# Whatcha reading Dec. (08) edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 30, 2008, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-dec-08-edition/475075 "2008-11-30T18:22:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-dec-08-edition/475075/1 "2008-11-30T18:22:08Z")
OK, first the important stuff: December 1st I’ll turn 47, send cards! 🙂 Here is the December version of our reading threads. [Here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=490492) is last month’s thread. Just finished _The Good Guy by Dean Koontz._ As I’ve said, I like Koontz because he is an easy read and I always come away feeling good. This was a quick, easy read and I came away feeling good. If you are a Koontz fan, this doesn’t disappoint, but over all an average read. Picked up and put down quickly _The Dracula Dossier: A Novel of Suspense_. It had a good premise, but bored the piss out of me early on. It was so bad that I think I will take it back, something I rarely do. It kinda reminded me of _Jonathan Strange and Mr Norell_, which I found equally arduous and did not finish. Not sure what I’ll pick out of the queue. Mom bought me a book for my birthday, but it is out of sequence in a series and I think I’ll read the others first. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-dec-08-edition/475075/2 "2008-11-30T18:33:22Z")
Lots of stuff just in from Amazon, so the list now looks something like this: Currently reading - **1635: The Dreeson Incident** - Eric Flint/Virginia DeMarce. The latest in this shared-universe saga. Just started, but interesting so far. **A History of Britain** - Simon Schama. Curse you people for getting me hooked on this series! In the queue: **War Games** - Christopher Anvil. A short story collection, with an added short novel. **Love In the Time of Fridges** - Tim Scott. I loved **Outrageous Fortune** , so his second novel is a must-read. **Liberation: Being the Adventures of the Slick Six After the Collapse of the United States of America** - Brian Flattery. Like the previous, I loved **Spaceman Blues** , so I bought the follow-up. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-dec-08-edition/475075/3 "2008-11-30T18:40:37Z")
I’m reading **Twilight** , just for the heck of it. I am about to start Stephen King’s newest book of short stories. ---
**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:** [November 30, 2008, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-dec-08-edition/475075/4 "2008-11-30T18:50:52Z")
Just finished Elizabeth George’s **Careless in Red** , which was most excellent. So good that I have almost entirely forgiven her for **With No One As Witness**. I’m also about to chuck **Hotel California** , by Barney Hoskyns, which reads like an article from the Rolling Stone that was never edited down to magazine size and Celia Rivenbark’s **Belle Weather** , which despite some entertaining chapter headings like _Harry Potter bitch-slaps Nancy Drew_ and _How rugby-playing lesbians torpedoed beach day_, is just plain terrible. Next up? **Engleby** , by Sebastian Faulks. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-dec-08-edition/475075/5 "2008-11-30T18:52:40Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > **A History of Britain** - Simon Schama. Curse you people for getting me hooked on this series! I love the TV series based on the book. That sealed Schama as my favorite historian. My current book pile looks like this: **The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven** by Sherman Alexie (and one of the greatest titles ever) **Dune** because I just finished the House Trilogy and now I want to read the original series again (in order this time) **Dragonsbane** by Barbara Hambly which I haven’t read in years **Sense and Sensibility** by Jane Austen because I’m giving her one more chance to win me over **Alternative Alcott** which is a collection of Louisa May Alcott’s more subversive works. The down side is that it only has excerpts of a couple of her novels. I hate excerpts. And I’m still working on **The Sunne in Splendour**. Truly it is a Tome. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-dec-08-edition/475075/6 "2008-11-30T19:03:16Z")
I just finished: _Primary Colors_–recommended by a Doper when I was looking for political novels. It’s an interesting novel that I appreciated while not precisely liking it. _Her Royal Spyness_–a very silly but entertaining historical mystery. _We Have Always Lived in the Castle_–recommended by a Doper when I was looking for chills and thrills. Shirley Jackson simply rocks. Am currently reading: _The 6 Messiahs_, by Mark Frost (sequel to _The List of 7_) _Jar City_, by Arnaldur Indridason (for my around-the-world challenge\*, set in Iceland) _Jerusalem Inn_, by Martha Grimes (rereading the Jury novels) _The Bastard of Istanbul_, by Elif Shafak (also for my around-the-world challenge, set in Turkey) _Kitty Takes a Holiday_, by Carrie Vaughn (light urban fantasy) \*a book from each country of the world ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2008, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-dec-08-edition/475075/7 "2008-11-30T22:02:36Z")
