# Khadaji’s Whatcha Reading Thread - January 2024 edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [December 31, 2023, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2024-edition/995416 "2023-12-31T19:32:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2024, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2024-edition/995416/81 "2024-01-17T03:03:24Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > It does have a tendency to move into Aboriginal Nancy Drew territory from time to time (I think the author might agree) Yeah, if you read the author’s notes at the back, she herself calls it “native Nancy Drew”. And I did very much enjoy it, though that’s doubtless influenced by the fact that it’s a near-perfect match for what my school is looking for in a summer reading book (I’m on the committee for choosing next summer’s books, which is the reason why I read it in the first place). ---
**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:** [January 17, 2024, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2024-edition/995416/82 "2024-01-17T03:12:18Z")
Ha! I usually do read authors’ notes, but I didn’t for this one–I think I finished it just before I needed to go someplace, and said I’d return, but unlike MacArthur I forgot. The book still hasn’t gone back to the library, so it’s not too late. I don’t know what your summer reading criteria are, but I’d think this would be an excellent choice. (says the guy who’s spent his career in education and educational publishing) Thanks for posting about it earlier. I’ll probably try her first novel as well. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2024, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2024-edition/995416/83 "2024-01-17T16:01:26Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > I got 50-100 pages into a couple of books and then put them down again. I tried the Thursday Murder Club series, in particular, went into it with high hopes, but it feels like it’s intended to be character-driven and the characters just are not clearly drawn. Or at least they’re not clearly drawn, _yet_, in _this_ book, but I ain’t waiting around to find out. I got halfway through the first book and I haven’t picked it up again. I can’t really articulate why. I get distracted by other books very quickly, I’ve DNFed as many books as I’ve Fed. My main complaint is that it just didn’t feel very suspenseful. ---
**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 17, 2024, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2024-edition/995416/84 "2024-01-17T16:14:53Z")
Finished Good Girls Don’t Die, it was a thriller in which different women played out scenarios with their lives at stake. Really held my interest throughout. And now for something completely different: [Ghosts](https://www.amazon.com/Ghosts-Stories-Edith-Wharton/dp/1681375729/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2O3AKXPWUIURB&keywords=edith+wharton+ghosts&qid=1705508032&sprefix=%2Caps%2C97&sr=8-1), a collection of stories by Edith Wharton. ---
**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 18, 2024, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2024-edition/995416/85 "2024-01-18T03:48:51Z")
I finished the audiobook of _A Rip Through Time_ by Kelley Armstrong. 14 hours read in 3 days, damn thing just grabbed me by the shirt front and dragged me along. ---
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2024, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2024-edition/995416/86 "2024-01-18T13:04:24Z")
@DZedNConfused This fascinates me, because I take forever to finish audio books. What did you do with your body while you were listening? Were you on a road trip or something? Unless I’m sick or too tired to keep my eyes open, I feel like I need to do something else while I’m listening to an audio book, like put laundry away or something. I feel awkward just sitting down somewhere and listening. ---
**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 18, 2024, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2024-edition/995416/87 "2024-01-18T13:15:36Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > I have a lot of criticisms of this work precisely because I expected so much from it. I have nothing against dark themes in books. I write dark, I read stuff like _Lord of the Flies,_ there’s nothing wrong with dark. But when you create a world so devoid of hope, and hammer that point in again and again and again through mostly boring landscapes and occasional disturbing imagery, the book becomes not only repetitive but unbelievable. Interesting. It’s my favorite McCarthy book, just ahead of _Blood Meridian_, and I don’t at all consider it in the same genre as _Station Eleven_ or other post-apocalyptic novels. _The Road_ isn’t post-apocalyptic. It’s just plain old apocalyptic. The genre, in general, wrestles with the question: how do you build something new after unimaginable tragedy? And that’s a wonderful theme, and a wonderful question. But _The Road_ asks a different question: how do you survive in the absence of hope? And that’s