# Khadaji's Whatcha Readin' - March 2014 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 1, 2014, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-march-2014/682562 "2014-03-01T00:21:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 6
**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:** [March 29, 2014, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-march-2014/682562/101 "2014-03-29T02:48:52Z")
I just finished **Hunting Shadows** , by Charles Todd and I think I’m done with this author. I love the main character in the series, Rutledge, and Hamish, the ghost from the trenches of WWI who both haunts and advises him. The secondary characters, though, are interchangeable and dull and there is way too much boring interrogatory and bumbling in and out of ‘motor cars’. ---
**Author:** ![Trick\_Rider](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Trick\_Rider](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trick_Rider)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2014, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-march-2014/682562/102 "2014-03-29T02:57:44Z")
I finished Rohinton Mistry’s **A Fine Balance** earlier today and was pretty disappointed. It’s a well-written book, though I thought it could have done with less scatological references. I was really enjoying it right up to the last 75 or so pages, but the last bit felt forced and needlessly dark, especially compared to the rest of the book. I’m planning to sort of cleanse the palate with a good non-fiction book next, but I’m not sure which one. I’ve got one about elephants and another about the fossils of the Burgess Shale that I’m considering. ---
**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:** [March 29, 2014, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-march-2014/682562/103 "2014-03-29T04:02:21Z")
I’ve started Stephen King’s _11/22/63_ and am just leaving on vacation, so I hope to make some good progress on the trip. It’s a big book! ---
**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:** [March 29, 2014, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-march-2014/682562/104 "2014-03-29T04:36:23Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I’ve started Stephen King’s _11/22/63_ and am just leaving on vacation, so I hope to make some good progress on the trip. It’s a big book! That’ll make a great vacation page turner. It’s one of King’s best, IMO, and no matter how long some of his books are they read really quickly. I loved it and I hope you do also. ---
**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:** [March 29, 2014, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-march-2014/682562/105 "2014-03-29T10:16:53Z")
> [@DZedNConfused](#): > > Almost 2/3s of the way through **Trunk Music** and two things come to mind: Connelly needs to take a biology class and an anatomy class… > > Fish do not include dolphins & porpoises and NO female ever has a **piercing in her vagina** ☹ :eek:OWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW:eek: This was written by a man, wasn’t it? ---
**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:** [March 29, 2014, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-march-2014/682562/106 "2014-03-29T11:59:32Z")
> [@SpazCat](#): > > :eek:OWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW:eek: > > This was written by a man, wasn’t it? Oh yes, one who needs an anatomy lesson! ---
**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:** [March 29, 2014, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-march-2014/682562/107 "2014-03-29T14:27:12Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > I am tackling Trollope’s Palliser novels. The series starts with “Can You Forgive Her”, which posits a situation that was dire in Victorian times but which is so trivial nowadays that it is hard to get in the spirit. > > The second novel that I am about 10% of the way through now is “Phineas Finn” which seems to be about a young and rather foolish Irish MP. It is not clear at this point where the Pallisers come into this novel except as deep background, but maybe they turn up later. > > There are four more novels, none of which are very well known any more. I think I liked the Barsetshire series better, at least there was some gentle humor in there from time to time. I’ve noticed that 90% of Trollope’s novels boil down to: “Should I marry this nice person?” [500 pages of dithering later…] “Sure, why not.” For the Palliser novels, I thought “Phineas Finn” was the highlight since it had some interesting insights on the ins and outs of running for office in the old days layered on top of the usual “will they, won’t they” plot. The ending was a bit lame (no spoilers) and presumably Trollope thought so too since he undoes it later. The least interesting books in the Palliser series were “Can You Forgive Her” (which seemed to drag on way too long) and “The Duke’s Children” (I thought the characters were kind of boring). ---
**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:** [March 29, 2014, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-march-2014/682562/108 "2014-03-29T18:43:41Z")
> [@koeeoaddi](#): > > I just finished **Hunting Shadows** , by Charles Todd and I think I’m done with this author. I love the main character in the series, Rutledge, and Hamish, the ghost from the trenches of WWI who both haunts and advises him. The secondary characters, though, are interchangeable and dull and there is way too much boring interrogatory and bumbling in and out of ‘motor cars’. Just for curiosity, have you ever read any of [Rennie Airth](http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/a/rennie-airth/)’s books? Similar period, similar feel, but I find Airth is a much better writer. I’ve only ever read the first of the Charles Todd books - I remember liking it, but you can never tell what a series is going to evolve (or devolve) into… ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2014, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-march-2014/682562/109 "2014-03-29T19:00:29Z")
