# Khadaji’s Whatcha Reading Thread - January 2025 edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [December 30, 2024, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2025-edition/1012343 "2024-12-30T14:02:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 4
**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 25, 2025, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2025-edition/1012343/61 "2025-01-25T01:16:09Z")
Finished Witchcraft For Wayward Girls, which was okay. It made me cry a few times, for subject matter and current events reasons, as it’s about pregnant teenagers. Next up, a couple I bagged from @The_wind_of_my_soul 's best of 2024 list: 1. _The Swallows_ by Lisa Lutz – A high school where girls are being objectified by boys, but instead of speaking up and complaining, the girls decide to get even. And they get vicious. 2. _Never Lie_ by Freida McFadden – This thriller is the king of “I didn’t see that ending coming”! ---
**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 25, 2025, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2025-edition/1012343/62 "2025-01-25T16:20:27Z")
Ooh yay! ---
**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 25, 2025, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2025-edition/1012343/63 "2025-01-25T21:46:33Z")
Finished _You’ve Got Eight Seconds: Communication Secrets for a Distracted World_, by Paul Hellman which is a quick, worthwhile read, and _The Shadow of the Torturer_, by Gene Wolfe. It’s supposed to be a masterpiece, and its worldbuilding is excellent, but its plot felt disjointed and I didn’t find some of the characters’ actions plausible. It’s the first of a four-part series, which I’m planning on finishing this year. I hope I like the other books more. Still reading _The Oxford Book of Theatrical Anecdotes_. Next up: _How to Read Medieval Art_, by Wendy A. Stein, and _Constant Hearses and Other Revolutionary Mysteries_, by Edward D. Hoch. ---
**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:** [January 26, 2025, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2025-edition/1012343/64 "2025-01-26T02:27:56Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Just started _God Save the Queen_ by Australian author Dennis Altman, about “the strange persistence of monarchies” and how they might, with the rise of authoritarian regimes in too many democracies these days, provide a useful check on the abuse of power (while also helping rake in tourist money). Finished it. Quite readable but concise - I actually wouldn’t have minded if it were twice as long. Focuses on the British/Commonwealth monarchy, but with interesting looks at the Thai, Spanish, Japanese and various Western European and Arab crowns. Recommended for anyone with an interest in royalty, political science or history. Just started _At the Mountains of Madness_ by H.P. Lovecraft, a horror _manga_ by Gou Tanabe, about a doomed 1931 exploratory and scientific expedition to Antarctica. All of the characters look not quite American while also being not quite Japanese, but I’m digging it. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2025, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2025-edition/1012343/65 "2025-01-28T14:44:15Z")
**The Great River: The Making and Unmaking of the Mississippi** Bruce Upholt A history of humanity’s relationship with America’s greatest river, which runs almost the length of the country from North to South. Ever since European arrived, we’ve been meddling with the river in various ways, with levees, dams and dredging. The author’s assessment is that the cost of these projects has greatly exceeded the benefits, and maybe it would be better to allow the river to return to a more natural state. Thoroughly researched and well-written book. ---
**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:** [January 28, 2025, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2025-edition/1012343/66 "2025-01-28T15:01:14Z")
> [@zimaane](#): > > Thoroughly researched and well-written book. See also the “Atchafalaya” section of John McPhee’s book **Control of Nature** (a book well worth reading for its analysis of the Los Angeles earthquake-flood-mudslide cycle, “Los Angeles against the Mountains”). There’s an enormous amount of ,money and effort poured into trying to keep the river at bay. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2025, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2025-edition/1012343/67 "2025-01-28T19:21:26Z")
thanks for the recommendation of the McPhee book. I’ll definitely check it out. The Atchafalaya is discussed the The Great River as well. It is a “distributary” (a word I learned from this book) of the Mississippi that branches off from it just before it enters Louisiana. The worry is that the course of the Mississippi could shift, diverting most its water into the Atchafalya and leaving Baton Rouge and New Orleans high and dry. There are various sets of dams to prevent this and they’ve worked. So far. ---
**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 28, 2025, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2025-edition/1012343/68 "2025-01-28T20:07:57Z")
Finished _Testimony_ by Scott Turow. Pretty good legal read about an investigation into a supposed civilian massacre which occurred many years earlier in the Bosnian War. This morning I started _The Woman in the Library_, a murder mystery by Sulari Gentill. 3 chapters in, and I’m hooked. ---
