# Khadaji’s Whatcha Reading Thread - January 2026 edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** comic-books-manga, books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [December 29, 2025, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2026-edition/1026156 "2025-12-29T23:34:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2026, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2026-edition/1026156/61 "2026-01-25T01:05:04Z")
The Afterword in my edition claim that for that story, and you remember correctly, she felt “they” was too confusing. ---
**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 25, 2026, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2026-edition/1026156/62 "2026-01-25T01:30:04Z")
Ahhh, that might be where I read it. It’s been a loooooooooooooooooooooooong time since I read the book. ---
**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 25, 2026, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2026-edition/1026156/63 "2026-01-25T11:18:50Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Well I finally got around to reading a classic that has been on my list a long time, one many here have read decades ago: _Left Hand of Darkness._ Yay! Le Guin wrote, years later, about her thoughts on the book, and how she would have written it differently at a later point in her life. I have no idea how to track that essay down, though. ---
**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, 2026, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2026-edition/1026156/64 "2026-01-25T22:37:58Z")
Finished _Into Unknown Skies: An Unlikely Team, A Daring Race, and the First Flight Around the World_, by David K. Randall, which was very interesting to read. My favorite bit of trivia in it was that in World War I American pilots were required to wear spurs. (Gives new meaning to the phrase “Gitty-up.” Also finished _Janissaries_, by Jerry Pournelle, which was okay. Next Up: _Blood of Tyrants_, the eighth book in Naomi Novik’s Temeraire dragon series, and _Cry When the Baby Cries_, by Becky Barnicoat. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2026, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2026-edition/1026156/65 "2026-01-26T19:18:27Z")
**Close to Home: The Wonders of Nature Just Outside Your Door** Thor Hanson How to learn about and appreciate the natural world in your yard, or local park, especially invertebrates. Enjoyable book. ---
**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, 2026, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2026-edition/1026156/66 "2026-01-28T05:03:17Z")
Just zipped through _The Spy Who Loved Me_ by Ian Fleming, which is very different from the later James Bond movie (the book is about a beautiful French-Canadian woman ensnared in an arson plot in an upstate New York motel, not an evil genius who wants to trigger WWIII and then hide out under the ocean). The book is dated and sexist but still a decent 007 tale, all in all. I’m now reading two sf books: _Fuzzy Nation_ by John Scalzi is 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. _Ancillary Justice_ by Ann Leckie is a terrific distant-future political/military thriller. It’s about a former soldier of a galactic empire who, 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 creates a detailed, highly advanced but credible interstellar society and then pulls you right into the story. I’m about two-thirds through it and am very impressed. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2026, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2026-edition/1026156/67 "2026-01-28T05:03:46Z")
Finished _Precipice_, by Robert Harris. It’s the start of World War I, and top-secret telegrams keep turning up in parks and along the roadside around London. It soon transpires that it’s Prime Minister HH Asquith callously tossing them out his car window after showing them to his confidante Venetia Stanley. Normally a perp would be tossed in jail for what amounts to violating the Official Secrets Act, but since it’s the prime minister it has to be handled delicately. The Special Branch sets up an operation to intercept all mail between the two, they want to monitor it before deciding what to do exactly, and it turns out the PM is not only routinely confiding state secrets to Venetia but also sending her sensitive documents for her perusal. In real life, the two were in a relationship. Historians are divided as to whether it was sexually consummated, but Harris strongly implies it was. In an Author’s Note at the beginning, Harris writes, “All the letters quoted in the text from the Prime Minister are – the reader may be astonished to learn – authentic, as are the telegrams, newspaper reports and official documents . . .” Well, yes, I was indeed astonished that all these are part of the actual historical record. Asquith was a prolific letter writer, sending Venetia about three letters a day every day and demanding she do the same, so there’s a lot there. (All of his letters here are real, but none from Venetia still exist, so those at least are fictionalized.) An interesting read. Next up is _The Pickwick Papers_, Charles Dickens’ first novel. ---
**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 28, 2026, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2026-edition/1026156/68 "2026-01-28T13:25:08Z")
Started today on [Katabasis](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/210223811-katabasis), by R.F. Kuang. Two rival students of magick travel to Hell to rescue their professor. ---
