# Whatcha Readin' November 2011 Edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 31, 2011, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-november-2011-edition/601422 "2011-10-31T20:11:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2011, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-november-2011-edition/601422/61 "2011-11-11T19:25:30Z")
> [@kenetic](#): > > Listening to _Reamde_ on audiobook now. It’s good, so that helps keep me motivated to go to the gym. > > I liked _Ready Player One_ but I don’t know what someone who’s not into 80s pop culture would make of it. Ha, well, I grew up IN 80s pop culture so that’s all good. I just started it last night, and it’s pretty fluffy but pleasantly engaging so far. I started it because my ebook copy of _Reamde_ had the nerve to expire when I was on about page 775 (it’s 850+ pages). This is a serious downside to getting ebooks from the library – in real life, I would have kept it for another day and cheerfully paid the overdue fine. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2011, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-november-2011-edition/601422/62 "2011-11-11T20:28:27Z")
> [@delphica](#): > > Ha, well, I grew up IN 80s pop culture so that’s all good. I just started it last night, and it’s pretty fluffy but pleasantly engaging so far. I started it because my ebook copy of _Reamde_ had the nerve to expire when I was on about page 775 (it’s 850+ pages). This is a serious downside to getting ebooks from the library – in real life, I would have kept it for another day and cheerfully paid the overdue fine. I am walking away from \*Reamde \*- maybe a bit over half-way. Just not holding me - it is not superficial and fast-paced enough to be a page-flipping thriller (he loves his details a bit too much) and not speculatively thought-provoking enough to challenge how I look at the world around me (which he did to great affect in Snow Crash, Diamond Age, Crypto, and others…). Sorry, Neal - just not for me this time. Looking at \*\*Ready Player One \*\*for a goof and **The Swerve** , as mentioned above, for something a bit chewier… ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2011, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-november-2011-edition/601422/63 "2011-11-11T23:44:11Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > I am walking away from \*Reamde \*- maybe a bit over half-way. Just not holding me - it is not superficial and fast-paced enough to be a page-flipping thriller (he loves his details a bit too much) and not speculatively thought-provoking enough to challenge how I look at the world around me (which he did to great affect in Snow Crash, Diamond Age, Crypto, and others…). Sorry, Neal - just not for me this time. > > Looking at \*\*Ready Player One \*\*for a goof and **The Swerve** , as mentioned above, for something a bit chewier… I was more than half-way through when I had the same thought … I kept waiting for him to get to the _ideas_ part of the book, and it’s just not there. I was far enough along that I got back on the library waiting list for it and will finish it eventually. I think as long as you’re looking at _Ready Player One_ as a bit of goof, you’ll be just fine. That seems like exactly what it is, in a very well-intentioned, sincere way. ---
**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 12, 2011, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-november-2011-edition/601422/64 "2011-11-12T03:17:08Z")
Just finished David C. Distelhorst’s _Primitive Paradise_, about Boy Scouting in the greater Cleveland, Ohio area, set in the context of Scouting nationally since WWII. It’s a slim, self-published amateur history, very badly edited, but still somewhat interesting. I’ve begun Chris Cleave’s _Little Bee_, about a Nigerian refugee who ends up with a struggling British family. It’s so-so. Dunno that it will pass my 50-page rule. ---
**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 14, 2011, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-november-2011-edition/601422/65 "2011-11-14T19:10:59Z")
_Flashman and the Dragon_ was really good, although it’s not my favorite Flashman book. \*Redskins \*is still my favorite so far, although I have a few more to go. Over the weekend I read _Mistress of the Art of Death_, by Ariana Franklin. I had been hearing good things about this, and I enjoyed it very much, more than I was expecting to. It’s a medieval murder mystery set in Cambridge during the reign of Henry II. The book has flaws - the heroine is too modern, and it’s not hard to guess the identity of the murderer - but I thought it was very well written. Henry’s cameos at the beginning and end were nice. I’m halfway through Richard K. Morgan’s new fantasy novel, _The Cold Commands_, which is the middle book of a trilogy. Morgan’s fantasy is just as dark and gritty as his science fiction, and just as well-written. ---
**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:** [November 14, 2011, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-november-2011-edition/601422/66 "2011-11-14T20:54:54Z")
I started reading _The Lost City of Z_ by David Grann last week - although, I wasn’t entirely sure what I was getting into when I picked it up. I thought at first it was a historical fiction dealio, but I see that it is actual straight ahead, no shit, non-fiction. I’m not sure which I’m more impressed with. I have to admit … when I thought it was a fiction book, I was afraid the lost city of Z was going to turn out to be some zombie shit. I’m a little relieved at that, at least. ---
