# Whatcha Readin' May 2012 Edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 30, 2012, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-2012-edition/620448 "2012-04-30T21:05:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2012, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-2012-edition/620448/41 "2012-05-07T20:44:27Z")
> [@charmstr](#): > > I’m also considering reading China Miéville’s [Embassytown](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9265453-embassytown) or re-reading [Jack of Shadows](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61986.Jack_of_Shadows) by Roger Zelazny for the Goodreads Beyond Reality group. (I honestly remember nothing about the Zelazny book other than having read it many decades ago. Something about a house?) \*Embassytown \*did nothing at all for me, but others seem to think it’s the stuff, so YMMV. ---
**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 7, 2012, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-2012-edition/620448/42 "2012-05-07T20:49:23Z")
> [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](#): > > Is it health issues? I thought it was a rocky relationship and plain old writer’s block. Crippling depression and anxiety, according to his [livejournal](http://scott-lynch.livejournal.com/270359.html). I think he got divorced. He’s dating author Elizabeth Bear right now, and seems to be cheerful about it. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2012, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-2012-edition/620448/43 "2012-05-07T20:50:10Z")
I’m polishing up _American Psycho_ by Bret Easton Ellis. Loved the movie, so I figured I’d read the book. And the last book I read was _11/22/63_ by Stephen King and all the main characters were just a leeeeetle to PollyAnnish for my liking. I needed a good anti-hero thing working for me. Here’s the thing about _American Psycho_ though – I know how the movie ends and I’m dying to see how it’s accomplished in the book, because so far I’m not getting the irony I’m supposed to feeling when reading two pages worth of tongues hanging by blue veins and bloody-bile-ridden chest cavities and shit like that. It seems overly gratuitous. Reading the sex scenes while sitting in a cafe can make me feel quite uncomfortable, so to speak. Next up is _John Dies at the End_ by David Wong (Jason Pargin), which I don’t know much about, but it sounds like it might be right up my alley. ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-2012-edition/620448/44 "2012-05-08T02:45:24Z")
I tried to read _Tuxedo Park_ by Jennet Conant, but I gave up on it halfway through. I’m in the middle of _Storm of Swords_, Book 3 of Song of Ice and Fire. I’d heard there’s a drop-off in quality from the first two books, but I haven’t noticed a decline yet. ---
**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 8, 2012, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-2012-edition/620448/45 "2012-05-08T13:42:51Z")
> [@Invisible\_Chimp](#): > > I tried to read _Tuxedo Park_ by Jennet Conant, but I gave up on it halfway through. I’m in the middle of _Storm of Swords_, Book 3 of Song of Ice and Fire. I’d heard there’s a drop-off in quality from the first two books, but I haven’t noticed a decline yet. I think most fans begin to complain with book four. The third book is my favorite of the series. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-2012-edition/620448/46 "2012-05-08T15:05:36Z")
> [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](#): > > Crippling depression and anxiety, according to his [livejournal](http://scott-lynch.livejournal.com/270359.html). I think he got divorced. He’s dating author Elizabeth Bear right now, and seems to be cheerful about it. Ah yeah, depression. When I see “health issues,” I somehow don’t immediately think of mental health, which I know is shallow. Anyway, Lynch was at a CON in Detroit a few months ago and I heard he was doing pretty well there and said something about making progress on the next book. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-2012-edition/620448/47 "2012-05-08T15:56:49Z")
Finished [_Right Hand Magic: A Novel of Golgotham_](http://www.amazon.com/Right-Hand-Magic-Novel-Golgotham/dp/0451463668/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336492042&sr=8-1) a mediocre urban fantasy about a woman without magic who takes an apartment in Golgatham, New York’s magic neighborhood. It was OK. Nancy A. Collins - the author - is rather heavy-handed in addressing racial issues. I actually have always liked the idea of authors addressing social issues. Much of my own ethics were shaped from my reading. But I prefer it to be more subtle. I may read more of her, but only if I’m out of other mind candy. ---
