# Whatcha readin' May (08) edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 30, 2008, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-08-edition/447452 "2008-04-30T11:50:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-08-edition/447452/61 "2008-05-08T20:04:47Z")
[QUOTE=Sigmagirl] I thought _The Professor and the Madman_ was far too long and should have been written as a journal article for something like _Smithsonian_. I’ll be interested in your opinion. [/QUOTE] Now that I have the time to sit and read the book for more than just a few pages at a time, I find myself inclined to agree with you. For example, he could have easily done away with “the history of the dictionary” stuff, including everything about Johnson – it’s _almost_ off-topic. I’ll soldier on, and will hope that things get better now that the exposition seems to be done and I’m at the part where Minor has volunteered to help send in words. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-08-edition/447452/62 "2008-05-08T20:15:29Z")
INMHO, that’s the best part. I’ll wait for your opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-08-edition/447452/63 "2008-05-11T11:21:49Z")
Finished “Mr. Twilight”. Not too bad. Not great. I dunno if I’ll read the follow up (assuming there is one.) I suppose I will if I spot it, but I won’t seek it out. Mr. Twilight is a - I guess - urban fantasy. The mage Colin (sometimes known as Colin Twilight) escapes from the Scholomance where his soul was to be tithed to Satan (Morningstar.) Now spends his time, with the help of an angel and a demon righting wrongs. (Caught between dark and light, thus Twilight.) In this story he helps solve a mystery involving a Lovecraftian style author and his creations. The twists in the end were contrived and made the book weak for me. I give it a C or maybe a C-. Next up: Magic Bites. ---
**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:** [May 11, 2008, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-08-edition/447452/64 "2008-05-11T13:38:44Z")
[QUOTE=SpazCat] I picked up _Anansi Boys_ from the library today. If it rubs me the same way as _American Gods_ I am hereafter swearing off Neil Gaiman and going back to Charles de Lint. [/QUOTE] So yeah, about that. I got four chapters in, decided the main character was a spineless dweeb who was too dumb to live (he gave his boss his _passwords???_), bounced it back in the return bin at the library and picked up _Wolf Moon_ by de Lint. I hereby declare Gaiman Horribly Overrated. I also picked up _Cold Mountain_ by Charles Frasier (sp?) and finished _The Heptameron_ this morning. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-08-edition/447452/65 "2008-05-11T15:17:22Z")
[QUOTE=SpazCat] So yeah, about that. I got four chapters in, decided the main character was a spineless dweeb who was too dumb to live (he gave his boss his _passwords???_), bounced it back in the return bin at the library and picked up _Wolf Moon_ by de Lint. I hereby declare Gaiman Horribly Overrated. I also picked up _Cold Mountain_ by Charles Frasier (sp?) and finished _The Heptameron_ this morning. [/QUOTE] I’m not a fan either, but that puts in a minority on the boards. I have tried a few of Gaiman’s books and am mostly just bored. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-08-edition/447452/66 "2008-05-11T15:17:30Z")
[QUOTE=Dinsdale] Just finished the best book I’ve read in quite a while, **The Ghost Map** by Steven Johnson. I STRONGLY recommend it. [/QUOTE] Well good! One of my kids sent me an Amazon gift certificate for Mother’s Day, so I’m getting this book. Thanks for recommending it. I also bought _Last Night at the Lobster_ by Stewart O’Nan and _The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: A shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective_ by Kate Summerscale. Maureen Corrigan raved about this on NPR last week. ---
**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:** [May 11, 2008, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-08-edition/447452/67 "2008-05-11T20:57:01Z")
[QUOTE=Khadaji] I’m not a fan either, but that puts in a minority on the boards. I have tried a few of Gaiman’s books and am mostly just bored. [/QUOTE] I liked _Neverwhere_. I’m willing to give _Coraline_ a try. The rest just goes on too long (except _Stardust_ which needed a bit more in the middle). ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-08-edition/447452/68 "2008-05-12T11:55:37Z")
Finished _Magic Bites._ Quite enjoyed it. Has a lot of potential. I always buy 4 or 5 books at a time and then read them in an order such that I read the books I think I will like best first. I find it interesting that I am nearly always wrong. (Unless I have read some of the authors before and am anticipating some of the books.) Next up: Destiny (Rogue Angel). And that will pretty much deplete my queue. So I’ll have to order some today. ---
**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:** [May 12, 2008, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-08-edition/447452/69 "2008-05-12T12:23:18Z")
Currently reading My Favorite Horror Story, a collection edited by Mike Baker and Martin Harry Greenberg. Famous horror writers chose stories which strongly impressed or influenced them. There are some here I haven’t read before that are really great (Sweets to the Sweet by Robert Bloch, A Warning to the Curious by Richard Matheson), and a bunch I’ve read before but don’t mind reading again (The Rats in the Walls by Lovecraft, The Father-Thing by Philip K. Dick). ---
