# Whatcha readin' gang? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 29, 2005, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-gang/301644 "2005-04-29T00:12:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2005, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-gang/301644/41 "2005-04-30T02:27:56Z")
I started _Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell_ but could not finish it. Based on many endorsements here, I will give it a try again (I don’t usually, if I book is bad enough to put down, there are usually too many in the queue to try it again.) I dunno, it just did not catch me. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2005, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-gang/301644/42 "2005-04-30T03:29:45Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > I dunno, it just did not catch me. Me neither. I finished it, but I wouldn’t mind having those hours back. (Too many words, not enough story. ) I think I understand the attraction of the book – language, tone, setting, wit, sly humor, expert observation of the time period, etc., but it never grabbed me. There was too much distance between me and the characters. I felt like Clarke didn’t want me to get too close. I’ve heard rumors of a sequel. If it’s shorter, I think I’d read it, just to see what happens to Stephen Black. (He’s the only character I liked.) ---
**Author:** ![manx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@manx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manx)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2005, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-gang/301644/43 "2005-04-30T05:16:50Z")
> [@Interrobang!?](#): > > [hijack] > Much as I love that word – I remember discovering it in (I think) the same book back in the late '80s – it turns out that [there’s no such word in Russian](http://www.languagehat.com/archives/001850.php). Though I’m somewhat consoled at the thought that it was accidentally invented on an episode of _The Man from U.N.C.L.E._. > > [/hijack] :eek: I’m embarrased! A passer-on of ignorance! Thanks **Interrobang!?** , I’ll pass that information on as I see fit - a shame, because it’d be nice to have that sentiment summed up in a word. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2005, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-gang/301644/44 "2005-04-30T05:57:54Z")
I’m reading [url=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/076790818X/qid=1114840848/sr=8-2/ref=sr\_8\_xs\_ap\_i2\_xgl14/104-8544499-2583944?v=glance&s=books&n=507846]A Short History of Nearly Everything\*\* by Bill Bryson. So far, it’s fantastic. I’m only a hundred pages in or so, but it’s very entertaining, and a decent historical overview of various scientific fields and a good explanation of various scientific principles and discoveries. Bryson has a very engaging writing style. Highly recommended. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2005, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-gang/301644/45 "2005-04-30T05:58:59Z")
Gah. Preview is our friend. Here’s the link: [A Short History of Nearly Everything](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/076790818X/qid=1114840848/sr=8-2/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i2_xgl14/104-8544499-2583944?v=glance&s=books&n=507846). ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2005, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-gang/301644/46 "2005-04-30T06:20:08Z")
I’m currently going through a “good but not quite first-rate” science fiction stage, so I’m reading a lot of Keith Laumer. Just finished _The Time Bender_ (it’s a hoot), and am currently on the _Retief_ volume published by Baen. When I get around to reading something non-fiction, I plan to start on [Temporal Matters in Social Psychology](http://www.apa.org/books/4316017.html). ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2005, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-gang/301644/47 "2005-04-30T13:47:52Z")
_What Philosophy Is_ By Anthony O’Hear. It’s a good summary of the major issues dealt with by twentieth century anglo-american philosophy. You just have to remember that there’s a lot more to philosophy than the analytic concerns of modern english speaking philosophers. _A Scanner Darkly_ by Philip K. Dick. Barely science fiction, it’s Dick’s look at the drug culture he was immersed in in the sixties. Recommended if you like PKD’s quirky melancholy writing. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2005, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-gang/301644/48 "2005-04-30T13:54:44Z")
I made a trip to an English-language library earlier in the week, so I have a pile of this-n-that waiting for me - new books, old books, and all sorts of topics. I just finished reading _One Child_ by Torey Hayden - very disturbing in a gotta-finish-this sort of way. Now I’ve started _Bitch: In Praise of Difficult Women_ by Elizabeth Wurtzel, which I’m finding difficult to get into. I don’t know if it’s just me, if it’s because she expects her reader to be familiar with too many movies and music videos I’m not familiar with, or if it’s just not that well-written. I’m also reading _The Map That Changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology_ by Simon Winchester and enjoying it a good deal more. I guess I’m a geek at heart. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2005, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-gang/301644/49 "2005-04-30T13:57:57Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > **The Story of the House of Whitmark: From Ragtime to Swingtime** (1939), by Isidore Witmark. > > And next up is the 771-page **Official History of the Royal Canadian Air Force Vol. I: Canadian Airmen and the First World War**. > > Me mudder must have dropped me on me head . . . Just out of curiosity, what are you researching? > [@khadaji](#): > > Also The Magicians’ Guild which was a quick read and an fair start to a new trilogy. (Must all fantasies be trilogies?) Yes. Yes they must. It’s in the constitution somewhere. 🙂 > [@Banger](#): > > Shadow & Claw: The First Half of the Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe. If this is the first time you’ve read that, you’re in for a treat. I’d drop everything else until you finished the whole– **khadaji** take note!–tetralogy ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2005, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-gang/301644/50 "2005-04-30T14:13:21Z")
Just finished **The Shadow of the Wind** by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, and about to start **Their Eyes Were Watching God** by Zora Neale Hurston. I’m looking forward to it. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2005, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-gang/301644/51 "2005-04-30T14:17:49Z")
“Nothing’s Sacred” by Lewis Black. The part about Dan Quayle had me laughing out loud at the Starbuck’s in B&N where I was previewing it over my vanilla latte venti. “Mediterranean Winter” by Robert D. Kaplan-bought the same day he was interviewed on BookSpan. It’s about his mid-'60’s and more recent visits to several countries around the Med, where I spent a couple of years. “Once Upon a Town-The Miracle of the North Platte Canteen” by Bob Greene-about the midwest town that was a layover (in more ways than one) for the troops railroading across the US during WWII. ---
