# Khadaji's Whatcha Readin' - April 2013 Edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 30, 2013, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-april-2013-edition/654364 "2013-03-30T17:10:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Archergal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Archergal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archergal)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-april-2013-edition/654364/41 "2013-04-04T18:04:38Z")
I broke down and read **The Road** by Cormac McCarthy. I’d just assumed it would be too bleak for me. Well, it IS bleak, but it was good. I’m glad I read it. I also finished **Briarpatch** by Tim Pratt. Interesting concept for a world, but the plot was kinda meh to me. I just wasn’t that interested in the characters. But if it’s a setup for a series, that could probably work. ---
**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:** [April 5, 2013, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-april-2013-edition/654364/42 "2013-04-05T03:49:43Z")
During my recent Arizona trip, I finished Stephen C. Neff’s _Justice in Blue and Gray_, about legal issues (secession, slavery, blockades, seizure of property, habeas corpus, Sherman’s March to the Sea, etc.) in the Civil War. Dry but quite interesting. I also just finished Joe Haldeman’s _Old Twentieth_, a sf novel about humans in the distant future on a looong starship voyage to colonize another planet. They spend a lot of their time in an ultra-advanced virtual reality system, which starts to malfunction… or does it? There are echoes of _Star Trek_’s Holodeck and _The Matrix_ here, but Haldeman puts his own spin on it, and it’s a pretty engaging story. Next on my Haldeman list: _The Accidental Time Machine._ I’m also now almost 300 pages into Ron Chernow’s _Washington: A Life_, and enjoying it. Although the author doesn’t break much new ground with this recent bio of the Father of His Country, he does show the human side of the great man (Washington’s love for his wife, earlier flirtations with older women, his sense of honor, zest for riches, occasional bad temper, love of cards, wine and the theatre) very engagingly. > [@movingfinger](#): > > Well, not surprisingly A **Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius** crashed and burned just past the halfway mark. I offered it to my cat who enjoys chewing covers from books and he wouldn’t touch it, so to my local used book store it will go, and some other schlub can have a shot at it. A year or so ago, I put it down after 50 pages with nary a regret. > [@RandMcnally](#): > > … > > I think I’m going to start… “The Forever War.”… Great! I’m a big Haldeman fan (see above) and would be glad to recommend other books of his. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-april-2013-edition/654364/43 "2013-04-05T06:25:07Z")
_Catching Fire_ by Suzanne Collins _Oxford History of the American People_ by Samuel Eliot Morison Gospel of _John_ (English Standard Version) ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-april-2013-edition/654364/44 "2013-04-05T14:28:48Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Great! I’m a big Haldeman fan (see above) and would be glad to recommend other books of his. I finished _Forever War_ last night and I really enjoyed it. You can tell he was a veteran. Even though I didn’t deploy nearly as long as those in the book, or even as long as my Army counterparts, when you get back home you do feel like things have passed you by, even when the time is only measured in months. It really is weird. And, despite the danger, you do start to feel at home _over there._ He didn’t touch on PTSD at all throughout the book (it’s very possible I missed it). I wonder of it’s because when the book was written PTSD wasn’t really a thing.\* By that I mean it wasn’t really in the public consciousness. ---
**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:** [April 5, 2013, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-april-2013-edition/654364/45 "2013-04-05T16:57:30Z")
Yes, there’s very little about PTSD in the book - Mandella’s growing disassociation from Earth is a far more important issue. Unless you want more, I’ll limit myself here to a single Haldeman recommendation: the short story “A Separate War” in his collection _A Separate War and Other Stories_. It’s about the Tauran War from Marygay’s perspective. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-april-2013-edition/654364/46 "2013-04-05T17:28:27Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Yes, there’s very little about PTSD in the book - Mandella’s growing disassociation from Earth is a far more important issue. Unless you want more, I’ll limit myself here to a single Haldeman recommendation: the short story “A Separate War” in his collection _A Separate War and Other Stories_. It’s about the Tauran War from Marygay’s perspective. You’ll have to tell me how you liked _The Accidental Time Machine._ I’ve heard mixed things. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-april-2013-edition/654364/47 "2013-04-05T17:39:22Z")