I had so little time for reading last month it was horrible. In terms of novels I just finished Dr. Rat which, as anticipated, I hated. It’s essentially a shrill animal rights screed where the reader is supposed to break down in tears at the horrors of anthropomorphized animals undergoing laboratory experiments and being moved through slaughterhouses. It’s a two hundred page emotional appeal for the ignorant. The titular character of a rat driven insane by the experiments and trying to assist them was interesting, I just wish he was in a better book. I’ve got to read Neil Gaiman’s _Coraline_ within the next week so that’s the next one for me. I enjoy Gaiman’s work but I haven’t read this before. I’m expecting the charming and whimsical Gaiman which should be a nice palette cleaner. After that I may get back on track with my pile on _Our Lady of Darkness_ and _Gloriana_. ---
**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:** [December 1, 2008, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-dec-08-edition/475075/8 "2008-12-01T00:48:00Z")
Chiming in so I’ll be subscribed to this thread. Just started _Elmer Gantry_, by Sinclair Lewis. ---
**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:** [December 1, 2008, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-dec-08-edition/475075/9 "2008-12-01T13:12:28Z")
I read Ken Grimwood’s Replay and liked it a whole lot. However, after a while, I was rolling my eyes at the gratuitous sex. It seemed like the author thought we might get bored if there weren’t enough boobies. But the premise was interesting enough on its own (man dies at age 43, wakes up in his 18 year old body with all memories intact), and it went in all the directions I hoped it would. At one point I wondered if Mr. Grimwood had written himself into a corner, but he pulled it off in the end, and I liked the overall message of the book. Now I’m starting on Eva Ibbotson’s The Dragonfly Pool, a children’s book. Happy birthday, **Khadaji**! ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2008, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-dec-08-edition/475075/10 "2008-12-01T15:58:41Z")
Thanks **Dung Beetle**. I was beginning to think no one cared… 🙂 ---
**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:** [December 1, 2008, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-dec-08-edition/475075/11 "2008-12-01T17:51:45Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > OK, first the important stuff: December 1st I’ll turn 47, send cards! 🙂 Happy birthday! I got a sweet Amazon gift card for my birthday and managed to squeeze 12 books out of it. Recently finished: **Live and Let Die** by Ian Fleming **Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mt. Everest Disaster** by Jon Krakauer **The Graveyard Book** by Neil Gaiman **Toll the Hounds** by Steven Erikson And reread the Jean Auel series for some fluff reading. Presently working on: **Three Musketeers**. Still. I’m enjoying the book, just haven’t been picking it up lately. **Four Kings: Leonard, Hagler, Hearns, Duran and the Last Great Era of Boxing** by George Kimball. Not my usual fare but it was an ARC and my husband is a boxing nut so I’m finding it interesting. **Northern Tales: Stories from the Native Peoples of the Arctic and Sub-Arctic Region** by Howard Norman **Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression** by Mildred Armstrong Kalish ---
**Author:** ![Atomicflea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/58956e/32.png) [@Atomicflea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomicflea)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2008, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-dec-08-edition/475075/12 "2008-12-01T20:52:39Z")
Just picked up **Too Fat to Fish** by Artie Lang. Laughing out loud. Damn, that kid’s entertaining and tragic, and it’s a very easy read. I also succumbed to my second X chromosome and picked up **Twilight**. Maybe I can see what this whole fuss is about since I missed the boat on **Harry Potter**. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-dec-08-edition/475075/13 "2008-12-02T01:26:53Z")
Thanks\*\* Gulo gulo.\*\* 🙂 In celebration of my Birthday I went to Borders and spent too much money! Actually, I had two gift cards for 50 dollars and I returned a book and in the end only was out of pocket 1.18. Not too shabby and I got some great books. So my next book is Princeps’ Fury by Jim Butcher. I enjoy his Dresden files, but really like his Fury series, so I’m pleased this is out. ---
