# Khadaji's Whatcha Readin - May 2013 edition
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-may-2013-edition/657149
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [April 30, 2013, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-may-2013-edition/657149 "2013-04-30T21:36:41Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2013, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-may-2013-edition/657149/1 "2013-04-30T21:36:41Z")
The time is flying by - it is already May for some regular posters. The thing is, I had barely got the hang of April, and there it is - gone!
I’ve just finished the omnibus edition ‘The Young Hornblower’, comprising the first three novels of the series. I still find them enjoyable, though I do find myself wondering about the character of Mrs. Maria Hornblower. I think if this manuscript arrived on the desk of a modern editor, she’d be cut or modified in very short order.
I’ve just started Martha Grimes’ ‘Foul Matter’, a delicious satire of the state of the publishing industry. It’s wonderful!
Our last month’s thread can be found [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=686708).
And you - whatcha readin’?
For those who have just come in, these threads are named in honour of a long-time doper who passed away in January this year. **Khadaji** was a warm and supportive poster who always had words of encouragement for others. He was also a voracious reader with eclectic tastes. He loved to discuss books we’ve read, books on the ‘to be read’ pile and books we’re reading right now. We decided to continue the threads as a way to remember someone very dear to the Straight Dope Message Board community.
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### Author:  [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2013, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-may-2013-edition/657149/2 "2013-04-30T21:52:54Z")
> [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](#):
>
> I’ve just finished the omnibus edition ‘The Young Hornblower’, comprising the first three novels of the series. I still find them enjoyable, though I do find myself wondering about the character of Mrs. Maria Hornblower. I think if this manuscript arrived on the desk of a modern editor, she’d be cut or modified in very short order.
I kind of liked the Horatio-Maria relationship. They are both flawed characters of course, but a very human sort of flawed; it isn’t unrealistic.
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### Author:  [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2013, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-may-2013-edition/657149/3 "2013-04-30T22:02:46Z")
I’m reading _Two Years Before the Mast_
The version I have edits out “damns” and possibly other salty language, and also usually, but not always, redacts people’s names. Does anyone know of an epub version that doesn’t do that?
For example:
> [@](#):
>
> I’m F––- T––-, all the way from ’down east.’ I’ve been through the mill, ground, and bolted, and come out a regular-built down-east johnny-cake, good when it’s hot, but when it’s cold, sour and indigestible
Vs.
> [@](#):
>
> You 've mistaken your man ! I 'm Frank
> Thompson, all the way from ’ down east/ I 've been
> through the mill, ground and bolted, and come out a
> regular-built down-east johnny-cake, when it 's hot,
> d d good, but when it 's cold, d d sour and in-
> digestible
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### Author:  [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)
#### Post date: [April 30, 2013, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-may-2013-edition/657149/4 "2013-04-30T22:09:29Z")
Okay, it’s time for the monthly State of the Book Pile:
[Domes of Fire](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/651260.Domes_of_Fire), David Eddings. I’m liking this series more than the Belgariad/Mallorean. It’s more adult and it doesn’t have that godawful wet blanket Polgara. Sephrenia’s much more fun, to the extent I once named a gerbil after her.
[Pushing the Bear](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1010561.Pushing_the_Bear), Diane Glancy. I haven’t actually started reading this yet, but it’s in the pile. It’s about the Trail of Tears and features the actual Cherokee language in places. I love languages written in different alphabets/syllabaries. They look so neat to my monolingual brain.
[The Divine Comedy](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1121903.The_Divine_Comedy), Dante Aligheri. This is an old book from my dad’s house. Like 1948 edition old with engravings by Gustave Doré. This will be on my shelf with my other Good Edition of Something (a nicely-bound collector’s copy of _Look Homeward Angel_, also from my parents’ house. How did they end up with these Good Editions of Something?)
