# Khadaji’s Whatcha Reading Thread - February 2026 edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** comic-books-manga, books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [January 31, 2026, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-february-2026-edition/1027219 "2026-01-31T00:45:42Z")\ **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:** [January 31, 2026, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-february-2026-edition/1027219/1 "2026-01-31T00:45:42Z")
February is here and my part of the state got our FIRST snow of the year (2nd of the season) but, of course, climate change isn’t real… What is real is BOOKS! Lots of books, comics, graphic novels, manga, plotlines scribbled on the back of that meeting-which-should-have-been-an-email agenda! Whatcha all reading? _Whisper in the Dark_ By Darcey Burke, the 2nd in her Victorian Raven & Wren series. Hadrian is a bit _toooo_ good for a mid 19th century man but I’ll allow it because he has beautiful eyes. 😆 _The Floating World_ by Axie Oh More YA and I’m floundering a bit since so many YA cliches are already presenting: orphaned character, character’s family is about to be killed, rigid social lines, character decides to show off and puts others in danger… you get the drift. _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:** [January 31, 2026, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-february-2026-edition/1027219/2 "2026-01-31T00:47:35Z")
Last month: [Well that happened… again](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2026-edition/1026156/75) ---
**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:** [January 31, 2026, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-february-2026-edition/1027219/3 "2026-01-31T01:19:02Z")
107 Days by Kamala is good. I do like politics. Already read Original Sin. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2026, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-february-2026-edition/1027219/4 "2026-01-31T02:04:56Z")
**Hard Time** by Jodi Taylor. I’ve gotten onto a Taylor kick lately and am working my way through her various series. Quite fun! ---
**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:** [January 31, 2026, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-february-2026-edition/1027219/5 "2026-01-31T04:52:45Z")
A very recently published book called “The three musketeers” by some chap called Dumas, I think he shows promise… ---
**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:** [January 31, 2026, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-february-2026-edition/1027219/6 "2026-01-31T11:06:52Z")
I hear it’s really good. ---
**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:** [January 31, 2026, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-february-2026-edition/1027219/7 "2026-01-31T22:39:19Z")
I was astonished when I read this at how the musketeers were fucking assholes. Like, the dudebros in _Revenge of the Nerds_ had nothing on these guys. I could only enjoy the book by acknowledging that and moving on. Two new books for me: _[Long Live Evil](https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/9ee2308b-7800-4164-9073-87fdc6d0d0bd),_ by Sarah Rees Brennan. Girl dying of cancer is projected into the romantasy that her younger sister is reading to her, and ends up in the body of the main villain. I read this for a book club. It was already an uphill climb for me: spoofs don’t tend to do much for me, nor does romantasy. And a main character who can’t go two pages without talking about her jiggly boobs, without purring sexily, without Zoomerspeaking about how villainous she is? Hoo boy. The best I could say for the humor is that I could mostly tell what was supposed to be a joke. The exception may have been the epigraphs before each chapter, excerpts from the fictional romantasy into which the protagonist is projected. Were these intentionally awful, as a joke, or were they supposed to be compelling? Reading other reviews where people say they’d like to read that fictional romantasy is making me second-guess my conclusion that they were intentionally terrible. I’m glad so many people liked it, but this is absolutely not a book for me. And then I just finished reading a book that’s gonna end up on my “Best of the year” list. _The [Starving Saints](https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/804a9b23-f16c-4cd2-bbee-2812626e7aaf)_ really puts the gory back in phantasmagory: a medieval castle undergoing a brutal siege gets suddenly, horrifically weird. Cannibalism, magic, and sapphic power exchange – holy crap this was good! ---
**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:** [January 31, 2026, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-february-2026-edition/1027219/8 "2026-01-31T22:59:20Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I was astonished when I read this at how the musketeers were fucking assholes. Like, the dudebros in _Revenge of the Nerds_ had nothing on these guys. I could only enjoy the book by acknowledging that and moving on. I realized this when I read it the second time in my 30s. Athos really was an awful person and I caught myself wishing Milady had gutted him like a fish. ---
**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:** [January 31, 2026, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-february-2026-edition/1027219/9 "2026-01-31T23:44:02Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > The Starving Saints Recommendation accepted. ---
**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:** [February 1, 2026, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-february-2026-edition/1027219/10 "2026-02-01T00:29:23Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I was astonished when I read this at how the musketeers were fucking assholes. I kinda like that, they are shown not as immaculate heroes but as people of their time with the virtues and defects of their time. (more defects than virtues by far) > [@DZedNConfused](#): > > Athos really was an awful person and I caught myself wishing Milady had gutted him like a fish. About that though, I agree, no matter how noble the author tries to describe Athos as, it’s impossible for anybody with modern sensibilities to understand murdering a woman (in cold blood to booth!) for the crime of what? pretending to be of noble blood? being a criminal and marrying a noble?. But Athos was universally considered noble, or at least I don’t know of contemporary critics denouncing him, so I guess values in 1845 were far closer to 1630 than to 2025. All in all I enjoy these books a lot, and seeing noblemen of that era, even the protagonists, behave in historically appropriate, if utterly barbaric to us, ways is part of the enjoyment. (I laughed a lot when Planchet, D’Artagnan servant asked him for his pay after months of not receiving it and was properly trashed by D’Artagnan for having the utter gall of nagging a gentleman for money) ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2026, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-february-2026-edition/1027219/11 "2026-02-01T01:20:08Z")
Book 8/9 of the Slough House series. It will be a bad day when it all ends. Unless, of course, there is a book 10 in the works (and the quality stays high). ---
