# 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:** 16\ **Page:** 7
**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:** [January 25, 2010, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-10-edition/523210/121 "2010-01-25T16:15:03Z")
Finished _Under the Dome_ by Stephen King and am now about a third of the way through _Half the Sky_, by Nicholas Kristoff. What a horrifying book about the abuses perpetrated on women worldwide. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-10-edition/523210/122 "2010-01-25T16:17:46Z")
_Labor Day_ by Joyce Maynard, about a 13-year-old boy and his mother in mid-'80s New Hampshire, who help an escaped prisoner and he changes their life. I’m only on Page 26 so I don’t know whether it’s for the good or for the bad. Told from the boy’s perspective and I’m liking it so far. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-10-edition/523210/123 "2010-01-25T16:43:43Z")
I’ve been bored this week so I’ve been rereading old SF: _Falling Free_ by Lois McMaster Bujold, _All My Sins Remembered_ by Joe Haldeman, _Darwinia_ by Robert Charles Wilson, and _My Name is Legion_ by Roger Zelazny. (I was at a Goodwill store last week that had a nice selection of cheap books.) But I’ve broken that streak and just started _Once an Eagle_ by Anton Myrer. ---
**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, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-10-edition/523210/124 "2010-01-25T17:07:23Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Pulitzer Prize-winning historian James McPherson’s new bio _Abraham Lincoln_ is just 65 pages - concise and interesting. My library didn’t have this (it’s a very small library and doesn’t get many new releases). It sounds interesting, though, so I’ll check back to see if one of the other libraries in the system has it. I went with “The 19th Wife,” by David Ebershoff, which has been on my list for a while. It’s a novel that goes back and forth between one of the wives of Brigham Young and modern-day polygamists. I’m also starting “A Kiss Before Dying” by Ira Levin. ---
**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, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-10-edition/523210/125 "2010-01-25T19:11:39Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I’ve been bored this week so I’ve been rereading old SF: … _All My Sins Remembered_ by Joe Haldeman… This is a great, great book. One of my all-time Haldeman favorites, along with _The Forever War_ and _Tool of the Trade_. If you haven’t already, check out his 2006 short story collection, _A Separate War and Other Stories_. The title story is told from Marygay’s POV in the last years of the Forever War; the short story “For White Hill” in that collection is also superb. ---
**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:** [January 25, 2010, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-10-edition/523210/126 "2010-01-25T20:02:13Z")
Finished Dog Eat Dog, by Jerry Jay Carroll. Okay, but not as good as the first. Now I’m on to The Intellectual Devotional : revive your mind, complete your education, and roam confidently with the cultured class, by David Kidder. Someone around here mentioned they got it for Christmas. It’s a page-a-day sort of thing, each day being a few paragraphs on a different subject. It is organized so that each day of the week is devoted to a certain category. Early on, I gave myself permission to skip all the Music pages, as the topic is completely impenetrable to me. I’ve been thinking about giving myself a pass on Philosophy as well. However, this morning as I was reading the boards, I caught a reference **Northern Piper** made to Plato, which a couple of days ago would have sailed right over my head, so maybe all this edumacation is doing me some good! I’m taking a break from time to time with Our Front Pages : 21 years of greatness, virtue, and moral rectitude from America’s finest news source (The Onion). I also just started a new audiobook, The Help, by Kathyrn Stockett. It seems really, really good so far, which is nice, since it took my husband about two days to download it to my iTouch. The iTouch is a nice toy, but after watching my computer-programming husband go through such difficulties just to get an audiobook downloaded from the library, I think it’s actually increasing my technophobia. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-10-edition/523210/127 "2010-01-25T20:22:12Z")
> [@yellowval](#): > > I went with “The 19th Wife,” by David Ebershoff, which has been on my list for a while. It’s a novel that goes back and forth between one of the wives of Brigham Young and modern-day polygamists. I read that a couple of months ago, and thought it was pretty good. ---
**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, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-10-edition/523210/128 "2010-01-25T20:50:38Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > I read that a couple of months ago, and thought it was pretty good. I’ve been interested in the subject of polygamy since I started watching Big Love on HBO, but I’ve never read any books on it. While I was at the library checking it out, someone noticed it and recommended “Under the Banner of Heaven” by Jon Krakauer. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-10-edition/523210/129 "2010-01-25T21:23:02Z")
Back in a previous incarnation, I used to teach Religion in America. A lot of what was going on in the 19th century was a series of religio-socio-econo-cultural experiments, many of them involving variations on different kinds of marriage. Interesting stuff. ---
**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, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-10-edition/523210/130 "2010-01-25T21:25:40Z")
> [@yellowval](#): > > I’ve been interested in the subject of polygamy since I started watching Big Love on HBO, but I’ve never read any books on it. While I was at the library checking it out, someone noticed it and recommended “Under the Banner of Heaven” by Jon Krakauer. I also would recommend Krakauer’s book - a good, pungent critique of both historical and contemporary Mormon fundamentalism. **Dung Beetle** , my wife’s book club read _The Help_ and they all really liked it. ---
