# Khadaji’s Whatcha Reading Thread - May 2022 edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [April 30, 2022, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-may-2022-edition/963718 "2022-04-30T12:59:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [May 5, 2022, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-may-2022-edition/963718/21 "2022-05-05T18:23:38Z")
Finished _Fugitive Telemetry: The Murderbot Diaries_, by Martha Wells, which I enjoyed. Now I’m reading _Naming Nature: The Clash Between Instinct and Science_, by Carol Kaesuk Yoon. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2022, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-may-2022-edition/963718/22 "2022-05-06T12:53:32Z")
**Ravenna: Capital of Empire, Crucible of Europe** Judith Herrin A history of the Italian city of Ravenna, from about 400 AD to 900 AD when it was the capital of the Western Roman empire, and then a key city under control of Constantinople. It was notable for the churches built in this time, which were beautifully decorated with mosaics, many reproduced in the book. Unfortunately the book is written in a very dry academic style and a lot of it centers around obscure theological arguments that did not interest me much at all. Only recommended if you are really into detailed European history. ---
**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:** [May 6, 2022, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-may-2022-edition/963718/23 "2022-05-06T17:00:44Z")
I finished reading _Faithful Place_ by Tana French. Life in the tenements of Dublin–reminiscent of _Angela’s Ashes_ in its own way. The writing is good if sometimes a little over the top and the characters come across as very real. Depressing on almost every level but overall well worth the read. Certainly several notches better than her _The Searcher_, likewise depressing, which I read and wrote about in March or April. ---
**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:** [May 6, 2022, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-may-2022-edition/963718/24 "2022-05-06T19:14:54Z")
> [@Catamount](#): > > - _The Hobbit, or There and Back Again_ by J.R.R. Tolkien. I inherited two editions of The Hobbit from my dad: the original authorized paperback version and the 50th anniversary hardbound version that comes in a gold slipcover. I’m reading the hardback. The paperback is nigh worn out and lives in a plastic bag now. Allow me to highly recommend: [https://www.amazon.com/Annotated-Hobbit-J-R-R-Tolkien/dp/0618134700/ref=sr\_1\_1?crid=2J94V9OTPUHQW&keywords=annotated+hobbit&qid=1651864351&s=books&sprefix=annotated+hobbit%2Cstripbooks%2C65&sr=1-1](https://www.amazon.com/Annotated-Hobbit-J-R-R-Tolkien/dp/0618134700/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2J94V9OTPUHQW&keywords=annotated+hobbit&qid=1651864351&s=books&sprefix=annotated+hobbit%2Cstripbooks%2C65&sr=1-1). Richly illustrated, with explanations and backstory for lots of stuff you might otherwise ignore or miss, and it includes a reprint of “The Quest of Erebor” from _Unfinished Tales_, in which Gandalf explains to Frodo, many years later, what was really going on with Bilbo and the Dwarves. Very, _very_ good stuff. ---
**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:** [May 6, 2022, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-may-2022-edition/963718/25 "2022-05-06T23:19:52Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Allow me to highly recommend: [https://www.amazon.com/Annotated-Hobbit-J-R-R-Tolkien/dp/0618134700/ref=sr\_1\_1?crid=2J94V9OTPUHQW&keywords=annotated+hobbit&qid=1651864351&s=books&sprefix=annotated+hobbit%2Cstripbooks%2C65&sr=1-1](https://www.amazon.com/Annotated-Hobbit-J-R-R-Tolkien/dp/0618134700/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2J94V9OTPUHQW&keywords=annotated+hobbit&qid=1651864351&s=books&sprefix=annotated+hobbit%2Cstripbooks%2C65&sr=1-1). Richly illustrated, with explanations and backstory for lots of stuff you might otherwise ignore or miss, and it includes a reprint of “The Quest of Erebor” from _Unfinished Tales_, in which Gandalf explains to Frodo, many years later, what was really going on with Bilbo and the Dwarves. Very, _very_ good stuff. Christopher Tolkien turned me off of the annotated editions. I’m surprised he never got around to publishing the annotated versions of his dad’s shopping lists before he died. Although he did give us _Children of Hurin_, so there’s that. I gave up on _Cryptonomicon_ after 10 pages. The first equation triggered my severe math aversion and made me question if I wanted to slog through another 900 page Stephenson doorstop. I did not. ---
**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:** [May 8, 2022, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-may-2022-edition/963718/26 "2022-05-08T03:05:03Z")
FWIW, I don’t believe Christopher Tolkien had anything to do with this book. ---