[In Watermelon Sugar](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12568.Trout_Fishing_in_America_The_Pill_versus_the_Springhill_Mine_Disaster_In_Watermelon_Sugar), Richard Brautigan. I finished the first two books in this volume and I’m looking forward to the third.
[Dombey and Son](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50827.Dombey_and_Son), Charles Dickens. I haven’t liked a Dickens novel so much since _Pickwick_. According to Wikipedia, this is the first novel Dickens wrote with a plan in mind. It helps. It really helps. It also helps that (so far) Florence isn’t completely useless like that horrible Little Nell.
[Peace Like a River](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/227571.Peace_Like_a_River), Lief Enger. Also like this book very much. I had a bit of a moment yesterday when I realized I was reading the book while listening to the song “Peace Like a River” by Paul Simon.
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### Author:  [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2013, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-may-2013-edition/657149/5 "2013-05-01T14:13:04Z")
I just finished [The Odds Against Tomorrow](http://www.amazon.com/Odds-Against-Tomorrow-A-Novel/dp/0374224242/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367417478&sr=8-1&keywords=the+odds+against+tomorrow). It’s about:
"NEW YORK CITY, the near future: Mitchell Zukor, a gifted young mathematician, is hired by a mysterious new financial consulting firm, FutureWorld. The business operates out of a cavernous office in the Empire State Building; Mitchell is employee number two. He is asked to calculate worst-case scenarios in the most intricate detail, and his schemes are sold to corporations to indemnify them against any future disasters. This is the cutting edge of corporate irresponsibility, and business is booming.
As Mitchell immerses himself in the mathematics of catastrophe—ecological collapse, global war, natural disasters—he becomes obsessed by a culture’s fears. Yet he also loses touch with his last connection to reality: Elsa Bruner, a friend with her own apocalyptic secret, who has started a commune in Maine. Then, just as Mitchell’s predictions reach a nightmarish crescendo, an actual worst-case scenario overtakes Manhattan. Mitchell realizes he is uniquely prepared to profit. But at what cost?"
I thought it was ok. An interesting read, but the write-up made it sound like it would look at disasters on a more macro level. It didn’t happen that way.
I’m currently making my way slowly through “A Brief History of Everything.” One thing that fascinates me as he goes through the history of science is just how ubiquitous the knowledge that these scientists devoted their lives discovering and arguing over. An example was all the disagreements over plate tectonics and now it’s mentioned without a second thought in any introductory physical geography class.
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### Author:  [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2013, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-may-2013-edition/657149/6 "2013-05-01T14:16:27Z")
> [@Khadaji's Whatcha Readin' - April 2013 Edition](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-april-2013-edition/654364/141):
>
> Started today on a YA novel,[Sparks: the Epic, Completely True Blue, Almost Holy Quest of Debbie](http://www.amazon.com/Sparks-Completely-Almost-Quest-Debbie/dp/0738726761/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1367239553&sr=1-1&keywords=sparks+true+blue) by S.J. Adams. It strains credulity often (one girl gets revenge on another by gluing her picture next to the word “fat” in all the dictionaries at school :dubious:), but the story is interesting. The main character is a lesbian with a crush on her straight, Christian best friend. There are also a lot of Full House references, which I could do without because I’ve never seen the show.
I had to ditch this for poor editing. Truthfully, it was only getting lamer anyway, but “complement” spelled as “compliment” three times on the same page seemed like a good enough reason to let myself off the hook.
Fortunately, I had **Infovore** ’s book, [The Forgotten](http://www.amazon.com/Forgotten-R-L-King/dp/0615646581/ref=la_B0084QBKYC_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367417583&sr=1-1), to tide me over. Far more interesting and better written, plus wizards! I’m not quite done, but feel secure recommending it.
Started today on [Gods Behaving Badly](http://www.amazon.com/Gods-Behaving-Badly-A-Novel/dp/0316067628/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1367417378&sr=8-1). Seems decent, though it may have to go back to the library before I can finish.
