# Khadaji's Whatcha Readin' - April, 2014 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 31, 2014, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-april-2014/685027 "2014-03-31T22:16:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2014, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-april-2014/685027/61 "2014-04-09T15:31:31Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Okay, so _Wyrd Sisters_ then? And definitely _A Hat Full of Sky_. Yes, because the witches series feeds directly into the Tiffany series. And _Wyrd Sisters_ is a lot of fun! ---
**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 13, 2014, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-april-2014/685027/62 "2014-04-13T19:17:58Z")
I just finished Stephen King’s _11/22/63_, and liked it very much, despite [spoiler]the bittersweet ending (I would have wanted JFK to survive in all of the timelines). The book was very evocative of that era, and was a real page-turner by the end. Standouts for me were the scenes in which Jake, the protagonist, scares off de Mohrenschildt by pretending to be a CIA agent - and later, when he keeps his cool while being interrogated by FBI Special Agent Hosty and Dallas Police Capt. Fritz after the assassination attempt. Masterful. I noticed in-jokes about the previous King novel, _It_ (about a killer clown on the loose in Derry, Maine). Also, Dwight Holly, the rogue FBI agent who is said to have killed MLK in Chicago in early 1967, is a character in James Ellroy’s novel _Blood’s A Rover_. King also mentioned a “China Syndrome” accident which struck the Vermont Yankee nuclear power station in June 1999 - it’s still there, not far from where my in-laws live, but fortunately hasn’t suffered that kind of disaster. Interesting to learn that King consulted with Doris Kearns Goodwin and Dick Goodwin about a second JFK term, and what might have followed. President George Wallace - yikes![/spoiler] Any interest in an open-spoiler discussion thread of the book? ---
**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 13, 2014, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-april-2014/685027/63 "2014-04-13T20:33:03Z")
I’m rereading **The Newcomes** by Thackeray. I ran out of new books on my e-reader, so I thought I’d give it another go; [as I noted in December 2012](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15770114&postcount=37), I probably should have read **Pendennis** firest but instead I read them in reverse order. I figured that this time I might be in a better position to see the connections between the two books, and it’s a pretty good book in its own right. ---
**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:** [April 14, 2014, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-april-2014/685027/64 "2014-04-14T13:20:41Z")
Finished _A Dance with Dragons_, by George RR Martin, the fifth and latest book of his series A Song of Ice and Fire. I thought it was excellent and encourage **Biggirl** to keep reading it. A very worthy entry. But now I have no more of that series to read. ☹ Martin has become famous for taking his time churning these out, but someone mentioned a possible release date next year for the next installment. I take it as a good sign that an excerpt\*\*\*\*\* of the next book was included at the end of my copy of this fifth book. Plus with the TV series well under way, I imagine he’s going to want the sixth book to come out before the sixth season appears. At any rate, _A Dance with Dragons_ was published three years ago, so no matter when the next book comes out, I’ll have waited three years less than other fans. I understand these next two books will take us even farther North and introduce the Others. Now I’m going to reread sections of the _Lonely Planet – Singapore_ guidebook, as we’re leaving for Singapore pretty soon, early next month. \*\*\*\*\*In which Shagga Son of Dolph cuts off Tyrion’s member and feeds it to the goats. (Nah, just kidding.) ---
**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:** [April 14, 2014, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-april-2014/685027/65 "2014-04-14T15:50:31Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Martin has become famous for taking his time churning these out, This is why I’ve been leery of reading Martin. I don’t want him to pull a Robert Jordan and drop dead before he finishes the series. Of course, so far he hasn’t delayed the series any by writing prequels instead of the main event so perhaps there’s hope. ---
**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 14, 2014, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-april-2014/685027/66 "2014-04-14T17:56:47Z")
_Entertainment Weekly_ reports that Martin sat down the _Game of Thrones_ producers and told them how he intended it all to end, so even if (God forbid) he gets hits by a bus tomorrow the series can still bring the many stories to a natural conclusion. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2014, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-april-2014/685027/67 "2014-04-14T18:05:23Z")
