# Khadaji’s Whatcha Reading Thread - June 2024 edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [May 30, 2024, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-june-2024-edition/1002292 "2024-05-30T18:22:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [June 10, 2024, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-june-2024-edition/1002292/21 "2024-06-10T01:07:51Z")
Just finished The Woods All Black…my gracious. Ron DeSantis would hate this. ---
**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:** [June 11, 2024, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-june-2024-edition/1002292/22 "2024-06-11T11:22:26Z")
Two books recently. [The Book that Broke the World](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/157031755-the-book-that-broke-the-world) is a sequel to _The Book that Wouldn’t Burn._ I really enjoyed the first book, given its mystery, its nonlinear setting, and its wonderful protagonist (one of them, anyway). This one didn’t really do it for me. I was already used to the nonlinear setting, so it wasn’t novel so much as it was a chore, trying to keep track of the multiple timelines. The new characters never did make much sense to me–the vengeance plot driving much of the book’s action felt really forced. And too much of the book consisted of chase sequences. But it was a freaking masterpiece compared to [Edenville](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/75668276-edenville). I save one-star reviews on Goodreads for books that are so bad I can’t finish them. But man, is this book testing that policy. The author has absolutely no sense of how to build tension, relying instead on gross-out effects (if I never read the phrase “eye jizz” again it’ll be too soon). The humor fell flat, the characters were flatter, and none of the action sequences packed any sort of punch. I mean, I’m glad it worked for other people, but for me this ended up being more of a hate-read. ---
**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:** [June 11, 2024, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-june-2024-edition/1002292/23 "2024-06-11T11:40:25Z")
In addition to the other books I’ve been reading, I’ve added **The Book of a Thousand Nights and a Night** translated by Sir Richard F. Burton. I’ve read parts of this before, but have not yet read the whole thing, and in order. I’ve recently acquired a second copy of the first printing, so I figured it was time. I’ve also been reading a lot about the Arabian nights, most notably _The Annotated Arabian Nights_ and Robert Irwin’s _The Arabian Nights: A Companion_ I also picked up a copy of **How to Read Donald Duck** by Ariel Dorfman and Arman Mattelart. I’d stumbled across this Marxist view of Disney comics several years ago and dismissed it, because it seemed absurd to see the work of the underpaid and underappreciated Carl Barks as insidious propaganda for monopolistic capitalist entities. But the recent banning of two of Don Rosa’s Uncle Scrooge stories has made me want to take a second look (Rosa is a acolyte of Barks’) This is a relatively recent edition, published in 2018 (the first edition came out in 1971) , which refers to Donald Trump and other current events. The new front material also actually praises the work of Barks and hails him as a genius not shackled to the Disney philosophy. I suspect they may have put that in because a lot of people felt the way I did. We’ll see how the rest of the book fares. ---
**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:** [June 11, 2024, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-june-2024-edition/1002292/24 "2024-06-11T20:11:28Z")
Finished _Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses_, by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Best book I’ve read so far this year. Strongly recommended, especially if you’re interested in works of popular science. Next up: _Pulling the Wings Off Angels_, by K. J. Parker (a fantasy) and _Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words_, by Randall Munroe. ---
**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:** [June 12, 2024, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-june-2024-edition/1002292/25 "2024-06-12T12:23:34Z")
I finished _How to Read Donald Duck_. As I expected, if you leave out the newer intrioductions there isn’t any recognition of Carl Barks. The book appears to be based on Chilean editions of the comics, which (if the originals were from the US) translated and heavily edited. There’s no way the original edition of the comic, for instance, had blackbirds named “Marx” and “Hegel”, as the translated comic has. And I suspect a lot of the other text has been altered, as well. The Chilean government was heavily into propaganda, and its heavy hand shows in the examples they give in the book. What they’re criticizing isn’t so much the American comics as it ids the beefed-up propaganda of the edition published in Chile. Not that there isn’t stuff to criticize in the US editions (their notes show that they did get hold of some US comics, in addition to the Chilean editions), but it doesn’t help that their evaluation of the Uncle Scrooge story “The 24 Carat Moon” is hopelessly wide of the mark, and their attempt to shoehorn it into their model of exploitation of the natives doesn’t really work. Muchkale isn’t a native, but another “exploiter” himself, and he sure as hell knows what he’s trading. Carl Barks, writing to Don Rosa, offhandedly called “How to read Donald Duck” a piece of “communist propaganda”. He wasn’t impressed. On audio, I finished re-re-(many times) - reading _Strasnger in a Strange Land_ and am now listening to _King Arthur_ by James Knowles. I’d never heard of him before, but he was a contemporary of Alfred Lord Tennyson, and dedicated his prose version to Tennyson. ---
**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:** [June 12, 2024, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-june-2024-edition/1002292/26 "2024-06-12T19:48:21Z")
Amanda Peters, _The Berry Pickers._ A novel set in New England and the Maritimes. 4-year-old Ruthie, a Mi’kmaq girl, wanders away from her family and is kidnapped by a white couple who fake an adoption. Many years later Ruthie, now known as Norma, finds out the truth and meets her family of origin. That’s about it. I’m not giving anything away due to the (to me anyway) curious decision by the author to start the book with the reunion, so there is very little suspense (is Norma really Ruthie? Will she see her family again?). The book also has a lot of glurgy “homespun wisdom”: “I think that we all do bad things, but that don’t always make us bad people.” I have the feeling the author may have a great novel in her, but I didn’t think this one was it. On another note: _Trail of the Lost_ by Andrea Lankford, about the long and complex search(es) for three missing hikers on the Pacific Crest Trail. Lots of hiking, lots of searching, lots of information on searches, the role of social media, charlatans, and people who both help and hinder thru-hikers. I learned a lot! The author is a skeptic when it comes to psychics, but one of the families got a psychic involved. It didn’t work, but the most maddening part of the book is the psychic concluding that one young man wasn’t found because his mother didn’t fully WANT him to be found, so she needed to work on that before any progress could be made. Talk about blaming the victim! I recommend this one, though, and it’s heartwarming to see total strangers getting involved in these searches. ---
