# Whatcha reading? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 13, 2006, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading/348111 "2006-03-13T00:58:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Jessica\_Rabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bcef8e/32.png) [@Jessica\_Rabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jessica_Rabbit)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading/348111/61 "2006-03-19T07:54:30Z")
I’m reading: - The Complete Illustrated Stories, Plays and Poems of Oscar Wilde. - Dead Men Do Tell Tales (a book on forsensic anthropology, good, but a bit dramatic, not bedtime stuff). - Sex and the Origins of Death (it’s a good book, the basic idea is that senescence is a result of sexual reproduction [reproduction involving DNA exchange] and that it didn’t exist until sexual reproduction started). And… ::looks at feet and mumbles:: - Two Terry Pratchett books ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading/348111/62 "2006-03-19T09:00:25Z")
It Must of Been Something I Ate - Jeffery Steingarten. Steingarten is probably one of the most witt food writers around and I’ve finally gotten around to reading his work in book form. A nice collection of food essays culled from various previously published magazines. A Timeless Way of Building - Cristopher Alexander. This is simply a phenomenal book and considered one of the seminal books on both architecture AND computer science. Alexander shows that good design lies in the appropriate use of “patterns” of architectural concepts to produce a harmonious whole. It’s one of those books that make you rethink everything you know about everything. Origins of Virtue - Matt Ridley. Have just cracked this one open. I’ve read the Red Queen before and I’ve always wanted to read more Ridley. Roche vs Adams - A rather chilling true life tale about one high level Executive’s treatment at the hands of a multi-national corporation after he reveals evidence of monopolistic price setting. Very depressing but utterly absorbing. The Plague Dogs - Richard Adams. I’ve heard so many good things about Watership Down that I had to pick this up at the used bookshop. Haven’t really opened it yet but looking forward to it. On top of that, I have about a dozen or so generic SF page turner books on my palm pilot which I keep in constant rotation depending on my mood. I tend to prefer juggling multiple books and pick up whichever one based on my mood. Unfortunately, this means that some books fall through the cracks :P. Theres another book on Hitler’s Science project which seems to have fallen to the bottom of my stack but I need to dredge it out and finish it because I was quite engrossed by it. ---
**Author:** ![Cerri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3bc359/32.png) [@Cerri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerri)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading/348111/63 "2006-03-19T09:54:09Z")
In the middle of several at the moment (splurged at Amazon and B&N a couple weeks ago, hehe): No God but God: The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam by Reza Aslan Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins The Valdemar Companion (about Mercedes Lackey’s Valdemar/Velgarth works) Once More with Footnotes by Terry Pratchett Owlknight (Valdemar: Darian’s Tale, Book 3) by Mercedes Lackey Knitting for Dummies and last but not least: Dragonsblood (Dragonriders of Pern) by Todd McCaffrey ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading/348111/64 "2006-03-19T12:24:20Z")
> [@Khadaji](#): > > [The Vesuvius Club](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0743283945/qid=1142251955/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/002-9178506-1204811?s=books&v=glance&n=283155) the blurb said: It did not live up to the hype and I was quite bored. > > I am in the middle of Wicked on tape, which I listen to while working out. At first I hated it, and could not find one character that I liked. It has gotten somewhat better, but I would still not put this is a recommend category. > > I just started [Grave Sight](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0425205681/qid=1142252165/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/002-9178506-1204811?s=books&v=glance&n=283155) last night after finishing Vesuvius Club. So far it is a solid read and I’m enjoying it. It is better than I had anticipated and I am glad that I picked it up. As mentioned Grave Sight was better than I had expected and I enjoyed it. I then went on to [Gil’s All Fright Diner](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0765314711/qid=1142770957/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/002-9178506-1204811?s=books&v=glance&n=283155) A quick and light read. Not what I would call literature, but it was an easy read and not too bad. I have now started the [The Traveler](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BLNP3W/qid=1142771017/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/002-9178506-1204811?s=books&v=glance&n=283155) I am only a few pages into it, so I have no review yet, but I’ve been looking forward to the read, so we’ll see. ---
