# Whatcha Readin' Jan 10 Edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 31, 2009, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-10-edition/523210 "2009-12-31T18:38:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Wilson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@Wilson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wilson)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2010, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-10-edition/523210/101 "2010-01-19T17:49:02Z")
> [@delphica](#): > > I’ve been reading Richard Russo’s newest, _That Old Cape Magic_, and boy, is it dragging. I like him a lot, too. I don’t know why it’s not grabbing me, but it isn’t. This took a little getting into for me too, but at some point it just hooked me in. It’s not his best book, but I ended up enjoying it quite a lot. Over the weekend I finished reading _South of Broad_ by Pat Conroy. Wow. That book still has me thinking - I had to go back and reread several sections of it after finishing it. Conroy’s prose is sometimes a little too descriptive for me, but he spins a great story with some wonderful characters that I didn’t want to leave behind. I’m not sure what’s next - I’ve got _The Fourth Part of the World_ and A.S. Byatt’s _The Children’s Book_ ready on my Kindle. Or maybe I’ll try once again to get into _This Republic of Suffering_… ---
**Author:** ![Gulo\_gulo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bcef8e/32.png) [@Gulo\_gulo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gulo_gulo)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-10-edition/523210/102 "2010-01-20T17:53:09Z")
> [@delphica](#): > > You weren’t asking me either 🙂 … but this is one of the things I liked about it so much. It’s much more about the impact that the crime has on the survivors, so it felt right and realistic to me. I think that’s probably something a lot of crime victims have to deal with - how to keep going without knowing. > > And I wouldn’t describe it as the _central_ mystery, anyway. **AuntiePam** : Sorry I didn’t respond earlier. I really like **delphica** ’s explanation. At first I thought I had missed something because it was inconceivable (heh) that the mystery wasn’t solved. Then I was irked because I really wanted to hear the explanation of the odder details that the witnesses recalled from their childhood. I soon realized that I really liked how there was no magical wand waving that resulted in the perfect solution of the case along with a skipping-into-the-sunset healing moment for the main character. (Besides, I have to wonder that if a solution was offered if it would live up to my expectations!) ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-10-edition/523210/103 "2010-01-20T18:13:33Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Besides, [I hold a grudge against Cornell Woolrich.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=326681) Nobody gets tickled in _Rendezvous in Black_. 🙂 I finished the book a couple days ago and can’t stop thinking about it. It probably doesn’t bear close scrutiny – there are a lot of improbabilities and a lot of ways that the vengeance seeker’s plotting could have gone wrong – but the final chapter makes up for it. I’m almost finished with _Post Captain_ and will move on to _H.M.S. Surprise_. ---
**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:** [January 20, 2010, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-10-edition/523210/104 "2010-01-20T19:01:07Z")
I finished the second Abercrombie book, and it was excellent, despite the toothiness. Before I start the last book in the trilogy I’m going to try to go back to my Wellington biography - I got distracted by shiny fiction and left him hunkered down behind the Lines of Torres Vedras in Portugal. ---
**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:** [January 20, 2010, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-10-edition/523210/105 "2010-01-20T19:22:17Z")
I suspect he’ll get out of it all right… ---
**Author:** ![Rafe\_Hollister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/fbc32d/32.png) [@Rafe\_Hollister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rafe_Hollister)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-10-edition/523210/106 "2010-01-20T19:27:17Z")
I pulled my Hemingway stash outta the attic. Currently finishing up the Short Stories collection, but in the last 6 weeks or so I’ve read _To Have and Have Not_, _The Green Hills of Africa_, and _The Sun Also Rises_. Next up is _For Whom the Bell Tolls_. ---
**Author:** ![Surly\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2010, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-10-edition/523210/107 "2010-01-20T19:35:46Z")
I’ve decided that in remembrance of the late great Robert Parker, I’m going to read all the Sunny Randall novels again. ---
**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:** [January 22, 2010, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-10-edition/523210/108 "2010-01-22T04:54:43Z")
Just finished _Star Trek Myriad Universes: Echoes and Refractions_, an alt-universe collection of short stories by Geoff Trowbridge, Keith R.A. DeCandido and Chris Roberson. Meh. None of them really blew me away, and some of the dialogue was painfully amateurish. I don’t know if my standards are improving, or if Trek fiction is going downhill. Maybe a bit of both. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-10-edition/523210/109 "2010-01-22T13:45:43Z")
Just finished an advance copy of [_e2_](http://www.amazon.com/e-Squared-Novel-Matt-Beaumont/dp/0452295971/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264167635&sr=8-5) by Matt Beaumont, sequel to e, which I will now have to read. Viciously funny and very, very wrong. 😃 Now starting an advance of _Beguiled_, a suspense novel by Deeanne Gist and J. Mark Bertrand. ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-10-edition/523210/110 "2010-01-22T22:14:26Z")
I just finished [Genesis](http://www.crumbproducts.com/) illustrated by R. Crumb. Much more enjoyable than trying to read it in a bible. The text is complete and the pictures add to the experience. I finally managed to get through all the damn lineages. Jacob was a real asshole. ---
**Author:** ![Arachne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Arachne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arachne)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2010, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-10-edition/523210/111 "2010-01-22T22:22:12Z")
I’m about 3/4 of the way through “The Hot Zone” by Richard Preston - I find it terrifyingly fascinating. Viruses are so very, very cool - I love what the study of them can tell us about the origins of life on this planet, and about the grey zone between “alive” and “not”. ---