a much rarer question, and just as worth asking. There’s no real hope in the book. Even the ending doesn’t really provide anything resembling hope. It seems pretty clear that the world is over, at least for a few aeons until complex life can re-evolve from simpler organisms. It’s horribly bleak. And the repetitive nature was, I thought, part of that theme: it’s peripatetic, but instead of the normal Huck Finn-like adventures that you have on such journeys, it’s just, “Nope, there really isn’t any hope, what now?” I picked it up on a whim at my inlaws’ house a couple decades ago, and stayed up reading it until about 3am. It really stuck with me. ---
**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 18, 2024, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2024-edition/995416/88 "2024-01-18T13:23:54Z")
Okay, my own reading so far this year (I’m gonna try to get back into these threads, because I really enjoy reading other folks’ thoughts): [Because Internet: Understanding New Rules of Language](https://gretchenmcculloch.com/book/). My brother gave me this for Christmas, and I loved it. It’s 2019, so already a little dated (written before Elon Musk/Twitter), but recognizes itself as a snapshot. The author is a linguist whose life study is how Internet communication is changing language, and she delights in the study of the changes rather than scolding people about using correct capitals and periods. My favorite part was the chapter on emojis, proposing that we understand them less as words and more as gestures, and tying them into some really interesting work on the “grammar” of gestures in oral language. [The Destroyer of Worlds](https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/61190257): It’s the sequel to _Lovecraft Country_. Didja like the original? Didja like the HBO show? You’ll like this one. It doesn’t really break any new ground, but Matt Ruff is a fun author. [Critical Mass](https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/60149528). It’s a sequel to a book I didn’t read, so it’s already got that strike against it. It’s about ten pages of story pasted on top of four hundred pages of technical specs. Woof. That said, the technical specs are _really_ interesting: it explores in great detail how to use the mass of a single asteroid to bootstrap a space station in orbit near the moon, and then use that (plus other technology) to build a railgun on the moon that shoots a buttload of regolith into orbit, and then use that (plus other technology) to build a network of solar panels around the Earth that can supply limitless clean energy to Earthlings. Plus cryptocurrency? Very libertarian, very technocratic, and I got me some problems with all that; but I still finished the book, because as lousy as it was as fiction, the science was intriguing. [Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33529.Moxy_Maxwell_Does_Not_Love_Stuart_Little): @Left_Hand_of_Dorkness Does Not Love Moxy Mawell. I read it so I could teach it with a third grade book, based on the recommendation of a school librarian. The main character is an obnoxious self-centered kid who gets on my last nerve, and the author is too cute by half with her sense of humor, and I really wish I’d read something else. Fortunately it’s like a twenty-minute read; unfortunately I’m stuck with the book until my third graders finish it. ---
**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 18, 2024, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2024-edition/995416/89 "2024-01-18T13:24:03Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > There’s no real hope in the book To each his own, obviously, but that kind of thing is like kryptonite to me in books, I get how other people may like a book like that, but for me? if there is no hope I don’t see a reason to read on. My wife would probably like _The Road_, she likes dystopic books, we once had a conversation about it and she pointed out that I too like dystopic books. I agreed but added that no matter how dystopic a book, if there’s not at least a glimmer of hope that things will change for the better then I’m out (I’ve never read 1984 for example, and don’t intend to, I know a lot about it anyway due to cultural osmosis). She doesn’t have that problem. ---
**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 18, 2024, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2024-edition/995416/90 "2024-01-18T13:25:36Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > [Critical Mass](https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/60149528). It’s a sequel to a book I didn’t read, so it’s already got that strike against it. It’s about ten pages of story pasted on top of four hundred pages of technical specs. Woof. That said, the technical specs are _really_ interesting: it explores in great detail how to use the mass of a single asteroid to bootstrap a space station in orbit near the moon, and then use that (plus other technology) to build a railgun on the moon that shoots a buttload of regolith into orbit, and then use that (plus other technology) to