# Whatcha readin' (March 09) Edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 28, 2009, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-09-edition/487783 "2009-02-28T12:36:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Caveat\_lector\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@Caveat\_lector\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caveat_lector_1)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2009, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-09-edition/487783/21 "2009-03-01T07:50:56Z")
The Song of Solomon is pretty good. I just read Watchmen and I _was_ reading Foundation and Earth, but I just noticed that about 50 pages of the book are blank! I will be going with much annoyance tomorrow to see if I can exchange internet bought items at a B&N store. I plan to be reading Johnathan Strange and Mr Norrell soon as well as Ringworld and Neuromancer. ---
**Author:** ![Hedda\_Rosa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hedda_rosa/32/1204_2.png) [@Hedda\_Rosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hedda_Rosa)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2009, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-09-edition/487783/22 "2009-03-01T09:19:26Z")
Am reading _War and Peace_ with my dad, stepmom and sister (who all live on the other side of the US). So far we are only about 200 pages in, doing 35 to 40 pages weekly. We discuss it on a private forum. I love it. Everyone should read it. We are reading the Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsy translation. We’ve agreed at the end to select 3 other passages to read, and compare the translations. ---
**Author:** ![Future\_Londonite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9dc877/32.png) [@Future\_Londonite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Future_Londonite)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2009, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-09-edition/487783/23 "2009-03-01T09:31:32Z")
I’m nearly done with **The Master and Margarita** by _Mikhail Bulgakow_ and next on my list is **The Black Swan** by _Nassim Nicholas Taleb_ ---
**Author:** ![infinitii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e8c25b/32.png) [@infinitii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/infinitii)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2009, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-09-edition/487783/24 "2009-03-01T11:15:16Z")
I’m currently reading: _The Rosicrucian Enlightenment Revisited_, which as a whole is OK, but I’m really digging Prinke’s essay “The Twelfth Adept”, which is a biography of alchemist Sendivogius. I appreciate the research and thought (even if some is speculation) that went into it, and especially appreciate the unexpected peek into the court life of Rudolf II (which is a personal interest, but I’ve never seen some of those details before). _Talking Figure Skating_ by Beverley Smith-- The author interviewed a few different people in each category (coaches, boot-makers, choreographers, judges, doctors, fans, parents, etc.) in order to get as compleat a picture of the world of figure skating as she could, and then wrote a chapter about each topic. It’s really fascinating, but unfortunately it’s so old (11 years is a long time, especially since the sport has gone thru a compleat overhaul in terms of the point system, which has altered much of the environment) that it’s not as useful anymore as it could be. And I just finished up _Bad Monkeys_ by Matt Ruff. One review in the book mentions “the pervasive paranoia of Thomas Pynchon’s _Crying of Lot 49_”, an unreliable narrator, and “the sardonic black humor of Kurt Vonnegut and Douglas Adams”. That’s pretty good, but I would also add the twists and turns of _Alias_. The twist at the end is especially noteworthy. A little bit more: a woman is being interrogated by a psychiatrist about her life, which includes being recruited by a secret organisation which wants to rid the world of evil by killing serials killers and other such evil people who haven’t been caught by the law by killing them with special guns which give them heart attacks. Is she for real, or is she crazy? Is that even the question you need to be asking? Really exciting… ---
**Author:** ![Future\_Londonite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9dc877/32.png) [@Future\_Londonite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Future_Londonite)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2009, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-09-edition/487783/25 "2009-03-01T11:26:17Z")
> [@infinitii](#): > > I’m currently reading: > > And I just finished up _Bad Monkeys_ by Matt Ruff. One review in the book mentions “the pervasive paranoia of Thomas Pynchon’s _Crying of Lot 49_”, an unreliable narrator, and “the sardonic black humor of Kurt Vonnegut and Douglas Adams”. That’s pretty good, but I would also add the twists and turns of _Alias_. The twist at the end is especially noteworthy. A little bit more: a woman is being interrogated by a psychiatrist about her life, which includes being recruited by a secret organisation which wants to rid the world of evil by killing serials killers and other such evil people who haven’t been caught by the law by killing them with special guns which give them heart attacks. Is she for real, or is she crazy? Is that even the question you need to be asking? Really exciting… I liked it a lot…not a book I’d put on a best 20 ever or so list but a worthwhile interesting read ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2009, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-09-edition/487783/26 "2009-03-01T14:19:07Z")
