# Whatcha Readin' June 2010 Edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 31, 2010, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-2010-edition/541366 "2010-05-31T09:34:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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 2, 2010, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-2010-edition/541366/21 "2010-06-02T02:57:44Z")
I’ve just started reading _Riddley Walker_, by Russell Hoban. I’ve been meaning to read it for years but never got around to it. It’s a very different take on post-apocalyptic fiction. Before that I read _New theories of Everything_, by John Barrow. It was rambling, and I don’t recommend it. ---
**Author:** ![sinjin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@sinjin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sinjin)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-2010-edition/541366/22 "2010-06-02T03:17:01Z")
> [@Mauvaise](#): > > I’m slogging my way through the Anita Blake series. I just finished book 5 at lunch. I’m not sure why I am reading them except I got them all for free, so it didn’t cost me anything (but time). I generally enjoy this genre, but Hamilton’s writing is not getting easier to read. > > I swear if she took out everything that was obnoxiously repetitive the books would be a hundred pages each. Do we really need to know her exact outfit, down to shoes, every single time she changes clothes? Do we need to hear about her guns every other page (I don’t even think that’s hyperbole)? It’s starting to get more distracting the more I read. Yet, I keep reading, which says more about me than it does the author, I think. Stop now!! IT doesn’t get any better, it gets worse. Go back and count how many times something “spills” out. The necklace, the hair, the moonlight, GAHHHHHHHH. You haven’t even gotten to the parts where she has sex with multiple people/weres multiplex times in one chapter. No good will come of reading anymore, trust me. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-2010-edition/541366/23 "2010-06-02T12:09:51Z")
Some of my reading is listening. I just finished [Bounce by Matthew Syed](http://www.audible.com/adbl/site/products/ProductDetail.jsp?productID=BK_HARP_002155&BV_UseBVCookie=Yes) a consistently fascinating book about achievement and the myth of natural talent. Today I just started [Proust Was a Neuroscientist](http://www.audible.com/adbl/site/products/ProductDetail.jsp?productID=BK_BRLL_000660&BV_UseBVCookie=Yes). For actual reading I have started [Bill Simmon’s The Book of Basketball](http://www.amazon.com/Book-Basketball-NBA-According-Sports/dp/034551176X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275477574&sr=1-1) - a friend loaned me his copy. Since I gave up watching the NBA in the 80s it is a real surpries how much I am enjoying it. He’s an entertaining guy, the footnotes alone are worth the effort. ---
**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 2, 2010, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-2010-edition/541366/24 "2010-06-02T12:20:20Z")
I’m starting a new audiobook today, The Birthing House, by Christopher Ransom. > [@](#): > > A young couple, Conrad and Joanna Harrison, attempt to save their marriage by starting anew in a rural turn-of-the-century former birthing house. One day, when Jo is away at work, the former owner bequeaths a photo album that “belongs to the house.” Thumbing through the antique photos of miserable midwives and pregnant girls in their nineteenth-century dresses, Conrad is chilled to the bone: staring back at him with a countenance of rage is his own wife. ---
**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 2, 2010, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-2010-edition/541366/25 "2010-06-02T13:35:51Z")
> [@Taomist](#): > > …So in no particular order will be John Irving’s A Widow for One Year \ … I liked both books very much. Once you’ve finished _A Widow for One Year_, take a look at the Jeff Bridges/Kim Basinger movie _The Door in the Floor_, which is based on the first half of the book. Different but worthwhile. ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-2010-edition/541366/26 "2010-06-02T19:25:43Z")
Shit My Dad Says by Justin Halpern. I was reading this to my boyfriend last night as we were driving home from the bookstore and there were a few times when I had to stop reading for 5 or so minutes so he could calm down the laughing enough to not get us into an accident. I also picked up a copy of Republic. It’s listed as one of the books for the Liberal Arts class I’m supposed to take in the fall, along with The Communist Manifesto and The Prince. They seemed like really strange books for Intro to Liberal Arts so I decided to pick one up and see what it was all about. Looking back at the course description, I can’t help but think they listed the wrong books for that course. I hope so. I’m 4 pages into Republic and I already want to give it to my dogs as a chew toy. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-2010-edition/541366/27 "2010-06-02T19:34:46Z")
Re-reading [The Poisonwood Bible](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Poisonwood_Bible) by Barbara Kingsolver. (I admit, the “West African Food—For Kids” thread inspired me.) I’d forgotten just how infuriating it is. I’d also forgotten what a wonderful gift for voice this author has - the novel is told by five people, the wife and four daughters of a fire-and-brimstone Baptist preacher on mission to the (not yet Democratic Republic of) Belgian Congo. Every voice is unique and perfectly consistent to each character. ---
