# Whatcha reading July (08) edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 1, 2008, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-july-08-edition/454885 "2008-07-01T12:13:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**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:** [July 1, 2008, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-july-08-edition/454885/1 "2008-07-01T12:13:13Z")
Apparently our good host **Khadaji** is [not feeling well enough](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=472965) to post right now. It’s been a week…any way someone can check on him? **Khadaji** , I hope you won’t mind if I start the thread in your absence. You can have it back when you get to feeling better! ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2008, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-july-08-edition/454885/2 "2008-07-01T12:54:36Z")
Halfway through \*Change of Heart \* by Jodi Picoult. Verdict so far: Irritating. ---
**Author:** ![LadyAurora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f0a364/32.png) [@LadyAurora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LadyAurora)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2008, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-july-08-edition/454885/3 "2008-07-01T12:58:55Z")
_Channeling Cleopatra_ by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough. So far it’s every entertaining and a good beach read for this summer. ---
**Author:** ![Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/46a35a/32.png) [@Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walker_in_Eternity)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2008, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-july-08-edition/454885/4 "2008-07-01T13:02:35Z")
Just started _Newtons Sleep_ by Daniel O’ Mahoney. It’s a spin off from the Doctor Who Universe about a group of ex- time lords called Faction Paradox. Not part of current Who continuity and probably better for it. Interesting start, but a little slow until the 2nd chapter. Gets very good reviews on line. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2008, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-july-08-edition/454885/5 "2008-07-01T13:28:46Z")
Just finished _On Basilisk Station_, the first book in David Weber’s “Honor Harrington” series, and am waiting for the second book in the series to arrive from the library. In the meantime am contenting myself by rereading sections of Neal Stephenson’s _Cryptonomicon_. ---
**Author:** ![Atrael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Atrael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atrael)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2008, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-july-08-edition/454885/6 "2008-07-01T14:04:12Z")
I’ve started _Myth-Chief_ the latest (and last) Myth book by Robert Asprin. I’m also reading _Ender’s Game_ but since it’s actually for work I don’t consider that an entertainment book. ---
**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:** [July 1, 2008, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-july-08-edition/454885/7 "2008-07-01T14:20:50Z")
My current pile: _To Green Angel Tower, Part 2_ by Tad Williams–the story finally picks up pace again, but I’ve completely lost track of some of the subplots. Dude seriously needed an editor. _Greenmantle_ by Charles de Lint–a Mafia/Celtic mythology tale. Very strange, but the characters are good. _All Men Are Mortal_ by Simone de Bouvoir–I don’t foray into French literature often, but this is pretty good. I can’t wait for Regina to get her comeuppance. _The Twelve Caesars_ by Suetonius–Ah, dirty Roman stories. I’ve just started Augustus. He was a prat even as a child, wasn’t he? _The Gold-Bug and Other Tales_ by Edgar Allen Poe–most of the stories are very good. “Ligeia” has not aged well, though. Which is ironic, considering the tale. _Lucky Starr and the Oceans of Venus_ by Isaac Asimov–his foray into pulp adventure stories. I like how this one starts off with an apology…er…explanation of why Story Venus doesn’t match Real Venus. Ah, the 1950s. An exciting time to be involved in extraterrestrial research. A time when new discoveries were being made every day, some of which would completely invalidate large segments of your fictional solar system. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2008, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-july-08-edition/454885/8 "2008-07-01T14:31:55Z")
I am just finishing World War Z by Max Brooks. I bought it as a joke, but damn if it isn’t well written and impossible to put down. ---
**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:** [July 1, 2008, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-july-08-edition/454885/9 "2008-07-01T14:36:11Z")
This weekend I attempted to read Quiet Please: Dispatches from a Public Librarian, by Scott Douglas. He had me worried on the first page, annoyed by the tenth, and chased me off entirely by chapter three. It’s really a shame, too, because this book had potential. Unfortunately, the author’s effort to make it cute turned it into a steaming pile of crap. There was a footnote attached to the second sentence of the book (!) and the footnote was this: “Faren was short, soft-spoken, and had a peaceful disposition. The words didn’t exactly fit her.” Um, isn’t that the kind of thing that belongs in the body of the text?\* After that, the footnotes came thick and fast. Soon I was frothing (and I enjoyed Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell). By page 32, when he interrupted my reading _yet again_ to give me the definition of the word Hussars :rolleyes: , I had had enough. I was very frustrated, because I feel there’s a decent book in there, but damned if I’ll be the one to dig it out. Why on earth was he allowed to publish it like this? _shakes fist_ Scott Douglas, you are no Dave Barry! \*Yes. * * * After that, I read a large chunk of Swan Song, by Robert McCammon (one of those books I’ve always meant to get around to), before realizing that I had, in fact, read it before. I’m currently reading Button, Button, a short story collection by Richard Matheson. So far, I’ve read only the title story, which was less than stellar. They’re going to make a movie out of it. :smack: ---
**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:** [July 1, 2008, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-july-08-edition/454885/10 "2008-07-01T15:39:56Z")
[QUOTE=Atrael] I’ve started _Myth-Chief_ the latest (and last) Myth book by Robert Asprin. I’m also reading _Ender’s Game_ but since it’s actually for work I don’t consider that an entertainment book. [/QUOTE] I’ll bite: What kind of work are you doing that requires reading _Ender’s Game_? I’ve started Michael Flynn’s _Firestar_. It’s very near-future science fiction (written in 1996 so it’s more like alternate history now) about a private effort to get humanity back into space, spear-headed by an extremely wealthy, space-obsessed woman. It has a vaguely Heinlein-ish tone. There are some complaints on Amazon about the novel’s libertarian politics, but so far it’s mostly a general contempt for any policy that doesn’t prioritize educating people about science and sending people into space as soon as possible. ---