**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:** [May 8, 2022, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-may-2022-edition/963718/27 "2022-05-08T16:53:15Z")
Just started listening to _Silverview_ by John Le Carré. The author completed it in 2014, but requested that it be published after his death. He died in 2020. ---
**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:** [May 8, 2022, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-may-2022-edition/963718/28 "2022-05-08T18:44:07Z")
Finished _Naming Nature: The Clash Between Instinct and Science_ , by Carol Kaesuk Yoon, which was interesting. Now I’m reading _Alternate Peace_, edited by Steven H Silver and Joshua Palmatier. It’s an anthology of alternate history short stories where the divergent point is set during peacetime. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2022, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-may-2022-edition/963718/29 "2022-05-08T21:02:22Z")
Righteous Troublemakers by Al Sharpton. ---
**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:** [May 9, 2022, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-may-2022-edition/963718/30 "2022-05-09T01:09:53Z")
Finished _Labyrinth_ by Bill Pronzini, the 6th Nameless Detective book. Pronzini is definitely getting better, the emphasis is on the mystery so most of the characters are pretty two dimensional, but it was an interesting read nevertheless. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2022, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-may-2022-edition/963718/31 "2022-05-09T11:23:32Z")
I am reading The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison. A really engaging Fantasy tale about the exiled son of an Emperor who is forced to take the throne when everyone ahead of him in succession is killed. Draws you in from the first page and creates an entire new world effortlessly. I am halfway through and really like it so far. ---
**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:** [May 9, 2022, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-may-2022-edition/963718/32 "2022-05-09T17:18:15Z")
Finished _Alternate Peace_ , edited by Steven H Silver and Joshua Palmatier, an alternate history anthology of which the best story was “Or, the Modern Psyche”, by Brian Hugenbruch. The diverging point is the eruption of Mount Tambora taking place in 1846, thirty years after its actual eruption, with major effects on the present day. Now I’m reading _Simplexity: Why Simple Things Become Complex (And How Complex Things Can Be Made Simple)_ by Jeffrey Kluger. ---
**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:** [May 10, 2022, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-may-2022-edition/963718/33 "2022-05-10T15:03:21Z")
I finished Clive Cussler and Paul Kemprecos’ **White Death** , an old Kurt Austin yarn I hadn’t read before. A typical Cussler Guilty Pleasure. Now on to Rachel Maddow’s **Blowout**. Very good so far. After that (and as bedside reading) I’ve going through Rebecca Rupp’s **How Carrots Won the Trojan War** – a wonderfully provocative title for a book on vegetables and foodways with lots of weird ephemera. After that, possibly the volumes of Livy or Plutarch I picked up at a recent book sale. I’m not sure I’m ready for the used Cussler I picked up yet. On audio, I’ve finished Stephen King’s **The Institute** and am almost finished with Douglas Preston and Lincoln Childs’ latest Agent Pendergast novel, **Bloodless**. As I’ve said, like Cussler, if they don’t make you say “Oh, come ON now!” at least once in the course of the book. This one’s got several such moments. It begins with a somewhat fictionalized account of Daniel Cooper’s (so-called D.B. Cooper) hijacking of an airplane, then rapidly moves on to modern-day vampiric killings in Savannah, and manages to connect the two with a wonderfully loopy interpretation of what happened to Cooper. Not sure what audiobook I’ll go to next, but I need one soon. ---
**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:** [May 11, 2022, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-may-2022-edition/963718/34 "2022-05-11T15:52:46Z")
Finished _Simplexity: Why Simple Things Become Complex (And How Complex Things Can Be Made Simple)_ by Jeffrey Kluger, which was okay. I would’ve liked it better if I hadn’t already read most of the information elsewhere. Now I’m reading _The Star Fox_ by Poul Anderson. ---
**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:** [May 11, 2022, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-may-2022-edition/963718/35 "2022-05-11T16:00:59Z")
Started Jennifer McMahon’s [The Children on the Hill](https://www.amazon.com/Children-Hill-Jennifer-McMahon/dp/1982153954/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1652284539&sr=8-1). It’s the story of two children with a happy childhood, being raised by their grandmother, who is the director of a psychiatric hospital. Then one day she brings home a weird little girl… This is billed as a modern take on Frankenstein. Is the author really implying that the grandmother reanimated this little girl? I’m not sure yet. ---
