# Khadaji’s Whatcha Reading Thread - July 2020 edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 30, 2020, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2020-edition/913825 "2020-06-30T18:09:58Z")\ **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:** [June 30, 2020, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2020-edition/913825/1 "2020-06-30T18:09:58Z")
Well… Here we are learning a new board, though it feels, to me, at least, like we went back in time to the early 2000s. But we will soldier onward, sprinkling commas and book commentary all over the landscape. Currently I am reading, for my book club: **The Merry Spinster** by Mallory Ortberg. The book blurb advertises it as retellings of fairy tales with an edge of horror. I am, so far, underwhelmed. Tanith Lee, fangirl squeal, did all of this back in the 80s and did it much better. I don’t forsee myself looking back on the spinster in a year’s time, much less 40 years from now. I am also rereading **A Gentleman Never Keeps Score** by Cat Sebastian, because I’m frustrated and fearful and a nice cheesy romance is what I need right now. _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 unexpectantly passed away, January of 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:** [June 30, 2020, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2020-edition/913825/2 "2020-06-30T18:11:26Z")
[Where did June go???](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-june-2020-edition/854744/76) ---
**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:** [July 1, 2020, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2020-edition/913825/3 "2020-07-01T05:23:07Z")
Just started _Indigo Slam_, an Elvis Cole-Joe Pike noir by Robert Crais. A 15-year-old girl and her two younger siblings hire Cole and Pike to find their father, who’s been missing for 11 days. Unbeknownst to the two detectives, the whole family is in the Witness Protection program. Odd, but the book has two titles, as I’ve seen it also called _Indigo Blues_. ---
**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:** [July 1, 2020, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2020-edition/913825/4 "2020-07-01T17:07:27Z")
I just finished [A Song for a New Day](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43401925-a-song-for-a-new-day?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=GGFkBcFA7G&rank=1). I don’t think this is too much of a spoiler, but imagine a world where a pandemic has led to people social distancing and isolating from one another, only it goes on for a really really long time. This is the dystopia the author imagined way back in 2019. It’s a little unnerving to read it now, like, I found myself wanting to writhe in discomfort at certain points. The book is told through the lens of a musician and a musical act recruiter. It’s pretty engaging, but I sometimes felt like the camera was just slightly out of focus, and I had trouble connecting with the characters. If it had been a little bit sharper, if the prose had been just a little bit better, it would be magnificent. ---
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2020, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2020-edition/913825/5 "2020-07-01T17:09:35Z")
_Say Nothing_ - Patrick Radden Keefe If you want to know about “The Troubles” in Northern Ireland in the 1970s, this is an excellent read. Murder, politics, traitors, double crosses and its all true or, at least, alleged to be. ---
**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:** [July 1, 2020, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2020-edition/913825/6 "2020-07-01T18:43:12Z")
The library pulled back my audiobook copy of Iain M. Banks’s sf novel _The Player of Games_, which I’m about halfway through and am still enjoying, at the end of my subscription period because someone else ordered it. Annoying. So now I have it on hold again. In the meantime I’ve gone on to Elmore Leonard’s _Road Dogs_, a dark comedy/crime novel featuring several characters from previous books of his, including Jack Foley and Dep. U.S. Marshal Karen Sisco (played so well by George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez in _Out of Sight_). Foley, a good-natured career bank robber, is about to be released from a Florida state prison and naturally will get into trouble again because, after all, there would otherwise be no book. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2020, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2020-edition/913825/7 "2020-07-01T21:17:14Z")
I just finished Ta-Nehisi Coates’ _[Between the World and Me](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25360188-between-the-world-and-me)_, which I thought was very well written, though depressing. Tonight, I’m going to start on the second book in Robin Hobb’s Farseer Trilogy, _[Royal Assassin](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25300956-royal-assassin)_. I thoroughly enjoyed _[Assassin’s Apprentice](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/77197.Assassin_s_Apprentice)_, upon my wife’s recommendation. ---
**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:** [July 2, 2020, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2020-edition/913825/8 "2020-07-02T00:38:59Z")
> [@Asimovian](#): > > I just finished Ta-Nehisi Coates’ _[Between the World and Me](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25360188-between-the-world-and-me)_ , which I thought was very well written, though depressing. Woah, **Asimovian**! I haven’t seen you around for awhile. Good to hear from you! (If you’ve been around and I’ve been oblivious, my bad.) _Between the World and Me_ looks both excellent and depressing. I need to check it out. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2020, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2020-edition/913825/9 "2020-07-02T18:27:38Z")
> Woah, **Asimovian**! I haven’t seen you around for awhile. Good to hear from you! (If you’ve been around and I’ve been oblivious, my bad.) Thanks! I heard the news about the relocation of the board, and got nosy enough to peek through the window, as it were. Glad to see good people are still roaming about (and presumably, still causing sufficient trouble). Let me know what you think of the Coates book, if you end up reading it. ---
**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:** [July 2, 2020, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2020-edition/913825/10 "2020-07-02T23:33:25Z")
Finished _An Informal History of the Hugos: A Personal Look Back at the Hugo Awards, 1953-2000_, by Jo Walton, which I enjoyed. There are a number of books and stories that I’ll be reading because of it. Now I’m reading _Exhalation_, by Ted Chiang. ---
