# Khadaji’s Whatcha Reading Thread - November 2022 edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [October 30, 2022, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-november-2022-edition/974044 "2022-10-30T21:45:58Z")\ **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:** [October 30, 2022, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-november-2022-edition/974044/1 "2022-10-30T21:45:58Z")
Wow, only two months of 2022 left! And still so darned many stacks of books to read… Happy Autumn up north and welcome to spring down south. Dress accordingly, use sunscreen if necessary and stay hydrated. Also keep reading. I am currently reading" **Subway Slayings** by C. S. Poe on my Kindle. I love her characters and her mysteries are intriguing and well plotted. **Spy X Family #4** by Tatsuya Endo. A spy has to make a family for a mission… hijinks ensue… _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 unexpectedly passed away in January 2013, we decided to rename this thread in his honor and to keep his memory, if not his ghost, alive._ ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2022, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-november-2022-edition/974044/2 "2022-10-30T22:23:39Z")
Finished the last Robert Crais novel. His new release is preordered and drops tomorrow, but I started **The Plot** today. Really enjoying it so far. Thanks for the recommendation @Dung_Beetle IIRC!? ---
**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:** [October 30, 2022, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-november-2022-edition/974044/3 "2022-10-30T23:33:52Z")
Last month: [Happy Halloween!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-october-2022-edition/972461/106) ---
**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:** [October 31, 2022, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-november-2022-edition/974044/4 "2022-10-31T12:34:30Z")
I did read The Plot recently, but it was @Railer13 who suggested it first. Hope you like it! I’m still reading Little Eve, by Catriona Ward, still enjoying it. ---
**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:** [November 1, 2022, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-november-2022-edition/974044/5 "2022-11-01T00:42:09Z")
The current state of my book pile (which I forgot last month) - _Arrowsmith_, Sinclair Lewis - It’s about a doctor in the early 20th century who really wants to be a researcher. It’s pretty good. - _The Vicomte de Brangelonne_, Alexandre Dumas - The first installment of the final part of the “Three Musketeers” trilogy. I’m about halfway through. So far, Athos and d’Artagnan have helped Charles II reclaim his throne and now we’re waiting for Mazarin to die. - _The Fellowship of the Ring_, J.R.R. Tolkien - I forgot how freakin’ long the Tom Bombadil section was. - _Women in Love_, D.H. Lawrence - it’s good so far. Lot of guys running around naked for some reason. - _The Grief of Stones_, Katherine Addison - I’m not kidding, I want to live in this world. - _The Vor Game_, Lois McMaster Bujold - OK, SDMB you got me. I’ve started the Vorkosigan Saga. All I have to say is why in the _hell_ did it take me so long to find this series? - _Cold Mountain_, Charles Frazier - Find from the sale shelf at the library. Now I have my very own copy so I can quit swiping my housemate’s. ---
**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:** [November 1, 2022, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-november-2022-edition/974044/6 "2022-11-01T03:37:05Z")
Finished listening to _The War Widow_ by Tara Moss. It’s a story about a woman private detective in Sydney in 1946. She takes on a missing teenage boy case, which turns into something far more onerous. Really enjoyed it, even more so because it’s read by Corinne Davies, who has a most delightful English accent. ---
**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:** [November 1, 2022, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-november-2022-edition/974044/7 "2022-11-01T15:59:42Z")
Finished _Dying Inside_ by Robert Silverberg, which is SF. Not recommended. Now I’m reading _Our Laundry, Our Town: My Chinese American Life from Flushing to the Downtown Stage and Beyond_, by Alvin Eng. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2022, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-november-2022-edition/974044/8 "2022-11-01T16:05:32Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > I did read The Plot recently, but it was @Railer13 who suggested it first. Hope you like it! about halfway through **The Plot** and I’m really enjoying it. Thanks @Dung_Beetle and @Railer13 ! ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2022, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-november-2022-edition/974044/9 "2022-11-02T18:12:20Z")
Just finished: _Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth_, by Reza Aslan Now reading: _Eighth Army: The Triumphant Desert Army That Held the Axis at Bay from North Africa to the Alps, 1939-45_, by Robin Neillands _9 Presidents Who Screwed Up America and Four Who Tried to Save Her_, by Brion McClanahan ---
**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:** [November 2, 2022, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-november-2022-edition/974044/10 "2022-11-02T20:44:50Z")
Finished _Our Laundry, Our Town: My Chinese American Life from Flushing to the Downtown Stage and Beyond_, by Alvin Eng, which was okay. Now I’m reading _Lotharingia: A Personal History of Europe’s Lost Country_, by Simon Winder. Three of Charlemagne’s divided his empire into three parts: France (more or less), Germany (more or less), and Lotharingia–everything in between. ---
