# 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:** 6
**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 25, 2011, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-december-2011-edition/604613/101 "2011-12-25T16:35:48Z")
> [@Ratcatcher](#): > > I really should get to reading some Lucius Shepherd.. If you are unable to get **The Best of Lucius Shepard** in ebook or limited edition, here are some options: **Softspoken** , as Auntie Pam suggested; I really liked his [\*\* A Handbook of American Prayer\*\*](http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-American-Prayer-Novel/dp/B005Q61VBK/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_5), if you don’t mind a cynical look at celebrity and religion; also [**The Jaguar Hunter**](http://www.amazon.com/Jaguar-Hunter-Lucius-Shepard/dp/B005SNOHZI/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_2), a much earlier collection, but extremely good as an introduction to Lucius Shepard. Some of the stories in there have been reworked into larger works, published later. This is a book I buy multiples of, and give away. It completely changed my mind about hesitating to read collections, in general. While he is literary, he is very accessible, unlike many. ---
**Author:** ![pohjonen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pohjonen/32/423_2.png) [@pohjonen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pohjonen)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2011, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-december-2011-edition/604613/102 "2011-12-25T21:23:35Z")
I just finished _Sybil Exposed_ by Debbie Nathan. My already jaundiced view of psychiatry actually took a dive. If the author did her research well, nearly everything in the Schreiber book and the Sally Field movie was inaccurate or greatly exaggerated and Cornelia Wilbur didn’t do the real-life Sybil any favors. Interesting reading to be sure, but I feel DUPED, I tell you, DUPED. But it was a good read. ---
**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 26, 2011, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-december-2011-edition/604613/103 "2011-12-26T00:13:22Z")
Just finished _The Falklands War 1982_ by Duncan Anderson, a good short overview of the conflict. I hadn’t realized that the British were so logistically stretched - according to the author, most of the Argentine garrison troops on the islands were actually better-fed than the Brits besieging them at the time of the surrender. Had the Argentine navy and air force focused on attacking the less-glamorous British supply ships and not the warships, the Royal Navy would quite possibly have had to withdraw. Best line: Jorge Luis Borges described the war as “two bald men fighting over a comb.” My wife gave me Stephen King’s _11/22/63_ for Christmas, and I’m sure I’ll love it, but I have several other books on my stack ahead of it. Right now I’m working through _On My Honor_ by Jay Mechling, a sociological study of a Boy Scout troop in California over many years. It’s not wowing me - not sure I’ll finish it, actually. ---
**Author:** ![Jaledin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jaledin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaledin)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2011, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-december-2011-edition/604613/104 "2011-12-26T03:00:09Z")
Now that I have some time off from taking classes, I can finally read stuff for fun. Well, my “going out” books over the past few months (on the bus, at a coffeeshop/bar) have been St. Theresa of Avila, Georges Perec’s _53 Jours_, and GErard Granel’s translation of some odd _Philosophical Remarks_ of Wittgenstein (not odd as in weird, just kind of random musings). So I can pick back up the new edition (new to me – the Cambridge green and gold) of the Philippic II of Cicero, and a little glossed edition of Petronius I got a while back (never read him before – this isn’t the whole Satyricon, but I will need help with the vocabulary, I expect), and keep exploring TE Lawrence’s _Seven Pillars_, which I sort of forgot about for a while. I’m also, next trip to the library, will pick up (if it exists) a historical treatment of the discipline of statistics, or maybe some primary texts of interest in the field. It would be nice if the statistics I’ll be taking actually took a formal approach, but it’s all tables and big numbers and formulae given in isolation – I’d like to know how it’s _actually_ put together, without all of these numbers and junk. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2011, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-december-2011-edition/604613/105 "2011-12-26T05:20:26Z")
Just finished Will Gibson’s “Zero History”, which led me back to reading “Neuromancer” for the billionth time. And now I have an Operative named Case in SW:TOR. Damn you, Gibson!! 😛 (So much fun!) ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2011, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-december-2011-edition/604613/106 "2011-12-26T16:53:10Z")
> [@Taomist](#): > > Just finished Will Gibson’s “Zero History”, which led me back to reading “Neuromancer” for the billionth time. > > And now I have an Operative named Case in SW:TOR. Damn you, Gibson!! 😛 (So much fun!) If you like Gibson, also try Walter Jon Williams. Some of his stuff is hilarious, all of it is imaginative. They are equally imaginative but have different styles. ---
**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 27, 2011, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-december-2011-edition/604613/107 "2011-12-27T01:19:18Z")
I’m finally reading the third book in Robin Hobb’s Liveship Trilogy, which is even more fun, knowing there is a Rain Wild Trilogy at the end of the rainbow. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2011, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-december-2011-edition/604613/108 "2011-12-27T02:29:53Z")
