# Whatcha Readin' March 2010 Edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 28, 2010, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-2010-edition/530742 "2010-02-28T13:02:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2010, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-2010-edition/530742/41 "2010-03-14T06:00:04Z")
_Red Inferno: 1945_ by Robert Conroy. Alternate history about the Americans and Soviets fighting over Berlin in 1945. I can’t recommend it too much. Conroy’s plots have always been far-fetched and his characterizations weak but this time he doesn’t even do well on his history. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2010, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-2010-edition/530742/42 "2010-03-14T12:13:06Z")
> [@wonderlust](#): > > I really like how [_Madness of Angels_](http://www.amazon.com/Madness-Angels-Resurrection-Matthew-Swift/dp/0316041254/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268543951&sr=8-1) is starting out. It seems more literary than much of urban fantasy, and I happen to have a jones for dark angel stories just now, as I’m watching season 4 of Supernatural. The book I’m really looking forward to is _Angelology_, [reviewed here by NPR](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124547082&sc=nl&cc=bn-20100311). I have bookmarked it for later review. It looks like something I may enjoy. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2010, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-2010-edition/530742/43 "2010-03-14T14:17:19Z")
I seem to have given up on _Winter’s Tale_ – at 400-some pages in (and another 200 pages to go), it’s been sitting next to my bed untouched for over a week, and I have no particular interest in picking it up again. I’m currently looking at a book on sketching for my pre-sleep read (been doing some drawing recently … that’s a different Cafe Society thread, though :D), and _Winter’s Tale_, a hardback, is way too heavy for a commuting book. For the latter, I’m currently rereading _Left Hand of Darkness_, which I first read close to 40 years ago. It holds up surprisingly well, though of course sexual politics have progressed somewhat in the intervening years, I’m happy to report, rendering the Envoy’s dismay and disorientation a wee bit overstated. ---
**Author:** ![arachnologus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dc4da7/32.png) [@arachnologus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/arachnologus)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-2010-edition/530742/44 "2010-03-15T07:03:39Z")
> [@Enright3](#): > > 'm reading Flatland by Edwin Abbott Abbott. I’ve read it. Fascinating in its way, though Abbott is not exactly one of the great literary stylists. Robert Service wrote one of his worst poems on a similar subject. It starts out “There once was a Square, such a square little Square, and he loved a trim Triangle…” Currently I’m indulging my hobby of antique juvenile fiction by re-reading one of the original Hardy Boys from the 1940s, _The Clue of the Broken Blade_. This one has so many disparate episodes and adventures thrown in that you expect at any moment to find the next chapter titled _The Kitchen Sink_. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-2010-edition/530742/45 "2010-03-15T07:26:05Z")
> [@Enterprise](#): > > I bought Jon Krakauer’s _Under the Banner of Heaven_ on Friday and finished it yesterday, so I suppose it barely counts for the March thread. An excellent, disturbing book. My edition came with an afterword about a review of the book that took it to task for being somehow “against” Mormonism, but I have to say that I couldn’t think how Krakauer could have been more even-handed Well, its focus is on a pair of Mormon serial killers, and its subtitle is something like “a history of a violent faith” so its not exactly a stretch to call it “against Mormonism” even if its not a polemic against the beliefs of Mormons. Its certainly not focused on the most flattering aspects of the faiths history, anyways. Good book, though. I bought **“Name of the Wind”** by Patrick Rothfuss on a lark after the guys who write Penny-Arcade recommended it. I haven’t read a pulp fantasy novel since I was in High School, and now I remember why. Its not terrible, but I feel like its just minor variations on a mis-mash of elements from every other fantasy novel. Also, the cover of the book could make clear that its part of a trilogy, as I bought it thinking it would be a self-contained stroy. Now I have to decide whether I want to get the next book when it comes out. ---
**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 15, 2010, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-2010-edition/530742/46 "2010-03-15T12:39:34Z")
Finished Missing Abby and thought it was pretty good. I will keep an eye out for more by this author. Started on The Ask and the Answer, second in a YA series by Patrick Ness. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-2010-edition/530742/47 "2010-03-15T12:51:28Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > \ > > I bought **“Name of the Wind”** by Patrick Rothfuss on a lark after the guys who write Penny-Arcade recommended it. I haven’t read a pulp fantasy novel since I was in High School, and now I remember why. Its not terrible, but I feel like its just minor variations on a mis-mash of elements from every other fantasy novel. > > Also, the cover of the book could make clear that its part of a trilogy, as I bought it thinking it would be a self-contained stroy. Now I have to decide whether I want to get the next book when it comes out. I actually enjoyed it way more than you have - but I am frustrated with the amount of time it is taking for books two and three to come out. Book two was due out almost a full year ago. I am now beginning to believe he will never finish. ---
