# Whatcha readin' February (08) edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 1, 2008, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-february-08-edition/435846 "2008-02-01T13:32:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2008, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-february-08-edition/435846/21 "2008-02-01T22:20:48Z")
_World War Z_ and _World Changing_ ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2008, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-february-08-edition/435846/22 "2008-02-01T23:25:55Z")
I am finally getting around to finishing reading Harry Potter series and am in the middle of _Deathly Hallows_. I stopped reading them at _Goblet of Fire_ and hadn’t intended to finishing them off but its hard to ignore Harry Potter as a cultural phenomena even if I dislike it. I’m also working my way through Harlan Ellison’s infamous anthology _Dangerous Visions_. None of it is remotely “dangerous” any more and some of the introductions and afterwords are depressing (Ellison goes on at length at how he’s seen heavy drug use ruin people under the guise of creativity but Phillip K. Dick doesn’t have that problem ☹ ). Up next is a serendipitous find. The anthology _Science Fiction by Gaslight_ was recommended to me on this board but when ordering from Amazon I somehow accidentally ordered _Beyond the Gaslight: Science in Popular Fiction 1895-1905_ (the only thing I can figure is none of them have pictures on Amazon and my brain focused on “gaslight”). Well as it turns out this contains many of the same stories as _Science Fiction by Gaslight_ with the addition of essays on the state of the science used in the story at that point. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2008, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-february-08-edition/435846/23 "2008-02-01T23:46:18Z")
[QUOTE=Just Some Guy] I am finally getting around to finishing reading Harry Potter series and am in the middle of _Deathly Hallows_. I stopped reading them at _Goblet of Fire_ and hadn’t intended to finishing them off but its hard to ignore Harry Potter as a cultural phenomena even if I dislike it. [/QUOTE] How are you finding it? Personally I thought the DH was a pretty lame way to end the series, the book barely made any sense to me. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-february-08-edition/435846/24 "2008-02-02T00:44:52Z")
[QUOTE=Illuminatiprimus] How are you finding it? Personally I thought the DH was a pretty lame way to end the series, the book barely made any sense to me. [/QUOTE] Bearing in mind that I already had problems with the series it does nothing to improve my opinion. All of the structural flaws are just brought into focus by the abandonment of the standard arc. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-february-08-edition/435846/25 "2008-02-02T00:52:57Z")
Joining in, if I may? I just finished re-reading ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’ - loved it again. I want to finish ‘This is your Brain on Music’, and then it’s time to tackle ‘Don Quixote’… ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-february-08-edition/435846/26 "2008-02-02T02:14:23Z")
You certainly may join in! Which translation of Don Quixote are you going to read? I’ve been seriously considering giving that one a go. It’ll be my Annual Classic. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-february-08-edition/435846/27 "2008-02-02T03:04:00Z")
[QUOTE=AuntiePam] You certainly may join in! Which translation of Don Quixote are you going to read? I’ve been seriously considering giving that one a go. It’ll be my Annual Classic. 🙂 [/QUOTE] It’s the John Rutherford translation that Penguin published in 2000. It’s been making that ‘Read me, you slack bastard!’ noise in the night for a while now… Is anyone else haunted by their library? ---
**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 2, 2008, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-february-08-edition/435846/28 "2008-02-02T03:21:24Z")
[QUOTE=Le Ministre de l’au-delà] Is anyone else haunted by their library? [/QUOTE] Welcome to the SDMB, **Le Ministre de l’au-delà**. You might be interested in joining the SDMB [Goodreads Group](http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/822.SDMB_Straight_Dope). That way you can be kibitzed by your list of virtual books as well as haunted by your real ones. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-february-08-edition/435846/29 "2008-02-02T04:52:17Z")
I’m reading something not worth mentioning, but when I’m done I have a stack of shiny new books from Daedalus waiting. ---
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-february-08-edition/435846/30 "2008-02-02T05:58:14Z")
I just finished re-reading \*\*Wake of the Perdido Star \*\* by Gene Hackman (yes; that Gene Hackman) and Daniel Lenihan. It’s a good adventure yarn about skullduggery, betrayal, murder, shipwrecks and rather reluctant pirates. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-february-08-edition/435846/31 "2008-02-02T15:26:56Z")
I just finshed both **The Memory Keeper’s Daughter** , by Kim Edwards, and **Lost and Found** , by Carolyn Parkhusrt. Next up is **The Kite Runner** , by Khaled Hosseini. I’ve read the first page a couple of times, but never have time to just sit and read. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-february-08-edition/435846/32 "2008-02-02T20:04:32Z")
Dante’s _Paradiso_ (what? I read Inferno and Purgatorio for class, I figure I better finish up the trilogy…), and trudging my way through _Middlemarch_. On the shelf I’ve got _A Hatred for Tulips_ and _St. Lucy’s Home For Girls Raised By Wolves_, _Big Fish_ (which I just polished off–is it okay to say I liked the movie better?) and _The Perfect Royal Mistress_. Bunch of others coming up soon. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-february-08-edition/435846/33 "2008-02-02T20:11:47Z")
