# Khadaji’s Whatcha Reading Thread - December 2024 edition
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2024-edition/1011041
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Tags:** books-writing-myths
**Created:** [December 2, 2024, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2024-edition/1011041 "2024-12-02T01:13:40Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [December 15, 2024, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2024-edition/1011041/41 "2024-12-15T22:22:57Z")
Finished _Right Thing, Right Now: Good Values, Good Character, Good Deeds_, by Ryan Holiday, which had some interesting historical anecdotes.
Next up: _Firefly: The Magnificent Nine_, by James Lovegrove, a tie-in novel to the TV series, and _The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Contentment, Comfort, and Connection_, by Louisa Thomsen Brits.
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### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [December 16, 2024, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2024-edition/1011041/42 "2024-12-16T01:42:04Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#):
>
> ’ve returned to _The Lies of Locke Lamora_ by Scott Lynch, a fantasy novel about a master thief and con artist in a decaying Renaissance Venice-like seaport. I’m now about 70% done. It’s gotten better (including several twists I didn’t see coming), and I’m interested to see how it turns out.
Like I said earlier, once a horse pees, things pick up.
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [December 16, 2024, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2024-edition/1011041/43 "2024-12-16T02:01:51Z")
That is certainly true. Likely _several_ horses.
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### Author:  [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)
#### Post date: [December 16, 2024, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2024-edition/1011041/44 "2024-12-16T18:03:45Z")
**Mycroft Holmes** Kareem Abdul-Jabbar\* and Anna Waterhouse
A Holmes adventure featuring Sherlock’s older brother Mycroft, who travels to the West Indies to investigate mysterious disappearances that may be connected to his fiancee.
Entertaining book.
\*Better known as a Hall of Fame NBA basketball player
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### Author:  [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)
#### Post date: [December 16, 2024, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2024-edition/1011041/45 "2024-12-16T20:41:45Z")
> [@zimaane](#):
>
> \*Better known as a Hall of Fame NBA basketball player
And big jet co-pilot!
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### Author:  [@DZedNConfused](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DZedNConfused)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2024, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2024-edition/1011041/46 "2024-12-17T00:03:53Z")
> [@zimaane](#):
>
> A Holmes adventure featuring Sherlock’s older brother Mycroft, who travels to the West Indies to investigate mysterious disappearances that may be connected to his fiancee.
OH! I’ve read that one! It was good, better than I expected going in.
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2024, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2024-edition/1011041/47 "2024-12-17T18:55:32Z")
> [@Frodo](#):
>
> > [@zimaane](#):
> >
> > \*Better known as a Hall of Fame NBA basketball player
>
> And big jet co-pilot!
No, that was Roger Murdock. He had a uniform and a hat and a nametag and everything!
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### Author:  [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2024, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2024-edition/1011041/48 "2024-12-17T19:31:05Z")
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### Author:  [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2024, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2024-edition/1011041/49 "2024-12-17T19:31:14Z")
He _is_ Kareem. I’ve seen him play (in youtube)…
I think he’s the greatest. But my Dad says he don’t work hard enough on
defense.
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### Author:  [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2024, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2024-edition/1011041/50 "2024-12-17T20:17:31Z")
Tell your old man to drag Walton and Lanier up and down the court for 48 minutes!
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2024, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2024-edition/1011041/51 "2024-12-18T19:53:03Z")
Finished _Firefly: The Magnificent Nine_, by James Lovegrove, a tie-in novel to the TV series, which was okay; and _The Book of Hygge: The Danish Art of Contentment, Comfort, and Connection_, by Louisa Thomsen Brits. Not recommended.
Now I’m reading _Kitchens of the Great Midwest_, by J. Ryan Stradal.
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### Author:  [@DZedNConfused](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DZedNConfused)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2024, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2024-edition/1011041/52 "2024-12-18T21:08:23Z")
I read_The Masquerades of Spring_ by Ben Aaronovitch. It was good to see Nightingale as a younger man. I enjoyed the novella a lot.
