# Whatcha Readin'? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 25, 2006, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin/362124 "2006-06-25T22:44:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin/362124/1 "2006-06-25T22:44:51Z")
I just finished [The Friend Who Got Away]([www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0385511868?v=glance](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0385511868?v=glance) - 123k -), 20 true stories of friendships that blew up or faded away. Now starting [The Psycho Ex Game]([Amazon.com](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1400060761?v=glance) - 107k -), Merrill Markoe’s novel about a man and woman that begin an email correspondence detailing past crazy exes. What about you? As a bonus question, do you have something like Bookman’s where you live? It’s a wonderful place- a huge buy/sell/trade store with all kinds of stuff, and way cheaper than most other bookstores. Granted, everything’s used, but in very good condition. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin/362124/2 "2006-06-25T22:48:39Z")
[Star Maker](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Maker) by Olaf Stapledon. One of the most fascinating virtually plotless books I’ve ever read. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin/362124/3 "2006-06-25T22:52:06Z")
I just finished “Everyman” by Philip Roth. A lovely journey into the daily ins and outs of getting old and dying. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin/362124/4 "2006-06-25T22:54:16Z")
I’m still working my way through the Aubrey–Maturin series. I’m just finished _The Commodore_, which is number 17 in the series. The last few titles I’ve knocked out one a day. ---
**Author:** ![banjo\_picking\_fool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d2c977/32.png) [@banjo\_picking\_fool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/banjo_picking_fool)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin/362124/5 "2006-06-25T22:57:48Z")
The new Edith Grossman translation of Don Quixote. Highly recommemed. ---
**Author:** ![PastAllReason](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f07891/32.png) [@PastAllReason](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastAllReason)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin/362124/6 "2006-06-25T23:02:51Z")
I’m currently reading Simon Winchester’s [The Meaning of Everything](http://www.amazon.ca/exec/obidos/ASIN/0198607024/sr=1-4/qid=1151276095/ref=sr_1_4/701-0217963-1229162?%5Fencoding=UTF8&s=books&v=glance), a history of the Oxford English Dictionary. Several years ago I read Winchester’s _The Professor and the Madman_ that dealt with one aspect of the OED and greatly enjoyed it. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin/362124/7 "2006-06-25T23:08:22Z")
I’ve been on a Coots & Crones binge – books with older characters, handling aging in different ways. **Mrs. Bridge** by Evan Connell, **The Widows’ Adventures** and **Waltz in Marathon** by Charles Dickinson, and **Quartet in Autumn** by Barbara Pym. Great books, all of them, but now I feel like it’s time to read something with teenagers. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin/362124/8 "2006-06-25T23:19:51Z")
[The Mountain’s Call](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0373802102/qid=1151277267/sr=2-2/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_2/002-9178506-1204811?s=books&v=glance&n=283155) A fun little fantasy with a female protagonist. She hears the “call of the moutain” a call reserved only for men. There she journeys to become a rider of white stallions - gods in animal form. It is fast paced and not too bad so far. [An Unpardonable Crime](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FILLWS/qid=1151277422/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/002-9178506-1204811?s=books&v=glance&n=283155) > [@](#): > > a young schoolmaster in Stoke Newington, just outside of London, whose charges include 10-year-old Edgar Allan Poe (as a child, the poet spent five years in England) and a pampered banker’s son. The banker disappears creating a mystery for the schoolmaster to solve. I had high hopes, but it is not living up to my hopes. Poe is a mere incidental character and I can’t imagine why the author bothered to include him (so far. Perhaps his identity become important later.) ---
**Author:** ![Clockwork\_And\_Candy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b782af/32.png) [@Clockwork\_And\_Candy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clockwork_And_Candy)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin/362124/9 "2006-06-25T23:22:52Z")
I’m re-reading _Son of the Shadows_ by Juliet Marillier for the umpteenth time now. Why do books have to cost money? ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin/362124/10 "2006-06-25T23:23:58Z")
I just finished _The Last Witchfinder_ by James Morrow and it was every bit as good as **AuntiePam** promised in the last Whatcha Readin’ thread. It’s about a young girl who, after witnessing a loved one burned at the stake, sets out to rid the world of witch persecutions, using physics to disprove the existence of the demonic. Except it’s much more entertaining than that sounds. One of the narrators is Newton’s _Principia Mathematica_ [and for a seminal book, it’s really kind of a smartass]. In fact, the whole thing is a love-letter to reason, fighting ignorance and books. If that doesn’t do it for you, it’s also got shipwrecks and pirates, abductions, freaks in jars, kidnappings and Ben Franklin. What more could you want? Next up is a Swedish police procedural, _before the frost_ by Henning Mankell. ---