**Author:** ![Shark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Shark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shark)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-2010-edition/530742/48 "2010-03-15T13:41:28Z")
I just read **Lord of the Flies** for the first time ever. Don’t know how I had ever missed reading it before. What powerful imagery. I’m trying to decide whether to have my 10 year old read it now or not. I think he would enjoy it, without it being too depressing. On a much lighter note, I also just finished **Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter** by Seth Grahame-Smith who also wrote **Pride and Prejudice and Zombies**. It was a quick read, as I read most of it while traveling for work. I plan on reading **Fool** by Christopher Moore in the very near future. ---
**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 15, 2010, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-2010-edition/530742/49 "2010-03-15T13:59:13Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > I actually enjoyed it way more than you have - but I am frustrated with the amount of time it is taking for books two and three to come out. Book two was due out almost a full year ago. I am now beginning to believe he will never finish. I bought a copy of the Rothfuss book, based on great reviews, and because I could have sworn that I had read that he’d already written the entire trilogy and they were just spacing out the release dates. I never started it, though, and now I refuse to read it until the next two books are published, if they ever are. **Simplicio** , I recently read Joe Abercrombie’s (completed) _The First Law_ trilogy and enjoyed it very much. It has a lot of your standard fantasy elements, but it’s one of that new class of darker, grittier fantasies with more realism and less magic (like George R. R. Martin’s work) to which I have become partial. The fight scenes in it are fantastic, and the ending is anything but conventional. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-2010-edition/530742/50 "2010-03-15T14:35:03Z")
> [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](#): > > I bought a copy of the Rothfuss book, based on great reviews, and because I could have sworn that I had read that he’d already written the entire trilogy and they were just spacing out the release dates. I never started it, though, and now I refuse to read it until the next two books are published, if they ever are. > > **Simplicio** , I recently read Joe Abercrombie’s (completed) _The First Law_ trilogy and enjoyed it very much. It has a lot of your standard fantasy elements, but it’s one of that new class of darker, grittier fantasies with more realism and less magic (like George R. R. Martin’s work) to which I have become partial. The fight scenes in it are fantastic, and the ending is anything but conventional. I enjoyed _The First Law_ very much as well, and recommended it to others - all of whom promptly hated it. 😃 To my mind, _The First Law_ is great for those who like a twisted take on all of the usual fantasy tropes - they are all there, only subverted in various ways. Also, I thought the writing very much superior to the usual run of fantasy fiction. Definitely an author to watch. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-2010-edition/530742/51 "2010-03-16T00:05:29Z")
It took me a long time to get through _Flicker_, which I know some Dopers love. I liked the whole set-up, and I’m a big snooty film history person, so it hooked me in right away … but the second half was a little too WTF? for me. All I could picture was some old guy ranting about “Kids today! Their music is too loud!” I think it’s been a while since we had a goodreads thread – is there a SDMB group? ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-2010-edition/530742/52 "2010-03-16T00:09:16Z")
> [@delphica](#): > > I think it’s been a while since we had a goodreads thread – is there a SDMB group? Yep. [Right here.](http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/822.SDMB_Straight_Dope) ---
**Author:** ![thirdwarning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecccb3/32.png) [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-2010-edition/530742/53 "2010-03-16T01:43:40Z")
I’ve gotten a good start on the _Personal Memoirs_ of U. S. Grant. I’ve been hearing about it for a long time, and I picked it up last year at the half price book store. It’s been sitting here for a while and I started it late last week. It’s better than I expected. And one of the best parts is that the style of the writing and the tone reminds me a lot of my dad. Who would have thought General Grant would be so honest and humble? Not to mention the bits of dry humor that pop up every once in a while. It’s turning out to be quite a bit of fun. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-2010-edition/530742/54 "2010-03-16T04:24:39Z")
