# Khadaji's Whatcha Readin' - August 2013 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 1, 2013, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-august-2013/665055 "2013-08-01T04:22:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2013, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-august-2013/665055/21 "2013-08-02T12:44:46Z")
> [@movingfinger](#): > > A big thumbs up on _11/22/63_. I had kind of given up on King, but this one restored the juju. Seconded. I’m not a proper King fan, really, just a Dark Tower fan who will read other King books when someone puts them in my hands. (_ **11/22/63** _ is I believe only the second King book I’ve sought out on my own, after _ **The Stand** _.) It’s a damned good read, though. And, believe it or not, the ending is actually more or less good, as I recall. One wonders if King contracted that out or something. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Draelin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Draelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Draelin)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2013, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-august-2013/665055/22 "2013-08-02T18:34:50Z")
I always want to get involved with this thread, and then I find myself too embarrassed by my book choices to type them aloud. **LawMonkey** , a co-worker gave me _The Gunslinger_ to read a couple months ago because he’s such a huge Dark Tower fan he can’t believe I’ve read almost everything else by King (at least through the mid-90s) and never made it through. This is the third time I’ve tried–I made it almost halfway, but just thinking about picking it up makes me angry. I’m told book two is far more enjoyable–is it worth struggling through something I’m not enjoying at all? I can’t even hate-read it because it’s just not interesting enough to garner my rage. ---
**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:** [August 2, 2013, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-august-2013/665055/23 "2013-08-02T18:57:50Z")
> [@Draelin](#): > > I always want to get involved with this thread, and then I find myself too embarrassed by my book choices to type them aloud. I feel like the token “fluff” reader in here all the time. 🙂 I love King, but I’m not a big Dark Tower fan. I adore _The Drawing of the Three_, and have read it many times, but the others just get so damn weird and ooky. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2013, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-august-2013/665055/24 "2013-08-02T19:10:30Z")
> [@Draelin](#): > > **LawMonkey** , a co-worker gave me _The Gunslinger_ to read a couple months ago because he’s such a huge Dark Tower fan he can’t believe I’ve read almost everything else by King (at least through the mid-90s) and never made it through. This is the third time I’ve tried–I made it almost halfway, but just thinking about picking it up makes me angry. I’m told book two is far more enjoyable–is it worth struggling through something I’m not enjoying at all? I can’t even hate-read it because it’s just not interesting enough to garner my rage. Yeah, _ **The Gunslinger** _ is not the strongest of the bunch. First, make sure you’ve got the expanded version; King discusses what exactly he did, but the result is to improve the novel and make it a more enjoyable read. I can’t promise it’ll make you like it, though. If that fails, I’ve seen lots of people (on these very boards, no less!) recommend starting with the second novel, _ **The Drawing of the Three** _. No doubt about it, it’s _worlds_ better than the first. Generally speaking, people’s favorite installment from the series is either _ **TDotT** _ or _ **The Waste Lands** _. I fall into the latter camp, but that’s just me. I seem to recall that there’s a brief “Previously on _The Dark Tower_” introduction at the beginning of each book. If not (and perhaps even if so), read the wikipedia plot summary (of _ **The Gunslinger** _, I mean!) so you know what’s going on. If you like it, the series is definitely worth the time and effort, even if the final books are a bit weak. You may not, though–it’s not for everybody. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2013, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-august-2013/665055/25 "2013-08-02T19:13:19Z")
Also, don’t feel bad about fluff. I read plenty of fluff, though less than I used to. My last few choices (other than Mary Roach, who’s fluff-with-substance) have been pretty weighty, but I like lots of light fantasy and sci-fi. ---
**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:** [August 2, 2013, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-august-2013/665055/26 "2013-08-02T19:59:19Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > I feel like the token “fluff” reader in here all the time. 🙂 … Hey, I mention just about everything I read, even _Star Trek_ books. Don’t worry about it, **Draelin**. All readers are welcome here. ---
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2013, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-august-2013/665055/27 "2013-08-03T06:55:58Z")
