# Whatcha Readin' Feb 2011 Edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 31, 2011, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-feb-2011-edition/569635 "2011-01-31T12:28:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![TheMerchandise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b487fb/32.png) [@TheMerchandise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMerchandise)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-feb-2011-edition/569635/41 "2011-02-07T15:13:10Z")
> [@Enterprise](#): > > Ooh, and that reminds me (apologies for the double-post) that I just finished _Heroes_ by Joe Abercrombie, which I’d rate possibly the finest piece of fantasy I’ve read in the last five years. The conceit: the entire book is set during a single battle between the Union (starring many old acquaintances from the trilogy and _Best Served Cold_) and the North (ditto). Great idea (that I’ve never seen done before), great execution (pun intended). Highly recommended. Incidentally, I agree with the assessment of _Best Served Cold_, though I would suppose the “unevenness” is intentional: Oh, I’m sure it was entirely intentional. I was reading the first half, really liking the thrilling _Oceans 11_-esque feel of the book, thinking to myself “Wow, Abercrombie is really trying something new in this book, giving us readers a break from the soul-crushing reality of the trilogy…” and then the second half hits and I think “Oh. Nope. There’s the darkness. There it is.” A very effective way to lull his readers and then shake them up. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-feb-2011-edition/569635/42 "2011-02-07T15:26:14Z")
Now reading **Detour to Otherness** , a collection of the collaborative short fiction of Henry Kuttner and Catherine L. Moore. I’ve read a lot of their stuff, but an awful lot of their other stuff hadn’t been collected, or wasn’t easily accessible. I picked it up at the Arisia SF convention, but I was surprised to see a copy in the bookstore yesterday. Also reading Ken Follett’s **Fall of Giants** on audio. It was a gift. Very well done book about a collection of interacting people before, during, and after WWI. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2011, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-feb-2011-edition/569635/43 "2011-02-07T15:29:17Z")
Just starting \*\*The Irregulars \*\*by Jennet Conant. It’s very annoying to see how well a foreign nation can control American opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-feb-2011-edition/569635/44 "2011-02-08T13:57:59Z")
After months I have finally put down _The Nameless Day: Book One of ‘The Crucible’_ by Patricia Briggs. This is a well-written historical fantasy set in the time of the French Revolution. It opens with the death of the Priest whose job it is to close the gates of hell each year. Arch Angel Michael hands passes the mantle off to Brother Thomas Neville. Although I am not going to finish this, I will recommend it to fans of historical fiction, especially those interested in the time period. It is well-written and complex - with hints that the author is going to examine the nature of good/evil and the social structures and issues that fueled the revolution. Joan of Arc is seen at least twice in the first half of this book and no doubt she plays a role as well. Although it is a historical fantasy, so far there is very little magic - just some small interaction with Michael and demons (which I believe allows the author to set the stage for a discussion on the nature of good/evil and the church in general.) End the end though, I just am not interested. I know little about the time period and to be honest, at this time in my life, am not interested in exploring it. When I read for pleasure, I usually am looking for some light escapism. ---
**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:** [February 8, 2011, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-feb-2011-edition/569635/45 "2011-02-08T15:17:37Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > End the end though, I just am not interested. I know little about the time period and to be honest, at this time in my life, am not interested in exploring it. When I read for pleasure, I usually am looking for some light escapism. It sounds right up my alley, though, so thanks for mentioning it. I think you mean Sara Douglass, though. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-feb-2011-edition/569635/46 "2011-02-08T15:51:02Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > It sounds right up my alley, though, so thanks for mentioning it. I think you mean Sara Douglass, though. Good catch. I was on a conference call when I was typing that… probably shouldn’t have been. 🙂 I have enjoyed other works by Sara Douglass and believe that in this case the problem isn’t in the book - it is in the reader and where his interests lie. ---
**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:** [February 8, 2011, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-feb-2011-edition/569635/47 "2011-02-08T21:28:17Z")
I just started Ted Gup’s _A Secret Gift_, a nonfiction book about an anonymous benefactor who ran an ad in a Canton, Ohio newspaper during the worst days of the Great Depression. He invited confidential requests for help, and then sent out dozens of $5 gifts to those who asked. The book reproduces many of the requests for help, and identifies the benefactor and explores his background. It’s pretty good. You see how different American society was then, when there was much more of a stigma attached to accepting public assistance and charity. And as bad as the economy is now, it was much, _much_ worse then. ---