**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2008, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-july-08-edition/454885/11 "2008-07-01T15:59:44Z")
[QUOTE=Eleanor of Aquitaine] I’ll bite: What kind of work are you doing that requires reading _Ender’s Game_? [/QUOTE] And are they hiring? 😃 My current read is Star Trek: Voyages of Imagination - The Star Trek Fiction Companion. A 40th anniversary listing of all the Star Trek Fiction written since the series started. Synopsis of the books and interviews with the writers about what they wrote. Including the Strange New Worlds anthologies that were out at the time. Found some that look interesting I haven’t read yet. ---
**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:** [July 1, 2008, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-july-08-edition/454885/12 "2008-07-01T16:35:36Z")
Still wading through _Don Quixote_. I just started _My Ántonia_ last night and I’m completely sucked in. ---
**Author:** ![Atrael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Atrael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atrael)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2008, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-july-08-edition/454885/13 "2008-07-01T16:53:27Z")
[QUOTE=Eleanor of Aquitaine] I’ll bite: What kind of work are you doing that requires reading _Ender’s Game_? [/QUOTE] and [QUOTE=Lok] And are they hiring? [/quote] I’m a computer modeling and simulations subject matter expert. I help advise on computer simulations in urban environments. I work for part of US Joint Forces Command. Recently we got a new boss. [General Mattis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Mattis) who is trying desperatly to find ways of improving tactical training for small units. One of the systems he’s interested in improving is the [Infantry Immersive Trainer](http://www.tsjonline.com/story.php?F=2910260), which is a mixed-reality type of environment. General Mattis has refered to _Ender’s Game_ several times in his emails to us as an example of where he wants training to move towards. When a 4 star general mentions something like that? It’s pretty much expected to read it. There ya go, more than you probably wanted to know, but since hardly anyone every actually **asks** what I do I thought I’d splurge. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TheMerchandise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b487fb/32.png) [@TheMerchandise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMerchandise)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2008, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-july-08-edition/454885/14 "2008-07-01T19:56:23Z")
I’m reading Clive Barker’s _Imajica_. It was pretty far down on my To Read List, but a good friend of mine told me it was his favorite book ever, so I moved it up. So far, I’m having trouble finding a single really likeable character, but the premise is interesting. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2008, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-july-08-edition/454885/15 "2008-07-01T20:05:17Z")
Just finished _Tom Clancy_’s [Rainbow Six](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_Six_%28novel%29). If you like techno-thrillers with a military angle, it is an excellent read. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2008, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-july-08-edition/454885/16 "2008-07-01T20:30:44Z")
I’m in the middle of _The Brothers Karamazov_ by Dostoevsky. Lots of violence to keep it entertaining, along with a lot of philosophical ramblings that I can just skim through. ---
**Author:** ![N.Sane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f19dbf/32.png) [@N.Sane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N.Sane)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2008, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-july-08-edition/454885/17 "2008-07-01T20:44:16Z")
I’m about halfway through _Upon Eagle’s Light_ by Clover Autrey. It’s pretty good, especially considering it’s a first novel. I have the latest Pendragon book sitting on my to-be-read pile, and I’m hoping to be able to get to it soon. ---
**Author:** ![Wakinyan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wakinyan/32/352_2.png) [@Wakinyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wakinyan)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2008, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-july-08-edition/454885/18 "2008-07-01T20:50:35Z")
Just picked up **Pushkin’s** _The Captain’s Daughter_, which I found for $1 at a second-hand bookshop, a fine paperback edition from 1954, and it is so far a very nice read. I like them 19th century Russians. Which brings me to **Ponch8** above, who summarize his reading of _The Brothers Karamazov_, with > [@](#): > > Lots of violence to keep it entertaining, along with a lot of philosophical ramblings that I can just skim through. I would say that that novel is one of the funniest, most entertaining, dramatic, tragic, well written and thought provocative novel ever. It’s the god damn Godfather of literature. “Philosophical ramblings I can just skim through”, pff!, put it away you heathen!, for thou are not ready. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2008, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-july-08-edition/454885/19 "2008-07-01T23:20:32Z")
[QUOTE=Dung Beetle] Apparently our good host **Khadaji** is [not feeling well enough](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=472965) to post right now. It’s been a week…any way someone can check on him? **Khadaji** , I hope you won’t mind if I start the thread in your absence. You can have it back when you get to feeling better! [/QUOTE] 🙂 Thanks for taking up my slack! I had a week of recovery to read and have a few books to review, but will do so tomorrow I think, as I just got home. ---
**Author:** ![susan\_foster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@susan\_foster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan_foster)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2008, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-july-08-edition/454885/20 "2008-07-01T23:59:22Z")
Just finished _Such a Pretty Fat_ by Jennifer Lancaster. Very funny. Just took out from the library (again) _Microthrills_ by Wendy Spero. I love how she says her mother calls her. “WENDAAAY” Susan [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-july-08-edition/454885.md?page=2)