# Whatcha Readin' Nov 09 Edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 31, 2009, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-nov-09-edition/515882 "2009-10-31T21:00:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![infinitii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e8c25b/32.png) [@infinitii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/infinitii)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-nov-09-edition/515882/21 "2009-11-02T19:31:00Z")
> [@wonderlust](#): > > I’m not familiar with him. Can you tell me a bit about what he writes? > > Edit: it seems I bought The Love of Stones a few years ago and never read it. **The Love of Stones** is one of my favorite books of all time, it’s a parallel story of obsession involving precious gems and their lastingness – since you have it, I would definitely recommend reading it. I also have read his short story collection **Skin** and **The Cryptographer** , which all together (with **The Hidden** as well, it would seem) reveal several of my own personal interests. Also: I’ve never read his poetry collections, but just reading his novels it is not hard to see that in his writing. I highly recommend trying him out at least. ---
**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:** [November 2, 2009, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-nov-09-edition/515882/22 "2009-11-02T20:17:56Z")
> [@yanceylebeef](#): > > I picked up the Collected Works of Lovecraft on the kindle last mont and have been digging thorugh them, I also have the Collected Works of TS Spivet on the pile, along with The Eternal Prison by Jeff Somers, and The Shotgun Rule by Charllie Huston. It’s a noirish month in Denver! I like Charlie Huston’s _Already Dead_ series and his _Caught Stealing_ trilogy. I have a copy of _The Shotgun Rule_, but I haven’t read it yet. I need to get his new book, just because I like the title: _The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death_. ---
**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:** [November 2, 2009, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-nov-09-edition/515882/23 "2009-11-02T20:19:33Z")
I’m still slogging through The Lost City of Z. It’s good, but I don’t get through it quickly. Doesn’t matter, it’s November and I’m fixing to clear the decks when Stephen King’s new one arrives. My car audiobook is Gone With the Wind, which I nearly have memorized anyway, but I’m in something of an audiobook drought since I decided to go back to cassettes. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-nov-09-edition/515882/24 "2009-11-02T20:33:48Z")
I went back and got \*\*In the Woods \*\*so I can read it before \*\*The Likeness \*\*(Tara French). It’s good so far but leaves me a little creeped out as I read in bed and then try to go to sleep. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2009, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-nov-09-edition/515882/25 "2009-11-02T21:11:51Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > I’m still slogging through The Lost City of Z. It’s good, but I don’t get through it quickly. I’m glad to hear it’s good, my reserve request for it just came in at the library. What I’ve finished up lately: _Rapture Ready!: Adventures in the Parallel Universe of Christian Pop Culture_ by Daniel Radosh, this was pretty good light reading, fairly humorous and mostly respectful look at the commercial culture of American Christianity, which frankly seems a little odd if you’re not from within that subculture, I think. _When the Whistle Blows_ by Fran Slayton. Kidlit … sweet if a little dull, especially for kids. It’s more of a reflective book, writing down family stories about life in a small railroad town in the 1940s. Each chapter is about a Halloween night from a different year. _The Forgotten Garden_, by Kate Morton. I think this is the kind of book that people who like this sort of thing will love it, and everyone else will think it’s unbearable. A multi-generational family mystery, it unfolds with chapters going back and forth in time, and it’s chock full of domestic details and family trees and orphans and the English shore and the villains are all a little Snidely Whiplash-esque. _The Likeness_, the next Tana French book, sort of a sequel to the awesome _In The Woods_, this was nearly as good as the first one. I tore through it. Currently reading: _The Ask and the Answer_, the second book in a really good (so far) science fiction YA series by Patrick Ness. _Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea_, which people on the SDMB speak highly of all the time, so I thought I’d pick it up. ---
**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:** [November 3, 2009, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-nov-09-edition/515882/26 "2009-11-03T03:13:06Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > … and I’ll probably need to read The Grapes of Wrath again. After you reread _The Grapes of Wrath_, check out the excellent 1940 John Ford film with Henry Fonda. It’s quite good despite the altered ending. ---
**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:** [November 4, 2009, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-nov-09-edition/515882/27 "2009-11-04T17:26:24Z")
> [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](#): > > I like Charlie Huston’s _Already Dead_ series and his _Caught Stealing_ trilogy. I have a copy of _The Shotgun Rule_, but I haven’t read it yet. I need to get his new book, just because I like the title: _The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death_. I’ve shied away from the “Already Dead” series. Is it any good? I’m a little leery of vampire series right now, but if it’s as good as “Mystic Arts” I may pick it up. what is the “Caught Stealing” trilogy? I haven’t heard anything about it. ---
**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:** [November 4, 2009, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-nov-09-edition/515882/28 "2009-11-04T20:01:47Z")
> [@yanceylebeef](#): > > I’ve shied away from the “Already Dead” series. Is it any good? I’m a little leery of vampire series right now, but if it’s as good as “Mystic Arts” I may pick it up. what is the “Caught Stealing” trilogy? I haven’t heard anything about it. In _Already Dead_ the vampirism is caused by a disease and there’s nothing magical or sexy about it. The book is more of a crime novel than urban fantasy, with hardly any supernatural elements. I liked the focus on how difficult it would be to acquire human blood without anybody noticing. _Caught Stealing_ isn’t fantasy at all, it’s the story of crazy things happening to an innocent guy who got caught up in someone else’s troubles and can’t find a way to extricate himself. I haven’t read _Mystic Arts_ yet, but I would assume it’s similar to the rest of his work - dark and extremely violent, but with some humor. If I didn’t like Huston’s writing style so much then I wouldn’t be able to stomach the violence. He writes in first person, present tense, and his dialog is fantastic. It’s written without identifiers, but it’s so well done that you will never be confused as to who is speaking. I don’t normally “hear” the voices when I read novels, but I can almost hear Huston’s characters. ---