> [@SpazCat](#): > > This is why I’ve been leery of reading Martin. I don’t want him to pull a Robert Jordan and drop dead before he finishes the series. Of course, so far he hasn’t delayed the series any by writing prequels instead of the main event so perhaps there’s hope. I’m starting to be more worried that **I’m** going to drop dead before he finishes. It was a sad realization as well that by the time the next book comes out, I’ll have forgotten all the details of the previous books. ---
**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 14, 2014, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-april-2014/685027/68 "2014-04-14T18:10:28Z")
Started today on [Annihilation](http://www.amazon.com/Annihilation-Novel-Southern-Reach-Trilogy/dp/0374104093/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397498695&sr=1-1&keywords=annihilation) by Jeff VanderMeer. So far, a very engrossing story of four explorers who have been sent by the government to investigate the bizarre Area X. Oh yay, it’s the first of a trilogy! Or should I say, oh crap? ---
**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:** [April 14, 2014, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-april-2014/685027/69 "2014-04-14T18:27:15Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > _Entertainment Weekly_ reports that Martin sat down the _Game of Thrones_ producers and told them how he intended it all to end, so even if (God forbid) he gets hits by a bus tomorrow the series can still bring the many stories to a natural conclusion. Having the series creator and writer hit by a bus before he finishes sounds EXACTLY like the kind of thing that would happen in _Game of Thrones_. If they had buses in Westeros, of course. ---
**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 14, 2014, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-april-2014/685027/70 "2014-04-14T18:37:36Z")
He’d better watch his back going to weddings, I’ll tell you that. ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2014, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-april-2014/685027/71 "2014-04-14T19:00:16Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Started today on [Annihilation](http://www.amazon.com/Annihilation-Novel-Southern-Reach-Trilogy/dp/0374104093/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397498695&sr=1-1&keywords=annihilation) by Jeff VanderMeer. So far, a very engrossing story of four explorers who have been sent by the government to investigate the bizarre Area X. Oh yay, it’s the first of a trilogy! Or should I say, oh crap? I really liked this one. The good news is that the second part is being released in a couple of weeks and the third one in September. No waiting. [spoiler]I feel like this is finally VanderMeer at his most mature. It has all of his obsessions (fungi, unreliable narrator to 10th power, being taken over from within) but he’s finally tightened everything up and maybe got a real editor. Annihilation! Annihilation! Annihilation![/spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2014, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-april-2014/685027/72 "2014-04-14T19:57:25Z")
The best recent title was _Attachments_, by Rainbow Rowell. It was cute, a little romantic (if you can suspend your disbelief, otherwise it’s a little stalkery), and it takes place in 1999 so it was especially fun as I was the same age as the characters, so I remembered a lot of the pop culture references, and just life as a junior staff member in a random office. _The Big Clock_, by Kenneth Fearing, was also good. I heard about this on NPR, one of those things where they were talking about noir classics that don’t get a lot of recognition today. I think this was pretty neat - a guy witnesses a crime and then investigates the crime and discovers he is being set up for it. _This Song Will Save Your Life_ by Leila Sales is an endearing YA novel, dealing with feeling like an outsider in high school, but then discovering your talents (in this case, becoming a DJ at an underground dance club). The dog of my recent reading is definitely \*Blood Will Out: The True Story of a Murder, a Mystery, and a Masquerade \*, by Walter Kirn, which got tons of surprisingly good reviews in a number of places, but I thought it was dreadful. It’s a journalist’s memoir about finding out that his friend Clark Rockefeller is actually a con man and a murderer. I just found the author to be so off-putting, he’s a complainer and whines a lot, way before you even get to the murderer guy. ---
**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:** [April 14, 2014, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-april-2014/685027/73 "2014-04-14T23:36:00Z")
I finished **Fire Sale** by Sara Paretsky today. It was good, not stellar but a decent page turner. It is also warning to new writers about writing out a timeline for your novel. One one page, VI says it is seven-thirty, less than 10 pages later it is six thirty and then another 10-15 it is seven thirty again. And the whole evening wraps up at around 10 with a good half day of detecting done in the prior 3, 4, 5 hours… I’m also dubious if about an earlier adventure that VI hospitalized after some 12 hours or so ofnot eating or drinking. I wonder if one would really start hallucinating in that time… ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Why\_Bother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e19adc/32.png) [@Doctor\_Why\_Bother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Why_Bother)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2014, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-april-2014/685027/74 "2014-04-15T00:27:27Z")