**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 28, 2026, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2026-edition/1026156/69 "2026-01-28T15:43:28Z")
I shall be eagerly awaiting your opinion. ---
**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 28, 2026, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2026-edition/1026156/70 "2026-01-28T19:23:56Z")
I started _Penric’s Demon_ by Lois McMaster Bujold. So far I think it’s a hoot. This poor kid just inherited the equivalent of nine busybody Aunts. I haven’t read any other books in the series, but I’m a die-hard Vorkosigan fan, so I know I’m in good hands. ---
**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 28, 2026, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2026-edition/1026156/71 "2026-01-28T22:22:58Z")
Finished _Cemetery Boys_ by Aiden Thomas. It’s solidly YA so even with human sacrifice it wasn’t overly gory. It’s biggest issue was the pacing, the plot didn’t really start rolling until around the 55% mark. The characters were good, the word building excellent and the humor delightful. ---
**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 29, 2026, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2026-edition/1026156/72 "2026-01-29T01:29:25Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Started today on [Katabasis](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/210223811-katabasis), by R.F. Kuang. Two rival students of magick travel to Hell to rescue their professor. That sounds like it could hold my attention better than _Babel_. I read about two thirds of that book but I couldn’t close the deal (this is common with me.) I love stories that deal with mythological afterlife stuff. > [@DZedNConfused](#): > > It’s solidly YA so even with human sacrifice it wasn’t overly gory. I confess that I don’t really get what makes something YA. I remember when I read _Hunger Games_, I thought, okay, I guess it’s about some kids in a competition–_holy shit that kid just threw an axe into that kid’s skull!_ But heaven forfend they start kissing. ---
**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 29, 2026, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2026-edition/1026156/73 "2026-01-29T01:49:34Z")
There was kissing at the end.. But yeah, I don’t understand why some things with excessive violence and or a lot of death are marketed as Young Adults books. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2026, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2026-edition/1026156/74 "2026-01-29T12:54:10Z")
I finally finished _The Silent Patient_. I enjoy the dual narration style but dislike stories where they purposefully withhold a time jump. I get that the ending would be projected too easily - and I’ll admit that it was a pretty good payoff. ---
**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 30, 2026, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2026-edition/1026156/75 "2026-01-30T19:08:37Z")
Finished _Blood of Tyrants_, the eighth book in Naomi Novik’s Temeraire dragon series, which had its good points, but wasn’t as good as the earlier books. Also finished _Cry When the Baby Cries_, by Becky Barnicoat, which is powerful. (My favorite page was the “Choose the Battles You Will Fight With Your Toddler”. There was a cartoon showing him defending himself with a sword and shield against his mommy, who wanted to apply sunscreen.) Next:_Scale_, a science fiction mystery by Greg Egan and _History Matters_, by David McCullough, ---
**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, 2026, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2026-edition/1026156/76 "2026-01-30T19:26:13Z")
I will get the ne thread up later this evening. ---
**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 30, 2026, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2026-edition/1026156/77 "2026-01-30T19:29:26Z")
I finished _Penric’s Demon._ I quite liked it. I am now reading _Penric and the Shaman._ ---
**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, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2026-edition/1026156/78 "2026-01-31T00:46:55Z")
February thread: [Can it warm up now?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-february-2026-edition/1027219) ---
**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, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2026-edition/1026156/79 "2026-01-31T22:53:35Z")
I finshed _Whisper in the Dark_ by Darcey Burke. A solid whodunnit and a good second book. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2026, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2026-edition/1026156/80 "2026-02-05T01:47:09Z")
Just finished my re-read of _The Mote in God’s Eye_ by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. It has usually been ranked as one of the top SF novels of all time, and it is quite enjoyable but with lots of meetings and side discussions interspersed with some action, so it is for folks who like to dig deep into a story and not just for the action scenes. Not sure it’s still among the best (after all it was written in 1974) but is still and enjoyable read, even if Science Fiction isn’t your go-to. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2026-edition/1026156.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2026-edition/1026156.md?page=5)