# Whatcha Readin' Sept 09 Edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 29, 2009, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-sept-09-edition/508154 "2009-08-29T14:42:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [September 8, 2009, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-sept-09-edition/508154/41 "2009-09-08T17:34:30Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > …I picked up \*You remind me of me \*by Dan Chaon. Too busy to crack the cover yet. My book club read that a few years ago, and I had the chance to meet the author (a nice guy, and very self-effacing) not long afterwards. The novel’s a very powerful but sad, slow-emotional-train-wreck kind of tale that will stay with you. ---
**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:** [September 8, 2009, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-sept-09-edition/508154/42 "2009-09-08T19:44:08Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Hey, both books I’d suggested! Not to mention the interlibrary loan request I’ve got on Tuf Voyaging. I swear, I don’t do everything I’m told to. 🙂 ---
**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:** [September 8, 2009, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-sept-09-edition/508154/43 "2009-09-08T19:52:34Z")
That’s fine. Just follow _my_ advice, and I won’t steer you wrong. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-sept-09-edition/508154/44 "2009-09-08T19:57:14Z")
I’m about to finish “the Berlin Stories” by Christopher Isherwood. I’m not sure what to read next…any suggestions? ---
**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:** [September 8, 2009, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-sept-09-edition/508154/45 "2009-09-08T20:02:30Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > That’s fine. Just follow _my_ advice, and I won’t steer you wrong. 😉 Okay! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-sept-09-edition/508154/46 "2009-09-08T20:40:15Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > My book club read that a few years ago, and I had the chance to meet the author (a nice guy, and very self-effacing) not long afterwards. The novel’s a very powerful but sad, slow-emotional-train-wreck kind of tale that will stay with you. He has a new one just out (or coming out in a minute) called _Await Your Reply_ and will be doing a lot of area appearances. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Ed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Just\_Ed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Ed)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-sept-09-edition/508154/47 "2009-09-08T23:26:45Z")
Just read (in kind of quick procession):[ul][li]_Shutter Island_ by Dennis Lehane: I picked it up not only because I’d read and enjoyed _Mystic River_ and _A Drink Before the War_, but also because of the forthcoming movie adaptation directed by Scorsese. I found it an engrossing read and am looking forward to the screen version, even though its release has been pushed back.[_]Dark Places by Gillian Flynn: Not bad but unremarkable entry in the mystery/suspense genre. An Amazon recommendation.[_]_The Lovely Bones_ by Alice Sebold: Also picked up due to a forthcoming movie adaptation (directed by Peter Jackson). Very affecting; also can’t wait for the movie._Storm Front_ (Dresden Files Book 1) by Jim Butcher: Very entertaining and, as mentioned, a quick read. Looking forward to the rest of the series.[/ul]I’ve also been reading _In FED We Trust: Ben Bernanke’s War on the Great Panic_ by David Wessel, but though I find the subject matter interesting if not compelling (I work in the Financial Services sector), I’m not quite speeding through it.[/li] The current fiction I’m reading is _Dauntless_ (The Lost Fleet Book 1) by Jack Campbell, which I think is another Amazon recommendation. Space Opera, but seems like the good kind - fast-paced and character-driven. ---
**Author:** ![GameHat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ed655f/32.png) [@GameHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GameHat)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2009, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-sept-09-edition/508154/48 "2009-09-08T23:50:51Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Because of **Gamehat** , I’m now on waiting lists for _Magicians_ and _The Elegant Universe_. Hope you and Khadaji enjoy _The Magicians_, it really struck a chord with me. I’ve actually started it over again already. Re-reading for me is very common; less common is when I actually feel like reading the exact same novel immediately after I finish it the first time. I did finish up _The Elegant Universe_ over the weekend. Good, very interesting. My brain did start to hurt once Greene started talking about 11-dimensional space and Calabi-Yau manifolds. I’m not going to pretend I followed all of it. I’ll need to return to this one in a few months. This was only near the end of the book; the parts near the beginning about where quantum mechanics and relativity