**Author:** ![RainGrowsBrite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@RainGrowsBrite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RainGrowsBrite)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-2010-edition/541366/28 "2010-06-02T19:56:29Z")
You have to read **THE HELP by Kathryn Socket** … About (Amazon): \* this optimistic, uplifting debut novel set during the nascent civil rights movement in Jackson, Miss., where black women were trusted to raise white children but not to polish the household silver. Eugenia Skeeter Phelan is just home from college in 1962, and, anxious to become a writer, is advised to hone her chops by writing about what disturbs you. The budding social activist begins to collect the stories of the black women on whom the country club sets relies and mistrusts enlisting the help of Aibileen, a maid who’s raised 17 children, and Aibileen’s best friend Minny, who’s found herself unemployed more than a few times after mouthing off to her white employers. The book Skeeter puts together based on their stories is scathing and shocking, bringing pride and hope to the black community, while giving Skeeter the courage to break down her personal boundaries and pursue her dreams. \* I’m halfway thru and I LOVE it. It’s just so well written and the characters are so well defined. I’m actually trying to slow down my reading since i’m breezing thru it and I dont want to finish it! I was at a big Memorial Day party this weekend and someone brought up the book and an hour long conversation about it ensued. ---
**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 2, 2010, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-2010-edition/541366/29 "2010-06-02T20:00:16Z")
My wife’s book club, and a friend of mine, all read _The Help_ and raved about it, too. I hear they’re already planning a movie version. ---
**Author:** ![Surly\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-2010-edition/541366/30 "2010-06-02T20:15:10Z")
I’m reading the the [Inspector Ian Rutledge](http://charlestodd.com/the-history-of-inspector-ian-rutledge/) series by Charles Todd. It’s set in Britian after WWI and features Inspector Rutledge (duh) as a shell-shocked veteran who hears in his head the voice of a soldier he ordered executed for failure to obey a direct order. They’re really quite engrossing. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-2010-edition/541366/31 "2010-06-02T20:16:26Z")
I just finished “The Information Officer” which is set on Malta during the WW II siege. My wife got it after seeing it reviewed in the Times because we visited Malta last year. It is a murder mystery, but our hero is far more interested in screwing around, eating, and drinking than detecting, which he does a bad job of. The worst thing is that the villain, who is both a serial murderer and a German spy communicates with the Germans using an Ultra machine. This threw me right out of the story, since there is no way in hell the Germans would let someone behind enemy lines and an enemy national have one of those. No mention is made of the shit that would have hit the fan once the Germans realized that an Ultra had been captured - making sure they didn’t realize it was critical to the effort. This is an example of the author doing some research, but not enough to really understand things. Now I’m reading Dickson’s Chantry Guild (which I feel obligated to do having waded through “The Final Encyclopedia”) and a book Springer just sent me to review. I love getting free books. I think I’m going to start on the second Freakonomics book also, since our Behavioral Economics Tutorial get renewed. ---
**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:** [June 2, 2010, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-2010-edition/541366/32 "2010-06-02T20:30:50Z")
I finished “[The Way through the Woods](http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/d/colin-dexter/way-through-woods.htm)” by Colin Dexter. I’m having a wonderful time going through all the unread mystery books that have been only recently unpacked… Currently reading through “[The Complete Stories](http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/s/dorothy-l-sayers/dorothy-l-sayers-complete-stories.htm)” by Dorothy L. Sayers, which is utterly delightful. > [@Surly\_Chick](#): > > I’m reading the the [Inspector Ian Rutledge](http://charlestodd.com/the-history-of-inspector-ian-rutledge/) series by Charles Todd. It’s set in Britian after WWI and features Inspector Rutledge (duh) as a shell-shocked veteran who hears in his head the voice of a soldier he ordered executed for failure to obey a direct order. They’re really quite engrossing. I just found a copy of “[A Matter of Justice](http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/t/charles-todd/matter-of-justice.htm)” and may start in on it next, despite my fetish for reading an author’s works in order if at all possible… In poetry, I’ve almost finished “[The Certainty Dream](http://www.mcnallyrobinson.com/product/isbn/9781552452233/bkm/true/kate-hall-certainty-dream)” by Kate Hall, “[Pigeon](http://www.mcnallyrobinson.com/product/isbn/9780887848230/bkm/true/karen-solie-pigeon)” by Karen Solie and “[Coal and Roses](http://www.mcnallyrobinson.com/product/isbn/9780889843141/bkm/true/p-k-page-coal-roses)” by P. K. Page. They’re the three Canadian poets short-listed for the Griffin Prize this year, and I always try to have read them before the award is given out - tomorrow is the evening. ---
**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 2, 2010, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-2010-edition/541366/33 "2010-06-02T21:00:35Z")
> [@Surly\_Chick](#): > > I’m reading the the [Inspector Ian Rutledge](http://charlestodd.com/the-history-of-inspector-ian-rutledge/) series by Charles Todd. It’s set in Britian after WWI and features Inspector Rutledge (duh) as a shell-shocked veteran who hears in his head the voice of a soldier he ordered executed for failure to obey a direct order. They’re really quite engrossing. Ooh, I’ll give those a try, since I was disappointed in the Maisie Dobbs book, yet I’m still interested in that setting. I’m reading another Amelia Peabody mystery now, _The Last Camel Died at Noon_. These are fun. ---