**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:** [June 12, 2024, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-june-2024-edition/1002292/27 "2024-06-12T20:48:33Z")
Started _Glitz_ by Elmore Leonard. My first Elmore Leonard crime novel. The man is known in the writing world for excellent dialogue. The story sucked me in immediately. But it’s extremely sexist. Fifty pages in and so far the only female character is a twenty year old sex worker dating the 41-year-old protagonist and the book blurb says she gets murdered, so… Sometimes I have to switch off being a feminist just to enjoy good writing. I can do this for some things and not others. Also on the agenda: _A Most Wanted Man_, John Lacarre, another author I’ve been meaning to get around to. Notable for the fact that he was an actual spy who later wrote espionage thrillers based on his experience. Hard to beat it for authenticity. This is what I’ve been doing since I discovered the library. Taking a few more reading risks. ---
**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:** [June 13, 2024, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-june-2024-edition/1002292/28 "2024-06-13T18:55:59Z")
Finished _Pulling the Wings Off Angels_, by K. J. Parker (a fantasy) and _Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words_, by Randall Munroe, both of which I enjoyed. The former is very Discworld-ish. Now I’m reading _An Elephant for Aristotle_, by L. Sprague de Camp. ---
**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:** [June 13, 2024, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-june-2024-edition/1002292/29 "2024-06-13T19:39:33Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > Now I’m reading _An Elephant for Aristotle_, by L. Sprague de Camp. Great book. De Camp, known as a science fiction/fantasy writer and science popularizer tried to branch out into writing historical fiction. He only wrote a handful of them, but they’re worth reading. Besides **An Elephant for Aristotle** , he wrote **The Dragon of the Ishtar Gate** **The Bronze God of Rhodes** (about the construction of the Colossus of Rhodes. It bears comparison to Ken Follett’s _Pillars of the Earth_ **The Arrows of Hercules** **The Golden Wind** ---
**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:** [June 16, 2024, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-june-2024-edition/1002292/30 "2024-06-16T20:37:00Z")
I’ve read The Bronze God of Rhodes, which I liked, but I enjoyed _An Elephant for Aristotle_, which I just finished, much more. Now I’m reading _The Dragon Behind the Glass: A True Story of Power, Obsession, and the World’s Most Coveted Fish_, by Emily Voigt. ---
**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:** [June 17, 2024, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-june-2024-edition/1002292/31 "2024-06-17T14:06:36Z")
Started this morning on a YA novel, [Unpregnant](https://www.amazon.com/Unpregnant-Jenni-Hendriks/dp/0062876252), by Jenni Hendriks and Ted Kaplan. It’s about a seventeen year old girl who travels out of state for an abortion (I found it on a banned book list). So far it’s an implausible and annoyingly light wacky-girls-on-a-road-trip story, but as the topic is so interesting to me I do still want to see how it all plays out. ---
**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:** [June 19, 2024, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-june-2024-edition/1002292/32 "2024-06-19T18:20:41Z")
Finished Unpregnant, and gosh, that was terrible. It’s really just a story about two girls becoming best friends again. Oh, and they have to make a long trip together. 🙄 ---
**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:** [June 19, 2024, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-june-2024-edition/1002292/33 "2024-06-19T18:57:36Z")
Finished _The Dragon Behind the Glass: A True Story of Power, Obsession, and the World’s Most Coveted Fish_, by Emily Voigt, which was quite interesting. Now I’m reading _Sherlock Mars_ by Jackie Kingon, a cozy SF mystery. ---
**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:** [June 19, 2024, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-june-2024-edition/1002292/34 "2024-06-19T19:36:26Z")
Started today on a sure thing: Playing With Myself, an autobiographical book by Randy Rainbow. Some really impressive blurbs by the likes of people like Patty Lupone and Carol Burnett. Wow, Randy was friends with Josh Gad as a kid! Oh, and spoiler alert, Randy is gay. ---
**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 19, 2024, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-june-2024-edition/1002292/35 "2024-06-19T19:49:41Z")
NO! I would never have guessed that! 😆 ---
**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:** [June 19, 2024, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-june-2024-edition/1002292/36 "2024-06-19T20:30:03Z")
The cutest ones always are. 💔 ---
**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:** [June 20, 2024, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-june-2024-edition/1002292/37 "2024-06-20T19:44:53Z")
Finished _Sherlock Mars_ by Jackie Kingon, a cozy SF mystery. Not recommended. Now I’m reading _Angel of the Overpass_, by Seanan McGuire. ---
**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:** [June 21, 2024, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-june-2024-edition/1002292/38 "2024-06-21T13:27:19Z")
I finished _The Bitch_ by Pilar Quintana last night and I am STILL MAD. Do NOT read this book if you have any positive feelings for dogs. I was irritated with it to begin with because it was misery porn but in the last bit the main character straight up strangled her dog. Fuck this book with a rusty dildo. I think I have the winner for the worst of the year on my blog. ---
**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:** [June 21, 2024, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-june-2024-edition/1002292/39 "2024-06-21T13:32:11Z")
I haven’t even read it, now I’m mad too! ---
**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:** [June 21, 2024, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-june-2024-edition/1002292/40 "2024-06-21T14:04:02Z")
I’m working up quite the rant for Goodreads. People must be warned! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-june-2024-edition/1002292.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-june-2024-edition/1002292.md?page=3)