# Whatcha reading?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading/392245
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [February 14, 2007, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading/392245 "2007-02-14T19:24:29Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2007, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading/392245/1 "2007-02-14T19:24:29Z")
I recently read The Woman In Black, by Susan Hill (possibly an \*\*Auntie Pam \*\* recommendation). It was an excellently done ghost story, though short. It was perfect for a rainy afternoon.
I also read Weekend Makeover : take your home from messy to magnificent in only 48 hours! by Don Aslett. Meh. It passed the time, but I was not inspired to take my home anywhere.
The kids and I just finished listening to our audiobook, the final volume of A Series of Unfortunate Events. An excellent job by Tim Curry as always, and we were pretty happy with it, although personally I’m still mourning Count Olaf.
Next up: The Gospel of Food : everything you think you know about food is wrong, by Barry Glassner.
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### Author:  [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2007, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading/392245/2 "2007-02-14T19:44:34Z")
A bio of Patrick Henry.
We’re planning a trip to Williamsburg over the summer.
Last read Jim Harrison’s memoir - long one of my favorite authors. An interesting life he has led.
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### Author:  [@nashiitashii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nashiitashii)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2007, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading/392245/3 "2007-02-14T19:45:26Z")
I’m currently reading _The Human Stain_ by Philip Roth, and for bathtub reading, _Cod_ by Mark Kurlansky. Once I finish with those, I may move on to _Snow_ by Orhan Pamuk, one of the latest Nobel literature prize recipients. If not, I may see if I can dig up an older Terry Pratchett novel that I have not yet read.
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### Author:  [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2007, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading/392245/4 "2007-02-14T19:46:22Z")
**Last Bite** by Nancy Verde Barr taught me about the culture behind the scenes at Good Morning America’s food segments–especially those involving Julia Child. (Who appears in slightly fictionalized form as Sally Woods).
\*\* Tubby Meets Katrina\*\*, a Tubby Dubonnet mystery by Anthony P. Dunbar showed a slightly fictionalized first hand view of life in New Orleans starting just before Katrina hit town. It’s the kind of book which is a mystery, because it’s one in a series of books that are mysteries, rather than the kind of book that is a mystery, if that makes sense. It’s not a mystery in a formulaic sense where the body is discovered on page 1 or maybe page 10, and the rest of the book follows the sleuth who must figure out whodunnit. It’s a neat book because of the descriptions of life in New Orleans right after Katrina, even if a little convenient (hmm, let’s give the main character a boat so he can help rescue people from flooded houses. And a friend with helicopter so he can fly over the city.) It’s kinda depressing but seemed worthwhile to me for the picture of life in New Orleans.
(Hmm, my description seems a little redundant. Tough.)
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2007, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading/392245/5 "2007-02-14T19:52:20Z")
I Just Finished **The Empire State Building** by John Tauranac. Great book about a building I’ve loved ever since I was a kid. . Written in 1995, so it avoids any thoughts on the doomed World Trade Center.
[http://www.amazon.com/Empire-State-Building-Making-Landmark/dp/0312148240/sr=1-1/qid=1171482486/ref=pd\_bbs\_sr\_1/002-4756844-2775261?ie=UTF8&s=books](http://www.amazon.com/Empire-State-Building-Making-Landmark/dp/0312148240/sr=1-1/qid=1171482486/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-4756844-2775261?ie=UTF8&s=books)
And **Freakanomics** by Leavitt and Dubner – the expanded version. I’ve wanted to read this for quite a while now.
> **[Freakonomics \[Revised and Expanded\]: A... by Levitt, Steven D.](https://www.amazon.com/Freakonomics-Revised-Expanded-Economist-Everything/dp/0061234001)**
>
> Freakonomics \[Revised and Expanded\]: A... by Levitt, Steven D.
I’ve got a stack of science fiction yet from the last con I went to, and am reading **Two Tales and Eight Tomorrows** by Harry Harrison (Which includes the wonderful parody “Captain Honorio Harpplayer, R.N”). I also picked by **A Treasury of Great Science Fiction** in 2 volumes, edited by Anthony Boucher. It’s the first SF anthology I ever read, and I’d like to read it again.
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### Author:  [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2007, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading/392245/6 "2007-02-14T19:59:44Z")
Colleen McCullough’s \*\*The Grass Crown \*\* and **The Complete Poems and T** ales of Edgar Allan Poe.
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### Author:  [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2007, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading/392245/7 "2007-02-14T20:00:40Z")
I’m reading **The Book of Names** by Jill Gregory and Karen Tintori, which is sort of a DaVinci Code-esqe religious thriller, but based on the Kabbalah. It’s pretty fun, kind of lightweight, not something I’d _highly_ recommend, but if you like that kind of thing it’s pretty good.
The problem with books like this is that you can never be sure if the historical & religious “facts” the author talks about are true. I mean, sure the DaVinci Code was fun, but it makes me dizzy to think of how much stuff he gets dead wrong, and that some people who don’t know the difference seem to believe every word. I know enough about the Catholic Church and Renaissance art to know where Dan Brown was BSing, but I don’t know squat about Kabbalah, so I am taking the stuff this book says with a big grain of salt. For example, they inter-relate Kabbalah and tarot cards. That sounds fishy to me, but what do I know? You’d like to think that you could learn from stuff like this, but you have to be careful what you believe.
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### Author:  [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2007, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading/392245/8 "2007-02-14T20:32:23Z")
I’m glad you liked The Woman in Black. There aren’t enough simple ghost stories.