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin/362124/11 "2006-06-25T23:45:27Z")
I’m currently a little over 100 pages into _Snow Crash_ – Neal Stephenson. Enjoying it a lot so far. ---
**Author:** ![Linty\_Fresh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Linty\_Fresh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linty_Fresh)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin/362124/12 "2006-06-25T23:52:04Z")
I just finished [The Woman in Black](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1567921892/qid=1151279377/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-3262546-8258455?s=books&v=glance&n=283155) on the advice of a fellow Doper. _Very_ well written. It was a bit predictable, but still the scariest thing I’ve read in a good long time. I’m now reading about three books on prepping for the GRE, but that’s probably not what you’re looking for. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2006, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin/362124/13 "2006-06-25T23:55:09Z")
Coming towards the end of Thich Nhat Hanh’s _Heart of the Buddha’s Teachings_ now. It’s done a lot to calm some of the concerns which have tempered my attraction to Buddhism, although it hasn’t made me -quite- ready to don the saffron robe yet, so to speak. 🙂 My other reading material is _The Selfish Gene_, by Richard Dawkins. A lunchtime conversation a few months ago convinced me to brush up on my Darwin/evolution, and this excellent book was the means to that end. ---
**Author:** ![bubastis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d07c76/32.png) [@bubastis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bubastis)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2006, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin/362124/14 "2006-06-26T00:07:13Z")
Just put down A Confederacy of Dunces… wow. Next on the list is either Anansi Boys or In Cold Blood. ---
**Author:** ![Linty\_Fresh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Linty\_Fresh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linty_Fresh)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2006, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin/362124/15 "2006-06-26T00:22:36Z")
[QUOTE=bubastis] Just put down A Confederacy of Dunces… wow. [/QUOTE] You’ve got me intrigued. “Wow” good or “wow” bad? ---
**Author:** ![bubastis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d07c76/32.png) [@bubastis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bubastis)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2006, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin/362124/16 "2006-06-26T00:29:41Z")
[QUOTE=Linty Fresh] You’ve got me intrigued. “Wow” good or “wow” bad? [/QUOTE] Wow good. Quite unlike anything I’ve ever read. The main character, Ignatius, has to be seen to be believed. Well, not see, but you know what I mean. The plot is labyrinthe, with various plot strains weaving in and out through each other, meshing to a believable, natural and hilarious conclusion. Guarunteed to beef up your vocabulary, and also arm you with many a fresh insult. I simply cannot wait for the oppurtunity to tell someone, “You should be lashed until you drop!”. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2006, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin/362124/17 "2006-06-26T00:52:19Z")
[QUOTE=Monstre] I’m currently a little over 100 pages into _Snow Crash_ – Neal Stephenson. Enjoying it a lot so far. [/QUOTE] I just finished that about a month ago and enjoyed it immensely, as did **Jakeline**. Currently, I’m slogging my way through Ayn Rand’s **Atlas Shrugged** for the first time. The first 200 pages or so seemed to go fairly quickly, but I’ve slowed down quite a bit. The story is still keeping me interested, though. ---
**Author:** ![M.Meursault](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b487fb/32.png) [@M.Meursault](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/M.Meursault)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2006, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin/362124/18 "2006-06-26T00:57:14Z")
I’m currently reading Nicholas Thomas’ “Discoveries: The Voyages of Captain Cook” which is about, appropriately enough, the voyages of Capt. Cook. ---
**Author:** ![Clockwork\_And\_Candy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b782af/32.png) [@Clockwork\_And\_Candy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clockwork_And_Candy)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2006, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin/362124/19 "2006-06-26T01:00:00Z")
[QUOTE=Linty Fresh] You’ve got me intrigued. “Wow” good or “wow” bad? [/QUOTE] Hey, I know that this question was directed at bubastis and that s/he already answered you, but I just wanted to chime in and second their recommendation. That book is _unbelievable_. Totally worth buying. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2006, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin/362124/20 "2006-06-26T01:00:43Z")
This weekend, I finished _John James Audubon: The Making of an American_ by Richard Rhodes, and started Carlos Ruiz Zafon’s _Shadow of the Wind_, the latter based on someone’s (I don’t recall whose) recommendation in a previous “Whatcha Reading” thread. That Audubon book is good, though perhaps a bit over detailed in spots. (Do I really need to know if it was March 13th or March 14th that he painted that particular grebe?) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-readin/362124.md?page=2)