# Khadaji’s Whatcha Reading Thread - December 2021 edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [November 30, 2021, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2021-edition/955243 "2021-11-30T18:53:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [December 4, 2021, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2021-edition/955243/21 "2021-12-04T22:13:38Z")
Almost a quarter of the way through _The Hotel New Hampshire_, by John Irving. Great so far. ---
**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 4, 2021, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2021-edition/955243/22 "2021-12-04T22:53:13Z")
I tossed _There there_ by Tommy Orange. There were too many characters and not real attempt to make them likeable to the reader. I just didn’t care about all these f\*\*\*ed up lives. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2021, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2021-edition/955243/23 "2021-12-05T03:30:21Z")
_Those of you who know of me probably have read my tales of [driving for Uber](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tales-of-uber/831474) – the time traveler, the Ubers of Shame, more. The following is a story told to me by one of my passengers, but instead of putting it in the Uber thread, I decided it fit more here. Note that this was a long ride so there may be parts where the story is redacted – the guy was long-winded and this is just a message board post, so my apologies upfront if you like boring descriptions of the arcana of American life as I cut them out. Go read Stephen King if you like that shit. So when you see actual passages in italics – like this opening paragraph – that’s me, the author, not me, the driver._ _I hope this isn’t too confusing._ “Pete?” “Yeah… you’re John?” “Yup. Looks like you’re headed to (address)…?” “Exactly.” “Ready to go? Got wallet, keys, packages?” _chuckles_ “I’m good, appreciate you asking.” We take off. The ride ahead is a long one -going all the way from Boerne, Texas to east of Seguin, I-10 the entire way. The passenger seems… drunk? He keeps chuckling, and by the third time I had enough _laughing_ “It’s not fair to keep something that funny to yourself, lol.” (Yes, I said ‘lol’. L. O. L. Shoot me.) _chuckles_ “It’s not that it’s funny, I just literally had one of the most amazing artistic experiences of my life about 10 minutes before you drove up. I was even asked by a concerned woman if I was OK…” and at this he starts chuckling again. I stay quiet, then he asks… “Do you want to hear a story?” “I’d love to. We have about an hour to kill, so go ahead.” And with that, my passenger begins… > [@](#): > > I’m seeing this woman, not really dating, not really just friends. She’s in her mid-40s, extremely attractive, a bit of an American libertine – a theater teacher who decided to be a roadie in her younger days and speaks of her time in Israel, Germany, growing up in Laredo, switches fluently from language to language – really, I’m just outclassed here but she keeps coming back to me, so I enjoy the experience, keep my fingers crossed, always appreciating her more with each date. > > Both being well-read, our last date ended up at a used bookstore where the conversation again turned to our favorite shared hobby – reading habits, preferred genres, more. So I asked her – ‘what three books would you recommend me to read?” She led me through the store, picking two titles, and said ‘get these.” “What about the other book?” “I have thirty of them in my trunk.” (we had met for the date, that’s how I knew it was just going to be lunch and shopping. Men suck, she’s had her share of sucky men, I completely understand the hesitation.) Now you may think it’s weird that my Uber passenger would speak in parenthetical statements and asides, but as God as my witness, not only did I think turkeys could fly, I could also _hear_ the parenthesis and asides in his voice. This man could use his voice like few others, that is a simple, pure-D, fact. > [@](#): > > We go to her trunk, she opens it, and she was not lying – there was a milkcrate with about 20, 30 of the same mass-market paperback. Not the same editions, but the same title in different printings, all in the mass-market PPB size. (I assume people understand abbreviations, even if I use the word earlier in the sentence.) > > “I love this book. It is my absolute favorite book. I like the movie, but I think the book is one of the best written in my life.” (Did I mention she was at her loveliest when she spoke of her art?) > > “I am going to surprise you – I have neither read the book, nor seen the movie. The subject matter isn’t one that appeals to me.” > > “Seriously?” > > “Yeah. I know how popular it is, even quote it among those who are fans, but no… I never saw it. Didn’t have any interest.” > > She looked at me with those lovely, Marianas-deep, green eyes, said “I insist you read this first", knowing there was no way in hell I would say ‘no’. > > Yes ma’am. > > So I start reading it. And I like it – there’s this bizarre introduction written by the author about how he’s some hotshot writer and here’s a story he once heard, but the tale itself is OK. And, to be honest, with the internet and the past few years, I haven’t been reading _books_ like I used to, so it was