# Whatcha Readin' June 2011 Edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 31, 2011, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-2011-edition/583834 "2011-05-31T09:57:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Who](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Doctor\_Who](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Who)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-2011-edition/583834/21 "2011-06-04T00:37:02Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Finished _To Kill a Mockingbird_, by Harper Lee. Very good. One of those books that’s constantly being referenced. Seems like one is never far from a bar or even cocktail named Tequila Mockingbird. Totally agree. What a great book. I’m one of those that missed it in high school and didn’t read it until I was older and didn’t have to. Thank god. I was blown away (and I know I would have hated it in high school just because it was popular and critically acclaimed). ---
**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 4, 2011, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-2011-edition/583834/22 "2011-06-04T01:37:56Z")
_Mockingbird_ fans should see this recent documentary, about Lee’s writing of the book, her tangential involvement in the making of the movie, her friendship with Truman Capote, and her eventual decision to withdraw from the public eye. Very interesting: [Hey, Boo: Harper Lee and 'To Kill a Mockingbird' (2010) - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1638979/) > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I’m still working my way through a classic SF binge. I’m currently rereading _Childhood’s End_ by Arthur C. Clarke and _Worlds_ by Joe Haldeman… Two of my favorites! I could recommend other Haldeman books, if you like. A very talented writer. Just finished S.D. Perry’s _Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Avatar, Book Two_ (nothing to do with the James Cameron movie), a pretty good followup to the end of the DS9 series. Also just started, on the recommendation of **Little Nemo** , _Then Everything Changed_ by Jeff Greenfield, about three turning points of late 20th century American politics - JFK 1960, RFK 1968, and Ford 1976. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-2011-edition/583834/23 "2011-06-04T10:34:01Z")
Finished \*The Enterprise of Death \*by Jesse Bullington, one of the oddest books I’ve read in quite a while. A moorish slave is caught by a necromancer who forces her to learn his trade. He sets her free only for her to find out that he has cursed her and she must find a way to break the curse before 10 years is up. (Too much more would be serious spoilers.) As I said, it was one of the oddest books I’ve read in a long time and while it is true that the author has obvious talent, the word _ookie_ doesn’t even \*begin \*to describe the numerous sex scenes. Even if were to take out my preference for less sex in my fantasy, I still would not have been comfortable with \*theses \*scenes. I won’t recommend it and won’t read more of his work. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-2011-edition/583834/24 "2011-06-04T21:31:09Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > As I said, it was one of the oddest books I’ve read in a long time and while it is true that the author has obvious talent, the word _ookie_ doesn’t even \*begin \*to describe the numerous sex scenes. Even if were to take out my preference for less sex in my fantasy, I still would not have been comfortable with \*theses \*scenes. > > I won’t recommend it and won’t read more of his work. I’m starting to believe fantasy novels should have an ookiness score. Sex with zombies? Five ookies and up, depending on the state of decay! ---
**Author:** ![SeldomSeen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@SeldomSeen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeldomSeen)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-2011-edition/583834/25 "2011-06-04T22:38:08Z")
Just finished **Blue Latitudes** by Tony Horwitz. A very good read, enough so that I’m anxious to dig into others by the same author, esp. \*\*Confederates in the Attic \*\*and **A Voyage Long and Strange**. The book is a travelogue and a work of historical research detailing the author’s retracement of Captain James Cook’s voyages in company with his hard-drinking sidekick, Austrailian Roger Williamson. The style reminds me of Paul Theroux with a sense of humor. Good detailing of Cook’s legacy and some poignant commentary on the effects of European settlement on indiginous populations. SS ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-2011-edition/583834/26 "2011-06-04T22:38:55Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > I’m starting to believe fantasy novels should have an ookiness score. Sex with zombies? Five ookies and up, depending on the state of decay! 🙂 Only 5? Or is ookie scale logarithimic like the Richter scale? ---
**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:** [June 4, 2011, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-2011-edition/583834/27 "2011-06-04T22:42:18Z")
I’ve gotten about halfway through _The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet_ and it’s turned into a bit of a chore. The prose is pretty, but the pacing is slow (despite the blurb on the cover describing it as a “page-turner”). I’ll finish it regardless, but I hope it picks back up pretty soon. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-2011-edition/583834/28 "2011-06-04T22:44:33Z")
Finished _Magic Slays (Kate Daniels, Book 5)._ I won’t go into much detail - I’ll just say it was as good as the rest of the series, which I have enjoyed; mind candy though it is. ---
**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 7, 2011, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-2011-edition/583834/29 "2011-06-07T03:31:46Z")
Finished _The Bridge of San Luis Rey_, by Thornton Wilder. Very good. About why these particular five people happened to be the ones to plunge to their deaths when an old rope bridge, built more than a century earlier by the Incas, gives way in old Peru. Such a slim, unassuming-looking little volume, and yet it ranks 37th on the Modern Library’s list of the top 100 novels of the 20th century. Next up: _Suttree_, by Cormac McCarthy. ---