_The Thief of Time_ by Terry Pratchett (re-reading), _Deader Homes and Gardens_ by Joan Hess, and _The Existential Jesus_ by John Carroll. ---
**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:** [April 5, 2013, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-april-2013-edition/654364/48 "2013-04-05T17:44:17Z")
I’ve been pecking at [How to Be a Person: The Stranger’s Guide to College, Sex, Intoxicants, Tacos, and Life Itself](http://www.amazon.com/How-Be-Person-Strangers-Intoxicants/dp/1570617783/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top) for a few days now. When I first brought it home from the library, I gave it to both kids and told them to scan the table of contents. Each child then absconded with the book for a few days. I wonder if they were reading the sex and drug chapters or the cooking and laundry stuff? ---
**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:** [April 5, 2013, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-april-2013-edition/654364/49 "2013-04-05T18:50:15Z")
> [@RandMcnally](#): > > You’ll have to tell me how you liked _The Accidental Time Machine._ I’ve heard mixed things. Will do. I like probably three-quarters of Haldeman’s stuff, but he’s not perfect. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-april-2013-edition/654364/50 "2013-04-05T19:54:52Z")
Still plodding my way through _ **At the Mountains of Madness** _. I’m not sure if I’ve read this one before, actually–I don’t remember a Lovecraft story that was essentially _sympathetic_ to the Old Ones. However, may put it down soon, as the new TPB of [The Unwritten](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1401238068/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) showed up on my doorstep on Wednesday. I’m getting a bit hazy on the story now, so I may start over from the beginning to get my bearings. Highly recommended series, by the way. ---
**Author:** ![Suil\_Dubh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85f322/32.png) [@Suil\_Dubh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suil_Dubh)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2013, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-april-2013-edition/654364/51 "2013-04-06T06:43:18Z")
> [@lisiate](#): > > _Perdido Street Station_ is fantastic (and extremely weird) I went on a Mieville binge after reading it, and nothing else was nearly as good in my opinion. I’m a little over halfway through, and still loving it. Miéville’s really great at ramping up the tension. I’ve been reading it on the train and I’ve almost missed my stop a few times now because I was so engrossed. > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I’m a big Haldeman fan (see above) and would be glad to recommend other books of his. I read his “Camouflage” several months ago. This was the first time I’ve read anything by Haldeman. I loved the main concept and the first half of the book, but you can kind of see the twist coming straight at you by the last half. The actual ending itself also seemed a little abrupt to me. Not tacked on, but just a bit abrupt. I’m looking forward to eventually reading “The Forever War” though as I’ve heard such good things about it. ---
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2013, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-april-2013-edition/654364/52 "2013-04-06T07:00:41Z")
I just started re-reading \*\*Lucifer’s Hammer \*\*by Niven and Pournelle. I read it decades ago (it came out in 1977) and enjoyed it, and was kind of amused to notice how dated it seems now (A character dictates a memo on a Dictaphone, another worries that his 15 year-old son will want his own micro computer and a Black woman is described as having a strange hairdo called a corn roll. Yeah, roll). Still, it’s a good yarn. I’m at the point where a collision with the comet is seeming more likely every day, and people are getting panicky. An emergency Apollo mission is sent up to have a look at the comet, as the space shuttles are still a good six years away. ---
**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:** [April 7, 2013, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-april-2013-edition/654364/53 "2013-04-07T03:38:28Z")
> [@Suil\_Dubh](#): > > …I read his “Camouflage” several months ago. This was the first time I’ve read anything by Haldeman. I loved the main concept and the first half of the book, but you can kind of see the twist coming straight at you by the last half. The actual ending itself also seemed a little abrupt to me. Not tacked on, but just a bit abrupt. > > I’m looking forward to eventually reading “The Forever War” though as I’ve heard such good things about it. Haven’t read _Camouflage_. Haldeman does sometimes have problems with his endings, though, it’s true. _The Forever War_ is excellent, but avoid the sequels. I would also (oh, all right, I’ll go ahead and do it) recommend _Mindbridge, Tool of the Trade, All My Sins Remembered, The Hemingway Hoax_ and _Worlds_ (also avoid its sequels). His short story colllections \*Dealing in Futures, Infinite Dreams \*and _A Separate War and Other Stories_ are a little uneven, but far more good than bad. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2013, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-april-2013-edition/654364/54 "2013-04-07T11:06:10Z")