difficult to pick up the habit again. So I put it down and… _So this is the largest section I am cutting out, how he kept trying to get through this book, but it just wasn’t really doing it for him. Really, about 20, 30 minutes of how he sat down on the couch and then got distracted by a ping on his phone, or the day he spent Thanksgiving with his daughter, home from NYC (and a 2-minute digression of how awesome his kid is, and let’s be fair – she does sound awesome), pretty much every excuse you’ve given yourself for not doing something. So y’all don’t need this and I’m cutting it out for both our sakes. However, if you are truly interested in the minute details of divorced male American life, circa 2021, as recounted by the passenger, PM me. It was still riveting, just too much for this post._ > [@](#): > > … and so earlier today I decided to finish it. Just sit down, go through the last 75 pages, and finish the book. I was getting into what the author… Bill was his name, I think, can’t expect much from any writer named “Bill”, in my humble opinion… was doing, even though the story was still kind of a nothing burger, but I had settled into the rhythms of the narrative style (including those parenthetical statements and authorial asides and all that shit). Like I said, my guy was quite a speaker. He made you realize that, yes, you _can_ hear parenthetical statements AND paragraph breaks! Also, would like to let you know that the passenger was quite blue, but I edited most of the cursing out as this _is_ a family forum. But not all. > [@](#): > > … my dog and I, sitting in the front yard, the always present Diet Coke by my side ([Jeffery Katzenberg](https://dietcoke.webflow.io/members/jeffrey-katzenberg) _thinks_ he likes Diet Coke. No, Jeffery, _I_ like Diet Coke.) And I’m reading this story and, man, I’m finally _getting_ it you know, the authorial flourishes coming sooner and sooner, it has come _back_, John, this ability I have to stop reading and just _watch_ the book as the scenes appear in your minds eye, and I’m _ **feeling it** _ for the first time with just three pages to go, faster as it spins between perspectives and themes, structure and characterization, and finally, like Mary Lou Retton in 1984, just fucking sticks the landing like no other book I have read in a _ **damned** _ long time. > > Years. > > Decades. > > I sat there, gobsmackedness turning into giddiness. I _got_ it. At the last 3, 5 pages, I _got_ it. I know I didn’t read the greatest piece of literature created by the hand of man – the Russian masters can still breathe easy (well, if they weren’t all dead and shit) – but I know that at the very least I had read a master class in fiction composition: Setting. Theme. Characters. Plot. Point of View. Text vs subtext. What it means. What it _really_ means. > > And the thing that I find most appealing in art – structure. > > Like a loon, I just sat there in the front yard of my suburban San Antonio house laughing at just the _expertise_ of it all, overjoyed in a way that I haven’t been in years, since well before the divorce… overjoyed at least in ways that didn’t involve women, that is. > > I lay down, my [borador](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pet-pictures/920105/898) next to me, looking up at the rain of leaves from the oak tree which drops its leaves in December (the other oak tree drops its leaves in April because San Antonio temperatures confuse stupid oak trees). I chuckle, as I make a realization - _amazing how he interwove the various perspectives at the end_ - laugh aloud as I make another - _he even told us he was going to do this!_ - lying there for 10, 15 minutes, appreciating the moment, listening to the leaves fall. > > I didn’t want to get up. I wanted the moment to stretch. > > “Are you OK?” > > Sitting up, “I’m sorry?”. > > Next to my mailbox, there’s one of those new station wagons which everyone lies to themselves and calls it a SUV or a “sports utility wagon” or some such shit, but it’s still a $50,000 station wagon. A 50-ish lady is looking out at me, concerned. > > “I saw you lying down, your chest heaving- just wanted to make sure you’re not having a heart attack.” > > I hold up the book, front cover facing her. I don’t know if she can see it. I’m still chuckling at the overwhelmingness of it all, and I continue chuckling as I say > > “Ten minutes ago I finished this book and found the ending such a _tour de force_ of narrative and technique that it literally took my breath away, forcing me to lie down. I’m still in recovery.” I’m sitting here listening to my passenger, noting that he hasn’t even said the name of this book. _And, in recounting and then re-reading this, I notice he didn’t really talk about the plot either. Or anything else, for that matter._ We’re getting close: surprisingly, our exit to Seguin is in a half mile, his drop off point isn’t much further – a BBQ restaurant off I-10 which had seen better days – the passenger was a helluva talker, I will give him that. I still had most of my Diet Coke! > [@](#): > > … She chuckled, said “Of all the answers I could have expected, I would never have expected that one!”