# Whatcha readin' gang? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 12, 2004, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-gang/264130 "2004-09-12T13:13:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Mbwun\_lives](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Mbwun\_lives](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mbwun_lives)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2004, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-gang/264130/61 "2004-09-14T02:21:36Z")
It really depends on what you are into; Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle The Prey series by John Sanford Jurassic Park and The Lost World by Michael Creighton, way better than the movies The Bone Collector by Jeffery Deaver As someone mentioned earlier any of the Janet Evanovich Stephanie Plum books (great sense of humor) ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2004, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-gang/264130/62 "2004-09-14T02:51:32Z")
> [@booklover](#): > > **AuntiePam** , the Susanna Clarke book is definitely on my “to read” list, though I haven’t bought it yet. Have you read Robertson Davies’ _Murther and Walking Spirits_? That’s my favorite of his works. Yes, I have – Davies is so damn clever. I’ve never read anything like that. The Fifth Business is my favorite so far. The Clarke book is incredibly slow. There’s very little tension, and I’m itching for something to **happen**. If it weren’t so funny, I’d just go on to something else. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2004, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-gang/264130/63 "2004-09-14T13:12:03Z")
Lessee… Over the Labor Day holiday I finished _Eragon_, by Paolini. It’s fantasy that’s enjoyable, but highly derivative and predictable - probably due to the youth of the author. But it was enjoyable enough and a quick read. Lately I’ve reread Harry Potter books 5 and 4, which are always fun. I love Ron. Ran through Nicholas Sparks’s _Nights in Rodanthe_ Saturday night, which is a weepy chick book that I enjoyed. Nothing too heavy, and it’s a good quick read for an evening. But rather sad. Right now I’m on another chick book, _Patty Jane’s House of Curl_ by Lorna Landvik, which feels very much like _Fried Green Tomatoes_ without the flashbacks and set in Minneapolis. Like the others, it’s pretty lightweight but interesting enough to keep my attention. I’ve got a huge book list, but up in the queue is _Shogun_ (if I can just get myself to start the thing) and hopefully _The Grass Crown_ by McCullough, maybe something by Tim Powers, and of course, Stephen King’s new one about Roland. Gotta get to the bookstore. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2004, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-gang/264130/64 "2004-09-14T13:14:31Z")
Took my standard style of ‘classic’ along for the recent vacation…still working on it. _Uncle Tom’s Cabin_ Tough read. HBS’s ‘enlightened’ view of the slave issue is so full of racist presumptions (blacks are a ‘simple, spiritual, unambitious people’) that she’d be shunned in modern society. It’s astonishing how far we’ve come. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2004, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-gang/264130/65 "2004-09-14T18:38:28Z")
**Wabi-Sabi** (_For Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers_ by Leonard Koren From the Introduction: > [@](#): > > Wabi-sabi is _the_ quintessential Japanese aesthetic. It is a beauty of things imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete. It is a beauty of things modest and humble. It is a beauty of things unconventional… It can be read in one sitting and reread and pondered many times over a lifetime. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2004, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-gang/264130/66 "2004-09-14T19:39:18Z")
I recently finished A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray. Young adult novel about girls in a boarding school who dabble in the supernatural. I think it could have been better, but it did keep me interested throughout. I was happy with it. I also read Good Grief, by Lolly Winston. Light, but again, I was interested enough to wipe it out in about two sittings. As for non-fiction, I’m nearing the end of When Dad Hurts Mom: helping your children heal the wounds of witnessing abuse, by Lundy Bancroft. I don’t know that I’ve found anything specific I can use, but it does have a lot of good information on various related topics, should you be in such a situation. I’m also waiting for The Grim Grotto and the new Dark Tower book. ---
**Author:** ![fighting\_ignorant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ac8455/32.png) [@fighting\_ignorant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fighting_ignorant)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2004, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-gang/264130/67 "2004-09-15T03:21:28Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > **Fighting Ignorant** - thanks for the second on **Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs** - I am a few years older than you, but it still works for me big time. I assume you have read **Fargo Rock City** - even if you weren’t a hair metal guy (I wasn’t) it still works as a social commentary. And **pokey** - thanks for the nod in my direction; glad to hear that the description clicked and you’re enjoying the book… Dang! After **S,D,&CP** I went to the bookstore twice to get **Fargo Rock City** and they were out both times. It’s on my Amazon wish list & I’ll get it in the next few weeks. Thanks for the suggestion. ---
**Author:** ![DataZak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@DataZak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataZak)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2004, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-gang/264130/68 "2004-09-15T13:52:05Z")
I’m reading Patrick McGilligan’s biography of Hitchcock ( **Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light** ) I also just bought the just released Hitchcock Signature Collection dvd set and I find that the book makes a great companion to the set. ---
**Author:** ![burundi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@burundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burundi)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2004, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-gang/264130/69 "2004-09-15T19:46:51Z")
**Finagle** , I read _A Distant Mirror_ this summer and also found it fascinating. You couldn’t make this stuff up if you tried. The part about the two competing popes (one a mass murderer and one just plain crazy) blew my mind. Which of these guys was infallible? Right now, I’m reading _The Three Musketeers_. Very fun. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-gang/264130.md?page=3)