# Khadaji’s Whatcha Reading Thread - October 2023 edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [September 28, 2023, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-october-2023-edition/990838 "2023-09-28T23:50:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**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 10, 2023, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-october-2023-edition/990838/41 "2023-10-10T16:02:00Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > Now I’m reading an anthology, _Alfred Hitchcock’s Haunted Houseful_, edited by Alfred Hitchcock. Interlibrary loan request placed. ---
**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:** [October 11, 2023, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-october-2023-edition/990838/42 "2023-10-11T13:49:36Z")
Finished _Alfred Hitchcock’s Haunted Houseful_, edited by Alfred Hitchcock. I thought this wasn’t one of the best of his juvenile collections. For one thing, there are (IIRC) only two stories that involve actual ghosts. The best story in it was “The Red-Headed League” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, which doesn’t even have a fake ghost. Now I’m reading _The Society of Shame_, by Jane Roper. ---
**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 11, 2023, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-october-2023-edition/990838/43 "2023-10-11T13:52:19Z")
Finished Fever House, which was a lot better than I expected it to be. It’s first of a series, so I’ll definitely pick up the second when it comes out in January. ---
**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 12, 2023, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-october-2023-edition/990838/44 "2023-10-12T12:17:52Z")
Started yesterday on [Pet](https://www.amazon.com/Pet-Catherine-Chidgey/dp/160945930X/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1697112263&sr=8-1), by Catherine Chidgey. It’s about a teacher at a New Zealand Catholic school in the eighties, and the hold she gains over her students. What she will do with this influence remains to be seen. ---
**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:** [October 12, 2023, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-october-2023-edition/990838/45 "2023-10-12T12:21:02Z")
Finished Pyle’s _King Arthur_. Now I’m reading Tom Clancy’s 1992 **Without Remorse**. I thought I’d read all of Clancy’s early doorstop-thick techno-thrillers, but I missed this one somehow. Picked it up for $1 at a used book rack. ---
**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:** [October 12, 2023, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-october-2023-edition/990838/46 "2023-10-12T20:27:29Z")
Finished **Number Go Up: Inside Crypto’s Wild Rise and Staggering Fall** by Zeke Faux. It was a fun, engaging read, a bit sobering when he got to the human trafficking part, but it wasn’t gratuitous and he didn’t dwell on it too long. This is a good entry point for a layperson curious what the whole crypto thing is about. I learned quite a bit with no background in finance. As for crypto, to quote Faux: It’s even dumber than I thought it was. Some people might find his merciless dweeb-bashing distasteful, but these are billionaire scamming money-laundering dweebs profiting off of human misery, so I didn’t feel too bad for them. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2023, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-october-2023-edition/990838/47 "2023-10-13T14:29:33Z")
**Death and the Conjuror** Tom Mead A locked-room murder mystery set in 1930s London, where the chief investigator is a retired stage magician. Clever and fun Recommended Hat tip to @Ulf_the_Unwashed who mentioned this author in a previous month **Cave of Bones** Lee Berger and John Hawks The interesting story behind the discovery of an early homind, Homo Naledi, in a South African cave. Lots of cool pictures and diagrams. The descriptions of squeezing through narrow cave passages are pretty intense. Recommended ---
**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:** [October 13, 2023, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-october-2023-edition/990838/48 "2023-10-13T14:48:39Z")
Finished _The Society of Shame_, by Jane Roper, which was okay. Now I’m reading _Lessons Learned and Cherished: The Teacher Who Changed My Life_, edited by Deborah Roberts. ---
**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 13, 2023, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-october-2023-edition/990838/49 "2023-10-13T19:57:59Z")
Five stars for Pet. I don’t mean it was the best dern book I ever read, but it was a fun read for sure. ---
**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:** [October 14, 2023, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-october-2023-edition/990838/50 "2023-10-14T13:36:40Z")
Finished _Lessons Learned and Cherished: The Teacher Who Changed My Life_, edited by Deborah Roberts, which was okay. Now I’m reading _Random Acts of Medicine: The Hidden Forces That Sway Doctors, Impact Patients, and Shape Our Health_, by Anupam B. Jena, M.D., and Christopher Worsham, M. D. ---