Grant’s always been acknowleged as being a good writer. So good in fact that when his memoirs were published some people claimed they must have been ghost-written (Samuel Clemens was often suspected). But colleagues who’d known him for years said that Grant had always written well but most people didn’t know that because he hadn’t written for publication before. ---
**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 16, 2010, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-2010-edition/530742/55 "2010-03-16T14:09:58Z")
> [@thirdwarning](#): > > I’ve gotten a good start on the _Personal Memoirs_ of U. S. Grant… Who would have thought General Grant would be so honest and humble?.. You should be aware that Grant is not without his critics, who think he excused or downplayed in his memoirs all of the mistakes made by his buddy William T. Sherman, and was unduly critical of Gen. George H. Thomas, an excellent officer Grant whom seemed to dislike. Grant’s writing about his own handling of the Battle of Shiloh (which one historian wryly described as “He explained that he expected to be surprised”) is also not a model of historical accuracy. I’m now reading an abridged version of Twain’s _The Prince and the Pauper_ with my 10-year-old son, and we’re enjoying it. I’ve started Stephen Breyer’s _Active Liberty_, but have been reminded all over again (through no fault of Justice Breyer) that I don’t like legal theory much, even in small doses. I’m also reading John Grisham’s new short-story collection, _Ford County_. I just read the first story, “Blood Drive,” about three good ol’ boys’ misadventures late one night in Memphis, which was sort of fun. **Shark** , did you enjoy _Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter_? ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-2010-edition/530742/56 "2010-03-16T14:34:48Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > Starting _A Beautiful Blue Death_ by Charles Finch. I enjoyed The September Society, and this is the first book in that series. Finished _Blue_ and now am nearing the end of the third book, _The Fleet Street Murders_. That’s all he’s written, so I guess I’m done with him for a while. > [@yanceylebeef](#): > > Somehow I got caught up in the Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child series about Agent Pendergast, and I’ve been running through them pretty quickly. Not great literature, but good page turners, and lots of twists. I just loooooove me some Agent Pendergast\*. I wonder if there’s a Facebook fan page for him . . . \*except I hated _The Wheel of Darkness_. Oh, please. But _Cemetery Dance_ was better, and there’s a new book in May! _Fever Dream_! > [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Finished my audiobook, The Help, by Kathyrn Stockett. I shied away from it at first because it looks like the stereotypical Oprah-club-women’s-relationships novel, but it turned out to be a real jewel. I think that was mostly due to the readers, especially Octavia Spencer (voice of Aibileen). I don’t think I’d have enjoyed it half as much if I’d read it to myself. I am on Disc 1 of this. Spencer’s voice is all I’ve heard so far, and I think she’s great. She imitates all the bridge club ladies’ voices, and the way her voice softens when she talks about the baby is just lovely. She’s a fine actress. ---
**Author:** ![TheMerchandise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b487fb/32.png) [@TheMerchandise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMerchandise)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-2010-edition/530742/57 "2010-03-16T15:05:48Z")
> [@TheMerchandise](#): > > I’m currently reading _The Book Thief_, by Markus Zusak. The only thing I really knew about it before picking it up was that everyone on The Dope loved and every critic in the entire world loved it. I’m only 40 pages in, but I am impressed already. Finished\* The Book Thief\* and I loved it. It’s very sad in parts, but isn’t necessarily melancholy. I had a hard time convincing my SO that just because I was crying didn’t mean I wasn’t enjoying the book immensely. ---
**Author:** ![Shark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/73ab20/32.png) [@Shark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shark)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-2010-edition/530742/58 "2010-03-16T15:23:43Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > **Shark** , did you enjoy _Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter_? I did indeed enjoy it. I wouldn’t call it a literary Tour de Force, but for a quick, light-hearted read, it was fun. I don’t think this is giving too much away, but I’ll spoiler it anyway. Did you know that, The Civil War was really about vampires wanting to enslave all people as tasty treats!!! You go Abe. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-2010-edition/530742/59 "2010-03-16T17:06:21Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > Yep. [Right here.](http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/822.SDMB_Straight_Dope) thanks! ---
**Author:** ![RunSilent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e0b2c6/32.png) [@RunSilent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RunSilent)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-2010-edition/530742/60 "2010-03-16T19:46:48Z")
I just finished two Charles Portis books: Dog of the South, and Masters of Atlantis. Full of quirky characters! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-2010-edition/530742.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-march-2010-edition/530742.md?page=4)