I’m reading _Everyday Jews: Scenes from a Vanished Life_ by Yehoshue Perle, something I wouldn’t have found on my own but it showed up in my Amazon recommendations, probably because of the Edith Hahn Beer memoir. For once, an Amazon rec worked. Finished [The Adventures of Maximillian Bacchus and His Traveling Circus by Clive Barker](http://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Maximillian-Bacchus-Travelling-Circus/dp/0982154615), four fantastical short stories featuring a talking crocodile, a strong man, an acrobat, an orang-outan, and a man with eyes that serve as flashlights. Only $4.99 on the Kindle and really, really good. I stopped reading Barker many years ago and now I want to go back and catch up. ---
**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:** [March 29, 2014, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-march-2014/682562/110 "2014-03-29T19:06:58Z")
> [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](#): > > Just for curiosity, have you ever read any of [Rennie Airth](http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/a/rennie-airth/)’s books? Similar period, similar feel, but I find Airth is a much better writer. > > I’ve only ever read the first of the Charles Todd books - I remember liking it, but you can never tell what a series is going to evolve (or devolve) into… Yes, thanks, I love Rennie Airth! Also, Pat Barker and Jonathan Hull have excellent novels in that time peroid. Charles Todd is lighter reading, which is fine. I’ve liked several of his books (well, _their_ books, Charles Todd is a mother/son team). I’ve just been disappointd by the last few. ---
**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:** [March 29, 2014, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-march-2014/682562/111 "2014-03-29T22:42:21Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > I’ve noticed that 90% of Trollope’s novels boil down to: > “Should I marry this nice person?” > [500 pages of dithering later…] > “Sure, why not.” That’s the synopsis for 90% of Victorian literature in general. ---
**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:** [March 30, 2014, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-march-2014/682562/112 "2014-03-30T01:35:28Z")
> [@DZedNConfused](#): > > Almost 2/3s of the way through **Trunk Music** and two things come to mind: Connelly needs to take a biology class and an anatomy class… > > Fish do not include dolphins & porpoises and NO female ever has a piercing in her vagina ☹ I have seen vaginal piercings. ---
**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:** [March 30, 2014, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-march-2014/682562/113 "2014-03-30T02:59:23Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I have seen vaginal piercings. Well hell, you live in Thailand. You’ve probably seen a lot more than that! ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2014, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-march-2014/682562/114 "2014-03-30T03:32:43Z")
_Servants: A Downstairs View of Twentieth Century Britain_ by Lucy Lethbridge. Sad, well written, heartbreaking and yet quite reassuring considering the system is dead today. My find of the day was \*Houses of the Founding Fathers: The Men Who Made America and the Way They Lived \*by Hugh Howard. A beautiful coffee table book in wonderful condition sold for a mere fifty cents at my local library. Nearly new and not a mark on it. Ha! ---
**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:** [March 30, 2014, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-march-2014/682562/115 "2014-03-30T13:55:43Z")
I finished J.V. Jones’ epic doorstop _A Cavern of Black Ice_ yesterday. She is not at all kind to her characters. If you survive the entire series, you have \*earned \*it. Next up is _A Fortress of Grey Ice_ which is less doorstoppy. ---
**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:** [March 30, 2014, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-march-2014/682562/116 "2014-03-30T18:27:32Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I have seen vaginal piercings. Really? Up inside? Because the vagina is an internal organ. I’ve seen labial and vulva piercings however. Um so reading… do scanlations count? ---
**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:** [March 30, 2014, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-march-2014/682562/117 "2014-03-30T22:59:45Z")
> [@DZedNConfused](#): > > Really? Up inside? Because the vagina is an internal organ. I’ve seen labial and vulva piercings however. > > Um so reading… do scanlations count? Okay, okay, so I guess it’s labial and vulva piercings I saw. We didn’t really chat about the specific body label. ---
**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:** [March 30, 2014, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-march-2014/682562/118 "2014-03-30T23:33:01Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Okay, okay, so I guess it’s labial and vulva piercings I saw. We didn’t really chat about the specific body label. 😃 ---
**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:** [March 31, 2014, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-march-2014/682562/119 "2014-03-31T22:17:41Z")
[April’s thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=17246019#post17246019) is now up and running. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-march-2014/682562.md?page=5)