**Author:** ![BetsQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@BetsQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BetsQ)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-2011-edition/583834/30 "2011-06-07T16:28:58Z")
I’m reading _Tom Sawyer_ for the first time. It is fun, but leisurely. I’m finding it very hard to reconcile Tom’s behavior with what I know about kids, though, although obviously it’s a very different time and place. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-2011-edition/583834/31 "2011-06-07T17:12:33Z")
> [@BetsQ](#): > > I’m reading _Tom Sawyer_ for the first time. It is fun, but leisurely. I’m finding it very hard to reconcile Tom’s behavior with what I know about kids, though, although obviously it’s a very different time and place. I also just read the first chapter of _Tom Sawyer_ the other day, where he has picked a fight with a new kid for absolutely no reason. Tom would be in juvi right about now in this day and age. ---
**Author:** ![TheMerchandise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b487fb/32.png) [@TheMerchandise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMerchandise)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-2011-edition/583834/32 "2011-06-07T17:18:18Z")
I just finished _The Sparrow_ by Mary Doria Russell on a long road trip. What an incredibly powerful and painful read! This one will be rattling around in my mind for a long time. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-2011-edition/583834/33 "2011-06-07T17:30:38Z")
> [@BetsQ](#): > > I’m reading _Tom Sawyer_ for the first time. It is fun, but leisurely. I’m finding it very hard to reconcile Tom’s behavior with what I know about kids, though, although obviously it’s a very different time and place. I read it in my youth and much of his behavior rang true for me. The parts that didn’t, I made allowance for, assuming a different time. I should make time to reread it - it has been more than 30 years. ---
**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 7, 2011, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-2011-edition/583834/34 "2011-06-07T17:48:45Z")
> [@TheMerchandise](#): > > I just finished _The Sparrow_ by Mary Doria Russell on a long road trip. What an incredibly powerful and painful read! This one will be rattling around in my mind for a long time. Russell’s writing is fantastic and I liked that book very much, despite the fact that I don’t think it’s very good science fiction, and despite having some trouble suspending disbelief. For instance: It’s ridiculous that anyone would make those assumptions about Emilio. It was obvious from the beginning that something very bad had happened to him, and that he had not in fact prostituted himself for the fun of it. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-2011-edition/583834/35 "2011-06-07T18:03:35Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > I’ve been blazing through the Tess Monaghan books by Laura Lippman, partially because I wanted to reread them and partially because they are available from the library without my ever having to get off my butt. I love ebooks. 😃 I love Lippman. I’ve read all her books. It’s amazing that she’s not better known. > [@koeeoaddi](#): > > Serendipitously, I’m reading _e²_ (subtitle: New year. New ads. Same sh\*t). I got an advance copy of _e²_ when it first came out and enjoyed it; my library doesn’t have _e_. If it’s funnier, I’ll make more of an effort to find it. Now reading _Tunnel Vision_, an old V.I. Warshawski book by Sara Paretsky, just because I picked it up for a buck, and then am going to start on an advance of [The Reservoir](http://www.amazon.com/Reservoir-John-Milliken-Thompson/dp/1590514440/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1307453950&sr=8-1), a fact-based mystery novel set in Richmond in 1885. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-2011-edition/583834/36 "2011-06-07T18:13:42Z")
> [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](#): > > Russell’s writing is fantastic and I liked that book very much, despite the fact that I don’t think it’s very good science fiction, and despite having some trouble suspending disbelief. For instance: I had to read \*The Sparrow \*in college and I remember disliking it, but I can’t remember anything about it other than Jesuits in space. Maybe someday I’ll pick it up again. ---
**Author:** ![5-HT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/f19dbf/32.png) [@5-HT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5-HT)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-2011-edition/583834/37 "2011-06-07T19:10:14Z")
Inspired by the fact that I’ve been playing LA Noire on XBox, I’ve been reading Raymond Chandler, _The Big Sleep_, _The Long Goodbye_, and now _The Little Sister_. Phillip Marlowe rocks. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-2011-edition/583834/38 "2011-06-07T19:52:38Z")
> [@RandMcnally](#): > > I just finished Larry Niven’s [Inferno](http://www.amazon.com/Inferno-ebook/dp/B001F784EG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1306860022&sr=8-2). It was pretty interesting, and a very quick read. I’m starting the sequel today. I finished the sequel, “Escape from Hell” last week and I really enjoyed it. I started [From Colony to Superpower](http://www.amazon.com/Colony-Superpower-Foreign-Relations-ebook/dp/B001MTXSTS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1307476316&sr=1-1) Saturday night. This one is going to take me a bit longer to read. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-2011-edition/583834/39 "2011-06-07T20:30:13Z")
I’m in the middle of [The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12609.The_Spirit_Catches_You_and_You_Fall_Down), about a Hmong family’s clash with modern medicine when their daughter is treated for severe epilepsy at a California hospital. It’s just brilliant. Probably the best book I’ve read so far this year. ---
**Author:** ![BetsQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@BetsQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BetsQ)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2011, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-2011-edition/583834/40 "2011-06-07T20:52:52Z")
> [@TheMerchandise](#): > > I just finished _The Sparrow_ by Mary Doria Russell on a long road trip. What an incredibly powerful and painful read! This one will be rattling around in my mind for a long time. I loved that book. The sequel has also stuck with me for a long time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-2011-edition/583834.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-june-2011-edition/583834.md?page=3)