# Whatcha Readin' (June 09) Edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 31, 2009, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-09-edition/498254 "2009-05-31T11:25:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-09-edition/498254/141 "2009-06-27T04:32:02Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > I’m so fickle. I put down _Winter’s Tale_ in favor of _The Leather Maiden_. It’s turned out to be quite the nifty little thriller. I dumped it earlier because some of Lansdale’s similes annoyed me, but I was just being bitchy. A wise man once said “Read it – don’t grade it.” Lansdale is usually entertainingly bizzare and creepy. Just finished _The Bottoms_ myself, and it was well worth reading. I’m still hoping for more Hap and Leonard, though. ---
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-09-edition/498254/142 "2009-06-27T05:32:34Z")
I just finished Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff, and I am more than a little bit puzzled. I liked it, but I’m not sure I understood it. I just may re-read it right away. It moved along at a measured, sensible pace until about four-fifths of the way through when the author lit off the afterburners. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-09-edition/498254/143 "2009-06-27T14:05:25Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > I’m still hoping for more Hap and Leonard, though. Is [this Monday](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307270971/ref=ox_ya_oh_product) soon enough for ya? 😃 ETA: Oops! June 30 is Tuesday. ---
**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 27, 2009, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-09-edition/498254/144 "2009-06-27T14:26:49Z")
[A Rather Lovely Inheritance](http://www.amazon.com/Rather-Lovely-Inheritance-PENNY-NICHOLS/dp/0451220528/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1246112612&sr=8-1) by C.A. Belmond. and it’s sequel [A Rather Curious Engagement](http://www.amazon.com/A-Rather-Curious-Engagement/dp/B001AO0GBS/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_1). Enjoyable. Engaging. ---
**Author:** ![yellowval](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/919ad9/32.png) [@yellowval](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellowval)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-09-edition/498254/145 "2009-06-27T15:30:48Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I hope you like it as much as my wife and I and our respective bookclubs did! FYI, the movie is due out Aug. 14 and will star Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams. Here’s the trailer, which has some minor spoilers: [‎Movie Trailers - Apple TV](http://www.apple.com/trailers/newline/thetimetravelerswife/medium.html) Sweet! I love it when I have a movie to watch when I’m done reading. I’m going to make my husband take me to see it for our anniversary. I have also added _The Periodic Table_ to my list. Thanks, **Malthus**. I’ve been especially interested in the Holocaust ever since I visited Dachau as a teenager. It made quite an impression on me. ---
**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:** [June 27, 2009, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-09-edition/498254/146 "2009-06-27T16:40:41Z")
I finished _Tooth Fairy_, and am starting _Gone-Away World_ which Nancy Pearl highly recommends. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-09-edition/498254/147 "2009-06-27T20:08:10Z")
Finished _Norse Code_. This was a mediocre urban fantasy about Ragnarok. Valkyries prepare for Ragnarok by using DNA testing to select descendants of Odin to fight the good fight at the end of the world. A light read, but really nothing exceptional about it to recommend it. ---
**Author:** ![jacquilynne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/67e7ee/32.png) [@jacquilynne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jacquilynne)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2009, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-09-edition/498254/148 "2009-06-27T21:57:05Z")
My two bookclubs are reading Self by Yann Martel and The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde, so I’ve read those this month. I’m also reading Meeting Jimmie Rodgers, a very interesting music history book by Barry Mazor. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-09-edition/498254/149 "2009-06-28T02:36:11Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > Is [this Monday](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307270971/ref=ox_ya_oh_product) soon enough for ya? 😃 > > ETA: Oops! June 30 is Tuesday. Oh. My. :eek: 😃 … and it is off to preorder I go. Well, I owe ya one. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-09-edition/498254/150 "2009-06-28T04:33:50Z")
**Malthus** , you’re welcome. I preordered too. It’s been a long time since we had a new Hap and Leonard – 2001. I still can’t figure out why these books haven’t been filmed. They’d be awesome. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Ed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Just\_Ed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Ed)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-09-edition/498254/151 "2009-06-28T05:25:35Z")
Finished _The Strain_ and found it quite good, though disappointing in that it’s clearly the first book in a series. That is, the story comes to a conclusion of sorts, and it definitely sets up the characters and their histories well, but it just feels incomplete. Which of course it is, being the first part of a planned trilogy. Which I knew going in. Anyway. (This is why I usually avoid series, or at least only start when they’re all available.) Have since moved on to _A Dirty Job_ by Christopher Moore, who I think is one of the funniest writers I’ve ever read (I once referred to him as the “American Douglas Adams.”) ---
