# Whatcha readin', November edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 10, 2006, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-november-edition/379861 "2006-11-10T14:00:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sonia\_Montdore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Sonia\_Montdore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sonia_Montdore)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-november-edition/379861/21 "2006-11-10T19:30:40Z")
[QUOTE=LavenderBlue] I just hope that Flora is half as good a writer as her mother and grandmother. I really enjoyed Antonia Frazer’s biography of Mary, Queen of Scots. The Marie Antoinette book is very good. She straddles the line between academic writing and popular non-fiction and does it very well. What I like about the book is the focus on Antoinette as a product of her time rather than a more modern spin. Sometimes the fact that she was only a very young woman when forced to marry the heir to the throne gets lost by biographers. The only thing I would like is more pictures. She makes refences to clothing and doesn’t always let the reader see exactly what she’s writing about. But all in all I’m about three-quarters of the way through the book and so far a very good read. [/QUOTE] What a pity - a book of that sort needs to be well-illustrated. I imagine the author is basing most of her ideas on paintings of M.A.? Because apparently none of her actual clothes survive. I remember a tour guide at Versailles mentioning that all of M.A.'s dresses were destroyed or carried off when the palaces were sacked during the revolution. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-november-edition/379861/22 "2006-11-10T20:50:13Z")
[QUOTE=Sonia Montdore] What a pity - a book of that sort needs to be well-illustrated. I imagine the author is basing most of her ideas on paintings of M.A.? Because apparently none of her actual clothes survive. I remember a tour guide at Versailles mentioning that all of M.A.'s dresses were destroyed or carried off when the palaces were sacked during the revolution. [/QUOTE] She’s using lots of paintings and illustrations. For example there were books that were published at the time that were basically illustrations of what the Queen was wearing at any given moment. The books were largely used by upper class women to see what was fashionable. She has a picture of an apple green bodice with the caption, “one of few garments of Marie Antoinette’s to have survived the French Revolution.” ---
**Author:** ![cactus\_waltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-november-edition/379861/23 "2006-11-10T21:26:41Z")
Just finished ‘The Lover’ by Marguerite Duras. A beloved book. To be honest, I found the language a bit annoying to begin with. I was never a fan of long sentences. Periods instead of commas is my melody. It gets much better though. I’d recommend it. ---
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-november-edition/379861/24 "2006-11-10T22:29:44Z")
Just finished Michael Ruhlman’s _The Reach of a Chef_. I love that guy. I have yet to find any food-related writer who can write with such innate understanding of the profession and of the professional. Also finished Barbara Ehrenreich’s _Bait and Switch_. A very thought-provoking companion to her _Nickel and Dimed_. Interesting to compare and contrast joblessness between the classes. Right now I’m in the middle of Adrienne Martini’s _Hillbilly Gothic_. Lest anyone disagree, certain psychological issues are certainly genetic. ---
**Author:** ![iluvurmom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iluvurmom/32/7276_2.png) [@iluvurmom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iluvurmom)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2006, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-november-edition/379861/25 "2006-11-10T22:46:33Z")
Just finished Perfume…story of a Murder!..it was very good chilling but good. I saw there was a movie coming out about it too! can’t wait ! ---
**Author:** ![Sonia\_Montdore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Sonia\_Montdore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sonia_Montdore)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2006, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-november-edition/379861/26 "2006-11-11T00:25:06Z")
[QUOTE=LavenderBlue] She’s using lots of paintings and illustrations. For example there were books that were published at the time that were basically illustrations of what the Queen was wearing at any given moment. The books were largely used by upper class women to see what was fashionable. She has a picture of an apple green bodice with the caption, “one of few garments of Marie Antoinette’s to have survived the French Revolution.” [/QUOTE] So some pieces of clothing survived? And have been authenticated?Wow! I can’t wait to see a picture of the green bodice. ---
**Author:** ![Operation\_Ripper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/34f0e0/32.png) [@Operation\_Ripper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Operation_Ripper)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2006, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-november-edition/379861/27 "2006-11-11T00:32:03Z")
[The Road](http://www.randomhouse.com/kvpa/cormacmccarthy/) and [World War Z](http://www.randomhouse.com/crown/worldwarz/). ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2006, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-november-edition/379861/28 "2006-11-11T00:34:44Z")
Just finished **Arctic Village** and have started **The Wilderness of Denali**. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2006, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-november-edition/379861/29 "2006-11-11T01:07:13Z")