**Author:** ![Cockatiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cockatiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cockatiel)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading/348111/65 "2006-03-19T17:25:50Z")
**Crime and Punishment.** I’ve never been a fan of the books from the so-called “classic” set (AKA, the books you usually read in school) but I went out on a limb with this one, and damn, it’s good! I’m about halfway through it now and I’ve loved it the whole way through. Poor Raskolnikov, he needs a hug. I don’t care if he’s a little messed up in the head. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![wonderlust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonderlust/32/7237_2.png) [@wonderlust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonderlust)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading/348111/66 "2006-03-19T22:05:19Z")
In honor of the recently deceased Octavia Butler, I’m reading her _Xenogenesis Trilogy_, also in an omnibus titled [Lilith’s Brood](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0446676101/qid=1142805735/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-8831238-8337553?s=books&v=glance&n=283155). It’s very, very good. Also, my fluffy book is [Fool Moon](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0451458125/qid=1142805803/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-8831238-8337553?s=books&v=glance&n=283155) by Jim Butcher, the second book in the _Dresden Files_ series. **Khadaji** , when you finish with **Traveler** , I’m interested in hearing whether you think it was worth all the hype. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading/348111/67 "2006-03-19T22:16:29Z")
I’m currently re-reading my way through Bill Bryson’s back catalogue- having polished off _The Complete Notes, Neither Here Nor There, The Lost Continent, Made In America_, and _Down Under_, I’m moving onto _A Walk In The Woods_ and then _A Short History Of Nearly Everything_. Hopefully by the time I’m done with those, my copies of _A Canticle For Leibowitz_ and _The Complete Paratime_ will have arrived from Amazon… 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading/348111/68 "2006-03-19T22:30:49Z")
Yesterday I acquired [The Birds of Ecuador field guide](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0801487218/002-4817092-5344006?v=glance&n=283155) by Robert S. Ridgely and Paul J. Greenfield. (I am planning on a bird watching trip to Ecuador later this year). Plate 41 has pictures of roughly twice as many hummingbird species as are found in all of North America. Which is then followed by 5 more similar plates of hummingbirds. I am afloat in a blissfull anticipatory sea of bird-nerdiness. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading/348111/69 "2006-03-19T23:02:49Z")
> [@brightpenny](#): > > In honor of the recently deceased Octavia Butler, I’m reading her _Xenogenesis Trilogy_, also in an omnibus titled [Lilith’s Brood](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0446676101/qid=1142805735/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-8831238-8337553?s=books&v=glance&n=283155). It’s very, very good. > > Also, my fluffy book is [Fool Moon](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0451458125/qid=1142805803/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/104-8831238-8337553?s=books&v=glance&n=283155) by Jim Butcher, the second book in the _Dresden Files_ series. > > **Khadaji** , when you finish with **Traveler** , I’m interested in hearing whether you think it was worth all the hype. I really like Jom Butcher’s stuff. I had heard a rumor that they were planning a TV series. Has anyone heard that? I am about half way through The Traveler and I’m liking it so far. It is fast paced and the writing is clean. I’ll let you know more when I finish it. ---
**Author:** ![DfrntBreign](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f6c823/32.png) [@DfrntBreign](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DfrntBreign)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2006, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading/348111/70 "2006-03-19T23:04:56Z")
I’ve almost finished \*\*Infamous Scribblers - _The Founding Fathers and the Rowdy Beginnings of American Journalism_ \*\* by Eric Burns. After seeing the author on The Daily Show, I thought it sounded more interesting than I would have imagined. And it is. Much less dry than I expected, too (big plus). I’d recommend it to anyone with even the faintest interest in politics, journalism or early American history. It seems the more things change, the more they stay the same. Another book I’d recommend is **Prayers For The Assassin** by Robert Ferrigno. It is the story of a man in 2040, but not the 2040 any of us expects, I think. From the dust cover; > [@](#): > > _After simultaneous suitcase-nuke attacks destroy New York, Washington D.C., and Mecca - attacks blamed on Israel - a civil war breaks out. An uneasy truce leaves the nation divided between an Islamic republic with it’s capital in Seattle, and the Christian Bible Belt in the Old South. In this frightening future there are still Super Bowls and Academy Awards, but calls to Muslim prayer echo in the streets and terror is everywhere. Freedom is controlled by the state, paranoia rules, and rebels plot to regain free will…_ I’ve read other books by Ferrigno and expect him to write an interesting story, but this one, while much different from any of his other books, is very intriguing. ---
**Author:** ![GWVet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/65b543/32.png) [@GWVet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GWVet)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2006, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading/348111/71 "2006-03-20T19:52:53Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > Should have known you’d’ve read it already. > > Okay, here’s another recommendation, then: > > [Blue Latitudes](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312422601/qid=1142256525/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/102-7317544-2540909?s=books&v=glance&n=283155). The author travels around retracing Captain Cook’s steps, so it’s both about Captain Cook (a truly amazing figure who I knew practically zero about going in) and his own adventures. One of my favorites - it’s memorable to me because I was reading it when my daughter was born. I also really like Tony Horwitz and I recommend his previous book [Confederates in the Attic](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/067975833X/qid=1142884129/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-6564616-2427022?s=books&v=glance&n=283155) I just finished an audio book called Sailing to the Edge of the World by Glyndwr Williams. Last night I started [American Gunfight - the Plot to Kill Harry Truman and the Shootout that Stopped It](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0743260686/qid=1142884240/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/103-6564616-2427022?s=books&v=glance&n=283155) by Stephen Hunter. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2006, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading/348111/72 "2006-03-20T19:54:14Z")
Does listening to an unabridged book on tape count as reading? _Jefferson vs. Adams_ ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2006, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading/348111/73 "2006-03-20T20:25:50Z")
