# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2009, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-09-edition/487783/61 "2009-03-05T15:07:57Z")
I’ve finished _Every Insomniac Has a Story to Tell_, which was great. I don’t usually like poetry, but I think the fact that I knew the author helped a lot. Also finished _No Telephone to Heaven_. I love Michelle Cliff’s books in general and this one is great, but I really wish I understood what the Sam Scratch was going on at the end. I’ve started _Virgin’s Triangle_ by Kevin Baldeosingh. So far I’ve only read the first chapter so I can’t say anything much about it yet. ---
**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 5, 2009, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-09-edition/487783/62 "2009-03-05T15:44:08Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > If you like these two, you’d probably enjoy Horwitz’s book on Captain Cook, [_Blue Latitudes_](http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Latitudes-Boldly-Captain-Before/dp/0312422601/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1236191076&sr=8-1), which is both about Cook and about Horwitz’s adventures retracing his steps. It’s a good read. Looks like I’ve had that on my Amazon wish list for a while. (I have over 1000 books on there!) I probably will bump it up in priority now since I’m _really_ enjoying Horwitz’s style of writing. Thanks for the reminder! ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2009, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-09-edition/487783/63 "2009-03-05T18:57:31Z")
> [@Gulo\_gulo](#): > > Looks like I’ve had that on my Amazon wish list for a while. (I have over 1000 books on there!) I probably will bump it up in priority now since I’m _really_ enjoying Horwitz’s style of writing. Thanks for the reminder! Let me know what you think. I’ve recommended it to several different people – none of them necessarily with any particular interest in travel, exploration, and/or history – and all have enjoyed it. (Which reminds me, my friend Anne has my copy – I should get it back from her …) ---
**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:** [March 8, 2009, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-09-edition/487783/64 "2009-03-08T05:48:01Z")
**delphia** , my wife’s book club read _Out Stealing Horses_ and was generally underwhelmed. **Ataraxy** , glad you enjoyed Ken Grimwood’s _Replay_! I just read that for the first time last fall and raced through it, too (although not in one day). The scene where the protagonist visits the love of his life at her home just before her high school graduation, and her parents are baffled by how happy she is to see him while he can hardly contain his delight and anticipation, left me with a huge grin. Great book overall, I’d say. \*\* Dung Beetle\*\*, I’m glad you’re reading Pat Conroy’s _My Losing Season_. I’m not a big basketball fan either, but I thought it was a terrific book. I can definitely see where he was coming from in _The Lords of Discipline_, too. \*\* Shirley Ujest\*\*, I have seen the movie but not read the book of _The Tale of Despereaux_. I’d give the movie a solid “B.” Not terrible, but not great either. As for me… I just finished Peter Carey’s _True Story of the Kelly Gang_, a novel in the form of a lost autobiography by Australia’s near-mythic outlaw Ned Kelly, and liked it very much. A different, quicker but equally enjoyable read was _Watchmen: The Film Companion_ by Peter Aperlo. It has interesting text and lavish illustrations, but also some spoilers for the movie that I’d just as soon not have read. (Yes, I guess the movie is different from the graphic novel in some key ways, plotwise). Right now I’m reading _A Tale of the Wind_ by Kay Nolte Smith, about the lives and loves of Parisians high and low in the early 1800s. It’s OK but not really wowing me. Doubt I’ll read it all the way through, even though it’s a pick of my book club. ---
**Author:** ![Enterprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/76d3ee/32.png) [@Enterprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enterprise)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-09-edition/487783/65 "2009-03-08T09:31:19Z")
I’ve managed to finish _The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay_ over a long train ride yesterday. Once I got past the midsection, it was a much faster read for me, and I did not stop after a couple of chapters, as I had before. On the other hand, it also got a little less good. Particular spoilers of complaint: Thomas’s death on the _Ark of Miriam_ was terribly telegraphed, it was clear that that would happen about a hundred pages before Chabon actually told it; in fact, that may have inspired my reluctance to read on, because I really didn’t want to read it. And the ending was a letdown, not only as a matter of how Chabon chose to wrap the book up, but also because I don’t think it followed necessarily from the characters he constructed. Otherwise, still a great read. I’ll have to go back to a couple of books that I have to read for university, so I’ll probably not crack open any more literature until the late spring. ---
**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 10, 2009, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-09-edition/487783/66 "2009-03-10T18:33:33Z")
Yesterday I read Fool Moon (book 2 of the Dresden Files) by Jim Butcher. These books are really fast-paced and fun. I have the whole series stacked up ready to devour…all except book 3, grrr! I’m holding the others hostage until my library comes across with it. In the meantime, I’m getting ready to start the latest by Ray Bradbury (may he live forever). It’s a short story collection called We’ll Always Have Paris. Frankly, after the last collection I read, my expectations are not very high. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2009, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-09-edition/487783/67 "2009-03-10T19:02:23Z")
