# Whatcha Readin' (May 09) Edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 2, 2009, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-09-edition/495077 "2009-05-02T10:59:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**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:** [May 19, 2009, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-09-edition/495077/141 "2009-05-19T15:15:46Z")
> [@SpazCat](#): > > Reassure me: something eventually does happen in _The Left Hand of Darkness_? It’s not all ENDLESS POLITICAL MACHINATIONS? Yes. Something - several things! - happen in it. I hope you’ll stick with it. I read it in high school and liked it, although I wasn’t as rapturous about it as some of my friends. Just read _Buckingham Palace_ by John Martin Robinson, a good one-volume history of the Queen’s London residence. Very well-illustrated, too. I had no idea the palace has changed its appearance so much - the current southern facade with the balcony dates only to 1913. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2009, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-09-edition/495077/142 "2009-05-19T15:56:57Z")
Spent last week rereading **Dhalgren** by Samuel R. Delany. Got the urge after someone mentioned it in a “great opening lines” thread a few weeks ago. I’d read it twice before, back in the 1980s. I’m just now starting on the **Aegypt** cycle by John Crowley. I’ve had time to get only a few pages into **The Solitudes** ; the other three volumes just arrived 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 20, 2009, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-09-edition/495077/143 "2009-05-20T12:40:15Z")
Finished The Unlikely Disciple : a sinner’s semester at America’s holiest university, by Kevin Roose. I really liked it. If you’re interested in the behavior of Christians, I think you’ll find this book fascinating. Whatever your bias going in, you’ll find something supporting it, plus something to make you think. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-09-edition/495077/144 "2009-05-20T13:13:10Z")
Just finished \*Cemetery Dance \*by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. Zombies! and They killed off good-guy reporter Bill Smithback! in the first chapter! Now reading \*The Gift of Fear \*by Gavin de Becker, as has been recommended by so many; for about a year now the database at the library has said it’s on the shelf, but it wasn’t – I was sure it had been stolen. Finally last weekend it showed up. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-09-edition/495077/145 "2009-05-20T13:49:37Z")
I’m about 100 pages into the new **Margaret Elphinstone** novel, [The Gathering Night](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=516186&page=3). 8000+ years ago in prehistoric Scotland, the Auk people hear rumours of a great disaster striking the shores across the country… The story is teased out on successive nights as the main characters each tell their pieces of the tale as they sit around the campfire. It gives a real feel for how life might have been in those days, and the disaster in it is based on a tsunami that struck Scotland at that time. Excellent stuff! Up next, probably _Cheek by Jowl_, essays by **Ursula K. LeGuin** about the importance of fantasy… It looks interesting and it’s quite short! ---
**Author:** ![wonderlust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonderlust/32/7237_2.png) [@wonderlust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonderlust)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-09-edition/495077/146 "2009-05-20T17:59:35Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > I’ll be interested in your opinion. I only like a handful of King novels, but when he is good he is very good. Re: _Duma Key_, I’m not a fast reader, but I’m about a third through it and I’m completely sucked in. First-person narratives always keep me rivited, but this is very good so far. I’ll be really disappointed if it turns out to all be a dream while he’s in a coma or something. ---
**Author:** ![TheMerchandise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b487fb/32.png) [@TheMerchandise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMerchandise)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-09-edition/495077/147 "2009-05-20T20:16:00Z")
> [@wonderlust](#): > > Re: _Duma Key_, I’m not a fast reader, but I’m about a third through it and I’m completely sucked in. First-person narratives always keep me rivited, but this is very good so far. I’ll be really disappointed if it turns out to all be a dream while he’s in a coma or something. I won’t spoil anything, but I will say you don’t have to worry about that. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-09-edition/495077/148 "2009-05-20T20:18:30Z")
I’m reading Network + Fast Pass. ---
**Author:** ![wonderlust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonderlust/32/7237_2.png) [@wonderlust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonderlust)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2009, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-09-edition/495077/149 "2009-05-20T20:41:31Z")
> [@TheMerchandise](#): > > I won’t spoil anything, but I will say you don’t have to worry about that. Yay! Thank you, now I won’t have to read with an anticipatory wince. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![statij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c2a13f/32.png) [@statij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/statij)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2009, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-09-edition/495077/150 "2009-05-21T03:33:34Z")
> [@bup](#): > > I started \*\*\*Infinite Jest \*\*\*a few days ago. I’ll check back in July… You should be almost half done by then 🙂 Enjoy. I loved it and want to read it again but the time investment is HUGE. ---
**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 21, 2009, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-09-edition/495077/151 "2009-05-21T12:05:50Z")
I finished _Left Hand of Darkness_ last night and immediately threw it down the hall. Not only did it fail to grab me, keep my attention, or involve me in the world in any way, it also failed to make a satisfying thump against the far wall. ---
**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:** [May 21, 2009, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-09-edition/495077/152 "2009-05-21T13:57:18Z")
Sorry, dude. What, in particular, annoyed you about it? It’s been a long time since I read it, but I thought it was a well-written, low-key sf novel about diplomacy and coming to understand a different, gender-shifting culture. I hope you weren’t expecting space battles, because there ain’t none. ---