I was impressed with a recommendation from a Doper – **Flanders** by Patricia Anthony. Letters home from an American soldier in France in the early years of World War I. Indescribable. I’ve heard that Ms. Anthony has written a screenplay. I can’t imagine how this could be filmed, but I think Guillermo del Toro could do justice to it.
It was like reading two books – one set in the real world and the other in the cemetery in Travis’s head. There were times when the cemetery was more real. Awesome book.
So thanks for the recommendation, even though it gave me some nightmares.
Also enjoyed **The Hummingbird’s Daughter** by Luis Urrea, another Doper rec, I think.
You guys rock!
Currently reading **Little, Big** by Jon Crowley.
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### Author:  [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2007, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading/392245/9 "2007-02-14T20:35:44Z")
I’m reading my way through Lois McMaster Bujold’s Miles Vorkosigan series. I’m up to **Mirror Dance**.
They’ve all been good, but I really like the character of Cordelia. The first two novels, **Shards of Honor** and **Barrayar** , might be my favorites.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2007, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading/392245/10 "2007-02-14T20:45:53Z")
I read both of Barack Obama’s books, _Dreams from My Father_ and _The Audacity of Hope_, in the last week or week and a half. _Dreams_ in particualr was very well-written and engaging. I’m not sure what I’ll read next.
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### Author:  [@yanceylebeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yanceylebeef)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2007, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading/392245/11 "2007-02-14T20:56:02Z")
Just finished Jennifer Morgue by Charlie Stross and Overclocked by Cory Doctorow. Just starting Old Man’s war my John Scalzi. I’ve heard good things.
I just ordered Missle Gap, an alternative history novella from Stross, and on the to be read pile is A Touch of Strange by Sturgeon and The God Delusion. It’s going to be a good couple of weeks at the lebeef household.
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### Author:  [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2007, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading/392245/12 "2007-02-14T20:58:23Z")
I just finished **A tree grows in Brooklyn** for my book club. Wow, what a great book! I had never read it before.
Am now reading **1453** , about the fall of Constantinople, and a book called **Reading I’ve liked** –a collection of things Clifton Fadiman liked.
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### Author:  [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2007, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading/392245/13 "2007-02-14T21:10:40Z")
The God Delusion by Dawkins.
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### Author:  [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2007, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading/392245/14 "2007-02-14T21:44:51Z")
[QUOTE=dangermom]
I just finished **A tree grows in Brooklyn** for my book club. Wow, what a great book! I had never read it before.
[/QUOTE]
I just read that recently, too…isn’t it good? My dad recommended it to me, and I was so surprised after I read it that he had never mentioned it to me before!
I highly recommend her book “Joy in the Morning” as well.
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### Author:  [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2007, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading/392245/15 "2007-02-14T22:07:02Z")
I just started my first Agatha Christie mystery, **Murder At The Vicarage** , a Jane Marple novel, which was recommended to me by the good folks here on the SDMB. I’m only a few pages into it, but I like it very much, despite having to memorize twelve or thirteen characters right from the get-go.
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### Author:  [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2007, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading/392245/16 "2007-02-14T22:13:18Z")
[QUOTE=Sarahfeena]
I highly recommend her book “Joy in the Morning” as well.
[/QUOTE]
Heh, I just looked it up yesterday–our library doesn’t have it. I asked to put it on the purchasing list, but it’s the sort of thing the head librarian hopes will come through in a donation, so she won’t have to spend money on it. Maybe I’ll ILL it.
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### Author:  [@Bobotheoptimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobotheoptimist)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2007, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading/392245/17 "2007-02-14T22:18:18Z")
With the youngest, reading Moon Dragon from the [Secrets of Droon](http://www.tonyabbottbooks.com/secrets_of_droon.html) series. On my PDA I’m reading [The Reversal of the Medal](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Reverse_of_the_Medal#The_Reverse_of_the_Medal), and at home it’s Mary Stewart’s [Crystal Cave](http://www.amazon.com/Crystal-Cave-Arthurian-Saga-Book/dp/0060548258/sr=1-1/qid=1171491457/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-6483141-7640138?ie=UTF8&s=books) and the aptly titled [Celtic Ireland West of the River Shannon](http://www.amazon.com/Celtic-Ireland-West-River-Shannon/dp/0595264778/sr=8-3/qid=1171491406/ref=sr_1_3/102-6483141-7640138?ie=UTF8&s=books)
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### Author:  [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2007, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading/392245/18 "2007-02-14T22:42:19Z")
Right now, I’m nearly to the end of _The Company Of Strangers_ by Robert Wilson. It’s a nicely crafted WW II spy novel that follows an 18-year old British woman as she goes to Portugal to keep an eye on the local Nazis. It picks her up again in 1981, as she rejoins the Company and goes to East Berlin.
I left out a lot about who’s allied with whom, and who’s romantically involved with whom.
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### Author:  [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2007, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading/392245/19 "2007-02-14T23:00:43Z")
I recently finished _Catch-22_ - which was great, one of the top 5 books I’ve ever read - and then read several mediocre graphic novels.
Now I’m reading _Buddha_ by Osamu Tezuka. I read the first 3 books in 2006 but that’s all they had at the library. Today I happened to check online and they had 4-6 so I went and picked them up. Great story, but I wish I remembered more about the first 3.
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### Author:  [@stucco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stucco)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2007, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatcha-reading/392245/20 "2007-02-14T23:27:44Z")
I just finished Sunset Song by Lewish Grassic Gibbon which I really liked. Next up is ‘Tree Disease Concepts’ which I think I’ll like less. Both are for classes though. I can’t wait until break when I can read for fun again 🙂
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