are simply incompatible was a hoot. Took me back to my P-Chem days. ---
**Author:** ![TheMerchandise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b487fb/32.png) [@TheMerchandise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMerchandise)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-sept-09-edition/508154/49 "2009-09-09T15:58:11Z")
I finally finished volume 10 – the last – in Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series. I’ve owned the graphic novel for over a year and have been putting off reading it because I really didn’t want the series to end. It was so vast and creative and, well, good. But I read it finally and it was a bittersweet farewell, as I imagine Gaiman intended. I also read Kazuo Ishiguro’s _Never Let Me Go_. While I recognize the quality of writing in this novel, at no point was I swept away by the story. I feel like I’m betraying my carefully maintained pretentious intellectual elitism when I give it a “meh.” ---
**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:** [September 9, 2009, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-sept-09-edition/508154/50 "2009-09-09T16:00:10Z")
> [@TheMerchandise](#): > > …I also read Kazuo Ishiguro’s _Never Let Me Go_. While I recognize the quality of writing in this novel, at no point was I swept away by the story. I feel like I’m betraying my carefully maintained pretentious intellectual elitism when I give it a “meh.” Hmmm. The movie’s due out next year: [Never Let Me Go (2010 film) - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Never_Let_Me_Go_(2010_film)) ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-sept-09-edition/508154/51 "2009-09-09T16:23:23Z")
**Elendil’s Heir** , Dan Chaon will be signing his new book at the Borders in Westlake tonight, and tomorrow at Joseph-Beth in Legacy Village. I have it at hand. ---
**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:** [September 9, 2009, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-sept-09-edition/508154/52 "2009-09-09T17:31:13Z")
Hey, thanks! Doubt I’ll be able to go, but I’ll pass it along to my book club. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2009, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-sept-09-edition/508154/53 "2009-09-09T17:50:07Z")
I finally read _A Confederacy of Dunces_ about a week ago. I think I read half of it Sunday and finished it last Tuesday. I was repulsed by Ignatius physically for a while but I may have been looking at it wrong. The writing is excellent in any case. Planned reading this month (who knows) includes _Born to Run_ by Christopher McDougal, _The Evolution of God_ by Robert Wright, and _My Lobotomy_ by Howard Dully, which my girlfriend wants to read and I might borrow afterward. Before I do any of that I think I’m going to reread _The Autobiography of Malcolm X_ as research for a project. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-sept-09-edition/508154/54 "2009-09-10T02:23:51Z")
Finished _Witches Incorporated (Rogue Agent)_. The second installment in the Rogue Agent series focuses more on Melissande, Bibbie and Reg, but also includes an adventure with Gerald. A weak addition to an already weak series, I thought through out that I would likely not read the third. If you took out all the squabbling between the women you’d trim the book to about 1/2. A D+ at best. I am doubtful that I will read the last in the series, but maybe. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2009, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-sept-09-edition/508154/55 "2009-09-10T02:26:37Z")
I’m making my way through [A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again](http://www.amazon.com/Supposedly-Fun-Thing-Never-Again/dp/0316925284)–and considering if I want to take on Infinite Jest. ---
**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:** [September 10, 2009, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-sept-09-edition/508154/56 "2009-09-10T14:24:42Z")
I finished Robin Hobb’s Liveships trilogy. At close to 3000 pages it was quite a slog but I enjoyed it. Her writing style appeals to me, although I imagine that her slow plotting would turn many people off. I’m halfway through Christopher Moore’s _A Dirty Job_. It’s very funny, but surprisingly sad in places. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-sept-09-edition/508154/57 "2009-09-11T00:19:01Z")