Finished _Beat the Reaper_ - a book that I liked surprisingly well despite all the negatives things I’m going to say about it. Starting with the inside flap: > [@](#): > > Nicholas Lobruttos, aka Eddy Squillante, is Dr. Brown’s new patient, with three months to live and a ver strange idea: that Peter Brown and Pietro Brnwa might - just might - be the same person… This was the hook that made me buy the book. I thought there might be some intrigue and played right it would be interesting. Nope. Not at all. We know within the first few pages that Peter and Pietro \*are \*the same guy. (I didn’t spoiler that because it is spelled out for you in the first chapter.) OK, so the flap jacket was written poorly. Josh Bazell, the author, is a real MD and he fills the book with medical terms and jargon and then indulges in the annoying and oh-so-trendy conceit of filling the book with footnotes. Since I have mentioned in the past that I find this annoying, you might think that I might be entertained with the fact that the author doesn’t take it seriously. But no, I found it more annoying than if he had taken it seriously. (At one point he mentions a job found in hospital, then in the footnote says: This is a real job, but not interesting enough to explain.) Josh is fairly full of disdain for modern culture and he’ll interject that in the book regularly. I didn’t always disagree, but find it distracting. The worst, most egregious thing was the ending. I will not explain it, even in a spoiler, but I will just say that I could not suspend my disbelief enough to buy it - and that is saying a lot. I am almost always the one who will say: _if you wanted reality, why were you at a movie? (or reading a book?)_ But in this case, I just couldn’t buy it. Now the odd part is, after all that, I still found it to be enjoyable. Fast paced, easy reading and moderately interesting. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2009, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-09-edition/487783/27 "2009-03-01T15:16:20Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > The worst, most egregious thing was the ending. I will not explain it, even in a spoiler, but I will just say that I could not suspend my disbelief enough to buy it - and that is saying a lot. I am almost always the one who will say: _if you wanted reality, why were you at a movie? (or reading a book?)_ But in this case, I just couldn’t buy it. Two books I read in January had twisty endings. I asked about twists in a Yahoo book group – how readers felt about them. I thought one response was perfect: If you roll your eyes, it didn’t work. If you go “Ahhhh”, it did. ---
**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:** [March 1, 2009, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-09-edition/487783/28 "2009-03-01T16:08:04Z")
[The Book of Lost Things](http://www.amazon.com/Book-Lost-Things-Novel/dp/B0018SY6BW/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1235923542&sr=8-1). A 12-13year old boy, after the loss of his mother and the hasty remarriage of his father and birth of his new half sibling while living on the outskirts of soon-to-be war torn London, starts hearing books talk to him. I am in the first 75 pages and David, our hero, is just about to be brought over into the fantasy world. ---
**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:** [March 1, 2009, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-09-edition/487783/29 "2009-03-01T16:31:29Z")
I’m reading Alison Weir’s _Mistress of the Monarchy: The Life of Katherine Swynford, Duchess of Lancaster_. Katherine is familiar to many historical fiction fans because of Anya Seton’s wonderful novel _Katherine_. I don’t dislike Weir’s book, but I must say that the novel was a more satisfying read. Apparently very little is actually known about Katherine Swynford, so this biography is full of guesswork, mostly based on the records of gifts that were given her by John of Gaunt. It’s a constant stream of: Katherine perhaps lived here in this year, and she probably had her third (or maybe fourth) child in this year, and she might have been doing such-and-such in this place at this time. Weir originally wanted to write a biography of John of Gaunt, and I really think she should have stuck with that. ---
**Author:** ![Sublata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7cd45c/32.png) [@Sublata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublata)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2009, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-09-edition/487783/30 "2009-03-01T16:43:11Z")
Finished _The Grandmothers_. It is not fair that someone can write like that at the age of 25. Finished _The Lost Patrol: The Mounties’ Yukon Tragedy_ by Dick North. Well written but not earth-shaking. Re-reading old favorites, as I tend to do when under stress: _Madame de Pompadour_ by Nancy Mitford _Classic Crimes_ by William Roughead Left off in the middle of _Main-Travelled Roads_ by Hamlin Garland because it was confusing to read it simultaneously with _The Grandmothers_. I’ll pick it up again soon. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2009, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-09-edition/487783/31 "2009-03-01T17:07:28Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > Two books I read in January had twisty endings. I asked about twists in a Yahoo book group – how readers felt about them. I thought one response was perfect: If you roll your eyes, it didn’t work. If you go “Ahhhh”, it did. It wasn’t the twist. I like a good twist. It was the absolute impossibility of doing what he did, even in a desperate situation. I suppose I must spoil it now, since I did bring it up. He finds a way to cut open his leg and pull out his own shin bone to use as a knife to stab and kill his enemy ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2009, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-09-edition/487783/32 "2009-03-01T17:59:06Z")
Well, that’s just ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![A\_Dodgy\_Dude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a87d85/32.png) [@A\_Dodgy\_Dude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_Dodgy_Dude)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2009, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-09-edition/487783/33 "2009-03-01T18:00:30Z")
