# What's everyone reading -- again please? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 22, 1999, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-everyone-reading-again-please/5602 "1999-12-22T03:11:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 1999, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-everyone-reading-again-please/5602/1 "1999-12-22T03:11:00Z")
I got some good recommendations last time someone posted this question – thought it might be worth another go. I just finished the Hyperion series by Dan Simmons (and by the way, would love someone else’s take on the ending). Started Memoirs of a Geisha, and after that, have a bunch of Joe Lansdale books to catch up on. What are you guys reading? ---
**Author:** ![Daniel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Daniel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daniel)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 1999, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-everyone-reading-again-please/5602/2 "1999-12-22T03:34:00Z")
I’m reading _Girl with Curious Hair_ by David Foster Wallace. It’s a short story collection; I like it. I just finished _naked_ by David Sedaris, a very good book by a very good author. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 1999, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-everyone-reading-again-please/5602/3 "1999-12-22T03:37:00Z")
I’m reading Paul Levinson’s THE SILK CODE, but am only part way. Before that, I read HOGFATHER by Terry Pratchett, the perfect book for the holiday season. 🙂 What exactly do you mean about the ending of the Hyperion series (I assume you mean THE RISE OF EDMYNION)? I wasn’t particularly surprised by the revelation at the end, but overall it was pretty good. * * * “East is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does.” – Marx Read “Sundials” in the new issue of Aboriginal Science Fiction. [www.sff.net/people/rothman](http://www.sff.net/people/rothman) ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 1999, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-everyone-reading-again-please/5602/4 "1999-12-22T03:45:00Z")
RealityChuck – it’s the time warp thing with Aenea – she’s going to have a couple of years with Raul, have a child, etc. – is she then going to die again? I’m getting dizzy, picturing this endless loop. I’m a little bit familiar with time travel paradoxes, but this one has me stymied. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 1999, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-everyone-reading-again-please/5602/5 "1999-12-22T04:18:00Z")
I just finished Brian Jaques’ Redwall and just started Richard Adams’ Watership Down. I really reccomend both books. (Redwall’s the first of a series, and I plan to read them all. I can’t praise the book high enough. 🙂 And of course, Watership Down is a classic.) * * * _Eschew Obfuscation_ ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 1999, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-everyone-reading-again-please/5602/6 "1999-12-22T05:13:00Z")
I just read “Cryptonomicon” by Neil Stephenson-- damn good. ---
**Author:** ![Synthetica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a87d85/32.png) [@Synthetica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Synthetica)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 1999, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-everyone-reading-again-please/5602/7 "1999-12-22T06:26:00Z")
Just finished ‘The Professor and the Madman’ (“A tale of murder, insanity, and the making of the Oxford English Dictionary”). This was an interesting account of OED history, and also a ‘thumping good read’ from a dramatic POV. ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’ – I thought it was interesting from a historical/cultural POV, but I was disappointed in the ‘resolution’ of the main character’s romantic fantasy. Tom Wolfe’s “A Man in Full”. Love Tom Wolfe – absolutely ‘out there’ as far as current events satire. * * * \ Miracles! Happen! \ ---
**Author:** ![JBENZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b77776/32.png) [@JBENZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBENZ)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 1999, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-everyone-reading-again-please/5602/8 "1999-12-22T07:29:00Z")
Just finished “Sickles the Incredible” by W. A. Swanberg, a bio of Dan Sickles, Civil War General, con man, politician, murderer, diplomat and all round bizarre guy. And “How the Irish Saved Civilization” by Thomas Cahill. (I already knew that, of course). Currently reading (Yeah, I’m obsessive): “The Seven Pillars of Wisdom” by T.E. Lawrence (of Arabia) about the Arab revolt and WWI. “Greece and Rome at War” by Peter Connolly, an illustrated history the Greek and Roman classical military systems. “Groucho and Me”, an off the wall autobiography by the illustrious Julius Marx. “Bayonet Forward” by Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. Civil War commentaries by the guy who, among other things, held the left flank at Little Round Top. * * * JB Lex Non Favet Delicatorum Votis ---
**Author:** ![Zulu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a9adbd/32.png) [@Zulu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zulu)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 1999, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-everyone-reading-again-please/5602/9 "1999-12-22T08:53:00Z")
If you like fantasy/magical adventure books with a bit of romance tied in, try The Song of the Lioness series by Tamora Pierce. It’s a 4 book series about a girl who want to become a knight. I loved them. I also recently completed a 5 book series by series by Laurie R. King. They series is from the point of view of a girl named Mary Russel who stumbles across a retired beekeeper named Sherlock Holmes. The stores are written as if Holmes was a real man who despises Arthur Conan Doyle for writing such exaggerated stories. The books, in series order, are The Beekeeper’s Apprentice, A Montrous Regiment of Women, A Letter of Mary, The Moor, and O Jerusalem. I’ve read the first 4 books 3 times now, and the last (and most recent) I just finished on Sunday. Very clever books. ---
