# Khadaji’s Whatcha Reading Thread - August 2024 edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [July 29, 2024, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-august-2024-edition/1004964 "2024-07-29T17:20:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DZedNConfused](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dzednconfused/32/15991_2.png) [@DZedNConfused](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DZedNConfused)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2024, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-august-2024-edition/1004964/1 "2024-07-29T17:20:04Z")
Okay I’m back, home today with a tiny case of I-over-did-it-this-weekend, but nothing a little water and a good book can’t cure! And honestly, who wants to go outside, it’s been 100+Farenheit or 37+Celsius outside, there are so many fires burning around us, you can barely see the big ole mountains less than two miles away… and my freezer has popsicles in it! Sooo Whatcah all readin? I am rereading _Not a Mermaid_ by Madeleine Kirby for the I’ve-no-idea-how-many- times. I love her books, very cozy, somewhat supernatural, sexy cat shifter… _Camp_ by L. C. Rosen. A YA book about summer camp for gay kids and discovering who you are and whether love is worth making yourself into someone else. (The answer, of course, is no.) _Khadaji was one of the earlier members of SDMB, and he was well-known as a kindly person who always had something encouraging to say, particularly in the self-improvement threads. He was also a voracious, omnivorous reader, who started these threads 'way back in the Stone Age of 2005. Consequently, when he suddenly and quite unexpectedly passed away in January 2013, we decided to rename this thread in his honor and to keep his memory, if not his ghost, alive._ ---
**Author:** ![DZedNConfused](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dzednconfused/32/15991_2.png) [@DZedNConfused](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DZedNConfused)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2024, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-august-2024-edition/1004964/2 "2024-07-29T17:21:20Z")
Last month: [It’s July, is that firewoks or thunder I hear?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2024-edition/1003626) ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2024, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-august-2024-edition/1004964/3 "2024-07-29T17:40:04Z")
I’ll repost this from this morning: Started this morning on [The Dissonance](https://www.amazon.com/Dissonance-Novel-Shaun-Hamill/dp/0593317254) by Shaun Hamill, a novel about three people drawn back to their hometown, where they once practiced magic, in order to …well, I don’t know yet. I’m sure it’s something nice. And add: I’m also revisiting an old comfort read, Desperately Seeking Susan, the novelization of the movie. My daughter gave it to me as a birthday gift after my copy went missing. It’s very nicely written, and fun to hark back to the golden days of the eighties. ---
**Author:** ![DZedNConfused](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dzednconfused/32/15991_2.png) [@DZedNConfused](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DZedNConfused)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2024, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-august-2024-edition/1004964/4 "2024-07-29T19:33:44Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > I’m also revisiting an old comfort read, Desperately Seeking Susan, the novelization of the movie. Sometime comfort reads are just what you need! ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2024, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-august-2024-edition/1004964/5 "2024-07-31T19:55:01Z")
I finished _They Never Learn_ by Layne Fargo, which **Dung\_Beetle** had recommended in last month’s thread. It’s a crime novel about a feminist serial killer who only kills rapey, abusive and/or particularly annoying men. I particularly liked the setting, on the campus of a fictional Pennsylvania university, and the big plot twist which I didn’t see coming. The book has about as happy an ending as you could expect for a book like this. Also recently finished _USS Yorktown, CV-5_ by Steve Wiper, about a notable aircraft carrier of WW2. Some rare photographs but not much in the way of text, and what it had was poorly edited. I’m now listening to an audiobook of Ken Follett’s _Eye of the Needle_, a very good WW2 spy thriller about a lethal but not unprincipled German spy on the run across the UK. I’d read it years ago and it holds up very well. I’m also reading hard copies of two books: _Warplane_ by Hal Sundt is about the design and building of the US Air Force ground-attack aircraft the A-10 Thunderbolt II (AKA the Warthog). It’s interesting but a bit dry so far; I’ve also caught several minor errors. _Rorschach_ by Tom King, Jorge Fornes and Dave Stewart is a graphic novel sequel to _Watchmen_, set during the 2020 campaign when President Robert Redford is running for reelection and there’s an assassination attempt against the Republican candidate. The mentally-disturbed vigilante Rorschach, long thought dead, seems to have been involved, and a private detective hired by the GOP campaign digs into the case deeper than the FBI appears willing to. It’s very good so far. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2024, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-august-2024-edition/1004964/6 "2024-07-31T20:44:27Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I particularly liked the setting, on the campus of a fictional Pennsylvania university, and the big plot twist which I didn’t see coming. Glad you liked it! I considered the possibility of that plot twist, but decided, “Nahhh…” Oh well. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2024, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-august-2024-edition/1004964/7 "2024-08-01T00:27:40Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Ken Follett’s _Eye of the Needle_ Follett’s early stuff is really good. This one and _The Key to Rebecca_ are excellent spy novels. _Night Over Water_ is another good read. I’ve tried to read his later works, but many of them are far, far too long. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2024, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-august-2024-edition/1004964/8 "2024-08-01T00:49:29Z")
I read so many I procrastinate mentioning them, then I forget some. I need to read a book called How to Stop Procrastinating. I just finished Off The Record by Madeline Westerhout. She was a secretary to Trump. She fawns over him, how wonderful he was, how he cares about unimportant people, he reads a lot! She was fired because some reporters bought her drinks and she made comments that got back to Trump and then she thought her life was Over and she cried a lot. Now you don’t have to read it. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2024, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-august-2024-edition/1004964/9 "2024-08-01T16:29:07Z")