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### Author:  [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2024, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2024-edition/1011041/53 "2024-12-19T01:48:01Z")
Finished _All The Sinners Bleed_ by S.A. Cosby. A very well-written (and extremely well-narrated) novel that takes place in a small Viriginia coastal town. The story begins when a much-loved white high school teacher is shot to death in his classroom by a troubled young black man, who in turn is gunned down on the schoolhouse steps by two white deputies. The aftermath of the shootings and the investigation into the motive fall on the shoulders of the newly-elected black sheriff, who uncovers some dark secrets of the town while fighting his own demons.
Strong recommendation.
Next up: _A Talent for Murder_ by Peter Swanson.
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### Author:  [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2024, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2024-edition/1011041/54 "2024-12-19T21:12:29Z")
**Paradise Bronx** Ian Frazier
A long history of the New York City borough, which went from rural idyll, Revolutionary War battlefield, 20th century decline and rebirth.
Lots of interesting detail and very well written
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### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2024, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2024-edition/1011041/55 "2024-12-19T23:13:48Z")
[The Tainted Cup](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/150247395-the-tainted-cup), by Robert Jackson Bennett. Grishaverse, Rex Stout, and Pacific Rim stirred together and poured into a book mold. A murder mystery in a fantasy universe where the magic is genetic engineering based on the kaiju that regularly emerge from the depths to threaten civilization, and the detective is homebound and sends her eidetic-memory assistant out to gather clues.
This wasn’t great literature and isn’t on my best-of-year list, but it was a helluva good time.
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2024, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2024-edition/1011041/56 "2024-12-20T21:00:56Z")
Finished _Kitchens of the Great Midwest_, by J. Ryan Stradal. Meh.
Next up: _Brian’s Song_ by William Blinn and _The Wood at Midwinter_ by Susanna Clarke. (The latter is set in the world of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.)
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [December 21, 2024, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2024-edition/1011041/57 "2024-12-21T19:47:40Z")
Finished _Brian’s Song_ by William Blinn, which I enjoyed. I was surprised by how funny it was. I also really liked _The Wood at Midwinter_ by Susanna Clarke, but it’s slight–I’d recommend it for people who’ve read _Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell_. Clarke has an afterward in _The Wood at Midwinter_ saying that she was going to tell people to reread a certain footnote in _Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell_, but when she looked for it, she realized she’d never actually written that footnote!
Now I’m reading _Starter Villain_, by John Scalzi.
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2024, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2024-edition/1011041/58 "2024-12-23T00:20:30Z")
Finished _Starter Villain_, by John Scalzi, which I enjoyed. It’s probably the funniest book I’ve read this year.
Next up: _Heads in Beds: A Reckless Memoir of Hotels, Hustles, and So-Called Hospitality_, by Jacob Tomsky; and _A Concise History of Scotland_, by Sir Fitzroy MacLean.
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### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [December 23, 2024, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2024-edition/1011041/59 "2024-12-23T19:30:57Z")
Just read [Mal Goes to War](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/127280451-mal-goes-to-war) by Edward Ashton, about a near-future war in the US and a sentient bit of software that gets caught up in the war.
Did not like.
An AI native to digital space might battle other AIs, but it will absolutely not visualize its battle using human metaphors like castles and sieges. Why on earth would it? It would comprehend castles and sieges using metaphors like hacking and code-sniffing.
This is persnickety, but it’s emblematic of the problem I had with the book: I could never suspend my disbelief that I was reading a narrative of an AI. Mal read like a human badly cosplaying as software.
Other than that, it was pretty diverting; but that was a pretty fatal flaw for a book that had one job.
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [December 24, 2024, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-december-2024-edition/1011041/60 "2024-12-24T04:27:21Z")
I loved Susanna Clarke’s _Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell_, and am looking forward very much to _The Wood at Midwinter_. I have a feeling Santa might be bringing me a copy.
My son and I are about halfway through John Scalzi’s _Starter Villain_ and are enjoying it.
Just finished Scott Lynch’s _The Lies of Locke Lamora_ and liked it, all in all, but probably not enough to go on to the other two books in the series - at least, not immediately.
I’m now reading John McPhee’s short 1966 book _Oranges_, all about the fruit, its role in history, its integration into Western cuisine and how it’s cultivated today (or was, at the time McPhee wrote it). Mostly interesting; McPhee has a calm, conversational style that I enjoy.
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