# Whatcha readin' June (08) edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 28, 2008, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-08-edition/450936 "2008-05-28T21:12:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2008, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-08-edition/450936/101 "2008-06-19T21:28:52Z")
[QUOTE=Sigmagirl] Finished. Christ, why didn’t somebody stop me? [/QUOTE] I thought about it, but I haven’t read the book myself. The reviews were all pretty bad. Hell, I didn’t like Cornwell back when she was supposed to be good. I was worried that you’d come back and say you thought it was great. I’d have had to scratch you off my list of Dopers Whose Book Recommendations Can Be Trusted. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2008, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-08-edition/450936/102 "2008-06-19T21:41:56Z")
And that would plunge me into the Valley of Despair. No, take it from me, it’s Shite. I’m so grateful to myself I got it from the library instead of buying it. I can’t return it fast enough: I may have to make a special trip just to ditch it. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2008, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-08-edition/450936/103 "2008-06-19T22:51:34Z")
Finished _Of Mice and Men_ today. Picked up _The Blue Castle_ at the library. When I’m done with that, I’m going to find _Ladies of Missalonghi_ to compare-n-contrast. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-08-edition/450936/104 "2008-06-21T20:57:47Z")
I’ve finished _A Thread of Grace_ by Mary Doria Russell. Break my heart, will ya! I looked at some reviews at Amazon. There were a few 1 and 2 star reviews, which surprised me. Readers find the damnedest things to bitch about. “Too many characters! I couldn’t keep them straight!” And one who complained that a major character was introduced toward the end of the book, which didn’t happen. If you think Simon the British paratrooper was a major character, you weren’t paying attention. Started _The Story of Edgar Sawtelle_ and I think it’s quite good. A bit more “literary” than I expected, but it’s not the annoying kind of literary – more the “author pays attention to words and their meanings” literary. ---
**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:** [June 21, 2008, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-08-edition/450936/105 "2008-06-21T23:29:05Z")
[QUOTE=AuntiePam] I’ve finished _A Thread of Grace_ by Mary Doria Russell. Break my heart, will ya! [/QUOTE] I’m about 1/3 of the way through it. Most of these people are going to die, aren’t they? I’m fretting about it already, and my husband is saying, “So why, again, are you reading the Holocaust book?” ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2008, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-08-edition/450936/106 "2008-06-21T23:46:03Z")
Your husband is wise. I asked myself that same question every time I picked up the book. I hate to use the word (it’s so Oprah), but it really is an uplifting story. I wasn’t sorry I read it, and will probably read it again. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2008, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-08-edition/450936/107 "2008-06-22T09:49:22Z")
I finished Solomon’s Jar, the second in the Rogue Angel series. It wasn’t bad. A little action, a little mysticism. Kind of a female Indiana Jones. I guess it will be my filler series, for when I have nothing else. Was going to go for something a little more deep, but picked up Soon I Will Be Invincible. I have had my eye on it for a while, but was reluctant because of just how terrible the similar-themed book Those Who Walk In Darkness is. So far it has caught me and I think I will enjoy it. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2008, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-08-edition/450936/108 "2008-06-22T20:13:11Z")
Finished \*Life’s Little Annoyances: True Tales of People Who Just Can’t Take It Anymore \* by Ian Urbina; then read \*This Common Secret: My Journey as an Abortion Doctor \* by Susan Wicklund; just finished \*Trail of Crumbs: Hunger, Love, and the Search for Home \* by Kim Sunee (whine, whine, whine). Next up, _Oxygen_ by Carol Cassella. Haven’t cracked the cover yet. ---
**Author:** ![PastAllReason](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f07891/32.png) [@PastAllReason](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastAllReason)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2008, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-08-edition/450936/109 "2008-06-23T03:08:24Z")
Finished the book on the Mitford sisters. I’m now 2/3 of the way through [Looking for Anne: How Lucy Maud Montgomery Dreamed Up a Literary Classic](http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/1552639851?ie=UTF8&tag=httpwwwgoodco-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1552639851&SubscriptionId=1MGPYB6YW3HWK55XCGG2) by Irene Gammel. It is newly published. So far it is a very thorough examination of the influences in Montgomery’s creation of Anne and other major characters along with the physical settings. It even contains photographs of the young female model who influenced Montgomery’s physical description of Anne, along with the story of what became of the model. That, in and of itself, is interesting. ---
**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:** [June 23, 2008, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-08-edition/450936/110 "2008-06-23T12:43:09Z")
[QUOTE=Eleanor of Aquitaine] I’m about 1/3 of the way through it. Most of these people are going to die, aren’t they? I’m fretting about it already, and my husband is saying, “So why, again, are you reading the Holocaust book?” [/QUOTE] I had to cry a little when I finished The Book Thief the other night, and then I laughed at myself for thinking a book set during the Holocaust could turn out any other way. Saturday I started to read Final Exits: the illustrated encyclopedia of how we die, by Michael Largo. At first, I was really liking it and reading bits of it aloud to my husband. After a short time, the frequent typos started to get on my nerves. Then I ran across a sentence which stated that cruise ship companies literally bend over backwards to please their customers. When I got to the part about the people of Jonestown drinking Kool-Aid, I was all out of patience and had to say fuck it. It was a good book idea, and for a while I could read with a grain of salt, but if no one cared enough about this book to get this shit right, I don’t care about it either. I’m currently reading the last of the Garnethill trilogy, Resolution by Denise Mina. So far, this is the best of them, because it’s less about the crime-solving and more about the problems in Maureen’s life, which I find more interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Atrael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Atrael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atrael)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-08-edition/450936/111 "2008-06-24T14:38:33Z")
