# Khadaji’s Whatcha Reading Thread - July 2025 edition
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2025-edition/1020278
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Tags:** comic-books-manga, books-writing-myths
**Created:** [June 30, 2025, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2025-edition/1020278 "2025-06-30T00:38:55Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 6
### Author:  [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2025, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2025-edition/1020278/101 "2025-07-27T13:28:57Z")
Library hold placed.
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2025, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2025-edition/1020278/102 "2025-07-27T18:09:50Z")
Still reading _Man With a Bull-Tongue Plow_ by Jesse Stuart. Finished _The Law of Superheroes_, by James Dailey, J.D., and Ryan Davidson, J.D., which I recommend to anyone interested in the law or in superheroes, and _11,000 Years_, a science fiction novel about time travel by Mark Roth-Whitworth, which I recommend to nobody. I only finished it because it’s my next book club’s book, and it is really poorly written. For example, one character is French and speaks with a French accent. The author handles this by (among other things) having her always use a “z” instead of an “s”, except when he forgets. I took French for five years from three different teachers. That’s not right. Also, if her accent were that strong, she would call a character named Winslow “Vinslow”. She doesn’t. And there’s so much more… The author had four beta readers. I’ll bet none speaks French.
Next up: _The Women of Weird Tales: Stories by Everil Worrell, Eli Colter, Mary Elizabeth Counselman, and Greye La Spina_ and _An Entertainment for Angels: Electricity in the Enlightenment_, by Patricia Fara.
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### Author:  [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2025, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2025-edition/1020278/103 "2025-07-27T19:46:54Z")
> [@DZedNConfused](#):
>
> _pops a boatload of popcorn_ Bring it on!
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#):
>
> That’s fun, isn’t it? I’ve never written a book but I’d love to edit some crap. 😁
Someone actually went on my book blog and left a comment complaining that my post about _The King of Elfland’s Daughter_ was not a review per se but a rant. I just deleted their blathering. Some people are just too stupid to breathe oxygen.
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### Author:  [@DZedNConfused](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DZedNConfused)
#### Post date: [July 27, 2025, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2025-edition/1020278/104 "2025-07-27T21:35:39Z")
> [@Catamount](#):
>
> not a review per se but a rant
“Yes and so?” would have been my response.
I finally finished _When the Tides Held the Moon_ by Vanessa Vida Kelley. It’s an M/M romance between a refugee from Puerto Rico and a captured Merman in Coney Island in the weeks before the Dreamland fire of 1911. The book is well researched and populated with great characters, but there’s a bit too much padding in the middle and I put it down for several weeks and read several other things instead. Still I enjoyed it and am glad I read it.
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### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2025, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2025-edition/1020278/105 "2025-07-28T03:20:32Z")
That’s the only Adrian Tchaikovsky that didn’t work for me. But it’s got a Hugo nom, so it’s obviously working for a lot of people.
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### Author:  [@MacDoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacDoc)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2025, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2025-edition/1020278/106 "2025-07-28T03:32:36Z")
I suspect a bit of experimenting by T - I was slow to get into it but persisted ands now engaged.
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### Author:  [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2025, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2025-edition/1020278/107 "2025-07-28T14:35:50Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#):
>
> [Karla’s Choice](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/205899901-karla-s-choice), by Nick Harkaway. It’s a sequel to _The Spy Who Came In From the Cold_, by John Le Carre’s son. I’ve not read TSWCIFTC in many years, but from what I remember, it’s very close stylistically, but a little less chilly than Le Carre’s novels. Beautifully written twisty Cold War spycraft, and the best thing I’ve read since _The Buffalo Hunter Hunter_.
Thanks for this recommendation. I checked out both from the library and will begin a little two-book marathon tonight. I’m passingly familiar with the Smiley books but for whatever reason I never read them (with the exception of _Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy_, which I read after seeing the movie version with Gary Oldman.)
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### Author:  [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2025, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2025-edition/1020278/108 "2025-07-28T14:40:19Z")
Started _Nightshade_ by Michael Connelly. Great read thus far.
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### Author:  [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2025, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2025-edition/1020278/109 "2025-07-28T14:45:48Z")
Thanks for the tip. Have been re-reading Bosch lately as I have nothing new to excite me. Maybe this one will do it.
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### Author:  [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)
#### Post date: [July 28, 2025, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2025-edition/1020278/110 "2025-07-28T15:33:29Z")
About halfway through [Of Monsters and Mainframes](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/216540053-of-monsters-and-mainframes) by Barbara Truelove. This is like if the classic Universal monsters went for a jaunt in Murderbot’s ART. I’m having a good time with it.
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### Author:  [@DZedNConfused](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DZedNConfused)
#### Post date: [July 30, 2025, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2025-edition/1020278/111 "2025-07-30T03:50:00Z")
I finished “All Systems Red” by Martha Wells for the third time. Apparently, every two years I get a hankering…
She just released a short story about ART, I will read it after “Artificial Condition”.
Also New thread: [Hail Caesar! Tis August!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-august-2025-edition/1021495)
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [July 31, 2025, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2025-edition/1020278/112 "2025-07-31T18:59:30Z")
Still reading _Man With a Bull-Tongue Plow_ by Jesse Stuart. Finished _The Women of Weird Tales: Stories by Everil Worrell, Eli Colter, Mary Elizabeth Counselman, and Greye La Spina,_ of which the best was “Leonora” by Everil Worrell. Also finished _An Entertainment for Angels: Electricity in the Enlightenment_, by Patricia Fara, which was interesting.
Next up: _The Chill_, by Ross Macdonald and _The Delany Sisters’ Book of Everyday Wisdom_, by Sadie and Bessie Delaney with Amy Hill Hearth.
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