# Whatcha Readin' Mar 2011 Edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 28, 2011, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-mar-2011-edition/572906 "2011-02-28T12:01:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-mar-2011-edition/572906/1 "2011-02-28T12:01:39Z")
March is here - in like a lion, out like a lamb - or something like that. I am halfway through (and just about to put down) \*John Dies At the End, \*which is hyped as > [@](#): > > “David Wong is like a mash-up of Douglas Adams and Stephen King . . . ‘page-turner’ is an understatement.” --Don Coscarelli, director, Phantasm I–V and Bubba Ho-tep > > “David Wong has managed to write that rarest of things—a genuinely scary story.” --David Wellington, author of Monster Island and Vampire Zero > > “The rare genre novel that manages to keep its sense of humor strong without ever diminishing the scares.” --The Onion AV Club Trying too hard to be both zany and scary it unfortunately fails at both. The weirdness does not seem to serve a purpose, other than to be wacky, and the frights never came because at no time did it seem like it could be real, or engage me in caring about any of the characters. It has gotten some good reviews here, so many of you may like it - but I will tell you that I think if you aren’t enjoying it after the first few chapters, you probably won’t change your mind by sticking with it. I might be tempted to finish it - but [_The Wise Man’s Fear_](http://www.amazon.com/Wise-Mans-Fear-Kingkiller-Chronicles/dp/0756404738/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1298894340&sr=1-1) shipped today and I am way more interested in it. [Here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=595273)is Feb’s link. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-mar-2011-edition/572906/2 "2011-02-28T13:30:22Z")
Finished reading Robert Goldsborough’s Nero Wolfe novel _Death on Deadline_ and Isaac Asimov’s _Casebook of the Black Widows_ and am starting on the 19th century feminist utopian novel _Mizora_ by Mary E. Bradley Lane and Phil and Kaja Foglio’s _Agatha and the Airship City_, a print novel obviously inspired by their _Girl Genius_ webcomic. ---
**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:** [February 28, 2011, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-mar-2011-edition/572906/3 "2011-02-28T13:44:29Z")
> [@Whatcha Readin' Feb 2011 Edition](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-feb-2011-edition/569635/83): > > I also got a good start on The Distant Hours, by Kate Morton. This book involves an English castle, a long-lost letter, a children’s book author, madness, family secrets, etc. I’m having a glorious time so far. 🙂 At Goodreads, I don’t usually give books the full five stars, because that’s their highest rating and I figure it should go to the kind of books that change your life and will be ranked among your favorites forever. This book is neither of those things, but I’m still going to give it the five, because I was so riveted and enjoyed it so much, and really, what more can you ask of a book? I’m not usually the kind of person who can figure out the mystery or the twist in a plot, but even if you are, I think you’ll find some surprises in this one. (Darn that Goodreads rating system anyway, I always struggle with it). Next up, I’m trying to give The Last Kashmiri Rose a fair chance because a friend recommended it. So far, many cardboard characters. How many pages is “a fair chance” anyway? ---
**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:** [February 28, 2011, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-mar-2011-edition/572906/4 "2011-02-28T14:18:08Z")
Fifty pages. If it hasn’t hooked you by then, it probably never, ever will. Life’s too short to slog through books you don’t have to. ---
**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:** [February 28, 2011, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-mar-2011-edition/572906/5 "2011-02-28T14:58:17Z")
I usually say the same, but since it was a friend’s recommendation, I wonder if it might not be easier to just finish the damn thing than to tell her I didn’t like it. _sigh_ Fifty pages, then. Maybe it’ll improve. ---
**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:** [February 28, 2011, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-mar-2011-edition/572906/6 "2011-02-28T15:11:25Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Next up, I’m trying to give The Last Kashmiri Rose a fair chance because a friend recommended it. So far, many cardboard characters. How many pages is “a fair chance” anyway? I think I read that. \ Ouch. Two stars. I don’t have a set rule for how long I’ll give a book. It depends on the type of problem. I can tolerate flat characters a lot longer than I can tolerate some other things. ---
**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:** [February 28, 2011, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-mar-2011-edition/572906/7 "2011-02-28T15:24:05Z")
A bit over one-third through _A Passage to India_, by EM Forster. An excellent read. ---
**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:** [February 28, 2011, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-mar-2011-edition/572906/8 "2011-02-28T15:31:44Z")
Just started _A Game of Thrones_ last night. Through 50 pages, it seems pretty good. I read _The Dream Master_ by Robert Zelazny on a flight over the weekend. It’s pretty short. Boring. Not his best. But I could see some elements of _Inception_ in the story, which was kind of neat. Not sure if that book was any kind of inspiration for the film. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-mar-2011-edition/572906/9 "2011-02-28T15:33:59Z")