**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:** [July 3, 2020, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2020-edition/913825/11 "2020-07-03T01:29:30Z")
I’m more than halfway through Jules Verne’s Five Weeks in a Balloon. I got the Wesleyan University translation that came out five years ago, because Verne has been abysmally treated by his translators.until the past few decades. We’re in the Third Verne Renaissance, and a lot of his stuff is being re-translated and scrubbed of his son Michel’s additions and changes. After this it’s on to Wesleyan’s translation of Robur the Conqueror. I’d previously read the paperback edition that came out in 1961 as a tie-in to the Vincent Price adaptation of Master of the World. . According to the notes in the new edition, the two previous english translations abridged and changed the story in ways that would be unacceptable today. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2020, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2020-edition/913825/12 "2020-07-03T03:22:24Z")
I’m currently reading: 1. Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder: Taleb, Nassim Nicholas 2. Along the Way: The Journey of a Father and Son: Sheen, Martin, Estevez, Emilio, & Edelman, Hope 3. Johnny Cash Reads the Complete New Testament-NKJV: Cash, Johnny [and God, in theory] 4. The Art of Dying Well: A Practical Guide to a Good End of Life: Butler, Katy 5. The Physicians of Vilnoc (Penric and Desdemona, #8): Bujold, Lois McMaster 6. Tales from Concrete Jungles: Urban Birding around the World: Lindo, David 7. Human Errors: A Panorama of Our Glitches, from Pointless Bones to Broken Genes: Lents, Nathan H 8. If All the Seas Were Ink: A Memoir: Kurshan, Ilana 9. To Be Taught, If Fortunate: Chambers, Becky And about to start It’s about Time: A Call to the Camino de santiago: Walker, Johnnie ---
**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:** [July 4, 2020, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2020-edition/913825/13 "2020-07-04T03:02:05Z")
Wow, **susan** , you have all those books underway all at once? How can you possibly keep them separate in your mind? > [@Asimovian](#): > > I just finished Ta-Nehisi Coates’ _[Between the World and Me](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25360188-between-the-world-and-me)_, which I thought was very well written, though depressing… I had just the same reaction. My middle son and I just read one of my favorite sf short stories, Jack Vance’s “The Moon Moth,” aloud, and next will be turning to George R.R. Martin’s terrific environmentalism satire, _Tuf Voyaging_, one of my all-time sf favorites. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2020, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2020-edition/913825/14 "2020-07-04T03:32:36Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Wow, **susan** , you have all those books underway all at once? How can you possibly keep them separate in your mind? I don’t know, but I do. Part of it is the medium and location: 1. Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder: Audible, gardening 2. Along the Way: The Journey of a Father and Son: Hardback, bed 3. Johnny Cash Reads the Complete New Testament-NKJV: Audible, bed or walking 4. The Art of Dying Well: A Practical Guide to a Good End of Life: Paperback, work desk 5. The Physicians of Vilnoc (Penric and Desdemona, #8): Kindle, bed 6. Tales from Concrete Jungles: Urban Birding around the World: Hardback, bathtub _7. Human Errors: A Panorama of Our Glitches, from Pointless Bones to Broken Genes: Done_ 7. If All the Seas Were Ink: A Memoir: Kindle on phone, bed when I wake in the night 8. To Be Taught, If Fortunate: Paperback, bathtub ---
**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:** [July 4, 2020, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2020-edition/913825/15 "2020-07-04T03:45:04Z")
Impressive. I usually have, at most, three books going at once: an audiobook on my phone (mostly listening during my commute or on long walks), a bedside-table book, and whatever I happen to be reading aloud with my son. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2020, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2020-edition/913825/16 "2020-07-04T05:00:45Z")
I’ve always had at least two going, but sometimes up to 15. There are others I’m reading but didn’t list since they’re not for fun (for example, a self-help book my client and I are reading as she works through the activities). ---
**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:** [July 4, 2020, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2020-edition/913825/17 "2020-07-04T21:07:17Z")
Finished _Exhalation_ , by Ted Chiang. It’s a collection of stories, and I thought “Omphalos” was the best. Now I’m reading _If You Lived Here, I’d Know Your Name: News from Small-Town Alaska_, by Heather Lende. ---
**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:** [July 6, 2020, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2020-edition/913825/18 "2020-07-06T14:22:06Z")
Still working my way through [Wastelands: the New Apocalypse](https://www.amazon.com/Wastelands-Apocalypse-John-Joseph-Adams/dp/1785658956/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1594044629&sr=1-2). It’s an anthology, so you know…a mixed bag. I’m enjoying it though. I also just finished Bill Bryson’s [Neither Here nor There: travels in Europe](https://www.amazon.com/Neither-Here-nor-There-Travels/dp/0380713802/ref=sr_1_1?crid=353CUURBSKGBP&dchild=1&keywords=neither+here+nor+there+bill+bryson&qid=1594044754&s=books&sprefix=Neither+here+%2Cstripbooks%2C152&sr=1-1). I’ve been dipping in and out of it for a couple of months now. I like Bryson; he’s funny. But this was published in ’92, and sometimes came off as being a bit more racist or sexist than us woke folks of the present are comfortable with. I was beginning to feel a little embarrassed for Mr. Bryson at one point because he couldn’t seem to stop talking about everyone’s boobs. Still, as I said, it was funny and I’ll read some of his other stuff should it fall into my path. ---
**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:** [July 6, 2020, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2020-edition/913825/19 "2020-07-06T20:17:17Z")
Finished _If You Lived Here, I’d Know Your Name: News from Small-Town Alaska_ , by Heather Lende, which I enjoyed very much. Now I’m reading a historical novel set in 1950’s Australia, _The Women in Black_, by Madeleine St. John. ---
**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:** [July 7, 2020, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2020-edition/913825/20 "2020-07-07T21:41:43Z")
Finished _The Women in Black_ , by Madeleine St. John, which I enjoyed. Now I’m reading _The Ballad of the White Horse_ by G.K. Chesterton. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2020-edition/913825.md?page=2)