**Author:** ![Surly\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-2010-edition/541366/34 "2010-06-02T22:04:17Z")
Then you’ll want to read [River of Darkness](http://www.amazon.com/River-Darkness-John-Madden-Mystery/dp/0143035703/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275516045&sr=8-2) by Rennie Airth. Same time period, different inspector (no voice in his head but also shell shocked). I just finished it and ordered the next two in the series. It was terrific. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-2010-edition/541366/35 "2010-06-02T22:26:34Z")
A big ditto for _River of Darkness_. I didn’t like the second quite as much so I haven’t bought the third. **Surly Chick** , I’d be grateful to know if the third one measures up. Maybe #2 was that “sophomore slump”. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-2010-edition/541366/36 "2010-06-02T22:34:01Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Re-reading [The Poisonwood Bible](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Poisonwood_Bible) by Barbara Kingsolver. (I admit, the “West African Food—For Kids” thread inspired me.) I haven’t read it yet, but my book club’s book for July is _Fish_ by L.S. Matthews, which has been compared to a _Poisonwood Bible_ type story for kids, about the child of aid workers who are trying to stay two steps ahead of a revolution in the (unspecified) country in which they work. ---
**Author:** ![Surly\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-2010-edition/541366/37 "2010-06-02T22:40:02Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > A big ditto for _River of Darkness_. I didn’t like the second quite as much so I haven’t bought the third. **Surly Chick** , I’d be grateful to know if the third one measures up. Maybe #2 was that “sophomore slump”. I’ll let you know. I have to finish the Inspector Rutledge one I’m reading then read the second Airth (I have to read them in order!) so it might be a while. ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-2010-edition/541366/38 "2010-06-02T23:13:51Z")
> [@Taomist](#): > > I will have to check this out \. My family’s in Boise, and one of my favorite neighbors had a son, who was teaching his two year old daughter 3 languages, being English, Basque and Spanish. Still blows me away that Idaho has the highest concentration of Basques outside the homeland, though I don’t know if that is REALLY true or just touted about. I figure it’s all the sheep. 😃 Yep, many many Basques in Southwestern Idaho, Northern Nevada, and Eastern Oregon. My sister-in-law is Basque. Her grandma ran the Basque boarding house in Ontario, for practically her entire life. For the last 20 years of her life _she did not leave the property_. Never learned to speak much English. She was a pretty amazing woman. Reading some children’s fiction, work related but very enjoyable – **The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate** by Jaqueline Kelly, about a science-minded girl growing up in 1899 Texas. Great female lead character and would be a good summer read for a tween girl. Just about to start **Waiting on a Train** by James McCommons, about passenger rail service in the U.S. It might be 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 3, 2010, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-2010-edition/541366/39 "2010-06-03T11:56:29Z")
I just started on In An Evil Time, by Bill Pronzini, about a man who decides to murder his daughter’s abusive husband. ---
**Author:** ![Enterprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/76d3ee/32.png) [@Enterprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enterprise)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-2010-edition/541366/40 "2010-06-03T17:58:09Z")
A few emendations for “just finished”. I got done with E.O. Wilson’s _Anthill_ just about a week ago. This is Wilson’s first novel – a couple of you may have caught his short story “Trailhead” in January in the _New Yorker_ – and it’s a bit of a mixed bag. The story as such is quite interesting, but as a matter of narrative construction, it’s sadly lacking. The narrator changes somewhat abruptly from third person to first person and back again, or else the first person narrator frequently knows things he couldn’t know; it’s not quite clear. I have my doubts that Norton would have published it without Wilson’s name on the cover, but it’s a quick read and worth it, despite its flaws. Also finished: Jim Butcher’s _White Night_. Not my favorite installment, a bit too convoluted. I’m still looking forward to the next one! I started Peter Carey’s _Parrott and Olivier in America_ on recommendation from here, but won’t probably finish it. There’s no hook for me, I like neither Parrott nor Olivier, and there’s just no story there (yet? I’m about where they set out for America). It’s not as boring as Tocqueville, though. Bedtime reading is Tim Weiner’s _Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA_. I’m going through it fairly slowly, but it’s depressing. Utterly, utterly sobering, and highly recommended. Not sure what I’ll start on, though. I’ll probably skim through Ben Schwartz’s _Best American Comics Criticism_, and have either Joe Hill’s _20th Century Ghosts_ or Porter Grand’s _Little Women and Werewolves_ (Louisa May Alcott’s original draft, apparently!)… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-2010-edition/541366.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-2010-edition/541366.md?page=3)