**Author:** ![Enterprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/76d3ee/32.png) [@Enterprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enterprise)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-feb-2011-edition/569635/48 "2011-02-09T10:51:33Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > Interesting. I was luke warm on the first, but thought it had some promise. Maybe I’ll check it out. I’m done with _Johannes Cabal the Detective_ now. I really enjoyed it–were you lukewarm with the first, or this one? The first, I agree, was a bit uneven, if enjoyable. This one was good, an Agatha Christie murder mystery with necromancy, if only a little bit of necromancy. And, of course, a character even more certain of himself and haughty than M. Poirot! Nicely fleshes out the world of Cabal, too. [QUOTE=Thudlow Boink] Amazon lists that as being published March 8, 2011; you must have somehow gotten an advance copy. [/QUOTE] Weird. I just noticed that too, the hardcover coming out in March, but there are plenty of paperback copies lying around the place here. [QUOTE=Lust4Life] I’m wondering if Abercrombie has run out of inspiration. [/QUOTE] Admittedly _Best Served Cold_ wasn’t a huge burst of creativity, though it was a bit of a different story still from the trilogy; but as I said, I think _Heroes_ is quite the achievement, and, as far as I can tell, a new idea for fantasy, at least. Anyway, I’ve picked up Madeleine Roux’s _Alison Hewitt is Trapped_ to go into my queue, a zombie-blog come zombie novel, as far as I can tell from the cover. I bought it simply because I buy all zombie books, when I can afford it. Amazon is just shipping me _No Country for Old Men_ by Cormac McCarthy, which I will give a shot, and John O’Hara’s _An Appointment in Samarra_, which I have had recommended to me. For more fluff, the package should also include the fourth Flashman volume (whose name I’ve forgotten…_Flashman at the Charge_, perhaps?) and C.S. Forester’s _A Ship of the Line_. That should get me through the next couple of weeks. Oh, and I’m _this_ close to dumping Toni Morrison’s _A Mercy_. Turns out I really, really don’t like Morrison’s writing… ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-feb-2011-edition/569635/49 "2011-02-09T12:33:47Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Also reading Ken Follett’s **Fall of Giants** on audio. It was a gift. Very well done book about a collection of interacting people before, during, and after WWI. I just devoured that recently. I’d recommend that book to anyone that liked the _Pillars_ set of books. Its written in a similar, sweeping style but about a different time (pre/during/after WWI). I just read _The Devil_ by Ken Bruen, whom I’d never read before. Cool book. Then I read _The Complete Stories Vol. I_ by Asimov. There were some good stories in there and a couple two-page head-scratchers. I also recently read _Lucky Luciano: The Real And The Fake Gangster_ which was really well done. Right now I just started Keith Richard’s _Life_, which is a much more introspective book than I thought it would be. ---
**Author:** ![TheMerchandise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b487fb/32.png) [@TheMerchandise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMerchandise)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-feb-2011-edition/569635/50 "2011-02-09T15:34:23Z")
> [@Enterprise](#): > > Amazon is just shipping me _No Country for Old Men_ by Cormac McCarthy, which I will give a shot… I listed to this recently on audiobook and was very impressed. This is the third novel by Cormac McCarthy I’ve read, but somehow I’m always newly surprised by how solid a writer he is. ---
**Author:** ![Enterprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/76d3ee/32.png) [@Enterprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enterprise)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2011, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-feb-2011-edition/569635/51 "2011-02-10T09:31:27Z")
> [@TheMerchandise](#): > > I listed to this recently on audiobook and was very impressed. This is the third novel by Cormac McCarthy I’ve read, but somehow I’m always newly surprised by how solid a writer he is. Amazon delivered fairly quickly and I’m a couple of dozen pages in. I’m actually positively surprised. I’m not a huge McCarthy fan, disliked _Blood Meridian_, and was underwhelmed by _The Road_…I actually enjoyed reading it, but I’m not sure what it’s supposed to tell me, and if I’m reading such a dreary, dreary tale, I think it better _had_ something to tell me. But anyway: I was recommended _No Country for Old Men_, and figured I’d give it a shot. So far, so good! Not a bad recommendation at all! ---
**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:** [February 13, 2011, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-feb-2011-edition/569635/52 "2011-02-13T23:16:56Z")
I finished “Stalingrad” and am now reading a totally engrossing book called “[Unbroken](http://www.amazon.com/Unbroken-World-Survival-Resilience-Redemption/dp/1400064163/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1297638768&sr=1-1)”, by Laura Hildebrand. This is a gut-wrenching story of survival at sea and in the horrendous Japanese POW camps. The story is primarily about Louie Zamperini, an Army Air Corps officer who was shot down in the Pacific, then suffered the predations of the camp guards, and one tormenter in particular. Well written, and with photos. I highly recommend this book. ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-feb-2011-edition/569635/53 "2011-02-14T04:44:54Z")
Re-reading **Moby Dick**. I recall liking it when I read it on my own in high school, then hating it when made to read it (and, of course, analyze the hell out of it) in a college class. Now, 40 years later I’m on my own with it again. I’m still near the beginning (Ahab is about to put in his first appearance), but I’m liking it quite a bit so far. ---