I finished _I’m Down_, which I got a huge kick out of. It’s a memoir, author Mishna Wolff grew up with her single, white father who was absolutely, positively convinced he was black, and raised his daughters accordingly. She does a great job of describing life as an awkward kid who struggles to fit in with the black kids in her neighborhood, who think she is too white, and then later when she attends a school for gifted children on a scholarship, completely mystifies her white classmates. I thought it was funny and well-written, but I will note that the father, who is presented as quirky, is oftentimes actually abusive and those parts were difficult reading. Also, a YA title, _My Most Excellent Year: A Novel of Love, Mary Poppins, and Fenway Park_ by Steve Kluger. It’s a very chaste, gentle high school romance. At first, all the characters struck me as much too perfect and stereotypical. But it’s so … I don’t know, it’s earnest and you end up really _liking_ them despite the fact that they are all too good to be true. It’s like the high school you _wish_ you went to. One straight couple, one gay couple, and one thing I did like is that it’s not so much a book _about_ being gay, they just happen to be gay. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2009, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-sept-09-edition/508154/58 "2009-09-11T15:29:15Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > He has a new one just out (or coming out in a minute) called _Await Your Reply_ and will be doing a lot of area appearances. Just finished. Ho-lee shit. Haven’t had my mind blown like this since _Gentlemen and Players_. Buy this book now. ---
**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:** [September 12, 2009, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-sept-09-edition/508154/59 "2009-09-12T03:08:11Z")
Just got an alumni postcard telling me that Chaon will be reading from _Await Your Reply_ on Thurs. Sept. 17 at 4:45pm, in Craig Auditorium on the campus of Oberlin College, where he teaches. ---
**Author:** ![Gulo\_gulo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bcef8e/32.png) [@Gulo\_gulo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gulo_gulo)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2009, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-sept-09-edition/508154/60 "2009-09-13T01:19:41Z")
What a month. My house got robbed & trashed a few weeks ago so I’ve been cleaning instead of reading. Some of my on-going books are…somewhere. They’ll turn up. I’ve been sticking to fluff reads as it’s been hard to concentrate on things right now. Fail: Dies the Fire by S. M. Stirling ~ UGH. I realized about half way through that I hated everyone and wanted them all to die a miserable ‘blessed be’ death. Cast aside & will hopefully earn me a credit through [Paperbackswap.com](http://Paperbackswap.com). Read: \*The Moonlight War: the Story of Clandestine Operations in South-East Asia 1944-5 \*by Terence O’Brien ~ enjoyed but I think I’ll look for his other book as I wanted to read more on the Chindits. _Yes Man_ by Danny Wallace ~ meh. Some of the scenarios made me squirm. I’m just not a fan of stories where people put themselves in awkward situations. _The Last Command (Star Wars: The Thrawn Trilogy, Vol. 3)_ by Timothy Zahn _A Sundial in a Grave: 1610_ by Mary Gentle ~ decent historical fiction. _His Majesty’s Dragon (Temeraire, Book 1)_ by Naomi Novik ~ Bought on a whim when I was at the Seattle airport. Once I landed, I headed to Barnes & Noble & bought the next three in the series. (I can’t read these without visualizing Patrick O’Brians’s Jack Aubrey as Will Laurence though.) \*Throne of Jade (Temeraire, Book 2) \*by Naomi Novik \*Black Powder War (Temeraire, Book 3) \*by Naomi Novik _Empire of Ivory (Temeraire, Book 4)_ by Naomi Novik ~ this one failed a bit for me. Didn’t like where it went. _Victory of Eagles (Temeraire, Book 5)_ by Naomi Novik _Shadow Moon (Chronicles of the Shadow War, Book 1)_ by Chris Claremont ~ Sequel trilogy to ‘Willow’. I read them once years ago. They have their appeal but drag in parts. _Shadow Dawn (Chronicles of the Shadow War, Book 2)_ by Chris Claremont _Shadow Star (Chronicles of the Shadow War, Book 3)_ by Chris Claremont _The Merchant’s Partner (Knights Templar series)_ by Michael Jecks ~ I really enjoyed this medieval detective novel. I will have to backtrack to the first in the series. _Jedi Search (Star Wars: The Jedi Academy Trilogy, Vol. 1)_ by Kevin Anderson ~ told you I was into fluff reads right now. I’m getting my Star Wars geek on. _Dark Apprentice (Star Wars: The Jedi Academy Trilogy, Vol. 2)_ by Kevin Anderson _Champions of the Force (Star Wars: The Jedi Academy Trilogy, Vol. 3)_ by Kevin Anderson _Shark!: Nature’s Masterpiece_ by RD Lawrence ~ a bit dated but a good book on Lawrence’s adventures studying sharks. _The Audubon Ark_ by Frank Graham ~ A history of the creation of the Audubon Society. Some interesting bits but mainly a dull slog. Currently reading: _Heartsblood: Hunting, Spirituality, and Wildness in America_ by David Petersen ~ this has been misplaced. Hopefully I’ll find it soon. _The Rookie: The Incredible True Story of a Man Who Never Gave Up on His Dream_ by Jim Morris ~ was displaced in the robbery & forgot about it. Oops. _Pride and Prejudice and Zombies_ by Seth Grahame-Smith ~ I’m reading this in bits. It’s a bit much for me in large doses. _Where the Wild Things Were: Life, Death, and Ecological Wreckage in a Land of Vanishing Predators_ by William Stolzenburg ~ I just got an ARC for this and it’s really good so far. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-sept-09-edition/508154.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin-sept-09-edition/508154.md?page=4)