**Author:** ![Atrael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Atrael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atrael)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-08-edition/447452/70 "2008-05-12T17:05:54Z")
Glad you liked _Magic Bites_ **Khadaji** , don’t forget there’s another one in that series. I picked up the next two Rogue Angel books the other day [Provenance](http://www.amazon.com/Provenance-Rogue-Angel-Alex-Archer/dp/0373621299/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210611557&sr=1-2) and [The Soul Stealer](http://www.amazon.com/Soul-Stealer-Rogue-Angel/dp/0373621302/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210611557&sr=1-11). Although I may not read them back to back. This author is kind of hit or miss with me and this character. I tend to like the acheology aspects of the story, and some of the tech in it, but sometimes I think they tend to push it a bit hard. Which will also quickly date the books. In _Provenance_ for instance they mention using Google Earth…which is great except that in 5 years or so that will seem like an antiquated tool, and in 15 years, nobody will know what the hell they’re talking about. Still a good read. I’ll probably start re-reading the _The Lost Fleet_ series, in preparation for the release of [Valiant](http://www.amazon.com/Valiant-Lost-Fleet-Book-Campbell/dp/0441016197/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210611813&sr=1-1) which is due out next month. And I’ve also ordered [Stop Dressing your Six Year Old Like a Skank](http://www.amazon.com/Stop-Dressing-Your-Six-Year-Old-Skank/dp/B0013MPC6G/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210611899&sr=1-1) thanks to someone’s recomendation last month. Should be arriving this week. ---
**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:** [May 13, 2008, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-08-edition/447452/71 "2008-05-13T02:32:56Z")
Back in town. Read James Ellroy’s _Destination: Morgue!_ while up North. It was … interesting. Ellroy, a Los Angeles native, tried to re-create the prose style of the 1950s crime and scandal rags he grew up with, such as _Hush-Hush_ and _Confidential_. (Remember, this is the guy who co-wrote the 1997 film _LA Confidential._) The first part of the book is a series of essays detailing his obsession with the unsolved murder of 16-year-old Stephanie Gorman in August 1965 – the Cold Case Unit \*almost \* solved it in 2002 – and his own life as a down-and-out street punk in the 1960s and 1970s. Then there are three novellas centered on one LA detective, again re-creating the 1950s scandal prose. Overall, I enjoyed it. This week, I’ll start _Fever Pitch_, by Nick Hornby. ---
**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:** [May 13, 2008, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-08-edition/447452/72 "2008-05-13T12:00:44Z")
Current book: Allure: Confessions of a Beauty Editor by Linda Wells. :o ---
**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:** [May 13, 2008, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-08-edition/447452/73 "2008-05-13T17:55:03Z")
Also finished just this morning: The audiobook version of Stephen King’s Wizard and Glass, unfortunately the last one read by Frank Muller. Damn, he was good. His voice for Eldred Jonas actually made me like the Big Coffin Hunter, though I wasn’t supposed to. I’ll start listening to Guidall read Wolves of the Calla tonight. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-08-edition/447452/74 "2008-05-13T19:12:50Z")
_Tom Sawyer_! Somebody gave a copy to my brother and me when we were a little too young for it. (I’m fifty now). I never got around to reading it, but I came across it the other day, didn’t even know I still had it. So now I’ve started in, it’s my current bathroom book. I’ve just got to the point where Huckleberry Finn is described as the local “cool kid” who is the worry of all the parents. I like the hisorical setting too. A fun book all in all. I’ve actually hardly read any Twain–it’s something I’ve definitely missed out on. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2008, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-08-edition/447452/75 "2008-05-14T00:23:58Z")
I’m reading [The Name of the Wind](http://www.amazon.com/Name-Wind-Kingkiller-Chronicle-Day/dp/0756404746/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210724385&sr=8-1), the first novel by Patrick Rothfuss. I’m only about 3/4 of the way through, but it’s shaping up to be possibly the best piece of writing I’ve ever read. “[Rothfuss is] the great new fantasy writer we’ve been waiting for, and this is an astonishing book …” — Orson Scott Card “_The Name of the Wind_ is one of the best stories told in any medium in a decade … Shelve _The Name of the Wind_ beside _The Lord of the Rings_ … and look forward to the day when it’s mentioned in the same breath, perhaps as first among equals.” — The Onion A.V. Club ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2008, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-08-edition/447452/76 "2008-05-14T06:53:33Z")