**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:** [February 14, 2011, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-feb-2011-edition/569635/54 "2011-02-14T05:06:43Z")
Just finished _A Nation of Immigrants_ by John F. Kennedy, a small, posthumously-published book (or a longish position paper) arguing that immigrants had greatly improved the U.S. over the years, and advocating reform of U.S. immigration policy to eliminate racial preferences that disadvantaged non-Northern Europeans. Most of those reforms were indeed enacted in later years. A short but interesting book. Just started Stephen King’s _Firestarter_, which I last read not long after it came out in 1980. I’m enjoying it. Still happily working my way through Susanna Clarke’s _Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell_, and Ted Gup’s _A Secret Gift_, too. ---
**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:** [February 14, 2011, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-feb-2011-edition/569635/55 "2011-02-14T05:14:21Z")
Listening to _The Fellowship of the Rings_ audiobook for the zillionth time while I decide what to read next. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-feb-2011-edition/569635/56 "2011-02-14T08:08:01Z")
Finished _A Devil in the Details: A Jesse James Dawson Novel_ a light and easy urban fantasy. Jesse James Dawson is a _Champion_ a man who fights will wager his soul via a physical fight with a demon in order to win back the soul of another. He is wise-cracking, (self-proclaimed) Samarai who is sought out be those of have sold their soul to the devil. Not a great book, but not bad. I had some issues with the internal logic. A big deal is made over Jesse being an atheist - something that I find rather inconsistent. He knows that demons exist, that they can “buy” your soul. He acknowledges and accepts that his wife can do magic - and yet, he contends that there is God. Which makes me ask what he believes happens to a soul that is bought and paid for and why he bothers (beyond the money) to try and win back souls. The author dwell too much on his atheism and I found it took me out of the book. Still, if/when I run out of books, if I see the next one I’ll pick it up. Currently: _A Madness of Angels: Or The Resurrection of Matthew Swift_ ---
**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:** [February 14, 2011, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-feb-2011-edition/569635/57 "2011-02-14T14:02:10Z")
> [@koeeoaddi](#): > > Listening to _The Fellowship of the Rings_ audiobook for the zillionth time while I decide what to read next. Is that a sequel? > [@Khadaji](#): > > A big deal is made over Jesse being an atheist …he contends that there is God… He’s obviously a very conflicted atheist. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2011, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-feb-2011-edition/569635/58 "2011-02-14T14:44:37Z")
> [@kelly5078](#): > > Re-reading **Moby Dick**. I recall liking it when I read it on my own in high school, then hating it when made to read it (and, of course, analyze the hell out of it) in a college class. Now, 40 years later I’m on my own with it again. I’m still near the beginning (Ahab is about to put in his first appearance), but I’m liking it quite a bit so far. Heh, it’s one of the first books I can think of where the writing style appears deliberately to match the substance - a book about obsession, written obsessively. 😉 One of my favourites, but clearly not for everyone … another example in the same vein is _Gormenghast_, a book about the grotesque, written grotesquely. ---
**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:** [February 14, 2011, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-feb-2011-edition/569635/59 "2011-02-14T15:21:18Z")
\*Middlemarch \*was excellent. For some reason I’m always a little surprised when a classic turns out to be a truly fascinating read. Over the weekend I read Joe Haldeman’s newest book, _Starbound_, which is the middle book of a trilogy. His books are always readable, but I didn’t like the plot of this one very much. I don’t like omnipotent, godlike aliens in my science fiction, and Haldeman is overly fond of them. Because I liked Abraham Verghese’s novel _Cutting for Stone_, I’ve started reading his memoir, _My Own Country_, which is about his experience dealing with the AIDS epidemic in a small town in Tennessee. In his novel Verghese wrote about how foreign doctors were recruited by underfunded, overworked big city hospitals in America, who dealt mostly with indigent patients, who suffered mostly from trauma and drug addiction. After he obtains his medical degree, rather than take his new bride to live in “an urban war zone”, Verghese takes a job in a small town in east Tennessee. ---
**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:** [February 14, 2011, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-feb-2011-edition/569635/60 "2011-02-14T19:10:55Z")
> [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](#): > > …Over the weekend I read Joe Haldeman’s newest book, _Starbound_, which is the middle book of a trilogy. His books are always readable, but I didn’t like the plot of this one very much. I don’t like omnipotent, godlike aliens in my science fiction, and Haldeman is overly fond of them… I’m a huge Haldeman fan, but he can be… erratic. My favorites are _The Forever War_ (distant-future military sf in which faster-than-light space travel and time distortion are key plot points), _All My Sins Remembered_ (a future spy starts to lose his own identity due to mission-oriented personality overwriting) and _Tool of the Trade_ (a Soviet sleeper agent develops a practical form of mind control just before a big U.S.-Soviet summit). His early short story collections are also excellent. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-feb-2011-edition/569635.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-feb-2011-edition/569635.md?page=4)