# Whatcha Readin' (July 09) Edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 30, 2009, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-july-09-edition/501467 "2009-06-30T13:36:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![TheMerchandise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b487fb/32.png) [@TheMerchandise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMerchandise)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2009, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-july-09-edition/501467/101 "2009-07-14T16:53:29Z")
> [@wonderlust](#): > > I had a great time reading that book. I hope you like it. I finished it last night and I liked it a lot! I found Richard fairly repulsive as a person, but compelling as a character. Most of the happenings on the beach were directly related to his actions. And it wasn’t even his madness that caused them… it was the fact that he was a stupid twit. I’m now curious about the movie, in spite of myself. I hear from everyone I know that it’s the worst thing ever, but still… how bad can it be really? ---
**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:** [July 14, 2009, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-july-09-edition/501467/102 "2009-07-14T17:06:51Z")
Just finished Charles Stross’s _Saturn’s Children_, a pretty good sf novel about a courtesan on the run from her enemies in a neofeudal robot society after the mysterious extinction of humanity. Stross gives the reader an interesting travelogue across the Solar System (from a cloud city on Venus to a railroad city on Mercury, to the Egyptian-style tomb of astronauts on Mars, then far on out to the bioengineered asteroid Eris, beyond the orbit of Pluto). He also has an intriguing, offbeat but entirely credible take on Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics. Now I’m reading Stephen King’s essay on Little League baseball, “Head Down,” and rereading Tolkien’s _The Silmarillion_ (just got to the part about Morgoth’s and Ungoliant’s treacherous attacks on the Two Trees). ---
**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:** [July 14, 2009, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-july-09-edition/501467/103 "2009-07-14T19:41:39Z")
Forgot to say, I recently also finished Henry James’s novella _The Beast in the Jungle_ for my bookclub, and thought it sucked. I’d read _The Turn of the Screw_ in college and liked but didn’t love it. _Beast_ seemed to just be an excuse for James to string together a lot of very long, ornate sentences that didn’t say much of anything, as an obtuse, self-absorbed man failed to realize that the love of his life was standing right in front of him. Grrrrr. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2009, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-july-09-edition/501467/104 "2009-07-14T22:40:18Z")
Various: _Ten Little Indians_ by Agatha Christie _Foundation_ by Isaac Asimov _Macbeth_ by William Shakespeare ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2009, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-july-09-edition/501467/105 "2009-07-14T22:53:17Z")
Just finished _The Lost City of Z_ which was very interesting I thought - H. Rider Haggard! Madame Blavatsky! Lost civilzations! The latest in Amazonian archaeology! A famous disappearance! - but I’d have liked more information on the archaeology. Is it the case that every single eccentric of the late 19th early 20th centuries was ‘into’ Theosophy and spiritualism? Sometimes it seems so. A definite must-read for anyone interested in the tragic tale of a real-life “Indiana Jones” character. Complete with maggot infestations. > **[The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon: Grann, David:...](https://www.amazon.ca/Lost-City-Deadly-Obsession-Amazon/dp/0385513534)** > > The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon: Grann, David: 9780385513531: Books - Amazon.ca ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-july-09-edition/501467/106 "2009-07-15T00:29:17Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > Just finished _The Lost City of Z_ which was very interesting I thought - H. Rider Haggard! Madame Blavatsky! Lost civilzations! The latest in Amazonian archaeology! A famous disappearance! - but I’d have liked more information on the archaeology. Oh, that’s been languishing on my list for a while, based on your comments I will bump it up. It seems like a fascinating story. Just finished a few … there was a recent thread on the SDMB about weird/unusual collections, and **DMark** mentioned that he used to collect books that referenced _The Catcher In The Rye_ on the cover (like when the blurb says “A _Catcher In The Rye_ for our times” … or whatever). So right after reading that thread, I went to the library and saw a book that is allegedly “An Asian-American _Catcher In The Rye_” and of course, I had to get it. ANYWAY, the title is _Waylaid_, and it’s an interesting premise … 12 year old kid living with his parents in a down-and-out shore town in New Jersey where they own and operate a seedy hotel, and all of his ideas about women/girls, dating, love and sex are formed from the porn he finds while cleaning out the rooms. Somehow though, it doesn’t ever quite come together as a book. So eh, overall. I also read _Backtracked_, a kid’s time travel book. It was very earnest. Young teen accidentally enters a time portal in the New York City subway, and finds himself experiencing life in NYC during the turn of the century, the Great Depression, and WWII. Kids who like time travel stories would most likely enjoy this … it’s not really outstanding writing but it’s perfectly serviceable. ---
