# Khadaji’s Whatcha Reading Thread - December 2020 edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [November 30, 2020, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2020-edition/926817 "2020-11-30T15:15:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [December 18, 2020, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2020-edition/926817/41 "2020-12-18T19:36:35Z")
Rise Up by Al Sharpton and Liberal Priviledge by Donald Jr. ---
**Author:** ![WalterBishop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/aeb1de/32.png) [@WalterBishop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WalterBishop)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2020, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2020-edition/926817/42 "2020-12-19T19:04:45Z")
I’m about to start Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons’ _Watchmen_. I loved the TV series but, because I wasn’t familiar with the source material I feel as though I didn’t get as much out of it as I could have done. I’ve got a free weekend (first in about two months!) so my plan is to blast through that and then re-watch the show. ---
**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:** [December 19, 2020, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2020-edition/926817/43 "2020-12-19T21:38:45Z")
Hope you love it! I’m a big _Watchman_ fan. The original graphic novel is _much_ better than either the movie or the HBO miniseries IMHO, although each has its points. ---
**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:** [December 19, 2020, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2020-edition/926817/44 "2020-12-19T22:13:15Z")
Finished _Footprints in the Stars_ , edited by Danielle Ackley-McPhail. (I got the title wrong previously.) It’s an anthology. The best story is “Building Blocks” by Jody Lynn Nye. Now I’m reading _Spurious Correlations_, by Tyler Vigen. ---
**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:** [December 20, 2020, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2020-edition/926817/45 "2020-12-20T23:35:34Z")
Finished _Spurious Correlations_ , by Tyler Vigen. Meh. Now I’m reading _The Star and the Sword_ by Pamela Melnikoff. It’s a children’s historical novel set in the 12th century. ---
**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:** [December 21, 2020, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2020-edition/926817/46 "2020-12-21T13:32:28Z")
I had to give up on Secret Santa. It wasn’t the book’s fault really. I thought a campy, gimmicky horror novel might be fun, but I’m not in the right frame of mind for frivolous distractions, I guess. Started this morning on [It Will Just Be Us](https://www.amazon.com/Will-Just-Be-Us-Novel/dp/1643854496/ref=sr_1_1?crid=31YR5WLFYNBH4&dchild=1&keywords=it+will+just+be+us&qid=1608556278&s=books&sprefix=it+will+just+%2Caps%2C168&sr=1-1) by Jo Kaplan. It is a haunted house story which I’ve very much looked forward to, but at 36 pages in, I’m already not sure I will finish. Strike one, on the very first page is this sentence: “What I have imagined must live in this locked room, if anything can indeed be said to live in there at all, are the agonies of ghostly lives playing out on a dusty stage, the callous whispers of betrayal and the succor of revenge; creatures ineffable and unfamiliar as a lamprey must be to an amoeba, not merely vast but vastly alien, having come from either the distant past or the impenetrable future; or otherwise a black hole that invites the earth to leap inside to its death.” I want to believe, I want the locked room to be scary, but this sentence just fills me with 🙄 🙄 🙄 Strike two, an act of cruelty towards an animal. I got through it, but this book is just one more misstep away from being thrown across the room. ---
**Author:** ![Boycott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boycott/32/6741_2.png) [@Boycott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boycott)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2020, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2020-edition/926817/47 "2020-12-21T14:25:44Z")
Slowly been making my way through a book by Jon Balchin called **Explorers: Journeys to the Ends of the Earth**. Not a very extensive dive into the exploits of the historic explorers but in layman terms it is a useful book to learn the names, the geography, folklore etc. ---
**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:** [December 22, 2020, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2020-edition/926817/48 "2020-12-22T03:39:49Z")
Somebody discovered [Dictionary.com](http://Dictionary.com)’s word of the day feature… ---
**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:** [December 22, 2020, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2020-edition/926817/49 "2020-12-22T19:02:21Z")
Finished _The Star and the Sword_ by Pamela Melnikoff. Meh. Now I’m reading _Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again_, by Rachel Held Evans. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2020, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2020-edition/926817/50 "2020-12-24T00:35:12Z")
Still reading: _Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America_ , by John M Barry Also reading: _Dodger_, by Sir Terry Pratchett Next Up: _The Gift of the Magpie_, by Donna Andrews ---
**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:** [December 24, 2020, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2020-edition/926817/51 "2020-12-24T02:04:19Z")
I reaaly loved _Dodger_ and I hope the real Joseph Bazelgette was as awesome as the fictional one. (His rather impressive muttonchops says he probably was) ---
**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:** [December 24, 2020, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2020-edition/926817/52 "2020-12-24T21:29:18Z")
Finished _Inspired: Slaying Giants, Walking on Water, and Loving the Bible Again_ , by Rachel Held Evans, which was interesting. Now I’m reading _Owl Be Home for Christmas_, by Donna Andrews. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2020, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2020-edition/926817/53 "2020-12-24T23:43:33Z")
Just finished _A Fire Upon the Deep_ by Vernor Vinge (talked my bookclub into reading it - and thoroughly enjoyed getting back to it). I think I’ll read _Machines Who Think_ by Pamela McCorduck next. ---