[QUOTE=koeeoaddi] Welcome to the SDMB, **Le Ministre de l’au-delà**. You might be interested in joining the SDMB [Goodreads Group](http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/822.SDMB_Straight_Dope). That way you can be kibitzed by your list of virtual books as well as haunted by your real ones. [/QUOTE] Many thanks for that link. I’m sensing that it’s going to take a lot more than just an hour a week to catch up to all of the interesting discussions and fascinating people here at the SDMB. Just an intuition… Very pleased to meet all of you. ---
**Author:** ![Illuminatiprimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/illuminatiprimus/32/11520_2.png) [@Illuminatiprimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Illuminatiprimus)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-february-08-edition/435846/34 "2008-02-02T20:16:01Z")
[QUOTE=Kythereia] Dante’s _Paradiso_ (what? I read Inferno and Purgatorio for class, I figure I better finish up the trilogy…) [/QUOTE] I read them for fun, although I found Paradiso to be the least interesting of the three. I’ve read two different translations of Inferno and I’m amazed at how different the experience was between them. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2008, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-february-08-edition/435846/35 "2008-02-02T20:34:28Z")
Recently finished off: _Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare_, Stephen Greenblatt. Which is, as I’m sure will come as a great surprise, about the life of Shakespeare, and more specifically, about all the things we don’t know about the life of Shakespeare. _Eifelheim_, Michael Flynn. Aliens show up in the Middle Ages. _Wine and War: The French, the Nazis, and the Battle for France’s Greatest Treasure_, Donald and Petie Kladstrup. Mostly anecdotal stories about French wine makers during the Occupation. I wrote longer reviews in [my livejournal.](http://delphica.livejournal.com/2008/02/01/) Currently: _Was Heathcliff a Murderer?_ by John Sutherland, essays about 19th century fiction. It’s fairly entertaining so far, although a little dryer than I was expecting. Coming up: _The Diary of an American Au Pair_, by Majorie Leet Ford. Although I am confused because when this book came out, I thought it was called _Do Try to Speak as We Do_ so I am worried I have somehow bought the wrong book. _Dinosaurs in the Attic: an Excursion Into the American Museum of Natural History_, by Douglas Preston, a history of the museum type book. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2008, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-february-08-edition/435846/36 "2008-02-03T01:58:18Z")
[QUOTE=koeeoaddi] You might be interested in joining the SDMB [Goodreads Group](http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/822.SDMB_Straight_Dope). That way you can be kibitzed by your list of virtual books as well as haunted by your real ones. [/QUOTE] I just joined! Thanks for the link. (Like I need something else to cut into my reading time… 😉 ) ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2008, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-february-08-edition/435846/37 "2008-02-03T02:43:11Z")
[QUOTE=delphica] _Eifelheim_, Michael Flynn. Aliens show up in the Middle Ages. I wrote longer reviews in [my livejournal.](http://delphica.livejournal.com/2008/02/01/) [/quote] I’m tickled pink (or grasshopper green) that you liked _Eifelheim_, and I totally agree with your review. I’ve put aside _The Bonehunters_ for now – it’s just too heavy (weight, not content) to read in bed. So bedtime book is _The Rebel Angels_ by Robertson Davies. I really like his writing, even though I don’t always relate to his subjects and settings. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2008, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-february-08-edition/435846/38 "2008-02-03T09:11:53Z")
Just read _gods in Alabama_ by Joshilyn Jackson and _Watchman_ by Robert Crais. Really enjoyed both of them but I had a couple of problems with _gods_, none with _Watchman_ really because I somehow suspend all disbelief when reading about Joe Pike. Also still working on _Count of Monte Cristo_, reading it aloud with my son. We’re slogging away; I stopped for awhile because I got very annoyed with Edmond, just as if he were a real person, and wanted to sit him down and say, “Dude, you’ve gone too far.” Also working my way through Best American Short Stories 2007, edited by Stephen King. And I’m not real impressed with the selection this year. Maybe I’m just jaded. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_and\_a\_Half\_Inches\_of\_Fun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea666f/32.png) [@Two\_and\_a\_Half\_Inches\_of\_Fun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_and_a_Half_Inches_of_Fun)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2008, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-february-08-edition/435846/39 "2008-02-03T09:28:37Z")
The Mysteries of Pittsburgh by Michael Chabon McSweeney’s Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales How to Read the Bible by James Kugel Recently Finished Gang Leader for a Day by Sudhir Venkatesh Up next: Either Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon or Oryx and Crake by Margret Atwood I am looking for a non-fiction book to read after Kugel’s so I am open to any suggestions. ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2008, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-february-08-edition/435846/40 "2008-02-03T10:00:15Z")
_Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead_ by Tom Stoppard. _The Bridge Across Forever_ by Richard Bach. This morning I finished \*Musicophilia \*by Oliver Sacks, brilliant and right on the edge of what I could understand late at night before sleep. Excellent stuff. And my kid had a brief bout of dystonia (requiring a rush to the doctor and a complete cure when distracted by a baby hedgehog) just when I read that chapter - she’s such a \*helpful \*child. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-february-08-edition/435846.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-february-08-edition/435846.md?page=3)