**Author:** ![Ruffian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71e660/32.png) [@Ruffian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruffian)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-july-09-edition/501467/107 "2009-07-15T01:24:51Z")
I’m actually reading _Tales from Watership Down_. I saw it at a garage sale, and was stunned–I had no idea there was a sequel, so I picked it up for a quarter. I was bummed to find it’s a collection of short stories and tales rather than a true sequel, but it’s fun to return to Bigwig, Fiver, and El-ahrairah once more. I’m amazed at myself that 15 years (if not more like 20) since I’ve read the original, I still remember a lot of the rabbit vocabulary. I’m constantly stunned at Richard Adams’s powerful imagination to come up with all this…wowzers. He came up with these ideas telling stories to his daughters to entertain them on long road trips. Geez–who needed a DVD player and an Ipod when he’s got _those_ tales to tell? That’s way cooler than the 19 hours of Willie Nelson I had to tolerate on **our** road trips. ---
**Author:** ![PeacePlease](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/71c47a/32.png) [@PeacePlease](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PeacePlease)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-july-09-edition/501467/108 "2009-07-15T05:34:15Z")
Still unemployed and still reading…a lot!!! Let’s see: **Sellevision** by Augusten Buroughs Good book. Funny and I enjoyed it. Very fast read. This was his first piece of fiction. **In the Time of Butterflies** by Julia Alvarez Non-fiction about the regime of Trujillo in the Dominican Republic circa 1930 -1960. New information for me but I wasn’t crazy about how the book was written. I felt there was a TON of information that could have been shared and wasn’t. It seemed like she was trying to hard to be emotive (didn’t work) and I wanted more of the historical details. **Perfect Match** by Jodi Picoult Don’t blame me. Mom gave it to me to read. Hated it. But then I haven’t liked a book by Ms. Picoult since My Sister’s Keeper, which I loathed. **Fall on your Knees** by Ann-Marie MacDonald This was an Oprah pick and I didn’t like it. I figure if I finish a book and can’t tell you anything about it, it probably wasn’t something I enjoyed. Story of a family is about all I can remember! **Sarah** by Marek Halter About the Sarah from the Bible. Kind of a prequel to what happens in the Bible. It was okay but I wish the author would have included the whole story instead of stopping and wrapping it up with an epilogue summarizing what occurs to the family in the Bible. **Five Quarters of the Orange** and **Holy Fools** by Joanne Harris Both were good. Holy Fools was kind of over the top and Five Quarters was better but with very hateful characters! I’m in need of books again! I’ve actually decided to put some of the books that I don’t need to keep on eBay for sale and see what happens (I have soooooo many). Maybe I can sell enough to buy more. Or there’s always the library. But I really do like OWNING the books. What can I say? ---
**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:** [July 15, 2009, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-july-09-edition/501467/109 "2009-07-15T12:32:25Z")
I’m skimming through a book about social anxiety disorder, which I may not finish so won’t bother to document. _reserves Lost City of Z_ 21st in line! ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-july-09-edition/501467/110 "2009-07-15T12:52:11Z")
Oh, **PeacePlease** , I loved both \*Five Quarters \*and _Holy Fools_. \*Five Quarters \*especially as I am a migraine sufferer and I could identify with that poor woman. Have you read _Gentlemen and Players_? It my very favorite of all Harris’ books! ---
**Author:** ![wonderlust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonderlust/32/7237_2.png) [@wonderlust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonderlust)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-july-09-edition/501467/111 "2009-07-15T18:49:31Z")
I appreciate the reminder to read the many Harris books on my shelves, which are languishing next to the unread Alice Hoffman books. I love Charles Stross for his mind-boggling ideas, but so far he’s not a great storyteller. Has he improved in **Saturn’s Children** yet? It’s on my shelves. ---
**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:** [July 15, 2009, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-july-09-edition/501467/112 "2009-07-15T19:16:23Z")
I liked it overall, as I said, but I’d agree that he has better ideas than storytelling skills. I haven’t read any of his other books, and can’t say I’m eager to run out and get any of them, but I’d give _Saturn’s Children_ a solid B. ---
