Khadaji's Whatcha Readin' - August 2013

Opened at the request of our usual OP, Le Ministre de l’au-delà, who’s off the grid at the moment.

Just finished Diane Duane’s Doctor’s Orders, a favorite old Star Trek novel about Dr. McCoy being left in command of the Enterprise by Capt. Kirk after teasing him one too many times about how easy his job is. Fun book, and an interesting look both at McCoy out of his element, and Kirk as a skilled diplomat.

Also finished Joe Haldeman’s Guardian, which for 90% of the time was a historical novel about a woman and her teenage son fleeing her abusive husband in the 1890s, ending up in Alaska during the Yukon Gold Rush. Then a shapeshifting alien appears and things get seriously weird. Still not sure if I liked the book, although it kept me turning the pages.

Have started on Roy Jenkins’s massive and well-reviewed bio Churchill, which will no doubt take me awhile.

And you?

Khadaji was a long time Doper of a very kindly disposition. He was an omnivorous reader, and loved to discuss books and book recommendations. He started this long line of reading threads many years ago - when he passed away earlier this year, we decided that there was no better way to honour his memory than to name these threads after him, and continue on with the discussion. It still makes me smile to think of him.

Upon your recommendation, just finished The Time Traveler’s Wife, and I have to say I really enjoyed it. There were many things to like about it. One of them is how Henry, the time travelling person, wasn’t entirely a likable character. Another was that not only did he not have control over his spontaneous time travelling, but also that the book identifies it as a genetic disorder.

Thank you very much for the heads up. Good book!

Thanks for the thread, Elendil’s Heir.

I’m currently on American Savage: Insights, Slights, and Fights on Faith, Sex, Love, and Politics by Dan Savage. It’s decent, as expected, and a quick read.

I still haven’t made up my mind about John Irving.

To be honest, I’ve only read three of his novels; the first, The World According to Garp when I was much too young (13? 14?) - I saw adults making stupid choices, the sexual elements made me very uncomfortable and the driveway accident was doubly shocking. Roberta Muldoon didn’t particularly bother me, however. I probably should read it again someday, but am not in any hurry.

About a decade ago, I read A Prayer for Owen Meany and it pretty much left me cold, as well. I found Owen’s ALL CAPS dialog annoying and I didn’t think much of the narrator.

I was intrigued when I heard about In One Person, but it slipped off my radar til last month, when it showed up as a Kindle deal - I checked it out from the library and I’m glad I did.

Told in first person through the eyes of Billy, a bisexual man; we see him growing up fatherless in small town Vermont in the 1960’s, pursuing a writing career in NYC in the 1970’s, and facing the deaths of friends and acquaintances to AIDS in the 1980’s and 1990’s. He considers himself “a sexual suspect” - trusted by neither women nor men, yet he forms lifelong bonds with fellow travelers of varying identities.

This novel went a long way towards taking the bad taste of TWATG out of my mouth, so to speak. Not only am I nearly two decades older, but Irving’s characters seem much more sympathetic in this novel; even as they make poor choices, hurting each other and themselves. IMHO, Irving’s strength is definitely character development; by the end of the novel, I felt like I knew all of Billy’s friends (and enemies) as well as he did; perhaps better.

The narrative isn’t chronological, but it was easy enough to adjust to the shifts in timeline. The plot isn’t really the point of the novel, but worked well enough - I’m rather disappointed with Irving’s portrayal of women (especially mothers); but I wasn’t terribly surprised. I had a bit of a struggle believing that the town of Favorite River would be so accepting of Miss Frost and Grandpa Harry (having grown up in small towns myself); but then again, Vermont was one of the first states to ratify gay marriage. I also found myself wondering how autobiographical the novel was - then realized it really wasn’t any of my business. I’d love to hear from any transgendered and/or bisexual readers to see what they thought of the novel.

Will I read it again? Possibly - I passed on the cheap Kindle version offer, but I’m very picky about actually buying books, even in electronic format. I figure it will be easy enough to obtain from the library if I feel the need to revisit it.

Correction to the above - I also listened to the majority of Last Night in Twisted River thanks to Dick Estell’s Radio Reader show on NPR back in February 2010. I liked it better than TWATG and APFOM, but not as well as In One Person - I may have to check it out and re-read it for myself.

I’m glad! If you’d like more time-travel book recommendations, say the word.

I pretty much liked Garp, gave up on Owen Meany after the minimum 50 pages I give any book, but really enjoyed A Widow for One Year. A multigenerational character study, with a lot to say (of course) about what it means to be a writer. Consider it for your next Irving indulgence.

Forgot to say earlier, I’ve also just begun Marsbound, the first in a trilogy by Joe Haldeman, about a family becoming early settlers of Mars. His Forever War and Worlds trilogies both started very strong but ended badly IMHO; hope he does better this time.

Just started The Knife Man, which, by the laws of non-fiction publishing, must have a subtitle, and it’s a doozy:

***Blood, Body Snatching, and the Birth of Modern Surgery ***

So far it’s excellent - macabre, educational, and starring a wonderful eccentric underdog named John Hunter, who threw traditional surgery on its ear in the 1700’s.

My wife and I are also reading The Fifteenth Pelican, which I noticed in the closing credits of The Flying Nun a couple weeks ago (it was a *really *boring Sunday). So, yeah, it’s the ‘comic’ novel that inspired The Flying Nun. Not worth it.