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### Author:  [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2013, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-may-2013-edition/657149/7 "2013-05-01T14:49:05Z")
I was apparently very much of a slacker when it came to participating in April’s thread.
I am currently reading _The Wreck of the River of Stars_, because of a mention in one of these threads, and _Beautiful Ruins_, which was recommended by several friends.
Things I read in April:
_Tell the Wolves I’m Home_, by Carol Rifka Brunt. This was excellent, a novel about a teenage girl in the 80s who loses her uncle to AIDS, and strikes up a weird secret friendship with his partner. I was a teenage girl in the 80s, and was amazed by how spot on this feels in terms of setting.
-
Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Book Store\*, by Robin Sloan. I liked this very much! This novel seemed to keep coming up over and over, and for some reason I found the title off-putting (it just seemed too cute) so I resisted for a while. It’s a fun, light read about a quirky puzzle solving secret society, and what happens when that’s combined with the power of Google.
_Self-Made Man: One Woman’s Journey Into Manhood and Back Again_, by Norah Vincent. I remember seeing this reviewed when it came out a few years ago, it’s by a woman who poses as a man to get access to traditionally all-male spaces. I thought it was interesting as a personal memoir, but the armchair sociologist in me kept wanting more concrete data.
And a bunch of YA stuff, for those who partake –
_Impossible_, by Nancy Werlin, which came out a few years ago and is a modern take on the Tam Lin legend. I liked it.
_Midwinterblood_, by Marcus Sedgwick, about a pair of lovers searching for each other being reincarnated in different generations. Eh, it was okay. Romantic but it doesn’t really come together in a plot that makes sense.
_Monstrous Beauty_, by Elizabeth Fama. Teen romance mermaid ghost love story. It doesn’t really stand out, but it was a completely serviceable YA novel.
_17 & Gone_, by Nova Ren Suma. Not really my thing, it was trying to be a “thriller with heart” but just ended up being confused, about missing 17 year old girls.
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### Author:  [@wonderlust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonderlust)
#### Post date: [May 1, 2013, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-may-2013-edition/657149/8 "2013-05-01T14:55:46Z")
> [@SpazCat](#):
>
> [Peace Like a River](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/227571.Peace_Like_a_River), Lief Enger. Also like this book very much. I had a bit of a moment yesterday when I realized I was reading the book while listening to the song “Peace Like a River” by Paul Simon.
What synchronicity! And just the right kind of book for that.
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### Author:  [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2013, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-may-2013-edition/657149/9 "2013-05-02T03:13:15Z")
Just finished _ **The Bell Jar** _ because it’s one of those books you’re supposed to have read.
Now I’ve started - and am more excited about - [_ **The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears** _](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/231851.The_Beautiful_Things_That_Heaven_Bears) by Dinaw Mengestu - recommended to me by an Ethiopian guy I work with when I asked him if there are any cool Ethiopian novels.
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2013, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-may-2013-edition/657149/10 "2013-05-02T03:14:48Z")
Almost halfway through _Black Mischief_, a comic novel by Evelyn Waugh. It’s set in a fictional African country not a million miles removed from the real-life Ethiopia. It came out in 1932, just a couple of years after Waugh went to Ethiopia to report on the coronation of Haile Selassie.
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### Author:  [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)
#### Post date: [May 2, 2013, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-may-2013-edition/657149/11 "2013-05-02T07:09:35Z")
I seem to be on a kick of re-reading books from the seventies: To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Lucifer’s Hammer and now **Instant Replay** , by Jerry Kramer, which actually came out in 1968, I believe.
Kramer was an offensive guard on the Green Bay Packers in Vince Lombardi’s last season as head coach. He kept a diary of the season from earliest spring training to Super Bowl II, and recorded his observations about Lombardi, his teammates, opposing players and front office people. Kramer was approaching the end of his career and contemplated retiring after toiling in the obscurity only offensive linemen know, but got his chance in the sun in the playoff game against the Vikings when he sprang the perfect block against Jethro Pugh to allow Bart Starr to score the winning touchdown. The play was shown on television over and over, hence the title.