**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:** [January 28, 2025, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2025-edition/1012343/69 "2025-01-28T20:25:15Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > …_Fevre Dream_ by George R.R. Martin, one of my favorite vampire novels, which is set along the Mississippi River before the Civil War. Just as good as I remember. Finished it. It bogs down a bit more in the final quarter of the book than I recalled, but it’s still well worth a read (including lots of interesting stuff about the river, and about the steamboat trade). Next up: _Twenty-Six Seconds_ by Alexandra Zapruder, nonfiction about how her grandfather’s fateful afternoon in Dealey Plaza changed both their family and American history itself. ---
**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 28, 2025, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2025-edition/1012343/70 "2025-01-28T23:31:35Z")
Finished _How to Read Medieval Art_, by Wendy A. Stein, which was quite interesting and featured stunning photos of a variety of art. It reminded me of taking art history courses in college, which I enjoyed. Also finished _Constant Hearses and Other Revolutionary Mysteries_, by Edward D. Hoch, of which the best was “The Orchard of Caged Birds”. Next up: _What the Luck? The Surprising Role of Chance in Our Everyday Lives_, by Gary Smith, and _Fireheart Tiger_, a fantasy novella by Aliette de Bodard. Still reading _The Oxford Book of Theatrical Anecdotes_. ---
**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 29, 2025, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2025-edition/1012343/71 "2025-01-29T15:03:55Z")
Finished _The Swallows_ by Lisa Lutz. This book had so many characters and the point-of-view changed with every chapter, until I was starting to get confused. However, the story kept me hooked and ate up my spare thoughts in the wee hours of the night, which is a major benefit. Four stars. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2025, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2025-edition/1012343/72 "2025-01-29T17:47:20Z")
I got about halfway through _Yours for the Taking_ by Gabrielle Korn and gave up. I can see why it was nominated on the Goodreads Choice Awards last year because it has LGBT characters and it’s very clearly about modern times, but that’s exactly why I tossed it. It’s too close to modern times, especially in the last couple of weeks, and the characters felt like the author was playing buzzword bingo. “Okay, I have a lesbian character, now what if I made a Black lesbian character? Do I have a transgender character yet? No, let’s toss one in there. What about genderqueer? Is there one of those yet? No? Okay, let me shoehorn her in somewhere.” Maybe if these characters had anything other than the most surface motivation for anything they did and grew and changed through the course of the story I might have been able to tolerate them. But such things are not done in Buzzword Bingo. Also the science in this science fiction is extremely iffy. In one scene the Atlantic Ocean is described as full of trash, but in another scene two characters go swimming in it and don’t seem to be bothered with the trash which may or may not be in it, I think the author forgot. And another character is chosen to bear the CEO’s child so the egg is just implanted in her with exactly zero prep. I have never gone through IVF but I know people who have and I remember the _extremely long_ preparation process that they went through before anyone ever _thought_ of implanting an egg. ---
**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 30, 2025, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2025-edition/1012343/73 "2025-01-30T20:59:54Z")
New thread: [We’re doomed](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-february-2025-edition/1013643) ---
**Author:** ![MacDoc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/macdoc/32/18696_2.png) [@MacDoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacDoc)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2025, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2025-edition/1012343/74 "2025-04-28T07:53:05Z")
> **[Land of the Beautiful Dead eBook : Smith, R. Lee: Amazon.com.au: Kindle Store](https://www.amazon.com.au/Land-Beautiful-Dead-Lee-Smith-ebook/dp/B017CEASMG)** > > Land of the Beautiful Dead eBook : Smith, R. Lee: Amazon.com.au: Kindle Store Noty my usual fare but… Somewhere between sci-fi, horror, eroticism , fantasy, apocryphal …bit of Anne Rice 🧐 with charging stations 🤪 But I’m intrigued for the moment. Still 50% into reread of GofT which I just realized has a similar mix except for scifi and a few others lined up ---
**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:** [April 28, 2025, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2025-edition/1012343/75 "2025-04-28T21:04:43Z")
Finished _Lethal Prey_ by John Sandford. Another well-written and entertaining Davenport/Flowers novel by a favorite author. But…with a wholly unsatisfying ending, the first that I can remember by Sandford. I suspect this is leading to a sequel, but that’s not very common for this author. ---
**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:** [April 28, 2025, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2025-edition/1012343/76 "2025-04-28T21:15:22Z")
Folks this is the thread for January… ---
**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:** [April 28, 2025, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2025-edition/1012343/77 "2025-04-28T21:43:50Z")
Good grief. My bad. I’ll put my post in the current month. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2025-edition/1012343.md?page=3)