**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:** [November 4, 2009, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-nov-09-edition/515882/29 "2009-11-04T21:14:57Z")
Just started on Escaping the Endless Adolescence : how we can help our teenagers grow up before they grow old, by Joseph P. Allen. So far, I’m absolutely fascinated…possibly because I already spend about 30% of my waking hours thinking about this very subject. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-nov-09-edition/515882/30 "2009-11-04T21:20:11Z")
I reread books 1, 4, 5, and 7 of the Harry Potter series since last week, as I’ve been laid up with a cold. Also, one of the Outland collections. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-nov-09-edition/515882/31 "2009-11-04T21:29:54Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Just started on Escaping the Endless Adolescence : how we can help our teenagers grow up before they grow old, by Joseph P. Allen. So far, I’m absolutely fascinated…possibly because I already spend about 30% of my waking hours thinking about this very subject. Sounds interesting. What’s his basic thesis? Our kid is only 4, so it will be awhile before it is really on the radar for me … 😉 ---
**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:** [November 4, 2009, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-nov-09-edition/515882/32 "2009-11-04T21:53:45Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > Sounds interesting. What’s his basic thesis? So far, adolescence lasts too long, and kids don’t have anything really meaningful to do. Mostly they’re just expected to do well in school and that will pay off years down the road, whereas back in the good old days, an adolescent might be bringing in part of the household’s income. I’ve got to say, my daughter in high school just brought home one of the best report cards I’ve ever seen, so I won’t be dissing her much this week. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2009, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-nov-09-edition/515882/33 "2009-11-04T21:59:50Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > So far, adolescence lasts too long, and kids don’t have anything really meaningful to do. Mostly they’re just expected to do well in school and that will pay off years down the road, whereas back in the good old days, an adolescent might be bringing in part of the household’s income. Nothing that a good old round of work as a Victorian industrial chimney sweep can’t cure. 😃 I’m sort of two minds on whether an extended adolescence is a bad thing or not. My main concern is that for some people I know, it doesn’t seem end at all, which can’t be right … ---
**Author:** ![thirdwarning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecccb3/32.png) [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-nov-09-edition/515882/34 "2009-11-05T04:49:12Z")
_The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society_, by Mary Ann Schaffer and Annie Barrows. I’ve read it once, but I really wanted to do it again. It’s such an enchanting little book, set in postwar England. I’ve put _They Called Him Stonewall_ on hold for now, because I’m getting enough “serious, factual” reading for school. I was looking for something a little lighter. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-nov-09-edition/515882/35 "2009-11-05T04:51:51Z")
I’m reading _American Notes_ by Dickens. I haven’t gotten to the part where he starts getting critical of the US yet. ---
**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:** [November 5, 2009, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-nov-09-edition/515882/36 "2009-11-05T16:25:37Z")
> [@Ponch8](#): > > I’m reading _American Notes_ by Dickens. I haven’t gotten to the part where he starts getting critical of the US yet. Coincidentally enough, the Cleveland Public Library has a temporary exhibit on “Dickens in America” that I just saw yesterday! He visited Cleveland for just a single day in 1842, I think it was, stiffing the mayor and a welcoming committee which came down to the lakefront wharf where his steamer was moored. Dickens didn’t want anyone to make a fuss over him and just sat in his stateroom until they left. He wrote later that he liked the town but was appalled by the anti-British propaganda published by the _Plain Dealer_ (which remains the largest newspaper in town). I’m still reading Stanley Weintraub’s _Iron Tears_, about the American Revolution as seen through British eyes. Good stuff. I’ve also just started Pulitzer Prize-winning historian James McPherson’s new ultrashort bio, _Abraham Lincoln_. At just 63 pages, it’s concise to a fault… there’s all sorts of stuff I wish he’d included, but then it wouldn’t be quite so short, would it? ---
**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:** [November 5, 2009, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-nov-09-edition/515882/37 "2009-11-05T16:41:02Z")
I’m currently reading this fantastic epic about dogs who go. There are many dogs, big dogs, little dogs, black and white dogs. The list goes on and on. Yes, I have a two year old. I just finished reading [How I Survived Being a Girl](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/693446.How_I_Survived_Being_a_Girl) to my seven year old. This was a really good one. It has a bit of randomness in what’s happening, but to me that sounds like a young girl. I related to the main character even though I am not a girl and didn’t need to survive being one. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2009, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-nov-09-edition/515882/38 "2009-11-05T16:43:34Z")
Hound of the Baskervilles thanks to the Gutenberg Project. ---
**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:** [November 5, 2009, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-nov-09-edition/515882/39 "2009-11-05T16:51:04Z")
Lucky you! I’d be glad to recommend some other Holmes tales to you after you finish. I’ve been a fan from 'way back. ---
**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:** [November 5, 2009, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-nov-09-edition/515882/40 "2009-11-05T16:59:39Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > I’m currently reading this fantastic epic about dogs who go. There are many dogs, big dogs, little dogs, black and white dogs. The list goes on and on. > > Yes, I have a two year old. I started to hate Dr. Seuss somewhere around the 5000th reading of _Green Eggs and Ham_. I’m just now back to the point where I can think of his books without shuddering. I’m reading Grimm’s Fairy tales to my kids now, the ones with all of the gruesome punishments and bizarre antisocial behavior. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-nov-09-edition/515882.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-nov-09-edition/515882.md?page=3)