**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:** [February 1, 2026, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-february-2026-edition/1027219/12 "2026-02-01T01:41:28Z")
My brother-in-law gave me the first one for Christmas, and it was an absolute delight. I keep forgetting to put them on hold at the library, but I am looking forward to the remaining ones! ---
**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:** [February 2, 2026, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-february-2026-edition/1027219/13 "2026-02-02T02:05:29Z")
I read, and mostly enjoyed, _ **Fluke** _ by **Brian Klaas**. It talks about the role of random chance in our lives, with discussions about probability, determinism, and other mathematical and philosophical topics. I’ve encountered many of his conclusions in other books I’ve read, but there was enough new here (and enough good examples) to make it interesting. For fiction, I’m most of the way through _ **Buckeye** _ by **Patrick Ryan** (no, not my congressional representative; another one). Mostly about two couples and their children in a small Ohio city during and after World War II. Families, marriages, secrets, adultery, sexuality, clairvoyance, regrets, and more. We’ll see how it comes out but so far it’s spectacular. I’m really drawn into the writing, the characters, and the plot, so quite the trifecta! Fingers crossed. ---
**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:** [February 2, 2026, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-february-2026-edition/1027219/14 "2026-02-02T02:34:29Z")
I started _Dark Harvest_ by Norman Partridge, part of my step-out-of-my-comfort-zone mindset since horror isn’t really my thing. But it’s short and I admit to being a sucker for pumpkin heads. [I have this guy](http://toshirodragon.com/Dolls/JackJack/JJ&P.jpg) So we’ll see what happens… ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2026, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-february-2026-edition/1027219/15 "2026-02-02T03:12:30Z")
I’ve been rereading David Brin’s Sooner trilogy and I just started the third book, _Heaven’s Reach_. I’m a big fan of Ben Macintyre and I’m reading his latest book, _The Siege_. ---
**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:** [February 3, 2026, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-february-2026-edition/1027219/16 "2026-02-03T22:29:09Z")
Finished _Scale_, a science fiction mystery by Greg Egan, which was one of the most original SF books I’ve ever read with excellent world building, and _History Matters_, by David McCullough, which I enjoyed. I remember going to a lecture by him. Next up: _Jazz_, by Toni Morrison; and _The Journey with Jonah_, a play by Madeleine L’Engle. ---
**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:** [February 5, 2026, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-february-2026-edition/1027219/17 "2026-02-05T05:36:46Z")
Today I finished _Fuzzy Nation_ by John Scalzi, which was a re-read with my son. It’s about an Earth prospector on an alien jungle world who discovers a catlike maybe-sentient alien race which gets in the way of the megacorp exploiting the planet’s resources. Not Scalzi’s best, but still worthwhile. It has some of the best courtroom-drama scenes of any sf book I’ve ever read. Also recently finished: _Ancillary Justice_ by Ann Leckie, a terrific distant-future political/military thriller. A former soldier of a galactic empire, appalled by a massacre on a subject world and then the murder of a respected superior officer, decides to seek revenge against the empire’s ruler. Leckie cleverly creates a detailed, highly advanced but credible interstellar society and then pulls you right into the story. Highly recommended - I’m almost certainly going to go on to the next two books in the trilogy. I’m now well into Dan Chaon’s new book, _One of Us_, a supernatural novel set on the Great Plains in the 1910s. It’s about a pair of oddball twins hiding out as carnies while on the run from their murderous “uncle,” who leaves behind a trail of bodies as he draws ever nearer to them. Good stuff. ---
**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:** [February 5, 2026, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-february-2026-edition/1027219/18 "2026-02-05T13:54:06Z")
Finally finished Katabasis, by R.F. Kuang, with mixed feelings! It took me over a week to read it because life suddenly got too hectic. So I was picking it up for brief moments, or reading for a solid hour, or having to let it be for a day or two. However, I was always looking forward to getting back to it, and when I did, had no trouble remembering what was going on in the story. On the other hand, I think if I’d been able to read it straight through, the pacing would have annoyed me. There’s a lot of exposition that doesn’t advance the plot. Events grew weirder and descriptions vaguer, especially towards the end (yes, it’s set in Hell, but still). My impression at the end is that the book was a hot mess, and yet I did enjoy it. I’m not going to search out other books by this author, but if I run across one that seems intriguing, I would give her another chance. Next up, Nine Goblins by T. Kingfisher. I could give it five stars right now, but I’ll read it first. ---
**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:** [February 5, 2026, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-february-2026-edition/1027219/19 "2026-02-05T14:04:48Z")
I’ve finished “The Three Musketeers” for the first time unabridged (I had read a couple of abridged and sanitized versions for children but never the real thing) which I liked less than the sequele “Twenty years later”. Then I devoured “Les Misérables” (but in Spanish, not in French, so “Los Miserables”) which I liked very much. Now trying to decide whether to continue with the 19th century French authors binge (Maybe reread “the Vicomte of Bragelonne”, the only book that made me cry in a public library, but that I haven’t read again since then… (my god I think it was 30 years ago or so!) or another book from Victor Hugo (not Notre Dame which I already read last month), I don’t think I’m ready for Balzac or Stendhal (but then again I was wary of Hugo until last month…) or go with something else. ---
**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:** [February 6, 2026, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-february-2026-edition/1027219/20 "2026-02-06T02:08:18Z")
I have my copy too. I decided to read at least one T. Kingfisher book a month this year. Last month was _Snake-Eater_ and my bookclub is reading _A Sorceress Comes to Call_ this month. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-february-2026-edition/1027219.md?page=2)