[QUOTE=Sonia Montdore] So some pieces of clothing survived? And have been authenticated?Wow! I can’t wait to see a picture of the green bodice. [/QUOTE] That’s what’s implied. I am very surprised myself. I was trying to google to see if I could find some images but so far no luck. My problem with the book is that she gathers most of the images in one place when I would have liked to see them scattered in the book as she writes about the clothing in question. I did find a really cool [critique](http://hnn.us/articles/31165.html) of the new movie by the author of the book that I thought you might like to read. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![EtherealFreakOfPinkness](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a4c791/32.png) [@EtherealFreakOfPinkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EtherealFreakOfPinkness)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2006, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-november-edition/379861/30 "2006-11-11T03:11:36Z")
Ivylass, The Talisman was a great book. I read it when I was 12 though, so I’m guessing some of it went right over my head. Right now I’m reading the first Cirque Du Freak book. Well, sort of. I have the girl I’m tutoring reading it, and I’m reading it with her. I’m also reading The Second Sisterhood of the Pants (the sequel the _The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants_ ) ---
**Author:** ![Khampelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Khampelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khampelf)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2006, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-november-edition/379861/31 "2006-11-11T03:16:01Z")
After a run of mysteries by Lawrence Block, I decided to do some literary penance by tackling ‘In Search of Lost Time’ by Marcel Proust, just to see if truly deserves the title classic. I’m not convinced yet, but he certainly does evoke what it was like to be a young frenchman in the late 19th century, in great and tedious detail. I think I’ll read 200 pages of Proust, then ‘The Hard Way’ by Lee Child, then another 200 pages of Proust, read ‘The Blue Screen’ by Robert B Parker then finish the Proust. Of course, ‘Swann’s Way’ is only the first book of six that make up ‘In Search of Lost Time’ aka ‘Remembrance of Things Past’. No clue if I’ll have the patience for the whole six volumes. Gimmee some P.I.'s trouncing Thugs and knocking back bourbon. ---
**Author:** ![cactus\_waltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2006, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-november-edition/379861/32 "2006-11-11T09:44:45Z")
[QUOTE=iluvurmom] Just finished Perfume..story of a Murder!..it was very good chilling but good. I saw there was a movie coming out about it too! can’t wait ! [/QUOTE] And it has both Dustin Hoffman and Alan Rickman in it! [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0396171/](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0396171/) I’m assuming that they skip the mountain part. ---
**Author:** ![Martha\_Medea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@Martha\_Medea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martha_Medea)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2006, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-november-edition/379861/33 "2006-11-11T11:27:33Z")
[False Papers](http://www.amazon.com/False-Papers-Andre-Aciman/dp/0312420056/sr=1-4/qid=1163243664/ref=sr_1_4/002-8391785-4571256?ie=UTF8&s=books) , by André Aciman. After reading it I went back and re-read [Out of Egypt](http://www.amazon.com/Out-Egypt-Memoir-Andre-Aciman/dp/1573225347/sr=1-1/qid=1163243664/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-8391785-4571256?ie=UTF8&s=books), by the same author, about the lost world of the Sephardi and international community that used to live in Alexandria. It brings back with astonishing clarity my own childhood memories of Tangier (Morocco), where part of my family used to live. I visited several times in the late 60s. In a way, the story of his family and their multiple exiles is my family’s as well. I recently got round to reading [Running with Scissors](http://www.amazon.com/Running-Scissors-Memoir-Augusten-Burroughs/dp/031242227X/ref=pd_sim_b_1/002-8391785-4571256) by Augusten Burroughs. I had read [Dry](http://www.amazon.com/Dry-Memoir-Augusten-Burroughs/dp/0312423799/sr=1-2/qid=1163243997/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/002-83917) first, and I think I was more impressed with the latter. Other recent reads - [Cellophane](http://www.amazon.com/Cellophane-Marie-Arana/dp/0385336640/sr=1-1/qid=1163244088/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-8391785-4571256?ie=UTF8&s=books) by Marie Arana was OK in a sort of Isabel-Allende-meets-every-Latin-American-author- you’ve-heard-of sort of way. I preferred her childhood memoir, [American Chica](http://www.amazon.com/American-Chica-Two-Worlds-Childhood/dp/0385319630/ref=pd_sim_b_2/002-8391785-4571256). On the subject of Latin American women novelists, I recommend [Let it Rain Coffee](http://www.amazon.com/Let-Rain-Coffee-Angie-Cruz/dp/0743212045/sr=1-3/qid=1163244281/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3/002-8391785-4571256?ie=UTF8&s=books) by Angie Cruz. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2006, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-november-edition/379861/34 "2006-11-11T11:57:19Z")