**Author:** ![Stauderhorse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce7236/32.png) [@Stauderhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stauderhorse)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-dec-08-edition/475075/14 "2008-12-02T01:32:55Z")
Just started _A Tale of Two Cities_ by Charles Dickens. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanTigerTamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@SuntanTigerTamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanTigerTamer)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-dec-08-edition/475075/15 "2008-12-02T02:07:28Z")
Just started \*\*Cloud Atlas \*\*by David Mitchell. I have Mary Roach’s **Bonk** waiting in the wings. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-dec-08-edition/475075/16 "2008-12-02T02:16:41Z")
I have _Death of an Ordinary Man_ by Glen Duncan waiting unopened for me. I loved _I, Lucifer_ so I have high hopes for this one. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-dec-08-edition/475075/17 "2008-12-02T02:38:30Z")
Just now finished _The Wordy Shipmates_ by Sarah Vowell, about the Massachusetts Bay Colony Puritans. About to read a graphic novel called _Crecy_, about the famous 1346 battle. ---
**Author:** ![uncle\_squeegee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b5e925/32.png) [@uncle\_squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/uncle_squeegee)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-dec-08-edition/475075/18 "2008-12-02T02:44:53Z")
Khadaji, you are one year and one day younger than me. Happy birthday. _[The Book of Dave](http://www.amazon.com/Book-Dave-Novel-Will-Self/dp/1596913843/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228185212&sr=8-1)_ by Will Self _[The Braindead Megaphone](http://www.amazon.com/Braindead-Megaphone-George-Saunders/dp/159448256X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228185320&sr=1-1)_ by George Saunders. I’m contemplating re-starting both \*[Infinite Jest](http://www.amazon.com/Infinite-Jest-David-Foster-Wallace/dp/0316066524/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228185363&sr=1-1) \*(due to the author’s recent death) and _[Godel, Escher, Bach](http://www.amazon.com/Godel-Escher-Bach-Eternal-Golden/dp/0394745027/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228185409&sr=1-2)_ by Douglas Hofstader because it’s coming up on its 30th publication anniversary. I feel guilty for not finishing either of them, but I think I need to win the lottery first so I’ll have the time and brain space to take them on. ---
**Author:** ![DataZak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@DataZak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataZak)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-dec-08-edition/475075/19 "2008-12-02T03:09:26Z")
Just finished _The Hitler Book_, a Soviet document written for Stalin’s eyes only in 1949. It chronicles the rise and fall of the Third Reich as seen by two of Hitler’s adjutants whom the Soviets captured and interrogated to their hearts content. Heavy on the Eastern Front campaign and the Soviet march to Berlin, light on everything else. That book put me in the mood for more WWII stuff so now I’ve just started _The End of War_ by David L. Robbins. A fictional account of the Allied race for Berlin. In the queue: _The Man Who Made Lists: Love, Death, Madness and the creation of Roget’s Thesaurus_ ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2008, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-dec-08-edition/475075/20 "2008-12-02T11:58:42Z")
> [@uncle\_squeegee](#): > > Khadaji, you are one year and one day younger than me. Happy birthday. > _[The Book of Dave](http://www.amazon.com/Book-Dave-Novel-Will-Self/dp/1596913843/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228185212&sr=8-1)_ by Will Self > _[The Braindead Megaphone](http://www.amazon.com/Braindead-Megaphone-George-Saunders/dp/159448256X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228185320&sr=1-1)_ by George Saunders. > > I’m contemplating re-starting both \*[Infinite Jest](http://www.amazon.com/Infinite-Jest-David-Foster-Wallace/dp/0316066524/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228185363&sr=1-1) \*(due to the author’s recent death) and _[Godel, Escher, Bach](http://www.amazon.com/Godel-Escher-Bach-Eternal-Golden/dp/0394745027/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228185409&sr=1-2)_ by Douglas Hofstader because it’s coming up on its 30th publication anniversary. I feel guilty for not finishing either of them, but I think I need to win the lottery first so I’ll have the time and brain space to take them on. Thank you! Wishing the same to you! _Godel Escher Bach_ is probably the most started-not-finished book I know of, at least amongst my friends and acquaintances. It is a fascinating book - and a very tough read. I may have to try and finish it again myself one day. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-dec-08-edition/475075.md?page=2)