[QUOTE=Khadaji] I finished Solomon’s Jar, the second in the Rogue Angel series. It wasn’t bad. A little action, a little mysticism. Kind of a female Indiana Jones. I guess it will be my filler series, for when I have nothing else. Was going to go for something a little more deep, but picked up Soon I Will Be Invincible. I have had my eye on it for a while, but was reluctant because of just how terrible the similar-themed book Those Who Walk In Darkness is. So far it has caught me and I think I will enjoy it. [/QUOTE] I liked _Soon I Will Be Invincible_. Wasn’t what I was expecting at all. And the Rogue Angel books are very hit or miss. Some are ok, some are blah. The last two were just awful. I’m on the third book of the _Lost Fleet_ series. I somehow left _Armed and Magical_ behind when I went on vacation, so had to start re-reading the other series instead. ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-08-edition/450936/112 "2008-06-24T15:06:59Z")
I’m reading [The Eternity Artifact](http://www.travelinlibrarian.info/recluce/sf/eternityartifact.html) by L. E. Modesitt, Jr. despite warnings from a coworker. I’m enjoying so far. I’m also reading "[Howard’s End](http://www.online-literature.com/forster/howards_end/) by Forster just because I feel I should. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-08-edition/450936/113 "2008-06-24T17:32:52Z")
I’m currently reading _The Twelve Caesars_ by Suetonius, translated by Graves. Ah, two-thousand-year-old gossip. Good stuff. ---
**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:** [June 24, 2008, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-08-edition/450936/114 "2008-06-24T17:43:22Z")
[QUOTE=SpazCat] I’m currently reading _The Twelve Caesars_ by Suetonius, translated by Graves. Ah, two-thousand-year-old gossip. Good stuff. [/QUOTE] Is that Robert Graves by chance? If so, his _Claudius the God_ is next up in my queue after I finish my current read. (Read \*I, Claudius \* a few years ago.) ---
**Author:** ![Atrael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Atrael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atrael)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-08-edition/450936/115 "2008-06-24T18:46:16Z")
[QUOTE=jali] I’m reading [The Eternity Artifact](http://www.travelinlibrarian.info/recluce/sf/eternityartifact.html) by L. E. Modesitt, Jr. despite warnings from a coworker. I’m enjoying so far. [/QUOTE] That was a…strange…book. I liked it, but can’t re-read it. Which is unusual for me. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-08-edition/450936/116 "2008-06-24T22:45:58Z")
Thanks to **Delphica** , I’m reading _March_ by Geraldine Brooks. It won the Pulitzer in 2006. “March” is Mr. March of _Little Women_, which I’ve never read but it doesn’t matter. It could be the story of any man. Well, any man who’s inflinchingly honest about his shortcomings – there aren’t enough of those! I can see why some _Little Women_ fans might be unhappy with it though. That’s my outdoor book. Indoors I’m still reading _The Story of Edgar Sawtelle_ by somebody Wrobleski (sp?). It’s a coming of age story set in the 1950’s and later, about a mute boy in a close-knit family that breeds dogs. Apparently it’s like Hamlet. News to me, I don’t know **any** Shakespeare. Some of the Amazon reviewers complain about the abundant detail but I love it. I can feel the snow and the cold and see the dogs’ breath – it’s like I’m in Edgar’s skin. Back to The Baroque Cycle eventually. ---
**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:** [June 24, 2008, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-08-edition/450936/117 "2008-06-24T22:52:38Z")
finished Julian Barnes’ _Staring at the Sun_. Don’t bother. It starts out as a quirky and interesting character study and goes nowhere. The last section contains a lot of philosophical blather which is inferior to even the worst threads in GD. It does have an interesting idea of what the internet might have become. (It was written in 1983) I’m starting _Player of Games_ by Iain M. Banks. Good so far but I’m really only a few pages in. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2008, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-08-edition/450936/118 "2008-06-24T22:52:42Z")
I just finished \*Letter to a Christian Nation \* and am on the home stretch of _God is not Great_. Then I need to get back to Philip Roth’s _I Married a Communist._ ---
**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:** [June 25, 2008, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-08-edition/450936/119 "2008-06-25T12:03:08Z")
Currently reading The Horror in the Museum, which is a collection of stories either collaborated on or other people’s work heavily revised by H.P. Lovecraft. Meh. The two I’ve read so far are more like story fragments. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2008, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-08-edition/450936/120 "2008-06-25T12:11:14Z")
I picked up from the library [Parenting beyond beleif.](http://www.amazon.com/Parenting-Beyond-Belief-Raising-Religion/dp/0814474268/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214395751&sr=1-1) a resource for parents who wish to raise their children without religion. So far, I am liking it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-08-edition/450936.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-08-edition/450936.md?page=7)