# Whatcha reading Oct. (08) edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 30, 2008, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-oct-08-edition/465904 "2008-09-30T19:40:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2008, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-oct-08-edition/465904/61 "2008-10-08T21:50:20Z")
> [@koeeoaddi](#): > > I read it years ago and it _still_ creeps me out. In fact, IIRC, it took several months for my blood to completely thaw. > > Has this guy written a bad book? I heard Tomcat in Love wasn’t great, but I haven’t gotten to it. I have The Nuclear Age on my pile, but it keeps getting left on the bottom - I am not sure what I am trying to tell myself by doing that… But yeah, Tim O’Brien is a masterful writer… ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-oct-08-edition/465904/62 "2008-10-09T16:25:36Z")
I just finished Nation by Terry Pratchett. A+ ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2008, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-oct-08-edition/465904/63 "2008-10-09T22:27:10Z")
[Look me in the eye](http://www.amazon.com/Look-Me-Eye-Life-Aspergers/dp/0307396185/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1223591170&sr=8-1) by John Elder Robinson. (Augustin Burroughs older brother.) I’m into the second chapter and liking 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 10, 2008, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-oct-08-edition/465904/64 "2008-10-10T14:46:56Z")
I enjoyed _The Time Traveler’s Wife_. It had an intriguing flavor of time travel and a touching love story. It’s not without its flaws, but I find myself reviewing and admiring the plot, and I think I will end up re-reading it one of these days. Now I’m in the middle of _Flashman at the Charge_. I’ve had to go look up the Crimean War and the Charge of the Light Brigade, which I knew nothing about. ---
**Author:** ![XaMcQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/f9ae1b/32.png) [@XaMcQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XaMcQ)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-oct-08-edition/465904/65 "2008-10-10T15:52:50Z")
I just finished Sherwood Smith’s **Inda, The Fox** and **King’s Shield**. I’m eagerly awaiting the fourth and hopefully final book in this fantasy series, **On Treason’s Shore,** which is not due till next year sometime, sigh… Now I’m about 70 pages into C.E. Murphy’s **Heart of Stone** , and it needs to improve very soon or it gets swapped. Next in the queue are **Matriarch** by Karen Traviss, and **Dust** by Elizabeth Bear. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2008, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-oct-08-edition/465904/66 "2008-10-10T16:49:34Z")
> [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](#): > > I read Naomi Novik’s newest book in the Temeraire series, _Victory of Eagles_, where Napoleon invades England. It was good, but terribly depressing. These have been getting darker, and this one was really a downer, with hardly any of the ususal humor. I’ve caught up to the author now, so it will be a year before I find out of poor Laurence gets any relief. > > I’ve started _The Time Traveler’s Wife_. At 100 pages in I’m fascinated. I only hope she doesn’t continue with the pitiful attempts to explain the time travel as some sort of genetic anomaly. YES!!! YES!!! Finally a book where the little corporal does it!. After reading all the Sharpe books and a lot of O’Brian i am just tired of the goddamns winning all the battles. I read the first Temeraire book and the Emperor almost, almost gets to invade perfid Albion, only to fail in the last minute :(, so he finally managed it, cool, he will no doubt lose at the end, but at least he will get some victories. Reading English novels about the Napoleonic Wars you’ll hardly see him as a genius, I mean i do not remember any Sharpe book for example where the British are defeated, if it happens at all it is “off camera”. I’ll try to get that 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:** [October 10, 2008, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-oct-08-edition/465904/67 "2008-10-10T22:10:45Z")
I’m re-reading Nancy Peacock’s _Life without Water_ about a girl growing up in a hippie house in central NC in the mid-1970s. I always end up reading it in a day whenever I pick it up. This time, though, the constant “I remember…I remember…I remember…” is slightly irritating me. Yes, you’re remembering your childhood. Please find a new way to start your sentences while you do it. ---