**Author:** ![Enterprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/76d3ee/32.png) [@Enterprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enterprise)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-09-edition/498254/152 "2009-06-28T12:15:10Z")
I got sidetracked once more. _His Majesty’s Dragon_ by Naomi Novik was very, very good. I had expected it to be more silly, but it was rather well though-out, although I generally do not like my books centered on the “best and the brightest” (which is why David Weber is slowly getting on my nerves with Honor Harrington), this was fair enough. I have the next two on order from Amazon, for summer reading. But the other stuff hasn’t really gotten anywhere. I read Theodore Judson’s _Fitzpatrick’s War_ over the past three or so days, and that was also an excellent read. Now I have started reading Reza Aslan’s _No god but God_, which promises to be fairly interesting as an addition to Christopher Hutchins’s _God is not Great_, which I got cheaply and read through quickly earlier this week. I have to say Hutchins’s book was better than Dawkins’s; but reading through Aslan makes one aware of the occasional interpretatoral quirk in Hutchins that seemed unnecessary. I’m still reading Henry Nash Smith’s _Virgin Land: The American West as Symbol and Myth_, and will probably start Richard Henry Dana’s _Two Years Before the Mast_ next. Apropos: _Israel Potter_ by Melville was deeply disappointing as literature, though interesting as far as the reason why I read it was concerned. Don’t start with it, if you start with Melville. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2009, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-09-edition/498254/153 "2009-06-28T16:06:10Z")
Last night I started _A Voice for Princess_ by John Morressey (sp?) – it’s fantasy and it’s very engaging and funny. It reads like a fairy tale for adults, and I’ve laughed out loud several times. I’m hoping it’s a series because I’ll want more about Kedrigern. Thanks to whoever recommended it. Not sure if it was here or somewhere else. ---
**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:** [June 28, 2009, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-09-edition/498254/154 "2009-06-28T16:24:29Z")
My book club just discussed (although most of us hadn’t finished) Mark Steyn’s _America Alone_, about the threat posed to Western Civilization by the booming Moslem birth rate and plummeting European, Japanese and Russian birth rates. The book was picked by one of our more conservative members and really, IMHO, overstated the extent of the crisis. Our next book (more of a novella) is Henry James’s 1903 _The Beast in the Jungle._ I’ve only read one other James work before, _The Turn of the Screw_, which I read for a college English Lit course. At the time I liked but didn’t love it. ---
**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:** [June 29, 2009, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-09-edition/498254/155 "2009-06-29T03:32:54Z")
> [@wonderlust](#): > > …am starting _Gone-Away World_ which Nancy Pearl highly recommends. Dear Og, I need a support-group to get through this book! I began it with patience, enthusiasm, and delight, but as a slowish reader, I fear I won’t gain enough momentum to get to the Big Twist that the reviews promise. Help, anyone? ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-09-edition/498254/156 "2009-06-29T04:51:58Z")
I couldn’t read The Sun Also Rises this time around. Switched over to Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-09-edition/498254/157 "2009-06-29T11:51:47Z")
> [@wonderlust](#): > > Dear Og, I need a support-group to get through this book! I began it with patience, enthusiasm, and delight, but as a slowish reader, I fear I won’t gain enough momentum to get to the Big Twist that the reviews promise. Help, anyone? I can’t help you. I really disliked the book. It tried too hard to be clever and didn’t have enough story to be good. In the end I was very disappointed. ---
**Author:** ![TheMerchandise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b487fb/32.png) [@TheMerchandise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMerchandise)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-09-edition/498254/158 "2009-06-29T14:03:32Z")
I finished \*The Strain \*and \*The Terror \*this weekend. I liked both books quite a bit, although I’m annoyed that _The Strain_ was left with so many open plot lines. The entire book seemed like just the background information we’ll need for the rest of the series. \*The Terror \*kept me reading chapter after chapter just to see how bad things could get for the characters. Very, very, very bad, apparently. This an exceptionally well-written, well-researched book, but incredibly bleak. Not a real complaint, but the ending struck me as strange. Now I’m planning on picking up something light and non-scary. ---
**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 29, 2009, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-09-edition/498254/159 "2009-06-29T14:26:06Z")
I found [Purity of Blood](http://www.amazon.com/Purity-Blood-Arturo-Perez-Reverte/dp/0452287987/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1246285440&sr=8-1) and it looks well researched and written. The cover art is what sucked me in and the Swashbuckling/Intrigue looks very, very yummy. Anyone else read this or the previous books by this author? ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-09-edition/498254/160 "2009-06-29T14:52:40Z")
> [@Shirley\_Ujest](#): > > I found [Purity of Blood](http://www.amazon.com/Purity-Blood-Arturo-Perez-Reverte/dp/0452287987/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1246285440&sr=8-1) and it looks well researched and written. The cover art is what sucked me in and the Swashbuckling/Intrigue looks very, very yummy. > Anyone else read this or the previous books by this author? Yes, and he’s excellent. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-09-edition/498254.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-09-edition/498254.md?page=9)