What are you currently reading?

[QualityBookReviews]

An open discussion on what everyone is currently reading. Make recommendations to others, discuss what is new, hot, bestsellers, anything and everything related to books and the authors.

[Terri]

I'm currently reading "Burn" by Linda Howard.

[HappyRuby]

I am reading The Black Minute by Christopher Valen and enjoying the book.

[Sarah E Glenn]

I'm reading _House Call_, by Darden North, MD. I've been laid up with either a cold or the flu and have had time to READ for a change.

[HappyRuby]

Too bad about the flu but good on the time to read. I'm reading Fractured by Karin Slaughter that I've had in my TBR pile for sometime.

[I. J. Parker]

Why does this guy need an M.D. after his name?

[Suzanne]

To obtain preferred treatment:
In Italy, be a doctor (dottore for both MD and PhD)
In Germany, wear a uniform
In Mexico, try to speak Spanish
In England (outside of London), smile
In Scotland, breathing is sufficient
In London, nothing will make a difference

[Harley Sachs]

Adding MD to your name gives the readers a belief that you are qualified to write on a subject. I seldom use Ph.D. after my name but I have on occasion used CPL AUS DIS as a gag, the meaning being Corporal, Army of the United States (e.g. draftee) Discharged. I have a friend who had two Orders of the British Empire (OBE) but never adds them to her signature.

[I. J. Parker]

I would never use Ph.D. after my name, and I would never read a book by someone who has to bolster his credibility that way. For that matter, if this book is a mystery, how does the M.D. lend any qualifications?
I should add that the addition of degrees also disqualifies non-fiction since it generally signals that the book is an unscientific attempt to sell to the masses. In non-fiction you look at the publisher's blurb, and at the bibliography and the index in the back to make sure the author is qualified to discuss the topic.

[Lisa Fernow]

Just starting Walla Walla Suite by Anne Argula (pen name). I liked Krapp's Last Cassette so much I nearly peed.

[Harley Sachs]

If you are writing a medical mystery or a book that requjires the author be qualified to write on the subject, the academic degree is appropriate. One sci-fi author was E.E. Smith, Ph.D. If an author is writing about Christianity, for example, would you question the authenticity if the author identified himself as a rabbi? Mormon?

[I. J. Parker]

It all depends if the book is written for the general public or for the research community. I don't buy non-fiction that isn't research. I don't need the author's titles, because I take those for granted. What I look for are those other markers that show the book to be serious-research-based.

Would a rabbi write a book about Christianity? My guess is if he did, the publisher would announce this in the blurbs. Is think any popular books written by Ph.D.s and M.D.s should be similarly introduced if it's relevant.
Besides, let's face it, a lot of those degrees are of dubious origin.

[Margot Renne Payne]

All non-fiction invovles research, and fiction for that matter. Who cares if someone wants to use a title with their name? The only exceptions I have are "Dr." Laura and "Dr". Phil!