I just added this to my Goodreads To-Read pile. I’m always up for a good story about grave-robbing. :smiley:

So I guess it’s time for the monthly State O’ the Book Pile:

The Aguero Sisters, Cristina Garcia: I recently finished Dreaming in Cuban and hated it, but so far this one is much better. There’s not so much whining in this book. Reina and Constanzia actually do things and there’s a much-needed male voice to defuse a lot of the misandry that ticked me off in the last novel.

An Artist of the Floating World, Kazuo Ishiguro: A Japanese artist deals with the aftermath of WWII and his actions during the war. I’m two-thirds of the way through it and I’m not completely sure what I think of it yet. It’s a very quiet book that takes its time with its revelations.

Children of Dune, Frank Herbert: I really hate what happens to Alia in this series. She gets such a raw deal.

Ghosts in American Houses, James Reynolds: A book of ghost stories about historic haunted houses (and one barn, so far). The stories are interesting, but Reynolds’ writing style drives me crazy. He jumps around a lot and gives away endings before the ending.

Grimms Tales for Young and Old, Ralph Manheim: Two hundred Grimm’s fairy tales. :smiley:

Hard Times, Charles Dickens: It’s…it’s…not even 400 pages! It’s short! After the weightlifting brick that was Bleak House I don’t know what to think!

In the middle of Bud Webster’s Past Masters, a collection of biographies of SF writers of the 40s, 50s, and 60s.

Listening to an audiobook of Sense and Sensibility.

I was disappointed in Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro. It’s literary dystopian science fiction, and I can’t really describe the plot without spoiling it. I didn’t find the story convincing and I didn’t care for the writing style. It’s a popular and acclaimed book, however, and Ishiguro is the author of The Remains of the Day, which got made into one of my favorite movies.
I just finished reading Daphne du Mariner’s *Rebecca *for the first time, and I rather liked it. The cover describes the book as “romantic suspense”, and while I didn’t find it especially romantic, it was suspenseful. The ending gave me the same awful feeling I get from one of my occasionally recurring dreams, the one where I have murdered someone, covered it up, and am walking around dreading discovery. (I guess I read too many murder mysteries. I never dream the actual murder, though, just the guilty aftermath.)

Elendil’s Heir ** - thanks for the recco on A Widow for One Year - have added it to my GoodReads ToRead list.

Just finished Machine of Death: A Collection of Stories About People Who Know How They Will Die - an anthology of short stories edited by Ryan North.
I got this book as part of a Humble Bundle offer; it’s also available to read online through the GoodReads site.

I wasn’t quite clear if each of the 34 writers got to choose the type of death their character was assigned, or if the writers themselves chose. Some were quite unusual: “Not Waving, But Drowning”, “Flaming Marshmallow” and “Heat Death of the Universe” were some of my favorite causes. Even with such a restrictive premise – the titular machine with its cryptic predictions of how the protagonist (and/or other characters) will die – each author managed to put a creative twist on their story. While a few were intended to be humorous; most took the idea seriously and there are some truly moving stories in the collection. I’d definitely recommend checking this out if you have an interest in short stories with a quirky premise.

Apparently the original, rather tame subtitle (“The Extraordinary Life and Times of John Hunter, Father of Modern Surgery”) wasn’t moving enough copy. Interesting, very interesting. I’m adding it to the list, which is currently doing an irritating bit of growing–reading two books at once, while also keeping up with three magazines (two of which are fairly “heavy”) is a recipe for slow progress. Gulp, at least, is moving along at a decent clip, which is what I expect out of Mary Roach: Fluffy, laugh out loud science writing.

Also added last night were Shiva 3000 and Celestial Matters, both mentioned in passing on The Incomparable’s recent Hugo episode. Speaking of, the Hugos sound like just this side of a bleak wasteland this year to hear them tell it.

I read The Knife Man last year and enjoyed it very much. I’ve just ordered a copy of Hilary Mantel’s 1998 novel The Giant, O’Brien, which is about Charles Byrne, whose extremely tall skeleton Hunter collected (against Byrne’s explicit wishes) and which remains in the Hunterian Museum today.

I didn’t like Never Let Me Go. I called the ending halfway through the book. Out loud. Several times.

It didn’t help that I

started comparing it mentally to parts: the clonus horror. Clone fiction is not for me.

I just reread The Gift of Fear. I’m now running thru my Pratchett books. (Now on Soul Music)
My next will probably be The Corner by David Simon.

I’m odd ok?

I’m finally getting around to reading The Secret History, which seems like a perfect potboilery, absorbing, page-turner of a summer book.

Yes please. I’m in a time travelling zone.

Heh. I’ve been there myself two years from now.

I’m a big fan of Ken Grimwood’s Replay, in which a man keeps dying and going back to earlier points in his life. He lives differently each time, learning (or not) from earlier mistakes, and takes an occasionally-active role in changing history, too. Very good stuff.

Peter David’s Imzadi is hands-down my favorite Star Trek time travel book (and there’ve been many). I was grinning like an idiot for the last third or so.

Jerry Yulsman’s Elleander Morning does some clever things with the whole go-back-in-time-to-kill-Hitler concept. The actual mechanics of time travel are left a little vaugue (OK, a lot vague), but it’s a nifty story.

Robert Heinlein’s 1959 short story “—All You Zombies—” is also a must-read. Temporal paradoxes galore.

I haven’t read it yet, but I’ve heard good things about Stephen King’s 11/22/63.

That’s why we named the pigeon outside our condo Henry. I was reading that book when he first showed up five years ago.

I urge you to check out his The Cider House Rules.
As for me, I’m about 70% through Kim, by Rudyard Kipling. It’s very good.

A big thumbs up on 11/22/63. I had kind of given up on King, but this one restored the juju.