# Whatcha Readin' Oct 2010 Edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 30, 2010, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-oct-2010-edition/555591 "2010-09-30T12:16:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2010, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-oct-2010-edition/555591/101 "2010-10-24T17:17:25Z")
I finished _The Mediator_ series by Meg Cabot today. I was concerned when I heard that Cabot had orginally planned for there to be eight books in the series, but was only allowed to write six due to poorer than desired sales, but the series ends on a perfect note. Which isn’t to say I wouldn’t read the follow up book people say she’s talked about on her blog, but that I’m content with where it ended for the girl who sees ghosts and her ghost boyfriend. I wish these had come out when I was a teenager, because I think I’d of loved them even more 🙂 I have the latest book in the _Dresden Files_ to finish reading, and I’m hoping to do so by Halloween, because I don’t usually get much reading done in November. Not if nanowrimo is going well, anyway. Does anyone know when the next book comes out? I’m bummed to be all caught up on the Mercy Thompson and Sookie Stackhouse books, and now I’ll be putting Dresden on that list too…the bad thing about getting caught up is waiting for the next book(s)! ---
**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:** [October 25, 2010, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-oct-2010-edition/555591/102 "2010-10-25T12:09:21Z")
About to start on _The great typo hunt : two friends changing the world, one correction at a time_, by Jeff Deck and Benjamin Herson. Non-fiction about two guys road-tripping around fixing signs, menus, etc. ---
**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:** [October 25, 2010, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-oct-2010-edition/555591/103 "2010-10-25T13:09:29Z")
> [@Gulo\_gulo](#): > > FAIL:\* Meeting Evil\* by Thomas Berger ~ lasted a few pages but it didn’t grab me… If you haven’t given up on Berger completely, both his _Arthur Rex_ (a clever, fun retelling of Arthurian legend) and _Little Big Man_ (wry Wild West revisionism, made into an excellent movie with Dustin Hoffman) are worth a look. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2010, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-oct-2010-edition/555591/104 "2010-10-25T13:17:16Z")
Just started _Fighting Techniques of the Napoleonic Age 1792–1815: Equipment, Combat Skills, and Tactics_ by Robert B. Bruce, Iain Dickie, Kevin Kiley, Michael F. Pavkovic, et al. 2008 ---
**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:** [October 25, 2010, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-oct-2010-edition/555591/105 "2010-10-25T13:42:23Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > I have the latest book in the _Dresden Files_ to finish reading, and I’m hoping to do so by Halloween, because I don’t usually get much reading done in November. Not if nanowrimo is going well, anyway. Does anyone know when the next book comes out? I’m bummed to be all caught up on the Mercy Thompson and Sookie Stackhouse books, and now I’ll be putting Dresden on that list too…the bad thing about getting caught up is waiting for the next book(s)! I know what you mean - I hate it when I catch up with an author! The Dresden Files books usually release in April. His book of Harry Dresden short stories comes out tomorrow, though, called _Side Jobs_. I’ve already read many of the stories in other collections, and Butcher is really good at the short story format. You might like Mike Carey’s Felix Castor books, starting with _The Devil You Know_. They’re a bit like Harry Dresden in London, although they are darker and not as snarky. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2010, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-oct-2010-edition/555591/106 "2010-10-25T14:21:50Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > About to start on _The great typo hunt : two friends changing the world, one correction at a time_, by Jeff Deck and Benjamin Herson. Non-fiction about two guys road-tripping around fixing signs, menus, etc. My editor’s heart just went thump-a-thump. Let me know how it is! ---
**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:** [October 28, 2010, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-oct-2010-edition/555591/107 "2010-10-28T14:02:15Z")
I’m reading Bujold’s \*Cryoburn \*now. This book comes with a CD that has electronic copies of ALL of the Vorkosigan books, plus the Vorkosigan Companion, in a variety of formats. The CD is marked: “This disk and its contents may be copied and shared, but NOT sold.” ---
**Author:** ![Enterprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/76d3ee/32.png) [@Enterprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enterprise)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-oct-2010-edition/555591/108 "2010-10-28T19:18:21Z")
Hhhhm. Perry Moore’s _Hero_, though not uninteresting, is a bit of a slow read. It’s not that I’ve given up on it, but I’m putting it on backburner. For a change, I’ve started reading Thomas Pynchon’s _Mason & Dixon_. It continues my mad love/deep exasperation relationship with Pynchon. On the one hand, I’m completely astonished by the language and the imagery, especially the way in which Pynchon’s faux-1760s English reads completely naturally. On the other hand, I’m dumbfounded by what he’s trying to say. I catch the occasional glimpse here and there alright, but I don’t think I’m really getting it. I’ve also read _Dungeon-Crawlin’ Fools_, _Start of Darkness_ and _Don’t Split the Party_, Rich Burlew’s _Order of the Stick_ books 1, -1, and 4. Why those? Because 2 & 3 are frickin’ out of print and way, way too expensive for me to get, and 0 is still awaiting delivery. Oh well… ---