**Author:** ![PeacePlease](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/71c47a/32.png) [@PeacePlease](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PeacePlease)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-july-09-edition/501467/113 "2009-07-15T22:42:21Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > Oh, **PeacePlease** , I loved both \*Five Quarters \*and _Holy Fools_. \*Five Quarters \*especially as I am a migraine sufferer and I could identify with that poor woman. Have you read _Gentlemen and Players_? It my very favorite of all Harris’ books! That is the one that got me started on a Harris kick!!! I really liked it even though I’d figured out what was up. There’s something about her writing that I enjoy very much. I’ve got the following books coming from Amazon any day now: [ul] [li] **Raven: The Untold Story of the Rev. Jim Jones and His People** (which I believe was recommended here!)[/li] [li] **A Dirty Job** by Christopher Moore: I’ve only read two of his other books but I enjoyed them and I had a gift certificate at Amazon. (Is there anything better than someone giving you a gift certificate for books? But I digress…)[/li] [li] **Skeletons at the Feast** by Chris Bohjalian[/li] [li] **Silent In The Grave** by Deanna Raybourn[/li] [li] **Portnoy’s Complaint** by Philip Roth (which was highly recommended by a friend)[/li][/ul] BOOKS. I LOVE BOOKS. ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-july-09-edition/501467/114 "2009-07-15T23:57:56Z")
[quote=“PeacePlease, post:113, topic:501467”] [li] **A Dirty Job** by Christopher Moore: I’ve only read two of his other books but I enjoyed them and I had a gift certificate at Amazon. [/li][/quote] I just read this a few months ago, and loved it. > [@](#): > > (Is there anything better than someone giving you a gift certificate for books? Nope. Nothing better. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![PeacePlease](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/71c47a/32.png) [@PeacePlease](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PeacePlease)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-july-09-edition/501467/115 "2009-07-16T00:27:58Z")
> [@BiblioCat](#): > > I just read this a few months ago, and loved it. Off topic cute story: I use reusable shopping bags when I shop and I was at my local drugstore with one that I had purchased from Barnes and Noble. It’s a nice one because it fits over the shoulder and is large heavy weight canvas. The guy at the register commented on the bag because he’d formerly worked at Barnes and Noble and said he’d ‘discovered’ his favorite author there. I asked who that would be and he said Christopher Moore. Well, I had JUST finished Lamb and thought it was very good. When I asked which novel of Moore’s was his favorite he said “Dirty Jobs” without hesitation. So…can’t wait!!! And as your user name suggests, I know you can appreciate a good book!!! ---
**Author:** ![wonderlust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonderlust/32/7237_2.png) [@wonderlust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonderlust)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-july-09-edition/501467/116 "2009-07-16T00:44:38Z")
Christopher Moore rocks! I live in California and many of his books are set here – all the more enjoyable! ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-july-09-edition/501467/117 "2009-07-16T01:15:52Z")
> [@PeacePlease](#): > > I asked who that would be and he said Christopher Moore. Well, I had JUST finished Lamb and thought it was very good. When I asked which novel of Moore’s was his favorite he said “Dirty Jobs” without hesitation. So…can’t wait!!! > > And as your user name suggests, I know you can appreciate a good book!!! I’ve only read three Moore books (_Lamb, Lust Lizard and A Dirty Job), but I definitely need to read more Moore. I have Fluke_, but haven’t read it yet. I think I liked \*Lamb \*the best. ---
**Author:** ![PeacePlease](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/71c47a/32.png) [@PeacePlease](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PeacePlease)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-july-09-edition/501467/118 "2009-07-16T02:39:15Z")
> [@BiblioCat](#): > > I definitely need to read more Moore Also known as just plain old more more!!! I downloaded Fluke from my library but I just cannot read novels on screen. I have to have the book. At least I know that I’ll never need a Kindle! ---
**Author:** ![wonderlust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonderlust/32/7237_2.png) [@wonderlust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonderlust)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-july-09-edition/501467/119 "2009-07-16T05:12:30Z")
Fluke is my favorite by Moore. ---
**Author:** ![Enterprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/76d3ee/32.png) [@Enterprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enterprise)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2009, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-july-09-edition/501467/120 "2009-07-16T05:41:42Z")
I’ve just finished Denis Johnson’s _Tree of Smoke_, his 2007 National Book Award-winning Vietnam novel. I’m unimpressed, but then I was unimpressed by his short stories _Jesus’ Son_, and picked this up to give him a second chance and because of the blurbs. Be careful: it’s nothing like _Catch-22_, and does not read like a co-operation between Heller and DeLillo. Otherwise, it was an okay, but not great read, rather meandering and pointless during much of the run; and one can really overdo the verisimilitude of dialogue, especially when the occasional page will contain nothing but “you suck, fucker” in various incarnations. Next up: James Fenimore Cooper’s _The Pilot_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-july-09-edition/501467.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-july-09-edition/501467.md?page=7)