Elendil’s Heir - we seem to have precisely the same taste in Joe Haldeman novels. I seem to recall the rumour about some massive disagreement between Haldeman and his publisher over the sequel to ‘Worlds’, such that he ended ‘Worlds Away’ … in such a way as to leave it completely impossible that Earth Boy and Space Girl could ever get together again, thereby leaving it so there would be no sequel. I never did read the third. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2013, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-april-2013-edition/654364/55 "2013-04-07T11:47:22Z")
> [@movingfinger](#): > > I just started re-reading \*\*Lucifer’s Hammer \*\*by Niven and Pournelle. I read it decades ago (it came out in 1977) and enjoyed it, and was kind of amused to notice how dated it seems now (A character dictates a memo on a Dictaphone, another worries that his 15 year-old son will want his own micro computer and a Black woman is described as having a strange hairdo called a corn roll. Yeah, roll). > > Still, it’s a good yarn. I’m at the point where a collision with the comet is seeming more likely every day, and people are getting panicky. An emergency Apollo mission is sent up to have a look at the comet, as the space shuttles are still a good six years away. I’ve read that book several times. I like the “disaster porn” and rebuilding parts, but the romance parts are not great. And it always seems dated to me to see black characters saying things like “Honky!” and “You dig?” ---
**Author:** ![Fleetwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fleetwood/32/271_2.png) [@Fleetwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fleetwood)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2013, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-april-2013-edition/654364/56 "2013-04-07T20:04:05Z")
Re-reading William Manchester’s The Last Lion vol one then two (Biography of Winston Churchill). Recently found out that the third volume has been completed by another author. I was severely disappointed when I found out Manchester was to ill to complete the final book. Left us at his appointment as PM. ---
**Author:** ![Suil\_Dubh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85f322/32.png) [@Suil\_Dubh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suil_Dubh)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2013, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-april-2013-edition/654364/57 "2013-04-07T23:35:14Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > _The Forever War_ is excellent, but avoid the sequels. I would also (oh, all right, I’ll go ahead and do it) recommend _Mindbridge, Tool of the Trade, All My Sins Remembered, The Hemingway Hoax_ and _Worlds_ (also avoid its sequels). His short story colllections \*Dealing in Futures, Infinite Dreams \*and _A Separate War and Other Stories_ are a little uneven, but far more good than bad. Thanks for the recommendations! ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2013, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-april-2013-edition/654364/58 "2013-04-08T00:03:09Z")
After reading about it from fellow Dopers; _Johnathan Strange & Mr Norrell_. Enjoying it very much. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2013, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-april-2013-edition/654364/59 "2013-04-08T00:25:42Z")
I’m reading [Faceless Killers](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/935308.Faceless_Killers), by Henning Mankell. It should come shrink-wrapped with a Paxil. ---
**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:** [April 8, 2013, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-april-2013-edition/654364/60 "2013-04-08T00:43:41Z")
> [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](#): > > Elendil’s Heir - we seem to have precisely the same taste in Joe Haldeman novels. > > I seem to recall the rumour about some massive disagreement between Haldeman and his publisher over the sequel to ‘Worlds’, such that he ended ‘Worlds Away’ … in such a way as to leave it completely impossible that Earth Boy and Space Girl could ever get together again, thereby leaving it so there would be no sequel. I never did read the third. Thanks, **Ministre** - great minds and all that! Hadn’t heard that story. I read all three of the _Worlds_ books, and the first was far and away the best of the bunch. **Súil Dubh** , you’re more than welcome! Hope you love 'em as much as I do. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-april-2013-edition/654364.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-april-2013-edition/654364.md?page=4)