… squints, calls out the name of the book which I confirm… “Oh, is that the movie? I’ll check it out!” We pull in to the restaurant, as he winds down his story, looking for the red Ford he said his friend was driving. Spies it, makes sure I see it, and I pull up, stopping just as he was rummaging through his backpack, he still in story mode. > [@](#): > > “Here.” Holding it up. “It’s less than 300 pages. Have you seen the movie?” “No, but lord knows it’s inconceivable that I haven’t seen it, given my nerd history.” “Take it. She has thirty copies, she passes them out to any one who wants one, and if she needs it replaced, that sounds like another fantastic book-shopping+lunch date. I _am_ rather smitten with her.” I thanked him as he departed, turned off the app, and turned the book over, so the cover was facing upward. _And then I, too, found out the name of the book which gobsmacked the passenger. Looking forward to reading it!_ [![Imgur](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51725075291_b1af8d445f_b.jpg "20211204\_205744") ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/68782016@N08/51725075291/) ---
**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 5, 2021, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2021-edition/955243/24 "2021-12-05T06:28:49Z")
Your timing John T was creepy and downright frightening: I just got off the phone with Uber support after driving for them all night and I just 10 minutes ago downloaded my email… That aside, As God is my witness and turkeys too, I have tried to read that damned book about 10 times and I canNOT get past page 5. I will just watch the movie a dozen more times. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2021, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2021-edition/955243/25 "2021-12-05T08:12:16Z")
Follow-up: Wrote the above review. Sent the link to the lady referenced in the story. She was so thrilled with the review, and that I liked her favorite book as much as I did, she invited me over to eat a bowl of her delicious Azteca sopa and talk about the novel. She, being a teacher, had assigned the book to various classes over the years but had never had another _adult_ to talk lit-crit about her favorite book. Especially not one who liked it. Guys, my car dialed to eleven so quickly it made the trip to her house in less than twelve parsecs. So we sat there, on her couch, talking lit and theater and Pynchon and Bach and on and on… and get your minds out of the gutter, we made it clear beforehand that this was a booky call and not a booty call. But, as I left, our kiss lasted longer, much longer, than any previous end-of-date kisses. ---
**Author:** ![Tride](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tride/32/13907_2.png) [@Tride](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tride)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2021, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2021-edition/955243/26 "2021-12-05T14:52:33Z")
Awesome story! I too have not read the book but seen the movie many times. I’m 2/3rds of the way through _Termination Shock_ by Neal Stephenson. I’ll follow up when I’m done, but it is very much latter-day Stephenson–lots of characters, lots of exposition, lots of good ideas, kind of a slog. Just got to the beginning of the real action. As has been said many times about Neal’s work, somewhere in that 800 page novel is a 400 page novel frantically trying to get out. ---
**Author:** ![Tride](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tride/32/13907_2.png) [@Tride](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tride)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2021, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2021-edition/955243/27 "2021-12-05T14:55:50Z")
Aside from _Cryptonomicon_ which was perfect. My reward (if one is needed) will be the last Expanse book. ---
**Author:** ![Tride](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tride/32/13907_2.png) [@Tride](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tride)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2021, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2021-edition/955243/28 "2021-12-05T22:40:01Z")
Finished it. Worth it. Better than recent Stephenson in that it has a coherent plot line that mostly keeps moving, good and very realistic science and conflicts, and a not earth-shattering but VERY plausible view of our world 20 years from now or so. I thought _Dodge in Hell_ had some great ideas but was in the weeds for far too long. _Seveneves_ made me want to go outdoors and scream from all the Maguffins and handwaving. This was much better. ---
**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 6, 2021, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2021-edition/955243/29 "2021-12-06T18:41:58Z")
Yesterday I finished Thomas Berger’s slightly-tongue-in-cheek Camelot novel _Arthur Rex_, which I’d been reading aloud, off and on over the past few months, with my niece and one of my sons. The ending, with the king’s death and the tragic end of the Round Table, was very moving and sad. > [@DZedNConfused](#): > > I tossed _There there_ by Tommy Orange. There were too many characters and not real attempt to make them likeable to the reader. I just didn’t care about all these f\*\*\*ed up lives. I had _exactly_ the same reaction. I gave up after my obligatory 50 pages - if an author hasn’t hooked me by then, I know from hard experience that he almost certainly never will. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2021, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2021-edition/955243/30 "2021-12-06T19:09:20Z")