**Author:** ![Diver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@Diver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diver)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 1999, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-everyone-reading-again-please/5602/10 "1999-12-22T14:39:00Z")
Just started re-reading “The Source” by Mitchener for the 5th or 6th time. Also reading “Reef Fish Behavior” by DeLoach. Great book but a little pricey at $40. Still, the photos are superb. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 1999, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-everyone-reading-again-please/5602/11 "1999-12-22T14:54:00Z")
Pam: Which Joe R. Lansdale are you working on now? Have you got the new one, FREEZER BURN? Whooooo-EEE, that’s some fine readin’! Currently on my bedside table: Charles Dickens; HARD TIMES Arthur Asa Berger; LI’L ABNER: A STUDY IN AMERICAN SATIRE (published in 1969; supposed to be the first work of literary/sociological criticism based on a comic strip.) Dwight Goddard; A BUDDHIST BIBLE (dates back to 1934…the first collection of Buddhist texts and sutras commonly available in the U.S. The one Kerouac and Ginsberg read.) * * * Uke ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 1999, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-everyone-reading-again-please/5602/12 "1999-12-22T15:29:00Z")
Just finished reading _The Club Dumas_ by Arturo Perez-Reverte. Nice murder mystery involving a first edition of _The Three Musketeers_ with horror overtones. Highly recommended. Next in line is _Nightmare Disciple_ by John Pulver but I’m only a few pages into it. * * * “Drink your coffee! Remember, there are people sleeping in China.” Dennis Matheson — [dennis@mountaindiver.com](mailto:dennis@mountaindiver.com) Hike, Dive, Ski, Climb — [www.mountaindiver.com](http://www.mountaindiver.com) ---
**Author:** ![Vestal\_Blue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/5e9695/32.png) [@Vestal\_Blue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vestal_Blue)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 1999, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-everyone-reading-again-please/5602/13 "1999-12-22T16:00:00Z")
Try Frank Herberts’ Dune Pentalogy. With five books you can’t call it a trilogy anymore! I’ve read it several times since it came out in the '70s, and found it fascinating. It will keep you going into the spring. Dune Dune Messiah Children of Dune The God Emperor Dune Chapterhouse Dune * * * VB When you are lost, or in doubt, run in circles! Scream & shout! ---
**Author:** ![Vestal\_Blue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/5e9695/32.png) [@Vestal\_Blue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vestal_Blue)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 1999, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-everyone-reading-again-please/5602/14 "1999-12-22T16:01:00Z")
One of these days I’ll get the hang of UBB! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 1999, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-everyone-reading-again-please/5602/15 "1999-12-22T16:03:00Z")
I’m nearly through an amusing 1996 novel, Gregory Maguire’s “Wicked,” a biography of the Wicked Witch of the West. Since I am dating a Younger Man, I am also re-reading Colette’s “Cheri,” hoping to pick up some tips. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 1999, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-everyone-reading-again-please/5602/16 "1999-12-22T16:04:00Z")
Im just not like other people, Im reading the tv, the phone and the computer. ---
**Author:** ![MrSCOTT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@MrSCOTT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrSCOTT)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 1999, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-everyone-reading-again-please/5602/17 "1999-12-22T16:22:00Z")
Currently reading… [http://junior.apk.net/~scotdor/stuff/astro.gif](http://junior.apk.net/~scotdor/stuff/astro.gif) ---
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 1999, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-everyone-reading-again-please/5602/18 "1999-12-22T16:22:00Z")
I just started the Outlander series and am also reading “Taltos” by anne rice and “zen and japanese culture” * * * Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 1999, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-everyone-reading-again-please/5602/19 "1999-12-22T16:36:00Z")
Ike – Freezer Burn is one of them. Also Act of Love, the Drive-In Omnibus, Bad Chili, Waltz of Shadows and Writers of the Purple Rage. Soon as my budget recovers, I want to get all the Hap and Leonard books. Lansdale’s good, isn’t he? If he doesn’t watch out, he’ll find himself out there in the mainstream. He often has short stories in some small press magazines – and his story was by far the standout piece of the much-hyped 999 anthology. ---
**Author:** ![HarperWood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/43a26b/32.png) [@HarperWood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HarperWood)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 1999, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-everyone-reading-again-please/5602/20 "1999-12-22T16:46:00Z")
My current reads sound like Comic books compared to some of the titles I’ve read! I’m currently reading: _The First Elizabeth_ by Carolly Erickson; _Sanibel Flats_ by Randy White (billed as “the next John D. MacDonald”); _The Simple Truth_ by David Baldacci; _Letters of the Century_ --can’t remember author; and a couple of other “fluffy” books. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-everyone-reading-again-please/5602.md?page=2)