Transfer of Power by Vince Flynn 100+ pages in and so far … very good! ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2009, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-09-edition/487783/34 "2009-03-01T18:10:50Z")
I just finished reading _Lost Continents_ (an examination of the Atlantis myth by L. Sprague de Camp). He has some great snark about people who promote the myth. I also ran across a copy of Turtledove’s _The Misplaced Legion_ in a used book store, so I decided to start rereading it for the first time in 20 years (holy crap, I’m getting old). It’s minor but entertaining. And before too long, I’m going to remove the shrinkwrap from the brand-new copy of _The Complete Don Martin_ I just got and start flipping to random pages. (Original price: $150, discounted to $50. Score!) ---
**Author:** ![TheMerchandise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b487fb/32.png) [@TheMerchandise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMerchandise)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-09-edition/487783/35 "2009-03-04T15:01:00Z")
I’m about to finish _All the Pretty Horses_. It’s my first try with Cormac McCarthy and I’m enjoying him. He builds shock and suspense well, while still keeping the story deeply personal. Next up is probably _Life of Pi_. ---
**Author:** ![Gulo\_gulo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bcef8e/32.png) [@Gulo\_gulo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gulo_gulo)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-09-edition/487783/36 "2009-03-04T17:34:28Z")
Recently completed: _Used and Rare: Travels in the Book World_ by Lawrence Goldstone & Nancy Goldstone ~ Great book and really tempts me to start finding some older editions of books that I love. _The Last Town on Earth_ by Thomas Mullen ~ this was ok. I liked the premise but the story didn’t grab me. _The Four Feathers_ by A. E. W. Mason ~ I thought this would be more action but was disappointed. It was mainly a weird love triangle between people that needed to be smacked. _Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict_ by Laurie Viera Rigler ~ found this in a bargain bin at a local bookstore. It was tolerable fluff once I got past my irritation of the main character. Presently reading: _The Secret Voyage of Sir Francis Drake: 1577-1580_ by Samuel Bawlf ~ I’ve been reading this one for a while but it’s not the fault of the book which I’m really enjoying. It’s my bedtime book and I’ve been staying up too late to read lately. _Heartsblood: Hunting, Spirituality, and Wildness in America_ by David Petersen ~ really enjoying this so far. _Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War_ by Tony Horwitz ~ recommended by many people on this board. Loving it! ---
**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:** [March 4, 2009, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-09-edition/487783/37 "2009-03-04T17:48:21Z")
I’m currently reading My Losing Season by Pat Conroy, on the recommendation of **Elendil’s Heir**. (BTW, thank you, **EH**!) I like Conroy’s writing style a lot, so I’m enjoying the story, despite the fact that so much of it is about basketball. I admit I’m just skimming through the detailed game descriptions. Also, I’m hoping there’ll be a scene in which Pat beats the crap out of his dad, but I doubt it. I’m amazed Pat turned out so well, coming from such rotten parents. My car audiobook is The Graveyard Book, by Neil Gaiman. I’ve read Coraline and American Gods and wasn’t crazy about either of them, but since this got a Newbery Medal, I thought I’d check it out. It’s very obviously a children’s book, but I’m liking it a lot so far. When I have a car book that makes me think, “Yippee! It’s time to go to work!” or “Thank goodness, traffic is slow”, then the author’s doing something right. I don’t know if I’ll say this was a great book when all’s been said and done, but I really want to know what’s going to happen next. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-09-edition/487783/38 "2009-03-04T18:06:17Z")
> [@JR\_Brown](#): > > Just last night finished Nick Harkaway’s _The Gone-Away World_, which I picked up after seeing a couple of glowing recommendations here on the Dope. Overall it’s pretty good, and the science fiction elements are fairly novel and reasonably well worked out (I had several serious [Fridge Logic](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FridgeLogic) moments afterwards, but while reading nothing made me go “arggh”), but I didn’t like it as much as I might have had it been written by someone else. I also saw **Gadarene** ’s thread and picked it up on the strength of that – I’m sooooooooooo glad I took it out of the library and didn’t buy it. Agree that it’s way too male. I also thought the ending was rushed and fairly arbitrary. ([My comments in the original thread.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10896027&postcount=31)) ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-09-edition/487783/39 "2009-03-04T18:11:54Z")
I just finished _The Circus Fire_. So sad. Now reading \*The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre \*by Stephen D. Youngkin. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2009, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-09-edition/487783/40 "2009-03-04T18:25:41Z")
> [@Gulo\_gulo](#): > > _The Last Town on Earth_ by Thomas Mullen ~ this was ok. I liked the premise but the story didn’t grab me. I didn’t get very far in that book, maybe not even 5 pages. Great premise, for sure. I remember one of the characters in the logging camp saying nobody knew how far it was to the nearest town. Huh? I know there was no Mapquest in 1918, but if you’re in a logging camp you’re gonna know this. There was some really clunky dialogue too. **SigmaGirl** , I read _The Circus Fire_ last month. I wish O’Nan would write more nonfiction, or that more nonfiction writers would write like O’Nan. He was very restrained and non-sensational. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-09-edition/487783.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-09-edition/487783.md?page=3)