For which I thank you! I finished _Rorschach_. It’s very good most of the way through, with an interesting plot and characters, and lots of in-jokes and Easter eggs about the original _Watchmen_, but then it goes off in a very weird and, I thought, implausible direction. The ending is disappointing and not really justified by what came before, I’d say. Still worth a read for any _Watchmen_ fan, though. Also finished an audiobook of _Piece by Piece_ by Calvin Trillin, a 2007 collection of essays by the noted _New Yorker_ humorist and read by him. Very few were laugh-out-loud funny, but I chuckled often. The bits on “deadline poetry” (including “If You Knew What Sununu,” about GWHB’s first White House chief of staff), teen slang, fruitcake and the vagaries of French grammar are particularly good. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2024, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-august-2024-edition/1004964/10 "2024-08-02T00:33:10Z")
I am reading The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire. It’s kind of a Star Wars version of Blood and Fire: an in universe history text of the setting. In this case the Empire (as it says on the tin). ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2024, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-august-2024-edition/1004964/11 "2024-08-02T00:58:32Z")
Interesting! Is it good? ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2024, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-august-2024-edition/1004964/12 "2024-08-02T01:25:41Z")
It is! Tons of Easter Eggs and deep cuts written in a scholarly tone. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2024, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-august-2024-edition/1004964/13 "2024-08-02T11:24:07Z")
Added to the “to read” list, thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2024, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-august-2024-edition/1004964/14 "2024-08-03T19:28:24Z")
Finished _Zeroglyph_, by Vivek Pravat, which was okay. Now I’m reading _Murder in the Dark_, by Simon R. Green. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2024, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-august-2024-edition/1004964/15 "2024-08-04T19:54:34Z")
Finished _Murder in the Dark_, by Simon R. Green, which was okay. Now I’m reading _The Heart and the Chip: Our Bright Future with Robots_, by Daniela Rus and Gregory Mone. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2024, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-august-2024-edition/1004964/16 "2024-08-05T03:43:25Z")
Finished _You Like It Darker_, Stephen King’s latest volume of short stories. Very good. Every one of them a winner, but my favorite was actually the shortest one, “The Fifth Step.” Recommended. Have started _The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War_, by Erik Larson. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2024, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-august-2024-edition/1004964/17 "2024-08-05T11:24:44Z")
Four books since my last post. From best to worst: [The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/154985516-the-cautious-traveller-s-guide-to-the-wastelands): I picked the book up because of Natasha Pulley’s recommendation: _Railsea_ meets _Annihilation_. This description is pretty close to perfect, although I’d throw in a bit of _The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate_ for that nineteenth-century amateur naturalist vibe; and this book, too, was pretty much perfect. Beautifully written, compelling characters, a driven plot, dread and wonder twined together–and my new favorite fantasy map! [Running Close to the Wind](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/195791197-running-close-to-the-wind): If one of the characters from Aardman’s _Pirates!_ was marooned for being way too horny, and was then rescued by the crew on _Our Flag Means Death_, you could end up with this novel. I wasn’t expecting much, but also couldn’t stop giggling. Tremendous fun. My wife read it next, and her outbursts of laughter almost felt like reading the book a second time. [The Brides of High Hill](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58008003-the-brides-of-high-hill): I’ve really enjoyed Nghi Vo’s novellas, and her _Siren Queen_ is one of my favorite books of the last ten years. This one was worth reading, but it kind of felt like there was too much plot for its short length, with a twist that didn’t really work for me. But like her other books in this series, it’s got beautiful prose and a companiable protagonist, and was a pleasant way to pass the time. [To Cage a God](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/138378638-to-cage-a-god): This was the only stinker in the bunch. It’s got an interesting-enough fantasy premise–a world in which the ruling class contain literal gods in their bodies, gods that are also dragons, and use these gods to oppress the masses–but everything else about the book actively annoyed me. The characters were straight out of central casting, the romances were obvious and without chemistry, and the politics were dull. I should’ve put it down. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2024, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-august-2024-edition/1004964/18 "2024-08-06T12:51:23Z")
I finished The Dissonance today, and enjoyed it more than I thought I would. The plot moved along briskly and the chapters were quite short, so I could pick it up at any time, read three pages, and have something to ponder until the next time I got a chance. Quibbles: way too much detail in the sex scenes, minor plot holes, and I didn’t care for the ending. But for the most part it kept my mind happily occupied over the last week. I’m going to check out another book by this author. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2024, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-august-2024-edition/1004964/19 "2024-08-06T14:52:52Z")
**Chasing Plants** Chris Thorogood The author describes his career exploring the world looking for unusual plants. The book is lavishly illustrated with his paintings and drawings of flowers, which are quite nice. The text is okay. It doesn’t go into much depth and at times is just " We found this plant, and then we found another plant, …" ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2024, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-august-2024-edition/1004964/20 "2024-08-06T20:19:22Z")
Finished _The Heart and the Chip: Our Bright Future with Robots_, by Daniela Rus and Gregory Mone, which was interesting. My favorite part was when Rus described how, as a grad student, she and some classmates invented a robot to cut a birthday cake for their professor. Unfortunately, instead of the layer cake they had anticipated, it was an ice cream cake that was so hard, the robot arm with the knife was flung backward, then chopped forward very hard, until someone was able to hit the “off” switch. (The professor loved it, though.) Now I’m reading _The Man Who Solved Mysteries_ by William Brittain. It’s a collect of short stories from Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-august-2024-edition/1004964.md?page=2)