie Huston. It’s not normally the type of book I’d read - a crime novel with an unlikable protagonist & LOTS of profanity! But Paul Michael Garcia, the narrator, really brought the characters to life - Po Sin was my personal favorite. I had an inkling of what caused Web’s issues (tho he was probably a dick before that) pretty early on; but the reveal was still pretty powerful. There’s violence & gore & things just keep getting worse for Web - but Huston has some interesting things to say about human relationships along the way. I really like Huston. His stuff is way more violent than I usually prefer, but the dialogue is so wonderful - even without standard formatting. In his newest novel, _Sleepless_, he actually uses normal dialogue formatting for the first time. _Mystic Arts_ is the most lighthearted and least violent of his books that I’ve read. HBO shot a pilot for a show based on the book, but they chose not to proceed with it. ---
**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 7, 2011, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-december-2011-edition/604613/31 "2011-12-07T21:16:26Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > And?! I have read a bunch of reviews but no “first-hand” impressions. Wha’dja think? It wasn’t my favorite.(That will always be “Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World”) That being said, it was a great story that could have used just a little bit of judicial editing. What’s weird is that it could also have used some additional exposition in a few areas. I don’t want to spoil anything, but the exquisite detail that marks much of Murakami’s work was, well, misplaced, is the only way I can describe it. I think the combination of three volumes into one book was the overriding problem. if an editor had looked at this as one volume, much of the repetitiveness would have been left out. Again, Murakami not on his “A” game is better than 90% of the books out there. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-december-2011-edition/604613/32 "2011-12-07T21:18:53Z")
> [@yanceylebeef](#): > > It wasn’t my favorite.(That will always be “Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World”) That being said, it was a great story that could have used just a little bit of judicial editing. What’s weird is that it could also have used some additional exposition in a few areas. > > I don’t want to spoil anything, but the exquisite detail that marks much of Murakami’s work was, well, misplaced, is the only way I can describe it. > > I think the combination of three volumes into one book was the overriding problem. if an editor had looked at this as one volume, much of the repetitiveness would have been left out. > > Again, Murakami not on his “A” game is better than 90% of the books out there. Thanks - since my fave is Hard-Boiled Wonderland, too, it helps put things in perspective. I hope to start it in a week or two… ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-december-2011-edition/604613/33 "2011-12-07T21:27:02Z")
> [@Blackberry](#): > > Before that was **Super Sad True Love Story** , a dystopian book that I liked a lot. I just finished this too. As the epilogue says, Eunice’s parts were better than Lenny’s endless navel gazing. It wouldn’t work without both, though. In the beginning, it seemed in danger of getting annoying, but I think the alternating narrators saved it. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-december-2011-edition/604613/34 "2011-12-07T21:32:43Z")
> [@Politzania](#): > > First off, thanks to \*\*Delphica \*\* and **Snickers** for their recommendation of _ **The Knife of Never Letting Go** _ by Patrick Ness - and may I add, this novel is AMAZING as an audiobook; I can’t imagine it having the same impact just reading it on the printed page. (Tho I am curious how the “noise” was depicted in book form & on reading other reviews - I didn’t have to decipher the written dialect). I’m glad you enjoyed it! The series has become one of my favorites. In the book, the noise was depicted in a way that reminded me of graphic novels, different fonts, sizes, and weird spacing that made it feel separate (and intrusive) from the story. It worked well enough, I definitely got a good sense of it. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2011, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-december-2011-edition/604613/35 "2011-12-07T23:43:12Z")
Still puttering my way through Nero Wolfe–currently in _The Golden Spiders_. My more serious reading seems to have fallen off a cliff, as I haven’t opened \*Decline and Fall \*or \*Tristram \*in weeks. Oops. On deck, we’ve got a pulp novel that I discovered thanks to perhaps the worst marketing strategy ever: an iPhone application that tries to sell you out-of-copyright books. In effect, it just gave me a list to take over to Amazon, where I can download such books to my kindle for free. Oops! The book in question is _King of the Khyber Rifles_, by Talbot Mundy. Here’s hoping for good fun. Also on deck is a bit of an impulse buy from the comic book store, _Blacksad_. Hardboiled furries, what fun! ---
**Author:** ![Blackberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-december-2011-edition/604613/36 "2011-12-08T00:52:00Z")
> [@Invisible\_Chimp](#): > > I just finished this too. As the epilogue says, Eunice’s parts were better than Lenny’s endless navel gazing. It wouldn’t work without both, though. In the beginning, it seemed in danger of getting annoying, but I think the alternating narrators saved it. Yeah, I liked Eunice’s parts better too. Of course, her parts being way shorter than his gave them a lot less opportunity to drone on and on. I liked it, and I would recommend it, but I wasn’t sad when it ended. And Joshie was such an ass! ---
**Author:** ![Alpine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpine/32/17813_2.png) [@Alpine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpine)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-december-2011-edition/604613/37 "2011-12-08T02:01:05Z")
Writing down lots of recommendations here, thanks! Almost finished re-reading Dorothy Sayers’ Wimsey/Vane series, which I always enjoy. A little English detective/romance never lets me down in cold, stormy weather. Next cold, stormy weekend, I’ll dip into **Snuff** finally. I’ve been saving it. Weekend before last, I wrapped up a re-read of Connie Willis’ **Blackout** and **All Clear**. I had forgotten a lot of detail, so it sucked me right back in. There are some of her short stories I don’t like, either, but **To Say Nothing of the Dog** and **Bellwether** are some of my go-to feel good books. I downloaded **Miracle and Other Christmas Stories** as a holiday treat, though I’ve read some of them in other collections. I continue to listen to the Harry Potter audio books while working out, as it keeps me distracted. I’m getting toward the end of book 7, so I’ll have to think of something else until I can restart the loop! I simply adore the narrator (Jim Dale), and I don’t even read the books anymore. Looking forward to PD James’ (can you believe she’s 91?) new Austen “sequel”, **Death Comes to Pemberley**. On the Christmas list are **Reamde** and **The Mind’s Eye** (Oliver Sacks). I haven’t read one of his for a while, but I remember enjoying them. Also asked for the Catherine the Great bio by Massie. I usually read and re-read favorite novels, so I’m trying to expand my horizons a bit. ---
**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 8, 2011, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-december-2011-edition/604613/38 "2011-12-08T02:16:00Z")
Finished John Grisham’s _The Firm_. Quite good. A couple of plot holes, but the story is so enjoyable that it’s easy to gloss over them. Next up: _Portnoy’s Complaint_, by Philip Roth. ---
**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 8, 2011, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-december-2011-edition/604613/39 "2011-12-08T18:31:36Z")
I bought a bunch of Murakami books a few years ago, based on recommendations. I eventually read\* Wild Sheep Chase\*, which was just awful. Now I’ll probably never read the others I own. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2011, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-december-2011-edition/604613/40 "2011-12-08T19:38:03Z")
Just finished Dune (made a topic about it too!). I’m trying to decide whether or not to move on to the next Dune book or pick up a few books I’ve wanted to read for a while. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-december-2011-edition/604613.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-december-2011-edition/604613.md?page=3)