**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:** [November 2, 2022, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-november-2022-edition/974044/11 "2022-11-02T20:47:44Z")
Three of Charlemagne’s whats? 😉 ---
**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:** [November 2, 2022, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-november-2022-edition/974044/12 "2022-11-02T22:45:51Z")
Sorry, should have put “grandsons”. ---
**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:** [November 3, 2022, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-november-2022-edition/974044/13 "2022-11-03T22:00:39Z")
I finished reading two Cthulhu Mythos books. You’d think that I’d have finished them off years ago, but it’s not true. And it’s not just the new crop that keeps coming up\*. These are some classic old ones I’ve read. At the Boston Book Festival I picked up an absolutely pristine copy of **The Spawn of Cthulhu** , edited by Lin Carter.\*\* Ballantine published a lot of Lovecraft and August Derleth’s own contributions, but somehow I’d missed this volume, which was one of the “Ballantine Adult Fantasy” series that Carter edited. It’s different, in that it shows how the Mythos grew, and reprints some of the stories from which Lovecraft filched names and characters. An interesting read, especially the stories I hadn’t read before. The other one was an e-book, the **Cthulhu Mythos Megapack** , with 1200 pages of stories, includiung some old stuff that I hadn’t read before. In addition to these, I’ve been reading an e-book collection of Clark Ashton Smith and of Lord Dunsany. I’ve finished the Smith (there are a LOT of his stories I’d never read), but the Dunsany is a bit of a drag. Now I;m reading Rachel Maddow’s **Bag Man** , about the Spiro Agnew bribery scandal. I missed her podcast when it came out. I’ve also picked up Stephanie Schorow’s two books on Boston fires – **The Great Boston Fire** and **The Coconut Grove Fire**. Stephanie gave a reading at the BBF from the Boston Fire book. She’s in two writing groups with me, and I’m going to get her to autograph these. - I’m guilty myself. I’ve written and published three Lovecraftian stories \*\* The book is in unbelievably good shape for a book that’s over half a century old. There are no creases or folds, all the corners are perfectly square, and there isn’t even any yellowing or browning of pages or the covers. It’s as if the book popped out of a time machine. . ---
**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:** [November 3, 2022, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-november-2022-edition/974044/14 "2022-11-03T23:32:48Z")
Or through some kind of cosmic wormhole… ---
**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:** [November 4, 2022, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-november-2022-edition/974044/15 "2022-11-04T03:05:52Z")
I caught the podcast. It was fantastic, very well done. I have the book here in my pile. I should pull it out… ---
**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:** [November 5, 2022, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-november-2022-edition/974044/16 "2022-11-05T01:07:17Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Now I;m reading Rachel Maddow’s **Bag Man** , about the Spiro Agnew bribery scandal. I missed her podcast when it came out. I’m glad you brought up this topic. I had an 8 hour drive today. After reading this post last night, I downloaded the Bag Man series and listened to its entirety. Holy crap, Agnew was a sleaze ball. And he was damn close to being president. ---
**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:** [November 7, 2022, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-november-2022-edition/974044/17 "2022-11-07T14:02:06Z")
Currently reading [Such Sharp Teeth](https://www.amazon.com/Such-Sharp-Teeth-Rachel-Harrison/dp/0593545826/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=such+sharp+teeth&qid=1667828655&sr=8-1), by Rachel Harrison. For a werewolf novel with lots of gore and cursing, plus discussion of child abuse, it has a distinct feeling of _coziness_. The novel this author wrote about witches was the same. It’s not a bad thing, just odd. ---
**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:** [November 7, 2022, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-november-2022-edition/974044/18 "2022-11-07T14:23:25Z")
Forgot to mention. On audio I’m reading **Ghost Stories by Charles Dickens**. They kind of cheated, in my opinion – two of the ghost stories are his Christmas novels **A Christmas Carol** and **The Haunted Man** , both of which I’ve read. The others I w3as unfamiliar with. Interesting, but not particularly scary. After that it’s on to Preston and Childs’ **Dance of Death** , the second of the “Diogenes” trilogy. I haven’t read the first, _Brimstone_, but I can’t find it on audio, and I’m hoping I can make sense of the story with only outlines. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2022, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-november-2022-edition/974044/19 "2022-11-07T14:45:55Z")
Finished **The Plot**. Really enjoyed it, thanks @Railer13 and @Dung_Beetle for the recommendation. I have reread all of Robert Crais’ Elvis Cole/Joe Pike novels and am ready to start his new release in that series, but I decided to read his book **Suspect** just to be a completest. I’m really enjoying it so far. ---
**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:** [November 7, 2022, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-november-2022-edition/974044/20 "2022-11-07T15:14:10Z")
Started listening to _The Great Gatsby_ by F. Scott Fitzgerald. I was surprised to see that it’s only about five hours long. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-november-2022-edition/974044.md?page=2)