**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:** [May 21, 2009, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-09-edition/495077/153 "2009-05-21T14:11:29Z")
> [@SpazCat](#): > > I finished _Left Hand of Darkness_ last night and immediately threw it down the hall. Not only did it fail to grab me, keep my attention, or involve me in the world in any way, it also failed to make a satisfying thump against the far wall. I’ve always felt a little guilty for disliking Le Guin, so I’m glad I’m not the only one. I recently gave her another try, reading _The Dispossessed_, and I didn’t much care for it. I’m up to the fourth book in the Marcus Didius Falco mystery series - I’m enjoying these. And I just read _The Commodore_, as part of my slow second pass through the Aubrey-Maturin series. ---
**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 21, 2009, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-09-edition/495077/154 "2009-05-21T18:12:35Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Sorry, dude. What, in particular, annoyed you about it? > > It’s been a long time since I read it, but I thought it was a well-written, low-key sf novel about diplomacy and coming to understand a different, gender-shifting culture. I hope you weren’t expecting space battles, because there ain’t none. Mainly because I never felt like I was a part of the world. Even though _Dune_ has as many political machinations as _LHOD_, quite possibly more, I felt a part of that world from page 1. _LHOD_ didn’t draw me in until two-thirds of the way through and then immediately spit me out. I understand what Le Guin was doing, and I respect it and I think she did a good job on the philosophic side. On the story side she left me, haha, out in the cold. Since my first reading of a book is for the story, _LHOD_ failed. I know Le Guin can write. I own and love _A Wizard of Earthsea_, but in that book the story took first place over The Message and I think that ultimately hurt _LHOD_. ---
**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:** [May 21, 2009, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-09-edition/495077/155 "2009-05-21T18:31:57Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > Just when you thought you were out, we pull you back in. 🙂 > > His next opus is _Under the Dome_, projected at 1500 pages. The synopsis on King’s website sounds a lot like Robert McCammon’s _Stinger_. > > “On an entirely normal, beautiful fall day in Chester’s Mill, Maine, the town is inexplicably and suddenly sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible force field. Planes crash into it and fall from the sky in flaming wreckage, a gardener’s hand is severed as “the dome” comes down on it, people running errands in the neighboring town are divided from their families, and cars explode on impact. No one can fathom what this barrier is, where it came from, and when—or if—it will go away.” This sounds interesting. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2009, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-09-edition/495077/156 "2009-05-21T18:46:53Z")
> [@Shirley\_Ujest](#): > > This sounds interesting. If it does, then read _Stinger_. I’ve read it twice. If I still had the book, I’d read it again. McCammon’s hit or miss with me – sometimes he tries too hard – but I loved _Stinger_. Scary, but with heart. He makes you love the characters before he kills them. ---
**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:** [May 21, 2009, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-09-edition/495077/157 "2009-05-21T19:16:58Z")
> [@SpazCat](#): > > Mainly because I never felt like I was a part of the world. …I think that ultimately hurt _LHOD_. OK, thanks. Sorry it wasn’t to your liking. I can’t say it’s on my personal Top Ten list either, by any means, but to each their own. ---
**Author:** ![sweeteviljesus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@sweeteviljesus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweeteviljesus)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2009, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-09-edition/495077/158 "2009-05-21T20:24:59Z")
Finished Guests of the Ayatollah by Mark Bowden of Black Hawk Down fame. It is a compelling blow-by-blow of the Iranian hostage crisis, but as a review on [Salon.com](http://Salon.com) pointed out, it doesn’t really offer any lessons beyond the one in history. I am currently reading I Wouldn’t Start from Here by Andrew Mueller which is excellent, demented travel writing in the mold of Holidays in Hell. I am also in the middle of The Devil We Know by Robert Baer and The Ayatollah Begs to Differ: The Paradox of Modern Iran. ---
**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 22, 2009, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-09-edition/495077/159 "2009-05-22T04:07:42Z")
Finished _Next_, by Michael Crichton, involving intrigue in the biogenetic industry. A good read. Hmmm, he died a couple years after this book came out. I’m wondering if industry bigwigs might have whacked him! :eek: Next up: _News of a Kidnapping_, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. A novelized account of the real-life kidnappings of 10 women during the winter of 1990 by Pablo Escobar’s Medellin cartel. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2009, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-09-edition/495077/160 "2009-05-22T13:19:50Z")
The new Deanna Raybourn. I don’t read a huge amount of genre fiction anymore, but I stumbled onto her first book, _Silent in the Grave_, when I got my Kindle, and enjoyed the hell out of it. It’s a cross-genre genre novel – historical romance and mystery. The main figure is Lady Julia Grey, whose husband is murdered in the opening of _Silent in the Grave_. She hires the Byronic studmuffin Brisbane to find out what’s going on. The time period isn’t the usual for romance novels – late Victorian – and the author stays away from the worst of the cliches; there’s good humor, good plotting, good writing. Raybourn reminds me a bit of Jayne Anne Krentz in her Amanda Quick persona (another author – two authors? – who I pick up when I see), though with less explicit sex. Anyway, for those who like historic romances spiced with mystery, or mysteries spiced with historic romance, I recommend her. Read 'em in order, since there’s an overall narrative arc across the books about the development of the relationship between Lady Julia and Brisbane. (_Silent in the Grave_ is followed by _Silent in the Sanctuary_; the one I read yesterday – in damn close to a single sitting, all 465 pages of it – is _Silent on the Moor_.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-09-edition/495077.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-09-edition/495077.md?page=9)