**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:** [December 25, 2020, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2020-edition/926817/54 "2020-12-25T04:56:28Z")
Just finished _Sanctuary_, ed. by Robert Lynn Asprin, a collection of interrelated fantasy short stories by different authors, set in a decaying, dangerous, quasi-medieval seaport. Joe Haldeman’s “Blood Brothers” and Vonda N. McIntyre’s “Looking for Satan” were the best of them all, I’d say. Still enjoying reading _Arthur Rex_ by Thomas Berger, an often tongue-in-cheek but mostly respectful retelling of Arthurian legend, aloud with my teenage son. King Arthur, having secured his throne, is now looking for a proper wife. I’m about a third of the way through _A Civil Campaign_ by Lois McMaster Bujold, the first Vorkosigan novel I’ve read. I almost gave up a few dozen pages back, as it just hadn’t grabbed me, but then the plot took a different and quite interesting turn (a noblewoman had a sex-change operation in order to stake a better claim to her family’s estate). ---
**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:** [December 25, 2020, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2020-edition/926817/55 "2020-12-25T22:10:38Z")
Today I zipped through _The Art of Castle in the Sky,_ ed. by Nick Mamatas, a beautifully-illustrated companion volume to the classic Miyazaki film, including his written pitch to the studio, his comments on its development and changes made along the way, early production designs, offhanded sketches of characters, ships, settings etc., background art and the English-language dub script. A must for any fan of the movie. ---
**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:** [December 26, 2020, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2020-edition/926817/56 "2020-12-26T23:05:47Z")
_A Civil Campaign_ is my favorite novel, but I think you would have enjoyed it much more had you started earlier in the Vorkosiganverse series. Finished _Owl Be Home for Christmas_ , by Donna Andrews, which was okay. Now I’m reading one of the books I got for Christmas, which is _Benchmarks: Galaxy Bookshelf_, by Algis Budrys. It’s a collection of SF book reviews. ---
**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:** [December 27, 2020, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2020-edition/926817/57 "2020-12-27T19:45:16Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > _A Civil Campaign_ is my favorite novel, but I think you would have enjoyed it much more had you started earlier in the Vorkosiganverse series… I get that, but Bujold is good about providing the background you need to know what came before. ---
**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:** [December 27, 2020, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2020-edition/926817/58 "2020-12-27T21:19:47Z")
I finished my 75-book challenge in the middle of the month, with Empire of Gold, the conclusion to SA Chakraborty’s trilogy about a 19th(?) century Cairo woman who becomes caught up in the incredibly complicated politics of the Djinni. It’s pretty good, but damn those politics were complicated. Others from the last month: [A Deadly Education](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50548197-a-deadly-education), by Naomi Novik. Hogwarts, if 80% of the students are murdered by Dementors or other monsters, and it’s still better than skipping school. Nasty brutal fun. [The Monster Baru Cormorant](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38117105-the-monster-baru-cormorant), by Seth Dickinson. Sequel to **The Traitor Baru Cormorant** , it’s more treacherous politicking in a low-magic fantasy setting. Not quite as gut-wrenching as the first book. Quite good, but not mind-blowing like the first one was for me. [Riot Baby](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43719523-riot-baby), by Tochi Onyebuchi. What if a girl born in the late eighties got 1) superpowers and 2) fed the fuck up with police brutality, prison injustice, and general racism, to the point where she was ready for an apocalypse? This one is short and prose-wise easy but content-wise hard. [Harrow the Ninth](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39325105-harrow-the-ninth), by Tamsyn Muir: Holy shit was this book confusing. It’s a sequel to **Gideon the Ninth** , the most obscenely funny book about lesbian space necromancers I’ve ever read. This one is less funny and more puzzle-boxy, and I don’t think I can talk about it without spoilers, except to say that it’s not exactly linear, and I’m still not entirely sure what I just read. Very good, but takes a lot of attention. [Piranesi](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50202953-piranesi), by Susanna Clarke: this one is short and comparatively straightforward, about a man who lives in a building with infinite rooms and a sea that washes through the lowest level. It’s lovely and thought-provoking and a gem of a novel, and if it doesn’t rake in the awards I’ll be surprised. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2020, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2020-edition/926817/59 "2020-12-28T18:16:58Z")
_Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America_, by John M Barry, got put on hold for a few days. Finished reading _Dodger_, by Sir Terry Pratchett, and _The Gift of the Magpie_, by Donna Andrews. Started reading _Ashley’s War_, about a female officer who was killed whilst working with the Rangers in Afghanistan a few years back, and _The Atlantis Gene_, the first book in an SF trilogy by A G Riddle. Both were Xmas presents. ---
**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:** [December 28, 2020, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2020-edition/926817/60 "2020-12-28T20:08:24Z")
Finished It Will Just Be Us, and didn’t really care for it. Heck, it’s been a couple of days now and the details are slipping away from me. I do recall one problem was that the reader was being asked to believe some pretty tall tales, but not given enough reason to. One example that isn’t much of a spoiler: a woman drowns a construction worker by holding his head in a bucket of paint. Well, I need some convincing to go along with that, but I didn’t get any. There were a lot of creepy goings-on in this book, I think a lot of people will like it, but I for one did not. Next up, Ready Player Two. I’m keeping my expectations low. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2020-edition/926817.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2020-edition/926817.md?page=4)