**[Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/195218.Schulz_and_Peanuts)**. I’ve been putting off reading it for a few years because Charles Schulz is such a hero of mine and I wasn’t not ready to hear that if not for drawing a successful comic strip, he’d have been a crack-smoking serial killer, or whatever those early reviews said. ---
**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:** [February 28, 2011, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-mar-2011-edition/572906/10 "2011-02-28T15:38:35Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > I think I read that. > > \ > > Ouch. Two stars. Maybe I can get some mileage out of giggling at the truth of your review. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-mar-2011-edition/572906/11 "2011-02-28T15:45:22Z")
I’m in the middle of reading the original Tarzan books. I’m in the middle of the second one. So far the first one was good through the end and the second one has gotten much better when Tarzan got back to Africa and became a ‘savage’ again. He was much to perfect and unbelievable in ‘the real world’. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-mar-2011-edition/572906/12 "2011-02-28T15:47:11Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Fifty pages. If it hasn’t hooked you by then, it probably never, ever will. Life’s too short to slog through books you don’t have to. I usually give it about a 1/4 to 1/3 of a book. I have found some gems that might have been over looked if I hadn’t. I used to _always_ finish a book, but as I have aged, I have more money and less time, so I give up on books I don’t like now. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-mar-2011-edition/572906/13 "2011-02-28T19:30:16Z")
> [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](#): > > Just started _A Game of Thrones_ last night. Through 50 pages, it seems pretty good. I just finished that and am about halfway through the sequel, _A Clash of Kings_. The series was recommended to me by someone who knows I am a sci-fi fan and that I’ve delved very little into the fantasy realm. I enjoyed it well enough to run out and buy the sequel the day I finished it. I’ll be curious to get your perspective on it. I’m also reading – very slowly – Peter Sagal’s _The Book of Vice: Very Naughty Things (And How To Do Them)_. I’ve been underwhelmed thus far, which is why I haven’t picked it up lately. But I’ll finish it at some point. ---
**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:** [February 28, 2011, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-mar-2011-edition/572906/14 "2011-02-28T19:36:13Z")
> [@Asimovian](#): > > I just finished that and am about halfway through the sequel, _A Clash of Kings_. The series was recommended to me by someone who knows I am a sci-fi fan and that I’ve delved very little into the fantasy realm. . And who hates you and wants you to suffer like all Martin fans are suffering waiting for the sequels! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-mar-2011-edition/572906/15 "2011-02-28T19:42:23Z")
I’m reading [The Windup Girl](http://www.amazon.com/Windup-Girl-Paolo-Bacigalupi/dp/1597801585/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1298921638&sr=8-2) but have kind of gotten stalled on it. It’s an interesting future dystopia novel set in Thailand in a world where oil has been depleted and the “calorie wars” have occurred during which man made plagues have wiped out most crops and introduced many new rapidly mutating diseases. Problem is, it’s a pretty grim story and none of the characters are particularly sympathetic, even the titular “windup girl”, an artificially created woman whose origins lead to a characteristic clockwork motion. I’ll probably finish it eventually, but it’s not a page-turner. ---
**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:** [February 28, 2011, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-mar-2011-edition/572906/16 "2011-02-28T19:43:21Z")
> [@Asimovian](#): > > I just finished that and am about halfway through the sequel, _A Clash of Kings_. The series was recommended to me by someone who knows I am a sci-fi fan and that I’ve delved very little into the fantasy realm. I enjoyed it well enough to run out and buy the sequel the day I finished it. I’ll be curious to get your perspective on it. _A Game of Thrones_ is the first “fantasy” book I’ve ever picked up. That’s right, I never even read LOTR. But I do like sci-fi and the fact that this is becoming a series on HBO, who typically knows how to produce a good series, really got me interested. [QUOTE=jsgoddess] And who hates you and wants you to suffer like all Martin fans are suffering waiting for the sequels! [/QUOTE] I had heard this going into it, so hopefully they keep coming as I catch up. It seems like the kind of series where I’d hate to wait an extremely long period of time between installments. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-mar-2011-edition/572906/17 "2011-02-28T19:51:11Z")
> [@](#): > > I’m in the middle of reading the original Tarzan books. I’m in the middle of the second one. So far the first one was good through the end and the second one has gotten much better when Tarzan got back to Africa and became a ‘savage’ again. He was much to perfect and unbelievable in ‘the real world’. I once tried to read all the Tarzan books in one summer. I couldn’t do it – it was like trying to live on a diet of cream puffs. There isn’t enough _there_ there. I eventually read them all, but it took longer. I could only take so many repetitive plots, even if gussied up with Burroughs’ imagination. For my money the first couple of books are best, along with \*Jungle Tales of Tarzan \* (#6 IIRC). Then the repetition sets in. How damned many Lost Civilizations are _in_ Africa, anyway? ---
**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:** [February 28, 2011, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-mar-2011-edition/572906/18 "2011-02-28T20:05:20Z")
> [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](#): > > I had heard this going into it, so hopefully they keep coming as I catch up. It seems like the kind of series where I’d hate to wait an extremely long period of time between installments. We-elll, how slow a reader are you? ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-mar-2011-edition/572906/19 "2011-02-28T20:05:57Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > We-elll, how slow a reader are you? You are NOT being very encouraging! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-mar-2011-edition/572906/20 "2011-02-28T20:12:02Z")
Oh, I forgot – I stumbled across a first edition of H.G. Wells’ **The Croquet Player** and picked it up. I’d never heard of it before, but it seems to be “a modern classic”: > **[The Croquet Player (Bison Frontiers of Imagination): Wells, H. G., Huntington,...](https://www.amazon.com/Croquet-Player-Bison-Frontiers-Imagination/dp/0803298420)** > > The Croquet Player (Bison Frontiers of Imagination) \[Wells, H. G., Huntington, John\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. The Croquet Player (Bison Frontiers of Imagination) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-mar-2011-edition/572906.md?page=2)