Just finished Bridge of Birds: A Novel of an Ancient China That Never Was by Barry Hughart. It wasn’t the exact sort of fantasy that I was expecting, but it was light and amusing, even with all the deaths and tortures. (Like in Pratchett’s books, you see what happens to characters after they die and sometimes it’s good news.) Before that was the two by Patrick Rothfuss: The Name of the Wind and Wise Man’s Fear. So my vacation has been well spent even if I’ve gotten not much else done. But I’m starting Drood: A Novel by Dan Simmons, just to be sure. It’s been too long since I had a nice wallow in fantasy. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2011, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-december-2011-edition/604613/109 "2011-12-27T12:34:55Z")
I was right there with you right up until _Drood_. It just wasn’t my cup of tea. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2011, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-december-2011-edition/604613/110 "2011-12-27T17:26:09Z")
I liked _Drood_. I felt like I was right there, in the world of Dickens and Collins. Just finished [The View From Here](http://www.amazon.com/View-Here-Brian-Keith-Jackson/dp/0671568965) by Brian Keith Jackson. It’s about a black family in Mississippi. I think it’s set in the 40’s but it’s hard to know for sure (and it really doesn’t matter). The story is told by the unborn baby Anna is carrying, and in letters that Anna writes to a friend who moved north. It reminded me a lot of _The Color Purple_ and it would make a hell of a movie, if done with a light touch. I liked it a lot and would recommend it. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2011, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-december-2011-edition/604613/111 "2011-12-27T21:28:12Z")
I was actually about this close to buying \*Drood \*today at Half Price Books. But I didn’t. I’ve only read the first two \*Hyperion \*books by Simmons. They were good, and I do like Dickens, but I’ve heard a lot of reviews similar to **Khadaji’s**. I finished \*Good Omens \*the other day and I was underwhelmed with it. The satire just didn’t work. I got _Ready Player One_ for Christmas and so far it’s a lot of fun. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2011, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-december-2011-edition/604613/112 "2011-12-27T22:08:03Z")
Finished [The Lost Chalice](http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Chalice-Epic-Priceless-Masterpiece/dp/0061558281), about the history of looting antiquities over the past century and how it changed, focusing on the case of a come ancient Greek ceramics unearthed in Italy and sold clandestinely to museums. Classic interesting non-fiction read; uses the story of one specific item to establish a narrative momentum, then pausing for interesting contextual asides. If you like that kind of stuff, you’ll really like this. Starting the Steve Jobs bio. ---
**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 28, 2011, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-december-2011-edition/604613/113 "2011-12-28T22:02:36Z")
I just finished _Peeps_, by Scott Westerfield. A different take on vampires. Gross at points (and not necessarily in the ways you might expect), but well done. I think it’s the first in a series, and I have no particular desire to read on. Also read _The Sugar House_, by Laura Lippman. Another of the Tess Monaghan mysteries, which I find enjoyable and easy to read. Also _Vampire Academy_, by Richelle Mead. I’m so not the target demographic for this. Currently reading _31 Bond Street_, by Ellen Horan. No opinion yet. Also _The Demon King_, by Cinda Williams Chima. ---
**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 29, 2011, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-december-2011-edition/604613/114 "2011-12-29T03:01:30Z")
Almost halfway through **Reamde** , and I’m totally sucked in. I’m afraid if pick it back up on a weekday I won’t sleep. We received gift certificates to our local bookshop for Christmas, so I hope to investigate some more Doper recommendations. ---
**Author:** ![Enterprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/76d3ee/32.png) [@Enterprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enterprise)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2011, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-december-2011-edition/604613/115 "2011-12-29T09:58:09Z")
Busy month reading-wise, thanks to a long holiday at the end. Let’s see. I’m still reading right now: Adam Hochschild’s _To End All Wars_, which is intriguing, even though whenever he gets into military history, it’s a bit simplistic. Sort of an intimate history of dissension in World War I England. Jasper Fforde’s _The Soung of the Quarkbeast_. I’ve not been terribly impressed with Fforde’s last few books, unfortunately–_Shades of Gray_, _One of Our Thursdays is Missing_–and this one is…well, it’s fairly light, like _The Last Dragonslayer_, and while inventive, I’m not sure if I’m getting too used to Fforde’s style of invention to really enjoy it deeply. Finished: Ian Kershaw’s _The End_, and Max Hastings’s _Armageddon_, both concerned with the final months of World War II in Europe. Kershaw’s book centers on the German state and its dissolution, or rather, the amazing resilience it showed even as everything around it crumbled. Worth the read, but a bit short, I thought. Hastings’s book is more about the military side of things, and a very enjoyable read. Since I’ve not read much on the European campaign, I knew fairly little about the sheer ineptness of many of the Allied higher-level commanders…rather shocking, altogether. Sarah Vowell’s _The Wordy Shipmates_. Thoroughly enjoyable and remarkably accurate in its description of Puritan life and values. Recommended. Jonathan Greene’s _Pax Britannia: Human Nature_. Forgettable, enjoyable, very-little-steampunk steampunk adventure. Mutants are encountered and defeated in a 