I was rearranging some books yesterday, and as I was about to stuff Thomas Pynchon’s _The Crying of Lot 49_ into one of my under-bed book boxes, I decided to re-read it instead. ---
**Author:** ![Greywolf73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d9b06d/32.png) [@Greywolf73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greywolf73)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2006, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading/348111/74 "2006-03-20T20:49:40Z")
> [@HazelNutCoffee](#): > > Currently re-reading _Pride and Prejudice_ by Jane Austen I’ve been reading the “sequel” _Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife_, or at least I was until I somehow lost my copy. I think it might have migrated under my bed, which is pretty much a No-Man’s Land of books. I may never see it again! ☹ Anyway, what I’ve read of it was pretty enjoyable despite the opinion of all the stuffy Jan Austen purists over on Amazon. Very bawdy and funny stuff. I’ve also been reading _Shogun_ for the first time. It’s taking me forever to get through it though. No idea why it’s a slow read for me when I’ve heard nothing but positive reviews about it, including the fact that it’s a very fast read. Guess I’m just weird. Does it speed up at all past the midpoint of the story? ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2006, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading/348111/75 "2006-03-20T23:52:52Z")
I’m halfway through **Johnny Got His Gun,** Dalton Trumbo’s 1939 anti-war novel. ---
**Author:** ![Dusty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@Dusty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dusty)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading/348111/76 "2006-03-21T10:27:18Z")
As a follow up to my last post, I picked option three: something entirely different. I found a copy of _Looking Backward: 2000-1887_ at an antique store and decided I must read it. What a splendid idea this “communism” is, we must implement it at once. And where’s my magic telephone? The technology should be six years old by now, I’m sure the price\* has gone down by now. And those pneumatic tubes will put UPS out of business overnight\*\*. Now, it is _Quixote_ part the second. \*Er, by that I mean credit card chad–which is definitely not money, merely what one earns for work and can exchange for goods and services. \*\*Not that we’d want to do that, being a non-competitive society and all. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading/348111/77 "2006-03-21T13:32:18Z")
**Hosts**. It’s a Repairman Jack novel, and it’s amazing. I think it’s not the first one. Someone at work gave it to me and I’m hooked. Now I wanna find them all. Anyone know if reading them out of order matters, or not? Cartooniverse ---
**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:** [March 21, 2006, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading/348111/78 "2006-03-21T13:43:22Z")
I just picked up **When they Severed Earth from Sky: How the Human Mind Shapes Myth** by Elizabeth Wayland Barber and Paul T. Barber. Someone showed it to me this weekend – it quotes and praises _my_ book!(albeit _very_ briefly) So naturally I dropped my other reading to shoot through this one. ---
**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:** [March 21, 2006, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading/348111/79 "2006-03-21T14:25:42Z")
**Cal** , what’s your book? ---
**Author:** ![rackensack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@rackensack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rackensack)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2006, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading/348111/80 "2006-03-21T14:30:58Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > Just finished Matt Ridley’s [Red Queen](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0026033402/sr=8-1/qid=1142210879/ref=sr_1_1/102-7317544-2540909?%5Fencoding=UTF8) (recommended by former Doper **Krisfer the Cat** ). Interesting book, but it took me over a month to finish. That was a combination of the fact that I’ve got way too much going on at the moment, and the fact that it just didn’t grab me, for reasons I can’t quite put my finger on. There’s a lot of stuff on “why sex?” and “how does sex affect evolution?” (male display patterns, etc.), both with regard to humans and to all kinds of other animals It’s about 10 years old at this point, I kept wondering whether what the current state of thinking was. I liked _The Red Queen_ a lot, but it’s about my fourth-favorite Matt Ridley book, after _The Origins of Virtue_ and [_Nature Via Nurture : Genes, Experience, and What Makes Us Human_](http://www.amazon.com/gp/search/ref=br_ss_hs/002-1685161-1342443?search-alias=aps&keywords=Matt%20Ridley) (which has been re-issued under the title _The Agile Gene : How Nature Turns on Nurture_) – these two oscillate back and forth for the top slot on the list, as Neptune and Pluto switch off which is closer to the sun – while third place would be _Genome_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading/348111.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading/348111.md?page=5)