# 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:** 13\ **Page:** 6
**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 29, 2021, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2021-edition/955243/101 "2021-12-29T15:17:08Z")
Yeah, I couldn’t even get into that one. ---
**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 29, 2021, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2021-edition/955243/102 "2021-12-29T15:24:42Z")
I finished \*Sexted by Santa \* by D.J. Jamison, it was a lot sweeter and better written than the stupid title implied. I’ve liked a lot of her stuff and this was no exception. ---
**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 29, 2021, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2021-edition/955243/103 "2021-12-29T18:05:10Z")
> [@Tride](#): > > Finished _Artemis_ with gritted teeth. Not recommended. This is the only one of his books I’ve tried, and I _hated_ how it was written. Are his other books not written in this style? ---
**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 29, 2021, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2021-edition/955243/104 "2021-12-29T18:26:02Z")
No. IMHO this was a ham-handed attempt to write a female lead. Both _The Martian_ and _Project Hail Mary_ are very different, very focused on science with much less action and MUCH better written (I Think). ---
**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:** [December 29, 2021, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2021-edition/955243/105 "2021-12-29T18:28:14Z")
IMHO it goes like this: The Martian \>\>\> (3 times better) Project Hail Mary \>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\> Artemis ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2021, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2021-edition/955243/106 "2021-12-29T19:11:59Z")
I finished reading **US Submarines through 1945: An Illustrated Design History** by Norman Friedman. It’s background for a book I’m researching, but fascinating stuff in its own right. I also read **Quackery: A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything** by Alice Kang and Nate Pedersen. It’s a book I gave someone else for Christmas a couple of years ago, and I picked it up while visiting. It’s a very good read. I knew a lot of this already, but Ms. Kang and Mr. Pedersen still managed to find lots of tidbits I hadn’t encountered before, such as that “Snake OIl” really _was_ made from the oil of snakes (at least, the good stuff was. The cheap stuff generally had mineral oil and some random animal fat in it). Even more impressive, the original snake oil medicine – a formulation made by Chinese traditional pharmacists using Chinese river snakes – may have actually worked, having high levels of omega-3s in it. But the American-made substitute – even the best of them, using rattlesnakes – had no curative properties. Now I’m back to Clive Cussler’s **Wrath of Poseidon.** ---
**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 29, 2021, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2021-edition/955243/107 "2021-12-29T19:21:31Z")
New thread: [New Year Resolutions? BAH!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2022-edition/956869/2) ---
**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 29, 2021, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2021-edition/955243/108 "2021-12-29T23:31:07Z")
Finished _The Dark Hours_ by Michael Connelly. Another well-written page-turner from one of my favorite authors. Next up is one of my Christmas presents: _The Baseball 100_ by Joe Posnanski. ---
**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 30, 2021, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2021-edition/955243/109 "2021-12-30T13:07:58Z")
Finished Reprieve (and with that, the final total for books read this year comes to 54). I was hoping for a horror story and it wasn’t really that. It was, however, compelling to get to know all the characters. I had trouble buying into the setting (a full-contact horror-themed escape house? No.) Also, the description at Goodreads and Amazon includes phrases like, “blisteringly relevant literary novel”. It’s really hard to buy into that too, unless I’ve somehow become all highbrow without knowing it. Seemed like just a story to me. ---
**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 30, 2021, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2021-edition/955243/110 "2021-12-30T19:15:48Z")
Finished _The Crystal Palace: The Diary of Lily Hicks, London 1850-1851_ , by Frances Mary Hendry, which I thought was very well done. Now I’m reading _Quantum Leaps: How Quantum Mechanics Took Over Science_, by Jeremy Bernstein. ---
**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 31, 2021, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2021-edition/955243/111 "2021-12-31T18:24:14Z")
> [@zimaane](#): > > **House of Silk: A Sherlock Holmes Novel** Anthony Horowitz > > Holmes and Watson are on the case again, when a simple case of a man being threatened leads to a complex web of crime and horrors, with many twists and turns along the way. > > Very true in tone and style to the Conan Doyle novels, even down to using some of the catchphrases, e.g. “the game’s afoot” > > An enjoyable read. Recommended. > > Hat tip to Elendil\_s\_Heir who mentioned it in a prior thread Glad you liked it! Hope you’ll read his _Moriarty_, too, another good Holmesian tale. ---
**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 31, 2021, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2021-edition/955243/112 "2021-12-31T18:25:28Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > The public library pulled back my audiobook of _Never_ by Ken Follett, so I’m taking an involuntary break from that, and have now turned to _The Eagle Has Landed_ by Jack Higgins. It’s a ripping yarn about a Nazi plot to kidnap Winston Churchill while he vacations in a country home on the rustic Norfolk coast. I read it back in the Seventies and enjoyed it, and it still holds up well. Finished it. Farfetched but good fun. Off to the January thread! ---
**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:** [January 1, 2022, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2021-edition/955243/113 "2022-01-01T00:16:43Z")
Finished _Quantum Leaps: How Quantum Mechanics Took Over Science_ , by Jeremy Bernstein. I didn’t really understand most of the science, but he had some great anecdotes about Oppenheimer, W. H. Auden, Marvin Minsky, and a bunch of other people. This is my last book of 2021. Tomorrow, I’ll start _Metropolitan Diary: The Best Selections from_ The New York Times _Column_, edited by Ron Alexander. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2021-edition/955243.md?page=5)