1997-set British Empire whose fantasticness. however, isn’t really prominent in this installment. Richard Powers’s _The Echo Maker_. A rather impressive novel about a young man who loses recognition of his sister in a car accident. While he can still see that she looks like his sister, he doesn’t emotionally connect to her and believes her to be an imposter. A bit unsatisfying ending, but whatever… Karl Malantes, _Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War_. I’m very ambivalent about this one. It read very much like Norman Mailer’s _Naked and the Dead_, but with race issues thrown in an never really resolved satisfyingly, and the question remains in my mind, why do I need another Vietnam War novel? But it was a very good an engaging reading experience. Jeffrey Eugenides, _The Marriage Plot_. First half read like Tom Wolfe’s _I Am Charlotte Simmons_, the second half was more like Eugenides. Few surprises in a novel that, I think, Eugenides wanted to place exactly as a plot-driven, Victorian-romance like experience in the 20th century, although why he set it in 1983 (or 84?) remains somewhat unclear. But it was a good read, even though it was hardly as spectacular as _Middlesex_. ---
**Author:** ![Politzania](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ab097/32.png) [@Politzania](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Politzania)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2011, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-december-2011-edition/604613/116 "2011-12-29T14:09:36Z")
Am up to the last book (so far?) in Patrick Ness’ Chaos Walking series: _[Monsters of Men](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8719518-monsters-of-men)_ and I’m still totally sucked into Todd & Viola’s world.The addition of a third main character (vague so as not to spoil) just adds to the intensity of the story. Will prob end up buying dead-tree copies of this trilogy at some point - tho I can’t imagine recreating the impact of my first read of this story. Also went on a bit of a magic kick this month - starting with _[Hiding the Elephant: How Magicians Invented the Impossible and Learned to Disappear](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/202703.Hiding_the_Elephant)_ by Jim Steinmeyer - a very good history of late 18th/early 19th history magic, primarily in the US. There’s some drawing back of the curtains; however, learning how it’s done makes me appreciate the artistry of the magician even more. From there, I re-visited _[Carter Beats the Devil](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4599.Carter_Beats_the_Devil)_ by Glen David Gold. A compelling fictionalized biography of Charles Carter, with an alt-history twist. This was my third re-read and I imagine I’ll continue to revisit this ripping yarn every few years. Lastly, I enjoyed _[Sleights of Mind: What the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals about Our Everyday Deceptions](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7873438-sleights-of-mind)_, where authors Stephen L. Macknik & Susana Martinez-Conde work with contemporary magicians like Penn Jillette, The Amaz!ng Randi and others to figure out how magic tricks work in terms of neuroscience and how concepts like “illusion of choice” and “change blindness” translate to real life. Along the way, they audition at the Magic Castle. They occasionally try a bit too hard to be clever, but it’s a fun, layman’s look at both disciplines and their intersection. ---
**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 29, 2011, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-december-2011-edition/604613/117 "2011-12-29T14:36:59Z")
Just finished the third book in the _Case Histories_ series by Atkinson. She’s a good writer, if a bit verbose. I’m about a third of the way through _Area 51_, which I’m finding very interesting despite my misgivings. It’s astounding what our government does without its citizens (or even Congress) knowing about it. The experiments with nuclear bombs in the 50s are, in retrospect, horrifying. ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2011, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-december-2011-edition/604613/118 "2011-12-29T21:00:02Z")
irishfella bought me a Kindle for Christmas- prestocked with some awesome books! So, I have put Jerusalem on the back- burner. I’ve read _The House of Silk_ by Anthony Horowitz, and\* Bossypants\* by Tina Fey which I enjoyed very much. I’m so thankful for these threads, as I’m now halfway through _The Knife of Never Letting Go_, which is so good I’ve already bought the others in the series. Thoroughly recommend it. ---
**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 29, 2011, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-december-2011-edition/604613/119 "2011-12-29T21:26:59Z")
Reading my Chrsitmas books. Finished _Himmler’s War_ by Robert Conroy and am now reading _1948: Harry Truman’s Improbable Victory and the Year that Transformed America_ by David Pietrusza. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-december-2011-edition/604613/120 "2011-12-30T01:27:48Z")
… but it’s the only one I googled that came up with anything even close! I just finished Reunion by Jeff Bennington, and he goes King and Koontz not only _one_ better. Try 10 better! I don’t want to give away the storyline, but if you like ghost stories (and maybe even The Exorcist) give this one a look on your Kindle or in paperback. And there’s more than just a “Ghost Story” here. There’s “real life” weaved in. Too much to tell you about without giving it all away, so you’ll just have to read it. Thanks! Quasi This is NOT Spam! Just a recommendation! _NOTE: This post was moved from a resurrected zombie, which has since been locked. [twickster, Cafe Society moderator]_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-december-2011-edition/604613.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-december-2011-edition/604613.md?page=7)