**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:** [May 11, 2022, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-may-2022-edition/963718/36 "2022-05-11T17:00:02Z")
I just got back from a long weekend trip and got a lot of reading done, finishing these four books: David Sedaris’s second collection of diary entries, _A Carnival of Snackery_. Pretty good, although not his best. There’s lots about his book tours, family visits and his favorite hobby: picking up trash by the roadside near his home in England. It ends before his father’s death last year, which I’m sure he wrote a _lot_ about. _Star Trek: The New Voyages_, a 1976 collection of fanfic edited by Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath, with some surprisingly good pieces about Kirk, Spock, McCoy et al.: “The Enchanted Pool,” “The Face on the Barroom Floor” and “Mind-Sifter,” especially. _In the Company of Men: A Woman at The Citadel_ by Nancy Mace and Mary Jane Ross. Mace was the first woman to graduate from The Citadel, the previously all-male military academy in Charleston, S.C., overcoming lots of challenges, including rampant and very ugly misogyny, to do so. An interesting account, all in all, but with some puzzling narrative gaps; it also could have used better editing. _A Study in Emerald_ by Neil Gaiman; a graphic novel by Rafael Albuquerque (author, illustrator), Rafael Scavone (author) and Dave Stewart (illustrator). A worthwhile adaptation of Gaiman’s clever Conan Doyle/Lovecraft mashup. Now I’ve begun Robert A. Heinlein’s _Sixth Column_, a sf novel about a superscience-based counterinsurgency against Pan-Asiatic conquerors of the U.S. First serialized in 1941, it’s pretty racist, but if you can get past that it’s a pretty good read. I first read it in my teens and it’s all coming back to me now. ---
**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:** [May 12, 2022, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-may-2022-edition/963718/37 "2022-05-12T16:47:13Z")
I read [Sometimes I Lie](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32326398-sometimes-i-lie) by Alice Feeney. It was good enough to finish, but not as good as I was expecting it to be. Currently reading [Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46674.Feeling_Good) by David D. Burns. Also not as good as I was expecting it to be. It’s a book on cognitive behavioral therapy, which is essentially changing your thought patterns to reduce depression. I don’t have depression, but I figured I could still stand to read about healthy thought patterns. The book has some solid techniques and advice, but it’s written in a textbook-sort of style that’s dry and is taking me a while to get through. Also reading [Lucy Crisp and the Vanishing House](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52743704-lucy-crisp-and-the-vanishing-house) by Janet Hill, which is such a different reading experience than I’m used to. Hill is first and foremost an artist, and so this book is actually a picture book! It’s a little over 200 pages, and I’m not sure who the target readership audience is: maybe middle grade? But the book has gorgeous colorful illustrations throughout (I bought the hard copy because I knew my Kindle would not do the pictures justice). Not every page has an illustration, but there are several in each chapter and I turn each page hoping to encounter another picture. Makes me feel like a five-year old again! ---
**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:** [May 12, 2022, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-may-2022-edition/963718/38 "2022-05-12T22:50:37Z")
Finished _The Star Fox_ by Poul Anderson, which had its good parts. Very like Heinlein, including some things that did not age well about the female characters. Now I’m reading a book of essays by Teresa Nielsen Hayden called _Making Book_. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2022, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-may-2022-edition/963718/39 "2022-05-12T23:13:05Z")
Kim Stanley Robinson’s latest h/c arrived this morning, so I’m about to start that. It’s a hefty natural history/memoir called The High Sierra: A Love Story. He’s known the mountainsall his life and one of my favourite stories of his is Muir on Shasta so I’m sure I can enjoy it without ever visiting! ---
**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:** [May 13, 2022, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-may-2022-edition/963718/40 "2022-05-13T00:12:33Z")
MOST of the SF of that period hasn’t aged well in reference to women. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-may-2022-edition/963718.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-may-2022-edition/963718.md?page=3)