# Where are you and what are you doing -- in the book you're reading? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 12, 2013, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-and-what-are-you-doing-in-the-book-youre-reading/658161 "2013-05-12T16:53:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![newcomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e5b9ba/32.png) [@newcomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/newcomer)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2013, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-and-what-are-you-doing-in-the-book-youre-reading/658161/41 "2013-05-13T19:17:38Z")
I’m in a jail cell cca. 1700’s in a capital city of one of the peripheral provinces of Ottoman Empire wondering what my dead brother went through when he was jailed only a week ago. [Death and the Dervish](http://books.google.ca/books/about/Death_and_the_dervish.html?id=JYMLR4gzSR8C) by [Mesha Selimovic](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Me%C5%A1a_Selimovi%C4%87) ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2013, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-and-what-are-you-doing-in-the-book-youre-reading/658161/42 "2013-05-13T19:20:11Z")
I am a Royal Naval officer renowned for my personal bravery, struggling to write a letter to my beautiful, headstrong American wife in which I must somehow gently convey the idea that she _must not_ ask the Admiralty to station the fleet at different bases in order to facilitate her seasonal party schedule. _Castles of Steel_, by Robert K. Massie. Nonfiction – Admiral Beatty actually wrote such a letter! ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2013, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-and-what-are-you-doing-in-the-book-youre-reading/658161/43 "2013-05-14T00:04:15Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > I can’t freaking believe you posted this. I was there last week, but right now I’m talking to an older version of you about some murders that happened a long time ago. Ha! That’s cool. For some reason, this is my 3rd time with this book, and I haven’t finished it yet. I don’t know why, but the previous times, I just wasn’t getting into it. This time it’s going much better. It may be because I’ve just re-read both The Talisman and Black House, and am on a Peter Straub thing. Let’s try this spoiler thing, let me know how I do… Spoiler (Mystery by Peter Straub) Did it work? By the way, I’ve read Peter Straub’s Ghost Story, and thought it was great. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2013, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-and-what-are-you-doing-in-the-book-youre-reading/658161/44 "2013-05-14T00:30:23Z")
I’m just about to kill the hell outta at one, and possibly two, evil dictators. Maybe I’ll hook up with one of the two very fine young men who are sniffing after me. I may even smile. Mockingjay. What can I say, I was very, very late to the games. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2013, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-and-what-are-you-doing-in-the-book-youre-reading/658161/45 "2013-05-14T01:22:50Z")
I’m in Huautla, Mexico, setting the ropes in preparation for my descent as part of an expedition into one of the deepest underwater caves in the world. _Beyond the Deep: The Deadly Descent Into the World’s Most Treacherous Cave_ by William Stone and Barbara am Ende (hey, isn’t there a thread for titles in this style?) ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2013, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-and-what-are-you-doing-in-the-book-youre-reading/658161/46 "2013-05-14T01:25:21Z")
Right now, I am reading 2 books. In the first, I am one of a group of 100 young men (now down to 90) who have started a walk… a long walk. the Long Walk by Stephen King/Richard Bachman In the other, I am a detective who had previously been kidnapped and tortured by a female serial killer, who has now escaped from prison and is coming after me again. Sweetheart, the second in a series, and I can’t remember the author’s name. Great books, tho! ---
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2013, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-and-what-are-you-doing-in-the-book-youre-reading/658161/47 "2013-05-14T01:30:00Z")
I’m in the Blue Beetle, zipping through Chicago, eluding baddies and explaining to the current ME that magic is real. Harry Dresden, Dead Beat (Book 7 of the Dresden Files) ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2013, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-and-what-are-you-doing-in-the-book-youre-reading/658161/48 "2013-05-14T01:51:04Z")