**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 14, 2011, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-november-2011-edition/601422/67 "2011-11-14T21:03:06Z")
I decided not to finish _The Making of the Prefident 1789_ by Marvin Kitman, a “humorous” take on George Washington’s first presidential election. Unfortunately, the author wanted to be much cleverer and funnier than he really is. Still reading _Little Bee_. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2011, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-november-2011-edition/601422/68 "2011-11-14T21:46:33Z")
[The Stone Carvers](http://www.amazon.com/Stone-Carvers-Jane-Urquhart/dp/0142003581?tag=5336612429-20) turned out to be partly about the construction of the Vimy Memorial in France. I’d recommend it, especially if that’s something that interests you. It’s also good for the character studies of a brother and sister who led very different lives. The brother, Tilman, began running away from home at the age of six. He wasn’t abused or anything – he just had an aversion to staying in one place, and being confined. Just started [The Cottagers](http://www.amazon.com/Cottagers-Novel-Marshall-N-Klimasewiski/dp/0393060772) by Marshall Klimasewiski. Ordinarily I don’t bother with novels about husband-wife relationships, but this one features a rather intriguing sociopathic teenager who spies on people who rent cottages in his resort town. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2011, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-november-2011-edition/601422/69 "2011-11-15T22:25:06Z")
Just read _**[Jazz](http://www.paperbackswap.com/Jazz-Toni-Morrison/book/0452269652/)**_ by Toni Morrison, which everyone else ready \>15 years ago. I think I missed something, or its hype oversold it. It was _good,_ but I expected to be blown away. Now reading\*\*\*[False Justice: Eight Myths that Convict the Innocent](http://www.amazon.com/False-Justice-Eight-Convict-Innocent/dp/1607144670)\*\*\*, by the state of Ohio’s former attorney general Jim Petro. I hope it’s good - whatever it is, it’s an important book. He had to fight to get his own prosecutors to consider new exonerating evidence in at least one murder case. He also looks at how bad eyewitness testimony is. Our justice system has convicted many innocent people, and people remain in denial about it. ---
**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 16, 2011, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-november-2011-edition/601422/70 "2011-11-16T00:21:55Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Now reading\*\*\*[False Justice: Eight Myths that Convict the Innocent](http://www.amazon.com/False-Justice-Eight-Convict-Innocent/dp/1607144670)\*\*\*, by the state of Ohio’s former attorney general Jim Petro. I hope it’s good - whatever it is, it’s an important book. He had to fight to get his own prosecutors to consider new exonerating evidence in at least one murder case. He also looks at how bad eyewitness testimony is. Our justice system has convicted many innocent people, and people remain in denial about it. If you like it, I can recommend John Grisham’s nonfiction _The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town_, which I reported reading earlier. ---
**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 16, 2011, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-november-2011-edition/601422/71 "2011-11-16T04:25:47Z")
Scott Turow’s _Ultimate Punishment_ is also an excellent look at the death penalty from all sides, acknowledging and addressing the best arguments from each. Short but quite good. ---
**Author:** ![DataZak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@DataZak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataZak)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-november-2011-edition/601422/72 "2011-11-16T12:11:14Z")
> [@Snickers](#): > > Ooh, **DataZak** , bummer. _Cell_’s pretty bad. And I say that as someone who loves SK. Finished _Cell_ and I must say I enjoyed it. Maybe because I like zombies in my fiction or maybe I’m relatively new to King that I can’t tell he has jumped the shark. I know I should read _Misery_ next but I picked up _Desperation_ instead. Because I’m kooky like that. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-november-2011-edition/601422/73 "2011-11-16T20:04:58Z")
Finished a quick read: _River of Darkness_, by Rennie Airth. A mystery, set in that classic English mystery period between the wars, but written with more of today’s crime writing style (or at any rate, 1999’s crime writing style) - so you get more graphic violence and not everything is so cozy. I enjoyed it, and it’s the first in a trilogy. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-november-2011-edition/601422/74 "2011-11-16T21:46:14Z")
**delphica** , I liked _River of Darkness_ too, but the second book was a disappointment. Maybe I read it too soon after reading the first one, as it felt like I was reading the same book, but without that “this is fresh” feeling. I dumped _Cottagers_ at the halfway point. Two couples take a vacation cottage together on Vancouver Island. A local teenager insinuates himself into their lives. I knew from the dust jacket blurb that someone was going to disappear, and as soon as that happened, I quit reading. The only character who was even slightly interesting was the teenager, and he was repulsive. The best part of the book was the author’s descriptions of the setting. ---
**Author:** ![Blackberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-november-2011-edition/601422/75 "2011-11-16T21:49:08Z")
Now I just finished _ **The Snowman by Jo Nesbo** _. It’s a Norwegian mystery about a detective trying to catch a serial killer who builds snowmen as his signature. It was really good. I’m currently reading\*\*\* The Litigators by John Grisham \*\*\*but so far (38% through) it’s really not very interesting, even though I usually like Grisham. It’s about a small, loserish law firm going after a big pharmaceutical company. I’m also reading _ **The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist** _. It’s a dystopian novel where older, childless people are housed/locked in “The Unit”, which is actually a nice place with lots to do, and used for medical experimentation and organ donation. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2011, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-november-2011-edition/601422/76 "2011-11-16T22:18:21Z")