**Author:** ![ENugent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@ENugent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ENugent)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2010, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-oct-2010-edition/555591/109 "2010-10-28T22:47:29Z")
Just finished _Half Baked: The Story of My Nerves, My Newborn, and How We Both Learned to Breathe_, by Alexa Stevenson. Anyone who has struggled with infertility and/or with a complicated pregnancy and/or a baby in the NICU will enjoy this book. The subject matter is pretty grim - she lost one of her twins _in utero_, and the other was born almost 15 weeks early - and yet the book is absolutely, totally hysterical. I think I’m within fair use just to quote the first paragraph, to give you an idea of style: > [@](#): > > When you give birth to a baby who weighs less than two pounds, no one knows what kind of flowers to send. A big, congratulatory bouquet of daisies, or an arrangement that strikes a more somber note? Perhaps something pretty but blue, like a hydrangea, or something tiny, like a bonsai tree. No baby’s breath, since the baby in question is likely to be breathing with the aid of a ventilator. How do you say it with flowers, when what you want to say is “_Congratulations on creating a whole new person! I hope she makes it through the week_”? The author blogs at [Flotsam](http://flotsamblog.com/). ---
**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:** [October 29, 2010, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-oct-2010-edition/555591/110 "2010-10-29T02:17:31Z")
Just read Mark Millar’s _Kick-Ass: Creating the Comic, Making the Movie_, a great, behind-the-scenes book about a teen superhero movie I’d really enjoyed earlier this year. Interesting interviews, cool concept art and sly hints about a sequel. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2010, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-oct-2010-edition/555591/111 "2010-10-29T03:00:02Z")
[_Ella Minnow Pea_](http://www.amazon.com/Ella-Minnow-Pea-Novel-Letters/dp/0385722435/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1288317627&sr=1-1) by Mark Dunn, recommended by some Doper at some point. (Sorry, don’t remember who or in what context – just had the “sdmb” annotation with it on my Amazon wish list.) There’s a tiny little island that honors the man who wrote the “quick brown fox” pangram [technical term for a sentence that uses all 26 letters]. There’s a statue to him in the main town. When the pangram’s letters start falling off the statue one at a time, the leaders forbid people to use any fallen letters, with draconian punishments for those who err. Combination of \*very \*clever wordplay and a political fable – fun, quick, read. Recommended. ---
**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:** [October 29, 2010, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-oct-2010-edition/555591/112 "2010-10-29T04:40:55Z")
Just got Lois McMaster Bujold’s new novel _Cryoburn_, which I finished in a day. And I’ve been working my way through Bryan Lee O’Malley’s Scott Pilgrim books. ---
**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:** [October 29, 2010, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-oct-2010-edition/555591/113 "2010-10-29T04:42:23Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Just read Mark Millar’s _Kick-Ass: Creating the Comic, Making the Movie_, a great, behind-the-scenes book about a teen superhero movie I’d really enjoyed earlier this year. Interesting interviews, cool concept art and sly hints about a sequel. Millar just started the second comic book series, cleverly entitled _Kick Ass 2_. ---
**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:** [October 29, 2010, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-oct-2010-edition/555591/114 "2010-10-29T16:06:30Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Millar just started the second comic book series, cleverly entitled _Kick Ass 2_. I’ll still read 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:** [October 30, 2010, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-oct-2010-edition/555591/115 "2010-10-30T02:37:03Z")
> [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](#): > > My used bookstore had a couple of the sequels, but they didn’t have \*Aztec \* itself so I ordered it… Good grief, this book is huge! A 750-page trade paperback with a \*tiny \*typeface. ---
**Author:** ![Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Ian\_D.Bergkamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ian_D.Bergkamp)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-oct-2010-edition/555591/116 "2010-10-30T02:49:12Z")
> [@Gulo\_gulo](#): > > _The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History_ by Robert Edsel ~ I picked this up after watching Rape of Europa and it was just amazing, sad, and infuriating. I read that one over the summer and had the same reaction. I had never before appreciated the sheer scope of the Great Nazi Art Theft or the hard work required to recover even a tiny fraction of the stolen works. Currently reading Neal Stephenson’s _Anathem_. Or trying to, anyway. I’m only about 75 pages in and it’s a chore. ---
**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:** [October 30, 2010, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-oct-2010-edition/555591/117 "2010-10-30T03:27:29Z")
> [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](#): > > Good grief, this book is huge! A 750-page trade paperback with a \*tiny \*typeface. The hardcover edition I’m reading is also 750 pages, but with not TOO small type and bigger pages. I figure it would come to 1500 pages in a normal paperback if a regular font were used. ---
**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:** [October 31, 2010, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-oct-2010-edition/555591/118 "2010-10-31T03:16:05Z")
_Aztec_ is big, but a surprisingly quick read. And no one who’s ever read it has afterward complained to me that it was _too_ big. Don’t let its size put you off. ---
**Author:** ![ENugent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@ENugent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ENugent)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-oct-2010-edition/555591/119 "2010-10-31T05:07:41Z")
> [@I'm Not Dennis Bergkamp](#): > > Currently reading Neal Stephenson’s _Anathem_. Or trying to, anyway. I’m only about 75 pages in and it’s a chore. I found it tough going for about the first 150 pages, then it gradually got more and more interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2010, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-oct-2010-edition/555591/120 "2010-10-31T11:41:34Z")
[November’s thread.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=13085370#post13085370) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-oct-2010-edition/555591.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-oct-2010-edition/555591.md?page=7)