# Whatcha Readin' Jan 2011 Edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 31, 2010, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-2011-edition/565932 "2010-12-31T10:46:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-2011-edition/565932/1 "2010-12-31T10:46:58Z")
A wish of a happy and joyful new year - and some great new reads! Just finished Jim Butcher’s _Side Jobs_ a collection of short stories from Butcher’s Dresden Universe. Based on something I had read on the dope, I had feared that I might have already read most of the shorts. Luckily I was wrong, and only had read one before. It was a quick easy read and I enjoyed most of the shorts. It isn’t the same as a full-length novel, but the next one isn’t due until April… [December’s link.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=587468) Be safe tonight! ---
**Author:** ![DataZak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@DataZak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataZak)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-2011-edition/565932/2 "2010-12-31T13:23:24Z")
I’m gonna start the new year with King’s _Full Dark No Stars_. Not a mega fan but I’ve read some of his books and I think he’s best when he writes short stories or novellas. ---
**Author:** ![fusoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecccb3/32.png) [@fusoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fusoya)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-2011-edition/565932/3 "2010-12-31T14:46:23Z")
I’m pretty sure it’s still December, but I’m also pretty sure I’m not going to finish this book today: _A Devil To Play_ by Jasper Rees. It’s a year long memoir of a 40 year old British journalist who hasn’t touched his French Horn since he graduated from high school, and set a goal of re-learning the instrument and performing Mozart’s 3rd Horn Concerto in front of a live audience at the end of the year. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2010, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-2011-edition/565932/4 "2010-12-31T14:50:27Z")
Got home just before 9pm. We’ll watch the city fireworks from atop our 36-story building. Close to 10pm now. (We’re 7 hours ahead of GMT and this time of year 12 hours ahead of the US East Coast.) I’m almost halfway through _The Wings of the Dove_, by Henry James. It’s better, IMHO, than his _The Ambassadors_, so I would recommend reading this before that. I believe this one was written first but appeared a year after _The Ambassadors_. The language is still somewhat plodding. I am familiar with many authors of the same period, and they don’t do that, so I’m not sure why he felt he had to write like this. But I am enjoying this one. Although I did see the 1997 film version with Helena Bonham Carter, I don’t think that really helped, as that was so long ago. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-2011-edition/565932/5 "2011-01-01T19:59:13Z")
Well, I got a Nook e-reader for Christmas, and my hubby pre-loaded it with 628 books! This allows me to do something I _love_, which is to read a number of books at one time. Currently, I’m reading _Freakanomics_ (forget the authors names), Stephen Hawking’s _A Briefer History of Time_, George Carlin’s _Brain Droppings_, James Patterson’s _Along Came a Spider_, and am re-reading Stephen King’s _It_. Oh, I’m a happy camper! Oh, and when I’m not reading it, my 11YO is reading _Coraline_ and starting on the _Percy Jackson_ series. 🙂 ---
**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 1, 2011, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-2011-edition/565932/6 "2011-01-01T22:02:54Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > …I’m almost halfway through _The Wings of the Dove_, by Henry James. It’s better, IMHO, than his _The Ambassadors_, so I would recommend reading this before that. I believe this one was written first but appeared a year after _The Ambassadors_. The language is still somewhat plodding… Henry James takes his lumps in this thread: ["Reading Thomas Hardy is like eating a pillow." - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=530227) Still enjoying Susanna Clarke’s _Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell_, and almost done with the _Star Trek_ novel _Gods of Night_ by David Mack, which is all right (if only he didn’t have characters smirking every other page). ---
**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 1, 2011, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-2011-edition/565932/7 "2011-01-01T22:55:24Z")
Since the movie _The King’s Speech_ isn’t showing in my area yet (if ever) I’m reading up on George VI, with Sarah Bradford’s biography _The Reluctant King_. It’s very good, so far. I’m up to 1936, the year of three kings. I’m always shocked to read about how George V’s doctor hurried along the king’s death with morphine and cocaine so that the Proclamation of the new King could make the morning papers. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2011, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-2011-edition/565932/8 "2011-01-01T23:16:21Z")
I am just starting Scott Turow’s _Innocent_ (a sequel to _Presumed Innocent_) and just finishing _Miracle and Other Christmas Stories_ (a dandy collection of Christmas-themed short stories by the incomparable Connie Willis). ---
**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 2, 2011, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-2011-edition/565932/9 "2011-01-02T00:40:13Z")
Started two new books today: _Defiance of the Patriots: The Boston Tea Party and the Making of America_ by Benjamin L. Carp and _The World That Never Was: A True Story of Dreamers, Schemers, Anarchists, and Secret Agents_ by Alex Butterworth. Both Christmas gifts. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-2011-edition/565932/10 "2011-01-02T02:15:55Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Henry James takes his lumps in this thread: ["Reading Thomas Hardy is like eating a pillow." - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=530227) No doubt he cried all the way to the bank. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![SeldomSeen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@SeldomSeen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeldomSeen)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-2011-edition/565932/11 "2011-01-02T02:22:04Z")
Currently slogging through the blood, sh\*t & corruption of Patricia Cornwell’s _Blow Fly_. Not impressed. I more often read non-fiction but pulled this one off the shelf because I was bored. Think I need to make a trip to Barnes & Nobel. SS ---