**Author:** ![Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@Man\_With\_a\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Man_With_a_Cat)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2005, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-gang/301644/52 "2005-04-30T15:22:37Z")
I’ve seen a couple mentions here of Bill Bryson and his Short History of Nearly Everything. Anybody enjoying that should go back and find a copy of Daniel Boorstin’s “The Discoverers”. THAT is a truly not-so-short history of damn near everything. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Unkempt\_One](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b782af/32.png) [@The\_Unkempt\_One](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Unkempt_One)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2005, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-gang/301644/53 "2005-04-30T15:26:05Z")
**Origin of Species** by Charles Darwin as well as **How to Practice : The Way to a Meaningful Life** by His Holiness the Dalai Lama ---
**Author:** ![laughingboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9f8e36/32.png) [@laughingboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/laughingboy)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2005, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-gang/301644/54 "2005-04-30T17:25:06Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > Just finished [_The Blank Slate_](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0142003344/qid=1114736895/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/104-8388086-3622309?v=glance&s=books&n=507846). Very thought-provoking – very, very dense… [It] took me a week and a half I’m finishing up _The Blank Slate_ right now; it’s excellent. You must have a knack for blazing through dense material – I’ve been savoring it for several weeks. Next on my list: [_Ghost Wars_](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0143034669/qid=1114881395/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/103-3362393-6068622) ---
**Author:** ![griffen2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ce7236/32.png) [@griffen2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffen2)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2005, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-gang/301644/55 "2005-04-30T17:45:09Z")
I’ve just finished [White Noise](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0140077022/qid=1114882475/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-0027596-2699133?v=glance&s=books) by Don DeLillo. On the whole I really liked it. It’s very thought provoking and uproariously funny, albeit in a rather bleakly ironic way. The ending was a little bit of a let down but on balance I’d give it 4[sup]1/2[/sup] out of 5. I’m also about 4 fifths of the way through [Time’s Arrow](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0679735720/qid=1114882583/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/104-0027596-2699133?v=glance&s=books) by Martin Amis. It concerns the life of a Nazi doctor in Auschwitz who resettles in the United States under the pseudonym Tod Friendly. The gimmick is that ‘Time’s Arrow’ is pointing in the wrong direction. Everything happens backwards. The characters walk backwards, talk backwards, eat, excrete and screw backwards, everything. What’s more, the story is told from the point of view of a nameless ghost inhabiting Tod’s body (the ghost is aware of Tod but Tod isn’t aware of the ghost) who thinks linearly, like we do and consequently gets very befuddled at times. It’s a real headfuck of a book but it is certainly entertaining and very moving in parts (The Nazi camp commandants blunt sentiment that “There is no why, here” resonated particularly with me). And lines like “The Reagan Administration seems to be doing wonders for Tod’s self-esteem” spoken in complete earnest by the ghostly narrator are absolutely priceless! ---
**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:** [April 30, 2005, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-gang/301644/56 "2005-04-30T17:48:23Z")
I’m reading poetry this week. **The Street of Clocks** by Thomas Lux, which I wanted to like but didn’t much. **The Poetry Home Repair Manual: Practical Advice For Beginning Poets** and **Delights and Shadows** by Ted Kooser are both as wonderful as I thought they’d be. **New and Selected Poems** by Gary Soto, I’m still working on and enjoying. I’m also reading **Amulet of Samarkand** by Jonathan Stroud, which is great fun – I think I like it better than the Harry Potter books. Oh, and a special thank you to **twicks** for recommending **English Passengers** by Matthew Kneale, in the last reading thread. It’s the best novel I’ve read in 5 years. I’ve hand sold about 20 of 'em at the bookstore where I work and so far, no one has come back and hurled it at me. ---
**Author:** ![griffen2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ce7236/32.png) [@griffen2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffen2)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2005, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-gang/301644/57 "2005-04-30T17:50:26Z")
P.S. - I just want to add to the many recommendations that Bill Bryson’s ‘A Short History of Nearly Everything’ has received in this thread. A tremendously informative and extremely readable introduction to science for the non-scientist. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2005, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-gang/301644/58 "2005-04-30T19:04:59Z")
> [@koeeoaddi](#): > > Oh, and a special thank you to **twicks** for recommending **English Passengers** by Matthew Kneale, in the last reading thread. It’s the best novel I’ve read in 5 years. I’ve hand sold about 20 of 'em at the bookstore where I work and so far, no one has come back and hurled it at me. 😃 Cool! Now we can take turns jumping in when there’s a “recommend a good novel” thread! ---
**Author:** ![CateAyo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@CateAyo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CateAyo)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2005, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-gang/301644/59 "2005-04-30T20:23:43Z")
Just finishing a re-read of “Between Facts and Norms” by Jurgen Habermas. I don’t know that I’d recommend it unless one is a social philosophy sort of person, or a Frankfurt School junkie, but it is relevant to me. I really need to find time to read some light stuff just for the entertainment value. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2005, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-gang/301644/60 "2005-05-02T12:49:36Z")
Upon finishing the _Rule Of Four_ I have to take back my recommendation. All though the writing was better than the Da Vinci code, the plot was less engaging and in the end, I just didn’t care what happened… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-gang/301644.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-gang/301644.md?page=4)