**Author:** ![Politzania](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ab097/32.png) [@Politzania](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Politzania)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-2012-edition/620448/48 "2012-05-08T19:49:24Z")
Am about halfway thru the library’s Kindle version of _**[The Orphan Master’s Son](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11529868-the-orphan-master-s-son)**_ by Adam Johnson… and I’m still not quite sure how I feel about it. Awful things happen to the characters in the book (the North Korean orphan of the title comes to the attention of his superiors and takes on various roles for the government) and the language is both stark and beautiful. It’s compelling, and I will finish it, but I don’t know if it’s something I will re-read. I recently re-read _**[Who Censored Roger Rabbit?](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/765430.Who_Censored_Roger_Rabbit_)**_ by Gary K Wolf - the inspiration for the film _Who Framed Roger Rabbit?_ The basic film noir story set in a world of Toons & humans is the same, but the plot changed fairly significantly for the film. (The book has more sex, murder & mayhem than Disney would have allowed!) Am also almost done with the semi-sequel _**[Who P-P-P-Plugged Roger Rabbit? A Hare-Raising Mystery](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/312489.Who_P_P_P_Plugged_Roger_Rabbit_A_Hare_Raising_Mystery)**_ also by Wolf. It’s mostly a follow-up to the film, but with elements from the original book as well. It’s not quite as good as the first book, but the film is still my favorite. ---
**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 10, 2012, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-2012-edition/620448/49 "2012-05-10T14:56:30Z")
Finished _The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror (2010)_. _shrug_ It was an anthology. It had a lot of different stuff, most of it okay to pass the time, some of it crap. No gems. I am compelled to keep on reading anthologies (in fact, there’s a buttload of them in my TBR pile right now), but I can’t get very excited about them. Next up, another anthology, _Demons: encounters with the devil and his minions, fallen angels, and the possessed_, edited by John Skipp. I know for a fact there are some jewels in this collection, because I’ve already read them! Here’s hoping the rest of it measures up. ---
**Author:** ![TheMerchandise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b487fb/32.png) [@TheMerchandise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMerchandise)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-2012-edition/620448/50 "2012-05-11T14:11:18Z")
I just read **Jane Eyre** for the first time and loved it. I’m trying to catch up on some of the classics I never read in school. I also finished **Aloha From Hel** l by Richard Kadrey, the third in his Sandman Slim series. If you’re a fan of the Dresden File books, but have ever said to yourself, “Man, I really like these books but wish there was more swearing, gore and whiskey!” then Sandman Slim is for you. The books follow Jim Stark, a magician escaped from hell. He lives in Los Angeles and fights demons, zombies and the angel living inside his head. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-2012-edition/620448/51 "2012-05-11T19:01:42Z")
I finished _The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet_ by David Mitchell, which I thought was terrific historical fiction, set at the Dutch trading outpost outside of Japan around 1800. I don’t know who specifically mentioned it, but I first heard about it in one of these threads a few months ago. I am now starting (literally, I think I’m on page 2) of Colson Whitehead’s zombie novel, _Zone One_. ---
**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 11, 2012, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-2012-edition/620448/52 "2012-05-11T21:58:49Z")
I just read **Finding Nouf** , by Zoë Ferraris, which is a murder mystery set in modern-day Saudi Arabia. It’s a pretty good read, and the setting was very interesting. One of the protagonists is a devout, traditional Muslim man who’s trying to solve the murder of a teenage girl while unable to ask direct questions about her or actually speak to any of her female relatives. Of course, I don’t know how accurately the novel portrays the culture: the author is a white American who married a Saudia Arabian man and lived in Jeddah for nine months with his family. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-2012-edition/620448/53 "2012-05-11T22:24:53Z")
I finally got around to **Ender’s Game** , after approximately a billion people told me I would love it. As it turns out, I _loved_ it. I’m working on **One Hundred Days: My Unexpected Journey from Doctor to Patient** , by David Biro, and it’s quite good. It’s hard for me to get through his description of the pain and consequences of radiation and chemotherapy, because I have a good friend going through aggressive therapy for a brain tumor, so I have to take breaks here and there to think about something else. Not sure what to read next. I have **Never Let Me Go** by Kazuo Ishiguro, due back at the library in a week, but I’m not really feeling up to starting that one because I get the feeling it’s too “deep”. ---