I don’t think I even made it fifty pages. Where, where? There, There, in the box of books to be donated. ---
**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 6, 2021, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2021-edition/955243/31 "2021-12-06T22:12:50Z")
Finished _The Black Lizard Big Book of Locked-Room Mysteries_, edited by Otto Penzler. I thought the best ones were “The Doomdorf Mystery” by Melville Davisson Post (an Uncle Abner story which I’d read before) and “The Phantom Motor” by Jacques Futrelle (a Thinking Machine story which I hadn’t read before.) Note that “Locked-Room Mysteries” here means supposedly impossible crimes. They don’t necessarily take place in locked rooms. For example, “The Phantom Motor” doesn’t. Next up: “Octagon Magic” by Andre Norton. ---
**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 7, 2021, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2021-edition/955243/32 "2021-12-07T16:56:42Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > I don’t think I even made it fifty pages… As I’ve said in previous book threads, I think 50 pages is more than fair to the author, but allows me, with a clear conscience, to give up on a book that would otherwise, from my perspective, be a waste of time. ---
**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 7, 2021, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2021-edition/955243/33 "2021-12-07T18:54:59Z")
I don’t know how far I was in pages, I was listening to the audiobook. However, I had reached the fifth depressing and dreary life, about 32%, in and was done. ---
**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:** [December 7, 2021, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2021-edition/955243/34 "2021-12-07T19:06:16Z")
Finished _The Judge’s List_ by Grisham. A good read, and a subject that he has not previously explored. I was a bit disappointed in the ending, as I thought things were hastily resolved. But I would recommend. ---
**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 8, 2021, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2021-edition/955243/35 "2021-12-08T01:24:21Z")
I’ve read two in December: [Rule of Wolves](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36307674-rule-of-wolves) is the latest in the Grisha-verse series. If you haven’t read the previous umpteen books, it won’t really make sense; but it’s all great fun for YA fantasy romance. The magic is cool, the political scheming is intricate, the romance is fine, and there’s just enough real-world issues (bigotry, drug addiction, exploitation) to keep it grounded. If you think of starting the Grisha-verse books, I recommend _Six of Crows_, one of the best fantasy/heist mashups I’ve ever read. [The Arrest](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51179946-the-arrest) is my new least favorite Jonathan Lethem. I went through a jag a decade or so ago where I read everything by him and loved his stuff. This? It’s a post-apocalyptic book starring a terminally sad-sack loser and his sociopathic Hollywood producer friend, where nothing much happens until the end where something completely implausible happens, and even that isn’t much of anything. I think this is a book that’s gonna sour the more I think about it. Lethem’s a very good prose-writer, but man, this book doesn’t sit well with me. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2021, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2021-edition/955243/36 "2021-12-08T14:40:42Z")
**The 22 Murders of Madison May** Max Barry Crime thriller set in present data New York City with a sci-fi twist. I don’t want to spoiler anything by describing the plot, which is fast paced and has some unexpected turns early on. I quite enjoyed this book. Highly recommended. ---
**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 8, 2021, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2021-edition/955243/37 "2021-12-08T14:48:11Z")
Finished _Octagon Magic_ by Andre Norton. Meh. Now I’m reading _The Gift of the Magpie_ by Donna Andrews. ---
**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:** [December 8, 2021, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2021-edition/955243/38 "2021-12-08T19:58:43Z")
Just started _The Death of Mrs. Westaway_ by Ruth Ware. ---
**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 8, 2021, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2021-edition/955243/39 "2021-12-08T21:52:24Z")
> [@DZedNConfused](#): > > I don’t know how far I was in pages, I was listening to the audiobook. However, I had reached the fifth depressing and dreary life, about 32%, in and was done. An hour or so of an audiobook is equivalent to 50 pages, I think. ---
**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 8, 2021, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2021-edition/955243/40 "2021-12-08T23:26:13Z")
So possibly around 100 pages. Well it’s easier on audio when I’m walking 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2021-edition/955243.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2021-edition/955243.md?page=3)