> [@bobot](#): > > Ha! That’s cool. For some reason, this is my 3rd time with this book, and I haven’t finished it yet. I don’t know why, but the previous times, I just wasn’t getting into it. This time it’s going much better. It may be because I’ve just re-read both The Talisman and Black House, and am on a Peter Straub thing. > > Let’s try this spoiler thing, let me know how I do… > Spoiler (Mystery by Peter Straub) > Did it work? > By the way, I’ve read Peter Straub’s Ghost Story, and thought it was great. Didn’t work so well. 🙂 I read everything Straub wrote years ago, now I’m working my way back through them again (I’m old enough to have forgotten most of it). The Blue Rose trilogy (_Koko, Mystery, The Throat_) really is better than I’d recalled. ---
**Author:** ![SurrenderDorothy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/surrenderdorothy/32/1221_2.png) [@SurrenderDorothy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SurrenderDorothy)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2013, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-and-what-are-you-doing-in-the-book-youre-reading/658161/49 "2013-05-14T02:50:49Z")
I’m on a steam-powered boat hoping to reach Ankh-Morpork with a couple of philosophers, a soldier, and my God in the form of a small one-eyed tortoise. _Small Gods_ by Terry Pratchett. ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2013, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-and-what-are-you-doing-in-the-book-youre-reading/658161/50 "2013-05-14T03:33:50Z")
I’m Harry Dresden, professional wizard, and I’m out on Lake Michigan speaking with a being called Demonreach about why the island we’re standing on is about to go boom and take much of the Midwest with it. The Dresden Files, _Cold Days_, of course. Thought I’d reread the series through again. ---
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2013, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-and-what-are-you-doing-in-the-book-youre-reading/658161/51 "2013-05-14T03:36:20Z")
I’ve just been framed by the town boss, beaten, and thrown into a jail cell. A local leader has just come down and wants to shoot me dead because he is convinced I killed his teen daughter and her friend. I didn’t do it. I don’t know who did (but the reader does). Of course, even if I weren’t in jail, I would still be in a sort of prison, just like everyone else in town. \* Under the Dome\*, by Stephen King ---
**Author:** ![Future\_Londonite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9dc877/32.png) [@Future\_Londonite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Future_Londonite)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2013, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-and-what-are-you-doing-in-the-book-youre-reading/658161/52 "2013-05-14T13:14:24Z")
I have just shaken off the NSA and FBI in ‘Reconstructionist’ America, met up with my wife Maddy and together with agent Newcomen I’m about to seriously start the search for my adopted daughter in Alaska The Curve of the Earth (4th Samuil Petrovitch novel) by Simon Morden ---
**Author:** ![Missy2U](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@Missy2U](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Missy2U)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2013, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-and-what-are-you-doing-in-the-book-youre-reading/658161/53 "2013-05-14T17:35:12Z")
I’m in Colleton County, NC planning my wedding and trying to figure out who killed Tracy, one of the DA’s and figure out why she was interested in reopening the Martha Hurst case. Rituals of the Season by Margaret Maron ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-and-what-are-you-doing-in-the-book-youre-reading/658161/54 "2013-05-15T03:51:57Z")
I’m hiding out in a seedy motel in New York City trying to avoid some unknown Feds who are looking for me because I witnessed a suicide on a train. Lee Child: Gone Tomorrow (A Jack Reacher Novel) ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-and-what-are-you-doing-in-the-book-youre-reading/658161/55 "2013-05-15T04:26:50Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > I can’t freaking believe you posted this. I was there last week, but right now I’m talking to an older version of you about some murders that happened a long time ago. …and I was there a month ago on a revisit. A favorite. Now I’m considering writing my memoirs, to the consternation of my lessers. The Uncommon Reader ---
**Author:** ![MickNickMaggies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/59ef9b/32.png) [@MickNickMaggies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MickNickMaggies)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2013, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-and-what-are-you-doing-in-the-book-youre-reading/658161/56 "2013-05-15T09:16:23Z")
I’m on my way to take my girlfriend out to a very expensive dinner in Edinburgh so she’ll forgive the fact I’ve been neglecting her to catch some dirty cops. Resurrection Men, Ian Rankin. Re-reading, because I’m homesick and all the food sounds so nice. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-are-you-and-what-are-you-doing-in-the-book-youre-reading/658161.md?page=2)