**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:** [May 11, 2012, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-2012-edition/620448/54 "2012-05-11T22:34:55Z")
_Maphead: Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks_ by Ken Jennings (turns out he’s a pretty good writer) and _Tough Sh_t: Life Advice from a Fat, Lazy Slob Who Did Good\* by Kevin Smith (which, on the other hand, isn’t as good as most of his past books - Smith comes across as somebody who’s trying too hard to justify himself in this one). I also just started _Eisenhower 1956: The President’s Year of Crisis - Suez and the Brink of War_ by David A. Nichols, so I haven’t formed an opinion yet. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-2012-edition/620448/55 "2012-05-11T22:48:55Z")
> [@Antigen](#): > > I just started **Riding Rockets: The Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronaut** by Mike Mullane, and it’s fantastic. I picked it up because Mary Roach mentioned in her book **Packing for Mars** , that if you’re going to read just _one_ astronaut memoir, make it Mike Mullane’s. And here I am. I forgot to mention in my last post - I dropped **Riding Rockets** about halfway through, because I just couldn’t take the arrogant, sexist, frat-boy attitude. I’m sure he’s got great stories to tell, but I didn’t enjoy the telling. I also forgot to mention the audiobook I just got done with - **The Viral Storm: The Dawn of a New Pandemic Age** , by Nathan Wolfe. Incredibly informative, but paranoia-inducing when one reads it while one is fighting flu-like symptoms. I’m planning on picking up the real-paper version of this book for keeps, I enjoyed it so much. ---
**Author:** ![skdale723](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8e8cbc/32.png) [@skdale723](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skdale723)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-2012-edition/620448/56 "2012-05-12T03:38:46Z")
Just finished Fall to pieces by Mary Foresberg Weiland. A memoir of the struggle with addiction & bipolar disorder from the ex wife of stone temple pilots front man scott weiland…very insightful ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-2012-edition/620448/57 "2012-05-12T05:21:50Z")
I’m about 1/3 of the way through **Ghost Story** by Peter Straub. It’s ok. I have the feeling it’s going to start picking up very quickly. I’ve never really read horror before, so this is somewhat new. The only Stephen King book I’ve read was non-fiction. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-2012-edition/620448/58 "2012-05-12T23:04:19Z")
Finished [Mercy Blade](http://www.amazon.com/Mercy-Blade-Jane-Yellowrock-Book/dp/0451463722/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1336863783&sr=8-2). The third in the Jane Yellow Rock urban fantasy series. Light, easy to read, mind candy, the usual review. I liked it well enough that I’ll keep reading the series. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-2012-edition/620448/59 "2012-05-13T13:20:54Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > I’m in the middle of Around The World in 80 days. Jules uses far too many words. It’s taking me a while to get through this. I actually find myself saying “Yeah, I got it” and skipping the ends of entire paragraphs. Well, I just finished this book. I actually, almost didn’t read the lat chapter. That’s all I had left last night and I honestly thought it was just going to wind down and that there was going to be one unimportant thing happening. That would have been a mistake. I’m trying to decide what to start tonight. I’ve to And Then There Were None, some Sherlock Holmes or Frankenstein all ready to go (and then some). ---
**Author:** ![Politzania](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ab097/32.png) [@Politzania](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Politzania)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2012, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-2012-edition/620448/60 "2012-05-17T12:04:16Z")
Just finished the audiobook of _**[The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3985.The_Amazing_Adventures_of_Kavalier_and_Clay)**_ by Michael Chabon. I remembered the basic plot of this novel (2 young Jewish men create a comic book hero in New York) but had forgotten how much of their lives we follow, including the tumultuous events touched off by January 6, 1941. I’d also forgotten the awful pun Chabon makes based on one of the character’s surnames… (Tracy) Bacon being forbidden to Jews like Sammy Clay, of course… 😃 I really enjoyed the Escapist interludes; but was hoping something more would come of the Golem of Prague. Overall, I’d rate it a compelling novel with engaging characters (and a few real-life cameos thrown in) and a plot that meanders a bit, but in a good way. The audiobook, performed by David Colacci, is nicely done - Chabon’s prose seems meant to be read aloud, I think - I especially liked Kavalier’s accent! I own a copy & will be revisiting it again in a few years - perhaps in the company of _The Prestige_ and _Carter Beats the Devil_ as they have a common thread of magic and escapism. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-2012-edition/620448.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-may-2012-edition/620448.md?page=4)