**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:** [January 26, 2010, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-10-edition/523210/131 "2010-01-26T13:27:57Z")
Last night I read my teenagers a bedtime story: Edward Gorey’s Gashlycrumb Tinies. We are all sorry to have missed it when we were young enough to be properly warped, but my daughter says she plans to inflict it on her own children. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-10-edition/523210/132 "2010-01-26T18:34:13Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > _Labor Day_ by Joyce Maynard, about a 13-year-old boy and his mother in mid-'80s New Hampshire, who help an escaped prisoner and he changes their life. I’m only on Page 26 so I don’t know whether it’s for the good or for the bad. Told from the boy’s perspective and I’m liking it so far. Done. Pretty good if slightly fanciful. ---
**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:** [January 28, 2010, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-10-edition/523210/133 "2010-01-28T16:30:28Z")
I just finished **Music Criticisms** by [Eduard Hanslick](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eduard_Hanslick), translated by [Henry Pleasants](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Pleasants_(music_critic)), who obviously identified himself closely with Hanslick. It was fascinating to get an eye-witness report about works that are now firmly established in the repertoire. I can’t say how it would read for the non-musician/non-historian, but I loved it. To the best of my knowledge, this is the only collection (spanning 1846 - 1899) of Hanslick’s critical writings that has been translated into English, which is too bad. My German is way too slow to make it a feasible project for me to read much further. It was also fascinating to see how the role of a critic has evolved. Hanslick played through the score as often as possible, saw rehearsals and even dress rehearsal if possible and was under no obligation to turn in a review by the next morning, so that his judgement was carefully considered. It’s difficult to imagine in the context of what today’s critics have to go through. It’s also interesting because poor Hanslick is now seen to be on the wrong side of history - Wagner in particular, but also Berlioz, Liszt, Richard Strauss, Bruckner et al are all part of the standard repertoire. Among my favourite moments - the review of Brahms (from his first visit to Vienna in 1862; Hanslick was enthusiastic about Brahms the composer, less so about Brahms the pianist - > [@](#): > > “Brahms appeared to be in especially good form. By that I do not mean to say that every passage was ultimately immaculate or that in every leap he hit the mark unerringly. His technique is like a big, strong man, negligent in attire and given to loitering. He has too many more important things in his head and heart to be constantly concerned with his external personal appearance. But his playing is always compelling and convincing.” The review of the premiere of Schubert’s Eighth Symphony, the ‘Unfinished’, in 1865, was interesting for both the review and for the brief comment on the state of Schubert’s works at the time - Schubert died in 1828 and this symphony had only just come to light… > [@](#): > > “Among the so-called ‘Friends of Schubert’ par excellence, one can distinguish two characteristic groups: the grasshoppers and the squirrels; or, to put it in terms of physics, the centrifugals and the centripetas. The first calmly let Schubert’s manuscripts be scattered to the winds; they know about some opera or symphony (they watched its creation!), but they are not disturbed when these treasures fall for a few florins to an American collector or, still cheaper, to a cheesemonger. The squirrels, or centripetals, having managed to get hold of two or three jewels of Schubertiana, keep them locked in a trunk and take the key to bed with them; whether this is out of friendship for the deceased or contempt for the living is immaterial.” > > “When, after the few introductory measures, clarinet and oboe in unison began their gentle cantilena above the calm murmur of the violins, every child recognized the composer, and a muffled ‘Schubert’ was whispered in the audience. He had hardly entered, but it seemed that one recognized him by his step, by his way of opening the door. And when, after this nostalgic cantilena in the minor, there followed the contrasting G major theme ~ every heart rejoiced, as if, after a long separation, the composer himself were among us in person. The whole movement is a melodic stream so crystal clear, despite its force and genius, that one can see every pebble on the bottom. And everywhere the same warmth, the same bright, life-giving sunshine!” They don’t write reviews like that anymore; and what a delight to follow the course of musical history through the reports of such an eloquent eye witness. Even when I disagreed with his assessment, the depth of his analysis and the clarity with which he expressed his point of view made me respect him. Highly recommended. And now, on to **The Service** , Paul Quarrington’s first book, and the only one I haven’t already read. ---
**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 31, 2010, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-10-edition/523210/134 "2010-01-31T23:00:56Z")
Just read two books on a noted British engraver, sculptor and font craftsman of the early 20th century, _Eric Gill: The Engravings_ (1990) and _The Engraved Work of Eric Gill_ (1963). He was a very talented guy with a very weird private life (his diaries are filled with cheery admissions of incest with his sister and daughters, as well as bestiality, although he was an ardent late-in-life Catholic). He had several famous friends, including the economist John Maynard Keynes, for whom he carved a picture of a couple having sex, with the engraved title, “Votes for Women.” She was on top, after all. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2010, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-10-edition/523210/135 "2010-01-31T23:13:23Z")
[February’s thread.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=12060459#post12060459) ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-10-edition/523210/136 "2010-02-01T00:32:27Z")
> [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](#): > > They don’t write reviews like that anymore; and what a delight to follow the course of musical history through the reports of such an eloquent eye witness. Even when I disagreed with his assessment, the depth of his analysis and the clarity with which he expressed his point of view made me respect him. Highly recommended. It also makes one want to hear the music. I don’t know whether to budget for the book or for some Schubert! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-10-edition/523210.md?page=6)