**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 11, 2008, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-oct-08-edition/465904/68 "2008-10-11T00:47:44Z")
> [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](#): > > Now I’m in the middle of _Flashman at the Charge_. I’ve had to go look up the Crimean War and the Charge of the Light Brigade, which I knew nothing about. That was my first Flashman book. I loved it. The Crimean War was the one in which Florence Nightingale did her thing. (And if I recall, she may make a brief appearence in the book?) It was also the first war in which trains played a major role. > [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Today, I begin reading John Burdett’s _Bangkok Haunts_, the third in a truly excellent series featuring Bangkok policeman Sonchai Jitpleecheep, who is the product of an affair between a Vietnam War-era US soldier and a Thai prostitute. John Burdett and his creation, Sonchai Jitpleecheep, are firmly up there with Tony Hillerman and HIS creation, Navajo policeman Joe Leaphorn. I’m still on _Bangkok Haunts_ and enjoying it thoroughly. But I thought I’d mention I might have had a brief encounter yesterday afternoon with the author, John Burdett. I was sitting on the Skytrain – that’s our elevated mass-transit system – reading the book. Shortly before we pull into Siam Station, a fellow farang (Westerner) says he was wondering how did I like that book. I said it was great, and he asked me if I’d read the previous ones in the series, and I said something like yes, they’re all great. (And they are.) Then the Skytrain pulls into the station, and we go our separate ways. But something about him seemed familiar. Then it hit me that he might have been [this guy](http://www.john-burdett.com/literature/). I really wasn’t paying that much attention to him, and it was all over quickly. I can’t even remember his accent. But he did look a lot like the guy in that photo, although maybe he’s lost just a little weight. ---
**Author:** ![Lavender\_Falcon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b782af/32.png) [@Lavender\_Falcon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lavender_Falcon)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2008, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-oct-08-edition/465904/69 "2008-10-11T11:03:59Z")
I gave up on _Seabiscuit_–just wasn’t doing it for me. I’ve started _A Fine and Private Place_ by Peter S. Beagle. I read it over twenty years ago and picked up a copy last year when it was reprinted. ---
**Author:** ![TheMerchandise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b487fb/32.png) [@TheMerchandise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMerchandise)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2008, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-oct-08-edition/465904/70 "2008-10-11T15:15:40Z")
I just finished _The Name of The Wind_ and thought it was the most enjoyable books I’ve read in months. Absolutely captivating story. I’m now going to be waiting with some serious anticipation for April. I started _The Year of Living Biblically_. The concept is very interesting, but the writing style is a little too anecdotal for me. I want more detailed information and historical facts and fewer descriptions of his son’s television viewing habits. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2008, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-oct-08-edition/465904/71 "2008-10-11T15:48:34Z")
> [@TheMerchandise](#): > > I just finished _The Name of The Wind_ and thought it was the most enjoyable books I’ve read in months. Absolutely captivating story. I’m now going to be waiting with some serious anticipation for April. > \ I loved this book as well and every time someone else mentions I am compelled to chime in. I think the phrase I used was a storyteller’s story. I read it when it first came out and have been waiting not-so-patiently for the release of the next. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2008, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-oct-08-edition/465904/72 "2008-10-11T19:06:23Z")
I finished _African American Men in College_, which I was reading for work, it was okay as far as stuff you have to read for work goes. I am almost done with _Living Dangerously_, a biography of Merian C. Cooper, the guy who made King Kong. Before he was a movie producer, he was a fighter pilot in WWI and got shot down and was a prisoner of war and everything. He seems like a very admirable guy … but my impression from this book at least is that his need to put himself in dangerous situations was bordering on the pathological. Just started - _Rome 1960: The Olympics That Changed the World_. So far, so good … it’s very heavy on putting the Olympics in the context of the Cold War. ---
**Author:** ![stucco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e56c9b/32.png) [@stucco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stucco)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2008, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-oct-08-edition/465904/73 "2008-10-11T20:15:55Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I’m still on _Bangkok Haunts_ and enjoying it thoroughly. But I thought I’d mention I might have had a brief encounter yesterday afternoon with the author, John Burdett. That’s pretty cool. I’ve always wondered what I would do if I were a famous author and I saw someone reading my book in public. ---
**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 12, 2008, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-oct-08-edition/465904/74 "2008-10-12T02:02:01Z")
> [@stucco](#): > > That’s pretty cool. I’ve always wondered what I would do if I were a famous author and I saw someone reading my book in public. I know a few of the locally well-known authors, but John Burdett is a cut above the rest, and I’ve never met him before. I still think that was probably him the other day. But there’s one guy I know who’s published nine books in Thailand – fiction, personal musings – and he got all excited one time when he saw one of them featured as a prop in a commercial that appeared before a film in a cinema. It was for a cellphone company, and this girl gets a phone call while she’s browsing in a bookstore. It’s his book she’s looking through when her phone rings. My friend loved 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 12, 2008, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-oct-08-edition/465904/75 "2008-10-12T02:12:17Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > That was my first Flashman book. I loved it. The Crimean War was the one in which Florence Nightingale did her thing. (And if I recall, she may make a brief appearence in the book?) It was also the first war in which trains played a major role. I think _Flash for Freedom!_ is still my favorite so far, but I enjoyed _Flashman at the Charge_. **carnivorousplant** , I thought Flashy was unusually mellow in this book. He was moved by the plight of the soldiers wounded in the charge and even seemed mildly patriotic at moments. He kissed the girl before tossing her out of the sled, which is pretty sentimental for Flashman. He didn’t bully anybody in this book, either, which is really the hardest aspect of Flashman for me to stomach. Does he ever find out for sure if Elspeth is faithful or not, or does Fraser keep it inconclusive? I like to think she’s not as stupid as Flashman thinks she is. ---
**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 12, 2008, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-oct-08-edition/465904/76 "2008-10-12T02:36:32Z")
> [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](#): > > I think _Flash for Freedom!_ is still my favorite so far, but I enjoyed _Flashman at the Charge_. > > **carnivorousplant** , I thought Flashy was unusually mellow in this book. He was moved by the plight of the soldiers wounded in the charge and even seemed mildly patriotic at moments. He kissed the girl before tossing her out of the sled, which is pretty sentimental for Flashman. He didn’t bully anybody in this book, either, which is really the hardest aspect of Flashman for me to stomach. > > Does he ever find out for sure if Elspeth is faithful or not, or does Fraser keep it inconclusive? I like to think she’s not as stupid as Flashman thinks she is. He does sort of bully the German prince at the very begining, though, if I’m thinking of the same book. When push comes to shove, Flashie will get a (very brief) patriotic tear in his eye. And while it is never conclusively demonstrated that Elspeth is unfaithful, there’s enough circumstantial evidence to convince me that she is, but Flashie does not want to believe it. (I see the same thing lots of times in Thailand.) My favorite is probably _Flashman and the Redskins_, although there atre still two or three I’ve not read. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2008, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-oct-08-edition/465904/77 "2008-10-13T19:05:03Z")
Trying to read \*The Given Day \*by Dennis Lehane, but am so freaky busy. ---
**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:** [October 13, 2008, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-oct-08-edition/465904/78 "2008-10-13T20:54:36Z")
I finished _Dune: House Atreides_ last night and picked up _House Harkonnen_ as soon as I got up this morning. I don’t care what purists say, I love the Brian Herbert/Kevin J. Anderson books as much as the original six. The prequels anyway, I haven’t read the sequels yet. One of my roommates lent me _The Foundling and Other Tales of Prydain_ which is the only Prydain book I’ve never read. I’m going to have to add that to my collection. ---
**Author:** ![Sublata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7cd45c/32.png) [@Sublata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublata)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-oct-08-edition/465904/79 "2008-10-14T19:32:54Z")
I’m now struggling through _The Worst Journey in the World_ by Apsley Cherry-Garrard and thinking about giving up on it. This book was not written for a nonfiction dilettante like me; it was written for people who have a consuming interest in Antarctica. It’s telling me 'way more than I want to know. But I’d feel like a wimp if I did abandon it. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-oct-08-edition/465904/80 "2008-10-14T19:37:12Z")
**Impact Parameter** by Geoffrey Landis. Hardcore SF by a writer that I wasn’t familiar with. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-oct-08-edition/465904.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading-oct-08-edition/465904.md?page=5)