I think this has been considered one of the finest football books ever, and even 45 years later it stands up well.
And now on to another read from the ancient past: _Is Paris Burning?_ by Larry Collins and Dominique LaPierre.
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### Author:  [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2013, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-may-2013-edition/657149/12 "2013-05-03T16:13:16Z")
I finished Wilkie Collins’s **The Woman in White** yesterday. It was a pretty entertaining yarn, although it fizzled out a bit towards the end.
I’m also not sure I approve of the idea that a woman with a magnetic personality, a kind and loyal heart, a brilliant mind and a smokin’-hot body should be doomed to spinsterhood because she has dark skin and excessive facial hair…
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### Author:  [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2013, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-may-2013-edition/657149/13 "2013-05-03T18:12:17Z")
> [@hogarth](#):
>
> I finished Wilkie Collins’s **The Woman in White** yesterday. It was a pretty entertaining yarn, although it fizzled out a bit towards the end.
>
> I’m also not sure I approve of the idea that a woman with a magnetic personality, a kind and loyal heart, a brilliant mind and a smokin’-hot body should be doomed to spinsterhood because she has dark skin and excessive facial hair…
Yeah, the hero married the wrong girl - the feeble-minded but pretty one.
Collins stands far below Dickens, in my estimation, based upon reading 2 Collins novels.
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### Author:  [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2013, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-may-2013-edition/657149/14 "2013-05-03T18:15:51Z")
I had preordered Joe Hill’s new book, _NOS4A2_, without reading a plot description. The book arrived this week. I looked at some Amazon reviews and saw comments that the book is too long, bloated, full of vile descriptions of child abuse and murder. Decided not to read it, then decided to read the damn thing and decide for myself. So many decisions!
The main character is Victoria McQueen, a young girl who uses a magic bridge to find things that people have lost. The villain is Charlie Manx, a child collector who drives a Rolls Royce Silver Wraith with the license plate NOS4A2 (get it?). When the book starts, Charlie is in a coma in a prison hospital. Then flashback twenty years, and per the blurb, Charlie and Victoria will meet but Victoria will be the only child to escape from him.
I’m liking it so far. It reads like a King novel from the 70’s, with interesting characters and small town details, and not particularly bloated.
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### Author:  [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2013, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-may-2013-edition/657149/15 "2013-05-03T18:28:28Z")
> [@bup](#):
>
> Yeah, the hero married the wrong girl - the feeble-minded but pretty one.
I was secretly rooting for her to die, like Dora in **David Copperfield**.
> [@bup](#):
>
> Collins stands far below Dickens, in my estimation, based upon reading 2 Collins novels.
The only real criticisms I have of **The Woman in White** and **The Moonstone** are that the endings are a bit far-fetched and/or corny by modern standards. But certainly they’re much less far-fetched than Dickens’s endings, which usually collapse under the sheer weight of his contrived coincidences, IMO. A Dickens novel usually feels like a series of funny short stories with a fairly lame framing device, whereas the Wilkie Collins novels I read felt more like “real” novels.
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### Author:  [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2013, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-may-2013-edition/657149/16 "2013-05-03T18:52:45Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#):
>
> I had preordered Joe Hill’s new book, _NOS4A2_, without reading a plot description. The book arrived this week. I looked at some Amazon reviews and saw comments that the book is too long, bloated, full of vile descriptions of child abuse and murder. Decided not to read it, then decided to read the damn thing and decide for myself. So many decisions!
>
> The main character is Victoria McQueen, a young girl who uses a magic bridge to find things that people have lost. The villain is Charlie Manx, a child collector who drives a Rolls Royce Silver Wraith with the license plate NOS4A2 (get it?). When the book starts, Charlie is in a coma in a prison hospital. Then flashback twenty years, and per the blurb, Charlie and Victoria will meet but Victoria will be the only child to escape from him.