I’m reading _Descartes’ Error_, which is a neuropsych book about how emotion is necessary for reason. The book’s whole premise is basically that Descartes was mistaken when he said the body and the soul are separate entities. So far it’s very interesting, starting with the story of Phineas Gage, the well-liked and successful guy who in the 1800s took a 3 foot metal rod through the skull (litearlly through his skull, as in, ‘‘in one side and out the other side of his head’’) and survived. He retained perfect memory, coordination, lost vision in only one eye, was fully capable of speaking and performing mathematic calculations, but turned into a complete bastard and died friendless and impoverished. It’s kind of a complicated book and I’m stuck on the part with the brain diagrams. The author writes like a philosopher, which is really annoying. I’ll get through it as soon as I’m no longer sleep deprived. ---
**Author:** ![plankter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ba0ec/32.png) [@plankter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plankter)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2009, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-09-edition/487783/68 "2009-03-10T19:45:13Z")
Finished both the books in my previous post. _The Wayfarer Redemption_ was pretty good and it’s nice to know I have the sequels at hand for whenever I need a “loseable” volume. _Bright of the Sky_ turned out quite well and I’ve just begun the next in the series, _A World Too Near_. I found _Chalice_ (2008) by Robin McKinley in the “Young Teens” section of my local branch, but there’s nothing juvenile about it; the story is sweet (literally) and made fine bedtime reading. It helps that I like bees. Almost finished with _Death From The Skies!_ by [our very own](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/member.php) Philip C. Plait. It’s about how we can be smashed, fried, or otherwise killed in nasty ways by astronomical phenomena ranging from meteor srikes to super massive black holes. The informal style is often engaging but a few things annoyed me - humanity is “mankind” and each hypothetical “person” is always “he”, and measurements are in the archaic/English system. None of this is unique or even uncommon, but I suppose I hold science books, even irreverent ones, to a higher standard. On the whole, however, I’d recommend this title. Lastly, I’m up number one on the library’s waiting list for Lois McMaster Bujold’s latest, _Horizon_. [does very quiet happy dance so as not to disturb other patrons] ---
**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 10, 2009, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-09-edition/487783/69 "2009-03-10T20:15:14Z")
> [@plankter](#): > > Lastly, I’m up number one on the library’s waiting list for Lois McMaster Bujold’s latest, _Horizon_. [does very quiet happy dance so as not to disturb other patrons] I’ve read all of her Vorkosigan books but I haven’t started the Sharing Knife series yet. ---
**Author:** ![TheMerchandise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b487fb/32.png) [@TheMerchandise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMerchandise)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2009, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-09-edition/487783/70 "2009-03-10T20:20:23Z")
> [@TheMerchandise](#): > > 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_. Finished \*Life of Pi \*yesterday. I was surprised how quick a read it was. I was also surprised how violent and graphic it was. The cover art was so cute! I was utterly unprepared for … …the main character to start eating tiger poop! But I did enjoy it. Possibilities for my next read: _2001: A Space Odyssey_ _Fool_, by Christopher Moore _The Book of Dave,_ by Will Self ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2009, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-09-edition/487783/71 "2009-03-10T20:22:13Z")
Reading _Iodine_ by Haven Kimmel. Very odd book. ---
**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:** [March 10, 2009, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-09-edition/487783/72 "2009-03-10T20:32:55Z")
> [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](#): > > I’ve read all of her Vorkosigan books but I haven’t started the Sharing Knife series yet. I like the Sharing Knife books, but they are… odd. They are a blend of fantasy and romance that ends up… odd. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![plankter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ba0ec/32.png) [@plankter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plankter)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2009, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-09-edition/487783/73 "2009-03-10T20:38:53Z")
> [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](#): > > I’ve read all of her Vorkosigan books but I haven’t started the Sharing Knife series yet. I’ve read all the Vor stories too but also her non-sci-fi (the _Chalion_ series, The Sharing Knife series, _etc._), and I can tell you that Bujold puts as much care into her fantasy worlds as her science fiction universe. Just be aware that the first two (_Beguilement_ and _Legacy_) are really one book divided in two. That way it’s less jarring when the first ends a bit randomly and the second picks up half an hour later. Very, very good though. ---