build a network of solar panels around the Earth that can supply limitless clean energy to Earthlings. Plus cryptocurrency? Very libertarian, very technocratic, and I got me some problems with all that; but I still finished the book, because as lousy as it was as fiction, the science was intriguing. I tried to read it and had to give up when the libertarianism got _too_ heavy, and I had read the first book and liked it. ---
**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:** [January 18, 2024, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2024-edition/995416/91 "2024-01-18T14:39:13Z")
> [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](#): > > I feel like I need to do something else while I’m listening to an audio book, like put laundry away or something. I listen to audio books either on my daily walk, or when I’m driving anywhere longer than 30 minutes. That’s why it takes me a long time to finish books these days. If I listen to an audio book at home in my recliner, I will invariably fall asleep. In a perfect world, I would be able to check out a book from an online library (like Libby), and be able to read it one day, and listen to it the next. ---
**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:** [January 18, 2024, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2024-edition/995416/92 "2024-01-18T15:25:03Z")
Just finished: _Arkwright_, by Allen Steele Now reading: _Silver on the Road_, first book of the Devil’s West trilogy by Laura Anne Gilman _Unruly: The Ridiculous History of England’s Kings and Queens_, by David Mitchell Up next: _Red Mars_, by Kim Stanley Robinson ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2024, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2024-edition/995416/93 "2024-01-18T15:31:08Z")
I’m not posting much because it’s taking forever to get through _[Grave Expectations](https://www.amazon.com/Grave-Expectations-Mystery-Alice-Bell/dp/059347063X/)_: I’m enjoying it so far, but I’ve been tired and every night I keep falling asleep after just a few pages. 🙂 Maybe I’ll be able to put a dent in it this weekend. > [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > [Because Internet: Understanding New Rules of Language](https://gretchenmcculloch.com/book/). My brother gave me this for Christmas, and I loved it. It’s 2019, so already a little dated (written before Elon Musk/Twitter), but recognizes itself as a snapshot. The author is a linguist whose life study is how Internet communication is changing language, and she delights in the study of the changes rather than scolding people about using correct capitals and periods. My favorite part was the chapter on emojis, proposing that we understand them less as words and more as gestures, and tying them into some really interesting work on the “grammar” of gestures in oral language. Ooooo, that sounds interesting…I love linguistics, and just downloaded the sample to my Kindle. Thanks! ---
**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 18, 2024, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2024-edition/995416/94 "2024-01-18T15:36:02Z")
Finished _The English Civil War: A People’s History_, which I didn’t much like, probably because it wasn’t what I was looking for (I wanted a straightforward history, I got a meandering mix of anthropology, personal narratives and cursory description of important events, probably intended for someone who already knows the straightforward history of the times and wants something more). Now reading _Render unto Caesar_ by Gilliam Bradshaw, about a Greek businessman trying to keep his head about the troubled waters of early imperial Rome. ---
**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 18, 2024, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2024-edition/995416/95 "2024-01-18T15:38:11Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > To each his own, obviously, but that kind of thing is like kryptonite to me in books Totally get it, and I have to be in the right mood for it. I can read a John Le Carre novel about once every five years. That’s how long it takes for me to forget how much he makes me want to hide under the bed. It helps that McCarthy’s writing is absolutely gorgeous, and perfectly suited to the bleak subject. > [@Frodo](#): > > I tried to read it and had to give up when the libertarianism got _too_ heavy, Again, totally get it. I just realized an excellent fanwank, though: these stories work wonderfully as a prequel to the Expanse series, with the latter series showing just how well “libertarianism in space” works out in the long run. ---
**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 18, 2024, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2024-edition/995416/96 "2024-01-18T15:43:38Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > I just realized an excellent fanwank, though: these stories work wonderfully as a prequel to the Expanse series, with the latter series showing just how well “libertarianism in space” works out in the long run. Ha!, that’s good. The first book was more moderate in it’s libertarianism, the billionaire “genius” even proved himself to be a somewhat of a swindler and all around bad person, when the 2nd started trying to rehabilitate him it got to a point where I said “nope” and bailed out. ---
**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:** [January 18, 2024, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2024-edition/995416/97 "2024-01-18T15:50:05Z")
**Resurrection Walk** , Michael Connelly, the latest (I think) Bosch/Haller book in the series. In this one, Bosch is working for Haller as his investigator. Like most of Connelly’s books, it flows well and the story is engaging. The only issue I have with it is that he keeps switching back and forth between 1st person and 3rd person narrative. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2024, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2024-edition/995416/98 "2024-01-18T16:13:58Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > There’s no real hope in the book. Even the ending doesn’t really provide anything resembling hope. It seems pretty clear that the world is over, at least for a few aeons until complex life can re-evolve from simpler organisms. It’s horribly bleak. And the repetitive nature was, I thought, part of that theme: it’s peripatetic, but instead of the normal Huck Finn-like adventures that you have on such journeys, it’s just, “Nope, there really isn’t any hope, what now?” Seems like a valid take to me. I can see why someone would have that takeaway from the book. I found the repetition boring, and not in an arty way. I also don’t see the point in surviving if there’s no hope. So I guess that didn’t strike me as a particularly relevant question. > [@Frodo](#): > > I agreed but added that no matter how dystopic a book, if there’s not at least a glimmer of hope that things will change for the better then I’m out (I’ve never read 1984 for example, and don’t intend to, I know a lot about it anyway due to cultural osmosis). But _1984_ doesn’t have the same problem as _The Road_. I’m reminded of the popular belief that you can’t have a horror story without hope. _1984_ is full of hope, the fact that hope is squashed out at the end is not particularly a problem for me as a reader because I was engaged with the current of hope running throughout the story. _The Road_ does not offer any possibility that things are going to get better, there’s not even a clear end-goal other than getting to the coast for reasons that aren’t explained, and it’s just a slog with no apparent purpose. That’s going to kill narrative drive. As I said before, I’ve read and enjoyed plenty of dark stuff, but those dark things were dynamic and engaging. This one didn’t land for me. ---
**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 18, 2024, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2024-edition/995416/99 "2024-01-18T16:24:21Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > But _1984_ doesn’t have the same problem as _The Road_. I’m reminded of the popular belief that you can’t have a horror story without hope. _1984_ is full of hope, the fact that hope is squashed out at the end is not particularly a problem for me as a reader because I was engaged with the current of hope running throughout the story. _The Road_ does not offer any possibility that things are going to get better, there’s not even a clear end-goal other than getting to the coast for reasons that aren’t explained, and it’s just a slog with no apparent purpose. That’s going to kill narrative drive. As I said before, I’ve read and enjoyed plenty of dark stuff, but those dark things were dynamic and engaging. This one didn’t land for me. But I know how _1984_ ends, as I said because of cultural osmosis, “he loved big brother” is an unescapable quote. For the same reason I couldn’t get into _The Terror_ by Dan Simmons, the book is about the Erebus and Terror expedition to the artic and I happen to know how that ended. That said, yes _The Road_ is even worse than _1984_ in that regard. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2024, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2024-edition/995416/100 "2024-01-18T16:34:35Z")
Well, if you don’t like stories that end badly, I understand that. Or maybe you just don’t like knowing the ending ahead of time. It’s just not an issue I have personally, and _The Road_ (in my opinion) ends on a weirdly upbeat _deus ex machina_ note which undermines its apparently intended meaning. If the point is that there’s no hope, and then persevering with no hope is rewarded with hope at the end, well that’s a different message. The message then becomes, if you persevere without hope, something good might happen, which is altogether different than the message that you can still find meaning in the complete absence of hope. I just really had a hard time with this one. But look, one of my favorite books on Earth is vocally loathed by many, so YMMV. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2024-edition/995416.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2024-edition/995416.md?page=6)