Finished _The Wild Ways_ by Tanya Huff, which I mostly liked. This was a follow-up to _The Enchantment Emporium_ featuring Alysha Gale and the Gale clan of witches. It is urban fantasy and a light easy read. Ms. Huff enjoys poking at our sexual mores which I find both odd and often confusing. The Gale family, being witches, interbreed within the clan. More Gale girls are born than Gale boys and so they tend to have a gaggle of girls after them. Thankfully, she isn’t explicit about the sex, but the fact that Auntie Catherine may also be a character’s mother or grandmother, and the fact that Ms. Huff switches often between calling an Auntie and Auntie and calling her grandmother sometimes makes the narrative hard to follow. Since this particular oddity seems to server little purpose in furthering her plots, I have trouble imagining why she insists on it. But I will likely read the next. ---
**Author:** ![Bleach23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Bleach23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bleach23)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2011, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-november-2011-edition/601422/77 "2011-11-17T00:39:04Z")
> [@Blackberry](#): > > Huh, I didn’t realize until now that I just finished three memoirs in a row. > > **Fiction Ruined my Family** is about a dysfunctional family where the dad is a failed writer and the daughter grows up to be a writer too. It’s very funny in some parts, kind of boring in others. > > **The Water is Wide** is about this guy who goes to teach at this school on a very small, poor island off the coast of South Carolina in about 1969. It was good. I’m going to try one of the author’s novels soon because I liked his writing style. > > **Sum of my Parts** is about a woman who developed dissociative identity disorder due to a severely abusive childhood. Sad, but interesting. But I have to say I was kind of disappointed that her form of DID didn’t have entirely different personalities with different names and stuff. > > Then, this is not a memoir, but a horrible, ridiculous novel by T.I.: **Power & Beauty**. I knew it was going to be annoying and I read it anyway, so I guess it serves me right. > > Right now I’m 59% through **Spooner** , a novel which is kind of hard to explain the plot, but it’s good, once I got into it (the beginning was boring to me). > > Oh yeah, someone mentioned they were about to read **The Postmortal**. I read that recently and enjoyed it. The cure for aging is found, so obviously the world gets overpopulated, etc. It’s supposed to be the main character’s blog, which is an interesting format. If you want to read another Pat Conroy (author of The Water is Wide) I would recommend The Lords of Discipline or Beach Music. ---
**Author:** ![Bleach23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Bleach23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bleach23)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2011, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-november-2011-edition/601422/78 "2011-11-17T00:48:54Z")
Fortunately, I have a lot of time to read. I recently finished Maine (only ok) and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (excellent). I am now on to Echo in the Bone, book 7 in the Outlander Series, a historical, science fiction, romance, adventure, thriller. Not bad when you are not sure which genre to choose. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2011, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-november-2011-edition/601422/79 "2011-11-17T18:27:09Z")
Well, I have wound up with my nose in both the Nero Wolfe mystery _Too Many Cooks_ and the Flashman adventure _Flashman and the Dragon_. Focus, at the moment, is really on Flashy–it’s a library book, so I’ve got a deadline with it. While I’ve been enjoying it, I feel it’s not quite as action-packed (in any of the several ways Flashy’s adventures tend to be) as the earlier books in the series. It’s also so far been lacking the “Disastrous Blunders of the Victorian-Era British Empire” theme that’s run through many of the other novels–you know, the First Anglo-Afghan War and retreat from Kabul, the Indian Mutiny, and so on. (Of course, you do get a bit of “Disastrous Blunders of the Victorian-Era American Republic” here and there as well.) Still, I’m only around halfway through and I don’t know the first thing about the setting/time period, so there’s still room. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2011, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-november-2011-edition/601422/80 "2011-11-17T21:02:09Z")
_Train_ by Pete Dexter. After _Paris Trout_, I swore I’d never read anything else by him, but it was a quarter at the library sale and it won a big award. I think it’s quite good, but I’m getting the same misanthropic vibe that I got with _Paris Trout_. Anyone else read Pete Dexter and come away thinking he hates people? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-november-2011-edition/601422.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-november-2011-edition/601422.md?page=5)