A painless and very witty guide to the correct use of grammar is _Woe is I_, by Patricia O;Connor. The title got me upon seeing it in a used book store, and it did not disappoint. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-august-2013/665055/28 "2013-08-04T02:49:46Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Heh. I’ve been there myself two years from now. > > I’m a big fan of Ken Grimwood’s _Replay_, in which a man keeps dying and going back to earlier points in his life. He lives differently each time, learning (or not) from earlier mistakes, and takes an occasionally-active role in changing history, too. Very good stuff. > > Peter David’s _Imzadi_ is hands-down my favorite _Star Trek_ time travel book (and there’ve been many). I was grinning like an idiot for the last third or so. > > Jerry Yulsman’s _Elleander Morning_ does some clever things with the whole go-back-in-time-to-kill-Hitler concept. The actual mechanics of time travel are left a little vaugue (OK, a _lot_ vague), but it’s a nifty story. > > Robert Heinlein’s 1959 short story “—All You Zombies—” is also a must-read. Temporal paradoxes galore. > > I haven’t read it yet, but I’ve heard good things about Stephen King’s _11/22/63_. Sweet! Thanks. I have read the King book and it is very good. You should check it out. It’s a really engaging story. ETA: Also, I am looking to find what I think is a short story. It’s about a guy that essentially (I think) keeps cloning himself or it has something to do with him keeping clones in captivity where he can keep coming back to them after a period of wretched debauchery to get some kind of treatment where either his brain/personality or something like that is installed in a fresh body every so often so he can continue debauching ad nauseum. Cannot remember the name of it for the life of me. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-august-2013/665055/29 "2013-08-04T03:25:57Z")
Just finished _City of Bones_ about a half hour ago. Kinda broke this next week, so will have to wait until next weekend to go looking for _City of Ashes_. During this week I need to figure out which of the now 40 total discworld books are not in my collection and plan on picking up 1-3 then as well. ---
**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:** [August 4, 2013, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-august-2013/665055/30 "2013-08-04T03:35:17Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > …ETA: Also, I am looking to find what I think is a short story. It’s about a guy that essentially (I think) keeps cloning himself or it has something to do with him keeping clones in captivity where he can keep coming back to them after a period of wretched debauchery to get some kind of treatment where either his brain/personality or something like that is installed in a fresh body every so often so he can continue debauching ad nauseum. Cannot remember the name of it for the life of me. That doesn’t ring a bell. You might want to start a separate “Help me ID this short story about cloning” thread. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-august-2013/665055/31 "2013-08-04T04:23:57Z")
I’m enjoying \*\* Maya’s Notebook \*\*by Isabel Allende. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-august-2013/665055/32 "2013-08-04T05:15:09Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > ETA: Also, I am looking to find what I think is a short story. It’s about a guy that essentially (I think) keeps cloning himself or it has something to do with him keeping clones in captivity where he can keep coming back to them after a period of wretched debauchery to get some kind of treatment where either his brain/personality or something like that is installed in a fresh body every so often so he can continue debauching ad nauseum. Cannot remember the name of it for the life of me. Not ringing a bell for me either, but interesting. Sounds sort of like a sci-fi _ **Picture of Dorian Grey** _. ---
**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:** [August 4, 2013, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-august-2013/665055/33 "2013-08-04T11:55:58Z")
Hi, everyone! I’m back, sunburned and covered in bug bites. I’m almost finished ‘ **The Classical World** ’ by Robin Lane Fox, which is a very well written history of Classical Greece and Rome. I’m very tempted to start right in on his book on ‘Alexander the Great’ when I’m done. …except that I have ‘ **A People’s History of the United States** ’ by Howard Zinn waiting for me. It’ll be a while before I get a chance to finish that. I’m also drawing a blank on your cloning short story, **FoisGrasIsEvil** - John Varley wrote a lot about the social implications of cloning, but I don’t remember this specific scenario, and I think I’ve read them all (though that’s a good excuse to re-read them). ---
**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:** [August 4, 2013, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-august-2013/665055/34 "2013-08-04T12:41:47Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Sweet! Thanks. I have read the King book and it is very good. You should check it out. It’s a really engaging story. > > ETA: Also, I am looking to find what I think is a short story. It’s about a guy that essentially (I think) keeps cloning himself or it has something to do with him keeping clones in captivity where he can keep coming back to them \*\*after a period of wretched debauchery \*\*to get some kind of treatment where either his brain/personality or something like that is installed in a fresh body every so often so he can continue debauching ad nauseum. Cannot remember the name of it for the life of me. Up until the bolded part I thought it sounded like a \*Jetsons \*episode. ---
**Author:** ![Rala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@Rala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rala)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-august-2013/665055/35 "2013-08-04T15:47:38Z")
I recently finished [Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32145.Stiff) by Mary Roach. It was a fun, interesting read. It covers decomposition, dissection, body snatchers, embalming, cadavers as crash test dummies, cadavers being shot at or blown up to test safety equipment for the army, organ donation, cannibalism, and I’m sure there’s more that I’m forgetting. Now I’m reading [Prelude to Foundation](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13452745-prelude-to-foundation) by Isaac Asimov. I’m also reading [Squire](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1135157.Squire) by Tamora Pierce with an online bookclub. I loved this book so much as a kid that my copy is practically falling apart, and it’s been really nice to come back to 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:** [August 4, 2013, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-august-2013/665055/36 "2013-08-04T17:41:05Z")