**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:** [October 14, 2023, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-october-2023-edition/990838/51 "2023-10-14T19:56:22Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > …Still, if decapitations are your thing it certainly has its charms… I enjoy ‘em, but try not to let ‘em go to my head. ---
**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:** [October 15, 2023, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-october-2023-edition/990838/52 "2023-10-15T03:42:09Z")
Finished _If It Bleeds_, by Stephen King. A collection of four novellas. The third one is “If It Bleeds,” featuring Holly Gibney of _Mr. Mercedes_ trilogy fame. All four are very good. Continuing my Stephen King jag, I have started _Holly_, his newest, and again featuring Holly Gibney. ---
**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:** [October 15, 2023, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-october-2023-edition/990838/53 "2023-10-15T18:42:37Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I have started _Holly_, his newest, and again featuring Holly Gibney. I’m about 75% done and should finish it in the next couple of days. I’m thoroughly enjoying it, and I’ll be interested in your review. ---
**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:** [October 16, 2023, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-october-2023-edition/990838/54 "2023-10-16T02:12:14Z")
Another Amazonia book (I almost wrote Amazon book, but I got it from the library, not over the internet): I liked David Grann’s _The Wager_ well enough to try his The Lost City of Z. A British army officer of the early twentieth century decides to locate a city of great riches said to lurk somewhere in the Amazon basin. Grann describes the officer’s experiences and follows to some degree in his footsteps to try to find out a) what happened when the explorer disappeared and b) what the straight dope about the “lost city” might be. The parts delineating the explorer’s journeys, ideas, and obsessions are very interesting and well done; the parts about Grann were less compelling and I kept wanting to get back to the good stuff, and the big reveal at the end about the city feels surprisingly anticlimactic, almost like it’s tacked on. Still, definitely worth a read. ---
**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 16, 2023, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-october-2023-edition/990838/55 "2023-10-16T13:19:30Z")
Yesterday I read 70 pages of [Black River Orchard](https://www.amazon.com/Black-River-Orchard-Chuck-Wendig/dp/0593158741/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1697461272&sr=8-1) by Chuck Wendig. However, at that point things were still just being set up, and I was getting bored, so I ditched. My TBR pile is very healthy right now, with a lot of horror novels newly released. Started today on [Black Sheep](https://www.amazon.com/Black-Sheep-Rachel-Harrison/dp/0593545850/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1697461098&sr=8-1) by Rachel Harrison, a novel about a woman returning to visit her family’s cult on the occasion of her ex-boyfriend’s marriage to her best friend. It’s lighter and more amusing than it sounds! ---
**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:** [October 16, 2023, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-october-2023-edition/990838/56 "2023-10-16T15:48:01Z")
Finished _Random Acts of Medicine: The Hidden Forces That Sway Doctors, Impact Patients, and Shape Our Health_, by Anupam B. Jena, M.D., and Christopher Worsham, M. D., which was very interesting. I’ve always gotten a flu shot, but I didn’t realize how important it was. Now I’m reading _Legends & Lattes_, by Travis Baldree. ---
**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:** [October 16, 2023, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-october-2023-edition/990838/57 "2023-10-16T17:35:23Z")
I started something called _Thursday Morning Murder Club_ by Richard Osman. It’s so good! Four octagenarians in a retirement home solve murders in the dryest, most British way possible. So far it is really something special. (I finished Christie’s _Pocket Full of Rye._ Didn’t like it.) ---
**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:** [October 16, 2023, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-october-2023-edition/990838/58 "2023-10-16T17:44:48Z")
I finished _Holly_ by Stephen King. As noted upthread, this is not his finest work, but it certainly held my attention. An unlikely premise, to be sure, but certainly interesting. My only complaint was that the bad guys were dealt with and the protagonist rescued well before the book ended, and the last several chapters were more or less fluff. Maybe King had a minimum word count that he had to meet. Next up: _Judgment Prey_ by John Sandford. ---
**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 16, 2023, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-october-2023-edition/990838/59 "2023-10-16T17:48:58Z")
I read the first chapter online and then placed a hold. Thanks! ---
**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 16, 2023, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-october-2023-edition/990838/60 "2023-10-16T18:43:24Z")
Someone upthread reminded me that _Robots Have No Tails_ by Henry Kuttner exists and I remembered liking it when I was 20ish. Since my copy literally has no binding anymore (all just loose pages in the cover) I picked it up on Kindle and started it this morning. I will be gone this weekend, it’s my local anime convention, so I may or may not get any reading done over the weekend. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-october-2023-edition/990838.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-october-2023-edition/990838.md?page=4)