**Author:** ![Alpine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpine/32/17813_2.png) [@Alpine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpine)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-2011-edition/565932/12 "2011-01-02T04:16:33Z")
Doing another run through Discworld. It’s been a while, and I’m enjoying it a great deal. Putting off Gary Taubes’ (author of _Good Calories, Bad Calories_) [new book](http://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Get-Fat-Borzoi/dp/0307272702/ref=pd_ys_iyr5), as I may become convinced (again) to change my lifestyle and I want one last weekend of relative gluttony. ---
**Author:** ![Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ian_D.Bergkamp)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-2011-edition/565932/13 "2011-01-02T15:34:11Z")
Yesterday, I started Keith Richards’ autobiography, _Life_. After a couple of chapters, my initial thought is that he really, really likes his lawyer. The writing style comes across as somewhat stream-of-consciousness, which isn’t really working for me, at least not in these early pages where he’s covering his childhood. I think (hope) it will fit better once I reach the parts about the Rolling Stones. ---
**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 2, 2011, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-2011-edition/565932/14 "2011-01-02T18:24:21Z")
Finished Bryson’s “Neither Here Nor There”, about his travels in Europe. Very funny stuff, especially if you’ve spent any time in the locations he’s describing. Started a book called “Yellow Dirt”, about how the government screwed over the Navajo in the search for uranium. ---
**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 2, 2011, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-2011-edition/565932/15 "2011-01-02T18:25:59Z")
> [@pinkfreud](#): > > I am just starting Scott Turow’s _Innocent_ (a sequel to _Presumed Innocent_)… I’ll be very interested to hear how you like it; _Presumed Innocent_ is one of my favorite legal thrillers. His nonfiction _Ultimate Punishment_, about wrestling with the pros and cons of the death penalty, is also excellent. ---
**Author:** ![Proudest\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/proudest_monkey/32/13257_2.png) [@Proudest\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Proudest_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2011, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-2011-edition/565932/16 "2011-01-02T23:44:37Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Finished Bryson’s “Neither Here Nor There”, about his travels in Europe. Very funny stuff, especially if you’ve spent any time in the locations he’s describing. I love Bryson. His \*\*A Short History of Everything \*\*is on my Amazon wish list. I never read anything by him I didn’t like, and a couple of books ( **A Walk in the Woods** and **In a Sunburned Country** ) I’ve read and reread and reread–they’re just that good. At present, I’m 2/3 of the way through John Grisham’s \*\*The Confession \*\*on my Kindle. I cried when they actually executed Donte Drumm \*\*Full Dark No Stars \*\*is next up. ---
**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 2, 2011, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-2011-edition/565932/17 "2011-01-02T23:52:06Z")
> [@Proudest\_Monkey](#): > > I love Bryson. His \*\*A Short History of Everything \*\*is on my Amazon wish list. I never read anything by him I didn’t like, and a couple of books ( **A Walk in the Woods** and **In a Sunburned Country** ) I’ve read and reread and reread–they’re just that good. > > At present, I’m 2/3 of the way through John Grisham’s \*\*The Confession \*\*on my Kindle. I cried when they actually executed Donte Drumm > > \*\*Full Dark No Stars \*\*is next up. “Short History” is brilliant. I also really like his new one, “At Home”. ---
**Author:** ![yanceylebeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yanceylebeef/32/12290_2.png) [@yanceylebeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yanceylebeef)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2011, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-2011-edition/565932/18 "2011-01-03T14:21:31Z")
I stumbled upon Neal Asher over the holidays, and am now comfortably ensconced in the Polity World he has built. Currently working my way through the Spatterjay series. I also got the Baroque Trilogy on my new kindle, so I’ll be re-reading that for a few weeks at least. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2011, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-2011-edition/565932/19 "2011-01-03T22:44:46Z")
Finished _Black Dust Mambo_ a very mediocre urban fantasy. Kallie Riviere is a hoodoo apprentice who wakes up to find that her last night’s lover has been killed by a hex. The book follows her adventure in tracking down the killer. The dialog was poor, the magic was silly: _Heart beat heart beat, keep the blood flowing neat. Death needs to be cheated, for this man is needed. Heart beat heart beat, keep the blood flowing neat._ This next part isn’t a major spoiler, but I’ll spoiler it anyway. It was one of the more stupid moments in the book. At one point a homosexual man is killed and he inhabits another man’s body (a “Vessel”) The man is so turned on by his new body he takes some time to fantasize about it and masturbate in his new body. I won’t be reading the next installment. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2011, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-2011-edition/565932/20 "2011-01-03T23:05:10Z")
Just finished Lev Grossman’s “The Magicians”. It was a well-written interesting take on the “Harry Potter” magician’s school, and yet it somehow sucked all the fun out of magic. I guess the main problem is that the protagonist is a whiny, drunk, useless, aimless emo bitch for most of the book. Every time his heart’s desire is granted, it’s not good enough for him (which I guess is sort of the point of the book, but man, it made reading it a drag). The other thing that sort of irritated me is that although the main character is a hot shot genius who has spent years tediously perfecting his art, he doesn’t seem to use magic very much at all, and it’s rarely his go-to option when things turn all pear-shaped. Currently reading “Blackout” by Connie Willis. It’s a curious alternate history, because apparently cell phones have not been invented, or are for some reason forgotten. Half of the muddling that the characters do (in the “present”) would be resolved if they had text messaging. The best part of Blackout (as in all of CW books) is the little tidbits of fascinating historical minutia that she scatters throughout the book. She does have this giant author-crush on St. Paul’s Cathedral and the London Blitz, though. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-jan-2011-edition/565932.md?page=2)