> [@Rala](#): > > I recently finished [Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32145.Stiff) by Mary Roach. It was a fun, interesting read. It covers decomposition, dissection, body snatchers, embalming, cadavers as crash test dummies, cadavers being shot at or blown up to test safety equipment for the army, organ donation, cannibalism, and I’m sure there’s more that I’m forgetting. That book has me seriously considering donating my body to science when I go. How cool would it be to end up at the decomposing corpse farm? ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-august-2013/665055/37 "2013-08-04T18:48:10Z")
Reading **Throne of Jade** , the second in the Temeraire series. Still loving it, especially how protective Laurence and Temeraire are of each other. It’s almost like a romance. **The Fifties** by David Halberstam was a $1.99 Kindle deal. Each chapter focuses on something from the 50’s that changed the US (if not the world). I admit to skimming the chapters on the bomb and the Korean War, but I might go back to them. One chapter relates to shopping/business, and it’s about a chain of discount stores called Korvette’s. Was this an East Coast thing? It’s the first I’ve heard of it. I’m puzzled, because Halberstam talks about “self-serve” shopping like it’s a new thing. But it makes me wonder how people shopped for big items like appliances and furniture before the 50’s. Were they ordered from catalogs? From manufacturers? Did only rich people buy furniture and it was custom made? ---
**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:** [August 4, 2013, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-august-2013/665055/38 "2013-08-04T21:25:55Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > …One chapter relates to shopping/business, and it’s about a chain of discount stores called Korvette’s. Was this an East Coast thing? It’s the first I’ve heard of it… Looks like it didn’t get any farther west than Chicago, and closed in 1980: [E. J. Korvette - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korvette%27s) ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2013, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-august-2013/665055/39 "2013-08-04T21:50:30Z")
> [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](#): > > I read _The Knife Man_ last year and enjoyed it very much. I’ve just ordered a copy of Hilary Mantel’s 1998 novel _The Giant, O’Brien_, which is about Charles Byrne, whose extremely tall skeleton Hunter collected (against Byrne’s explicit wishes) and which remains in the Hunterian Museum today. The Hunterian is well worth a visit. I went there when I was in London, as a result of reading The Knife Man, and it did not dissapoint! Also, I read a horrifying theory that Hunter may have participated in serial murder in pursuit of knowledge. The evidence is entirely circumstantial, though, and it is based on this (if I remember it correctly): Hunter gained fame by publishiung an anatomical study of the uterus during all stages of pregnancy that is very accurate, and must have been done “from life”. As is well known, Hunter employed a gang of toughs as his “resurrection men” to get desireable human corpses for him to study and collect (that’s how he “acquired” the Irish Giant, Byrne). Clearly, his gang must have gotten bodies of pregnant women for him to study. However, someone did a statistical analysis, and according to them, it is more or less impossible for Hunter to have obtained the necessary “examples” of pregnancy at various stages in order to make his study by “natural decease” - insufficient women dying at exactly the right time in their pregnancy in a city the size of London during the time of him doing the study. It is far more probable (or so the theory goes) that his gang of thugs did some “selecting” of women on his behalf, from among the London underclass (from which they would not have been missed). ---
**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:** [August 5, 2013, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-august-2013/665055/40 "2013-08-05T13:55:05Z")
I finished the Dan Savage book. It was decent, but he was preaching to the choir in my case and I found myself just looking forward to getting back into some fiction. I picked up [The Dark Man: an illustrated poem](http://www.amazon.com/The-Dark-Man-Illustrated-Poem/dp/1587674211) by Stephen King and Glenn Chadbourne from the library and polished it off in about five minutes. I love King, it’s a groovy poem, pictures are fine, but I’m not planning to buy this one for my collection. I’d rather have had it shoehorned in to a new short story book or as part of an anthology. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-august-2013/665055.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-august-2013/665055.md?page=3)