I’m in the middle of **Bonk** by Mary Roach, which has a laugh a page, at least, but doesn’t seem quite as **Stiff** and **Spook**. However, when I was watching the special features disk of my new 2001: A Space Odyssey DVD, I discovered a book called **The Making of 2001: A Space Odyssey** - and not Agel’s book. I got it inter-library loan, and am disappointed. It is a bunch of essays, most of which I have. Most of the reviews are new, but there is one particularly awful one, from ArtForum, which seems to be the reviewer relating whatever she just read to the movie, and finding a deeper meaning to the astronauts floating. Deeper meaning: they’re weightless, you dope! I guess I’d buy it if I saw it used, but it isn’t worth ordering used from Amazon. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2008, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-08-edition/447452/77 "2008-05-14T10:54:26Z")
[QUOTE=Phase42] I’m reading [The Name of the Wind](http://www.amazon.com/Name-Wind-Kingkiller-Chronicle-Day/dp/0756404746/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210724385&sr=8-1), the first novel by Patrick Rothfuss. I’m only about 3/4 of the way through, but it’s shaping up to be possibly the best piece of writing I’ve ever read. “[Rothfuss is] the great new fantasy writer we’ve been waiting for, and this is an astonishing book …” — Orson Scott Card “_The Name of the Wind_ is one of the best stories told in any medium in a decade … Shelve _The Name of the Wind_ beside _The Lord of the Rings_ … and look forward to the day when it’s mentioned in the same breath, perhaps as first among equals.” — The Onion A.V. Club [/QUOTE] I’m a huge fan and push this book every chance I get. When I reviewed it a few months ago I think the phrase I used was: A story teller’s story. Or something like that. My only issue is I have to wait until 2009 for the next one! ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2008, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-08-edition/447452/78 "2008-05-14T17:41:06Z")
[QUOTE=Khadaji] I’m a huge fan and push this book every chance I get. When I reviewed it a few months ago I think the phrase I used was: A story teller’s story. [/quote] I strongly suspect that the author is a musician, too. His understanding of the mentality of a dedicated musician is too accurate for him not to be one himself. > [@](#): > > My only issue is I have to wait until 2009 for the next one! Fortunately, according to the author the entire trilogy is already written, so at least there shouldn’t be any unexpected problems with releasing the remaining books on schedule. That’s actually a major reason that I don’t bother with trilogies until the whole thing has been published - I hate the wait, and you never know how fast or slow the author is going to be. Back in 1995 I picked up a book by Marjorie B. Kellogg called _The Book of Earth_, which was the first book in a quartet. It ended up being one of the best books I’d read up to that point, and I was dying to read the next one. That first book was only 335 pages, so I figured the wait wouldn’t be long for the second one. Two years I waited for the second book, which was also only 335 pages. It took _three_ more years for the third book, though this time the page count was up to 502; finally, it was another three years wait for the fourth and final book. I loved the story and the writing, but the long wait between books was extremely aggravating. Anyway, I discovered _The Name of the Wind_ thanks to the custom advertisement done by Tarol Hunt, who writes and draws the webcomic [Goblins: Life Through Their Eyes](http://goblinscomic.com/). He worked it into the comic. Scroll down to the second comic, where it says “Continuity Warning: The Following Is An Ad”. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2008, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-08-edition/447452/79 "2008-05-14T18:56:08Z")
I just started ‘Dragonbone Chair’ which has been sitting in my to-read space (it moves around =^.^=;) along with the other parts of the trilogy for at least two years. I needed something to read while waiting for DVDs to burn (a must backup computer before it dies! sort of thing) and it was there. I haven’t gotten very far but it’s good classic-style fantasy. Very Tolkien-ish without the language-porn. A bit more serious than CS Lewis stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2008, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-08-edition/447452/80 "2008-05-14T19:07:44Z")
[QUOTE=Phase42] I strongly suspect that the author is a musician, too. His understanding of the mentality of a dedicated musician is too accurate for him not to be one himself. \ [/QUOTE] I liked it enough to buy a copy signed by the author. Of course, I have no idea how to care for it, so I have left it in the box, which means I haven’t seen it yet and as a friend pointed out, I don’t even know for sure that I own a signed copy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-08-edition/447452.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-08-edition/447452.md?page=5)