**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:** [January 23, 2010, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-10-edition/523210/112 "2010-01-23T02:06:16Z")
My book club read _The Hot Zone_ a few years ago and we all liked it very much. It’s all the scarier because it’s true. When you realize the narrow margin between containment and pandemic… brrrrrr. ---
**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:** [January 23, 2010, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-10-edition/523210/113 "2010-01-23T05:11:50Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > Just finished an advance copy of [_e2_](http://www.amazon.com/e-Squared-Novel-Matt-Beaumont/dp/0452295971/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264167635&sr=8-5) by Matt Beaumont, sequel to e, which I will now have to read. Viciously funny and very, very wrong. 😃 OMG, I can’t _wait_ for this! _e_ was one of the funniest books I ever read. I’m reading [The Brain that Changes Itself](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/570172.The_Brain_That_Changes_Itself_Stories_of_Personal_Triumph_from_the_Frontiers_of_Brain_Science), by Norman Doidge. It’s all about [neuroplasticity](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroplasticity) and absolutely fascinating. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-10-edition/523210/114 "2010-01-23T12:50:31Z")
> [@koeeoaddi](#): > > OMG, I can’t _wait_ for this! _e_ was one of the funniest books I ever read. > > I’m reading [The Brain that Changes Itself](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/570172.The_Brain_That_Changes_Itself_Stories_of_Personal_Triumph_from_the_Frontiers_of_Brain_Science), by Norman Doidge. It’s all about [neuroplasticity](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroplasticity) and absolutely fascinating. I may read that - although I have so many others in my queue right now I don’t know when I’ll get to it. Is it a difficult read? ---
**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:** [January 23, 2010, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-10-edition/523210/115 "2010-01-23T15:41:12Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > I may read that - although I have so many others in my queue right now I don’t know when I’ll get to it. Is it a difficult read? **Khadaji** , it’s an epistolary novel all written in emails. You can breezy through in two sittings. One, if you don’t stop every few minutes to read part of it out loud to whoever is in the room. ETA: Oh, you meant _The Brain that Changes Itself_. :smack: No, not difficult at all. Very readable and blessedly fairly jargon free. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2010, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-10-edition/523210/116 "2010-01-23T15:44:32Z")
> [@koeeoaddi](#): > > **Khadaji** , it’s an epistolary novel all written in emails. You can breezy through in two sittings. One, if you don’t stop every few minutes to read part of it out loud to whoever is in the room. My apologies. I was referring to: [The Brain that Changes Itself](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/570172.The_Brain_That_Changes_Itself_Stories_of_Personal_Triumph_from_the_Frontiers_of_Brain_Science) ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-10-edition/523210/117 "2010-01-24T13:54:29Z")
> [@Wilson](#): > > This took a little getting into for me too, but at some point it just hooked me in. It’s not his best book, but I ended up enjoying it quite a lot. All right, I did like it a little better as it went on, and I enjoyed the things about that are uniquely Russo, but overall, I’m going to count this as a swing and a miss for this author. On _The Brain That Changes Itself_, in my book journal I noted it was somewhat similar to Oliver Sacks’s work, with a lot of interesting stories about people with unusual brain situations, BUT unlike a Sacks book, it included very vivid details about the animal research that led some of the discoveries about the brain. I am officially giving up on Stephen King’s _Under the Dome_. I gave it my best shot, but the bad guys are so bad, they’re boring and the good guys don’t get a lot of mental screen time, so I’m not very attached to them. ---
**Author:** ![yellowval](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/919ad9/32.png) [@yellowval](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowval)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-10-edition/523210/118 "2010-01-25T15:05:35Z")
I did it! I finished “The Count of Monte Cristo.” All 1,264 pages of it. It wasn’t a difficult read by any means and I enjoyed it, but I definitely could have done without some of the characters and plot lines. Not sure what I will pick up next, exactly. I need to go to the library today. I’m thinking something short. ---
**Author:** ![TheMerchandise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b487fb/32.png) [@TheMerchandise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMerchandise)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-10-edition/523210/119 "2010-01-25T15:16:22Z")
I finished [Sin in the Second City](http://www.amazon.com/Sin-Second-City-Ministers-Playboys/dp/0812975995/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264432211&sr=8-1), which I enjoyed quite a bit. I found the idea of rampant “white slavery” interesting; I guess every generation needs to stage their own witch hunts. I would not recommend this book for those who like hard lined, well-footnoted nonfiction… this reads a bit like a novel. Abbott takes liberties with character’s intentions and inner thoughts. I’ve also read: The Boleyn Inheritance, by Philippa Gregory. I realize all her books are just chick-lit disguised as historical fiction, but I enjoy them anyway. This one got three out of five stars from me. Caught Stealing, by Charlie Huston. A pulpy “wrong man in the wrong place” crime novel. A real gritty page-turner. ---
**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:** [January 25, 2010, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-10-edition/523210/120 "2010-01-25T15:25:52Z")
> [@yellowval](#): > > …Not sure what I will pick up next, exactly. I need to go to the library today. I’m thinking something short. Pulitzer Prize-winning historian James McPherson’s new bio _Abraham Lincoln_ is just 65 pages - concise and interesting. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-10-edition/523210.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-10-edition/523210.md?page=7)