**Author:** ![yanceylebeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yanceylebeef/32/12290_2.png) [@yanceylebeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yanceylebeef)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2009, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-09-edition/487783/74 "2009-03-10T20:47:04Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > I have begun Drood, with mixed opinions. It seems to be a well-crafted plot, but so far I detest both \*Dickens \*and the _narrator_. Both are getting on my nerves. We’ll see how I like it in the end - it is a very long book. > > In between for lighter reading (and because I have a signed copy of Drood and won’t take it everywhere) I am reading Simon Greene’s latest Nightside release _Just Another Judgement Day_. It is light and easy and I am enjoying it for what it is. I’m glad to hear others with the same problem I have. I just don’t like either of the main characters. My copy is signed, as well, (Yay Tattered Cover!) so my traveling reading has become Fool, by Christopher Moore and Sagan’s Demon Haunted World. I found it pushed to the back of one of my bookcases the other day and started re-reading it. It’s as good as it was when I first read it in the ninties. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2009, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-09-edition/487783/75 "2009-03-10T21:24:04Z")
I buy my signed books at [The Signed Page](http://www.signedpage.com/index.html). Still hating both the Dickens and the narrator. The narrator seems to have a love/hate relationship with Dickens. I’m about 1/3 through, so I’m guessing I’m gonna hate them both throughout. We’ll see if that ruins the book. I am liking _The Walking Man_. It might be the best one from this series. At least so far I think it is. I’m about 1/2 way through it. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2009, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-09-edition/487783/76 "2009-03-10T22:13:49Z")
> [@plankter](#): > > I’ve read all the Vor stories too but also her non-sci-fi (the _Chalion_ series, The Sharing Knife series, _etc._), and I can tell you that Bujold puts as much care into her fantasy worlds as her science fiction universe. On the other hand I can’t stand her fantasy books despite enjoying her science fiction. It’s just more generic fantasy novels featuring characters that might as well have been transplanted from the modern day and worldbuilding that has more in common with a renaissance festival than anything real. ---
**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 11, 2009, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-09-edition/487783/77 "2009-03-11T13:48:19Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > In the meantime, I’m getting ready to start the latest by Ray Bradbury (may he live forever). It’s a short story collection called We’ll Always Have Paris. Frankly, after the last collection I read, my expectations are not very high. Low expectations met. Now I’m on to Skeleton in The Closet, a short story collection by Robert Bloch. So far, also profoundly lame. I’ve run across a few typos, though I’m only about three stories in. Worst of all, one story describes how a magician calls up a demon after drawing a pentagon on the floor. Now, it’s been a long time since I called up a demon, but I’m fairly certain you have to draw a _pentacle_. That error was repeated several times within the story. ---
**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:** [March 11, 2009, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-09-edition/487783/78 "2009-03-11T14:45:38Z")
> [@plankter](#): > > …I found _Chalice_ (2008) by Robin McKinley in the “Young Teens” section of my local branch, but there’s nothing juvenile about it; the story is sweet (literally) and made fine bedtime reading. It helps that I like bees… I suppose you’ve read this, then? My book club really liked it: [The Secret Life of Bees: Tie In Edition: Kidd, Sue Monk: 9780143114550: Amazon.com: Books](http://www.amazon.com/Secret-Life-Bees-Monk-Kidd/dp/0143114557/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1236782681&sr=1-1) ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-09-edition/487783/79 "2009-03-11T15:46:39Z")
I finished _[Virgin’s Triangle](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1231114.Virgin_s_Triangle)._ Was not impressed. According to the blurb it was supposed to be “a humorous commentary on contemporary relationships and Caribbean journalism.” The commentary on Caribbean journalism was limited to two departmental meetings, one at the beginning and one at the end of the book. Both meetings took up about four pages altogether. The “commentary” on relationships was the stuff bad soap operas are made of. It’s clear from the very first page which guy the lead character is going to bonk, the second relationship is just there to take up space. Oh, and it’s so convenient that when she breaks up with the Nice Professional Man that he turns out to be an abusive jackass. :rolleyes:,:rolleyes:,:rolleyes: and again :rolleyes:. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2009, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-09-edition/487783/80 "2009-03-11T19:15:15Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > Reading _Iodine_ by Haven Kimmel. Very odd book. Done. Do not recommend, despite \*Publishers Weekly \*starred review. About a “brilliant and psychotic” college student who is a bit of a Mary Sue (from the press release: “Wildly intelligent and fiercly independent, she is an enigma to her classmates, a loner with lavender eyes and long, raven black hair. She captivates her professors with her vast knowledge and intellect, speaking with an insight far beyond her years of the works of iconic psychologists Freud, Jung, and Hillman.” She has been squatting in an abandoned farmhouse with her dog while attending classes; she then begins living with one of her professors who had been dating another of her professors. When her new lover tells her he won’t tolerate dogs, she abandons her dog. Some of it has grit; some has just “Look at me! I’m an Important Writer!” all over it. Pretentious. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-09-edition/487783.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-09-edition/487783.md?page=5)