I just finished Doctor Sleep by Stephen King, his much publicised sequel to The Shining. While it’s definitely the more readable and entertaining of the two, IMO, it’s _nowhere near_ as scary. Personally, I prefer The Shining, although there’s not much in it. I’m currently reading Enduring Love by Ian McEwan. I can’t say much about it yet other than that it’s astonishingly well written, and I can’t wait to see where it goes. ---
**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 15, 2014, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-april-2014/685027/75 "2014-04-15T02:19:51Z")
> [@delphica](#): > > …_The Big Clock_, by Kenneth Fearing, was also good. I heard about this on NPR, one of those things where they were talking about noir classics that don’t get a lot of recognition today. I think this was pretty neat - a guy witnesses a crime and then investigates the crime and discovers he is being set up for it… You probably knew there were two movies based on it (the later one much more loosely, but IMHO the better film): > **[The Big Clock (film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Clock_(film))** > > The Big Clock is a 1948 American film noir thriller directed by John Farrow and adapted by novelist-screenwriter Jonathan Latimer from the 1946 novel of the same title by Kenneth Fearing. > The black-and-white stars Ray Milland and Charles Laughton, with Maureen O'Sullivan, George Macready, Rita Johnson, and Elsa Lanchester. Harry Morgan, in an early film role, also appears, while Noel Neill has an uncredited bit part as an elevator operator. > George Stroud, editor-in-chief of Crimeways magazine... > **[No Way Out (1987 film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Way_Out_(1987_film))** > > No Way Out is a 1987 American neo-noir thriller film directed by Roger Donaldson and starring Kevin Costner, Gene Hackman, Will Patton, and Sean Young. Howard Duff, George Dzundza, Jason Bernard, Fred Thompson, and Iman appear in supporting roles. The film is based on the 1946 novel The Big Clock by Kenneth Fearing, previously filmed as The Big Clock (1948) and Police Python 357 (1976). > In a house near the Pentagon, Lieutenant Commander Tom Farrell of the Office of Naval Intelligence is under ... ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2014, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-april-2014/685027/76 "2014-04-15T22:15:06Z")
Just ripped through this one twice while on vacation: [Dark And Deep](http://www.amazon.com/Dark-And-Deep-The-Settlement-ebook/dp/B00JIC0JKC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1397599823&sr=8-1&keywords=katharine+tree). It’s a first effort and the editing is a little rough, but I really like the adventury-romance approach. Also, trephination. Also, human branding. Also, headhunting. Now I’m in the middle of [The World Until Yesterday](http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=the%20world%20until%20yesterday). I’m about 25% through. Definitely my favorite Jared Diamond book so far–even more interesting than Guns Germs And Steel. After that, I don’t know. I’m going to re-read the seventh Outlander book before the eighth one is released on June 10, but that’ll only take me a week or two. ---
**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 16, 2014, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-april-2014/685027/77 "2014-04-16T12:29:09Z")
Started this morning on a ghostly tale, [The Winter People](http://www.amazon.com/Winter-People-Novel-Jennifer-McMahon/dp/0385538499/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397651159&sr=1-1&keywords=the+winter+people) by Jennifer McMahon. ---
**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:** [April 16, 2014, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-april-2014/685027/78 "2014-04-16T16:11:31Z")
Started a re-read of Jonathan Kellerman’s first book about Alex Delaware **When the Bough Breaks** yesterday. I wanted to go back to before Milo and Alex were finishing each other’s sentences after reading **Killer** with Milo’s reaction to Alex’s death threat. It HAS been nearly 20 years, if not 20 years since I read it, so it’s practically a new book for me! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-april-2014/685027/79 "2014-04-16T17:05:09Z")
[Prater Violet](http://www.amazon.com/Prater-Violet-Christopher-Isherwood/dp/0816638616) by Christopher Isherwood. Short novel with Isherwood (he uses his own name) and Freidrich Bergmann, a fictional German film director working together on a Prater Violet, a bad movie, in the mid-30’s. It’s a satire of the film industry. Isherwood compares movie-making to what’s going on in Hitler’s Germany and those short paragraphs alone are worth the price of the book. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-april-2014/685027/80 "2014-04-16T17:59:18Z")
I’m plodding through **The Goldfinch**. Since it’s a New book at the library, I could only get it for 14 days and realized at my pace, I would never make it. So my father returned it and bought me a copy. 🙂 And copies of her two prior books. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-april-2014/685027.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-april-2014/685027.md?page=5)