I started on Franz Kafka’s [The Trial](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trial) but left it in Dad’s car and went onto a copy of [The Number Of The Beast](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Number_of_the_Beast_%28novel%29), which I tired of as quickly as other later Heinlein novels, then plumped for the Harlan Ellison collection that included [I have no mouth and I must scream](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Have_No_Mouth_And_I_Must_Scream). ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2006, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-november-edition/379861/35 "2006-11-11T12:19:38Z")
[QUOTE=EtherealFreakOfPinkness] Ivylass, The Talisman was a great book. I read it when I was 12 though, so I’m guessing some of it went right over my head. [/QUOTE] I’ve read it before. I tried reading some Peter Straub books but I wasn’t impressed. I also didn’t like _Black House_ all that much. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2006, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-november-edition/379861/36 "2006-11-11T12:58:20Z")
I just finished The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril by Paul Malmont. Very cool book that has the authors of the pulp action hero books The Shadow and Doc Savage teaming with a young L Ron Hubbard and a disguised Robert Heinlein to investigate a plot by Chinese expatriates to strike at a target inside Chinatown. ---
**Author:** ![DataZak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@DataZak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataZak)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2006, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-november-edition/379861/37 "2006-11-11T15:52:23Z")
Currently reading _I Shouldn’t Even Be Doing This!: And Other Things That Strike Me as Funny_, Bob Newhart’s autobiography. ---
**Author:** ![scareyfaerie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scareyfaerie/32/3135_2.png) [@scareyfaerie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scareyfaerie)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2006, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-november-edition/379861/38 "2006-11-11T17:41:19Z")
Is this a private thread or can anyone join in? I’m currently reading my book club’s November choice - George Eliot’s **The Mill on the Floss** , my bathtub book is William Golding’s **To the Ends of the Earth** and my book for the train is Louis de Berniere’s **Birds without Wings**. ---
**Author:** ![gardentraveler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gardentraveler/32/3576_2.png) [@gardentraveler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gardentraveler)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2006, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-november-edition/379861/39 "2006-11-11T19:31:06Z")
Reading…books? I’ve read an appallingly low number of books this year, but seem to be coming out of the slump. (I’ve been reading lots more on the net and watching more movies and TV shows on DVD than other years.) Just returned [Baghdad Burning](http://www.amazon.com/Baghdad-Burning-Girl-Blog-Iraq/dp/1558614893/sr=8-1/qid=1163255312/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-1185279-4169736?ie=UTF8&s=books) to the library. It’s [Riverbend’s blog](http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/) compiled into a book. They’ve done a second volume in the meantime and someone is turning it into a play. Blogs don’t translate well into books (or this one doesn’t). I read about the first third and it made me think a lot - kinda carried it around in the back of my head the whole time I was trying to read it - but it was too tedious to read all at once. I think it also made me feel too helpless. Additionally, I’ve been having trouble reading serious stuff lately (books, at any rate), so my reaction may just be because it’s the wrong book at the wrong time. OTOH, I made it through the latest Janet Evanovich, [Motor Mouth](http://www.amazon.com/Motor-Mouth-Janet-Evanovich/dp/0060584033/sr=1-1/qid=1163255573/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-1185279-4169736?ie=UTF8&s=books), in no time flat. Not nearly as good as the latest Stephanie Plum. This character (Barney - full name Alexandra Barnaby) isn’t as well-developed as Stephanie (and it’s not like Stephanie is deep and complex). The story line was entertaining, but she did zero research on Cubans and Cuban food (much of the action happens in Miami and a couple of the characters are Cubans), so she had them eating - I kid you not - burritos and fried bread. Ummmm…those would work for the Southwestern U.S.; Miami/Cubans, not so much. Also, she made the classic “all Hispanics look alike” mistake of assuming that all Cubans are “dark-skinned.” Cubans, like every other Hispanic subculture, come in all colors. (I’m Mexican-American and that would never be your first guess if you saw a picture of me.) Guess you can tell it really annoyed me; ruined a perfectly good story, actually. I’ve also made it through half of the latest Robert B. Parker today. I like it a lot so far. Fair amount of interaction between Spenser and Hawk, which is always fun to read. This is a recurring thread topic, **Scarie**. Someone starts it up every few months/weeks and people just chime in. GT ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2006, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-november-edition/379861/40 "2006-11-12T01:40:29Z")
[_Don’t Try This At Home: Culinary Catastrophes from the World’s Greatest Chefs_](http://www.amazon.com/Dont-Try-This-Home-Catastrophes/dp/1596910704). I’m rather enjoying it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-november-edition/379861.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-november-edition/379861.md?page=3)