>
> I’m liking it so far. It reads like a King novel from the 70’s, with interesting characters and small town details, and not particularly bloated.
Oh goody! I’m picking it up from the library this weekend. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2013, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-may-2013-edition/657149/17 "2013-05-03T21:21:41Z")
> [@hogarth](#):
>
> I finished Wilkie Collins’s **The Woman in White** yesterday. It was a pretty entertaining yarn, although it fizzled out a bit towards the end.
>
> I’m also not sure I approve of the idea that a woman with a magnetic personality, a kind and loyal heart, a brilliant mind and a smokin’-hot body should be doomed to spinsterhood because she has dark skin and excessive facial hair…
This is why I’m very particular about the Victorian novels I buy having decent footnotes. I have the Oxford World’s Classics edition of Woman in White, and while the endnotes can be a bit distracting at times (they mainly compare the All the Year Round version with the manuscript and the triple-decker version) there are some interesting asides. Such as the one that points out that the cozy little household that Walter, Marian, and Laura set up is actually a cozy little threesome. Also, Marian and Laura were a bit too fond of each other in the manuscript. Not overtly, but some of the things they say…
So yeah, Marian ended up all right in the end. She wasn’t married so she could still call her soul her own but she also got the guy in the end.
Forgot to add–the Halcombe household at the end was based on Wilkie Collin’s own relationship with his long-term girlfriends. Plural. He had two. Generous!
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### Author:  [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2013, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-may-2013-edition/657149/18 "2013-05-03T21:23:02Z")
I’m finally reading _Wolf Hall_, by Hilary Mantel, which I’ve heard so much about over the last few years. It’s an historical novel about Henry VIII’s divorce, told from the point of view of Thomas Cromwell. I’ve read so much about Henry and his wives and children - both fiction and nonfiction - that I thought I’d had enough of this subject, but here I am sucked in again.
I’m 100 pages into the book, and I can see why it’s such a hit. The writing is very good, once you get used to the quirky narration: it’s written in present tense with a very tight third-person point of view. The pronoun “he” is used often without attribution and defaults to Cromwell. It can be confusing in dialog sometimes. I’m enjoying the odd style, but I can see where some readers would find it annoying.
It seems to me that the book relies on the reader already knowing a good bit about the history of Henry’s “great matter”.
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### Author:  [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2013, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-may-2013-edition/657149/19 "2013-05-04T05:04:46Z")
Another Kindle deal, if you haven’t read Ann Patchett’s _The Magician’s Assistant,_ it’s $2.51 today. Weird price, great book. I love Patchett’s ability to create a sense of place.
I enjoyed _Wolf Hall_ and it’s sequel recently, although, unlike **Eleanor,** I’m not much up to scratch on my Tudor history.
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [May 4, 2013, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-may-2013-edition/657149/20 "2013-05-04T22:03:14Z")
> [@RandMcnally](#):
>
> I just finished [The Odds Against Tomorrow](http://www.amazon.com/Odds-Against-Tomorrow-A-Novel/dp/0374224242/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367417478&sr=8-1&keywords=the+odds+against+tomorrow). It’s about:
>
> “NEW YORK CITY, the near future: Mitchell Zukor, a gifted young mathematician, is hired by a mysterious new financial consulting firm, FutureWorld…”
Sorry it underwhelmed you. It sounded pretty good.
> [@movingfinger](#):
>
> I seem to be on a kick of re-reading books from the seventies: To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Lucifer’s Hammer…
Didn’t care at all for the first; liked the second but still think _The Mote in God’s Eye_ was a much better Niven and Pournelle book.
I’m more than halfway through Ron Chernow’s _Washington: A Life_, a pretty good bio of the first President, and about 60 pages into Rebecca Skloot’s _The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks_, an interesting nonfiction book about medicine, science, racism and the profit motive. My teenage son and I are also reading Robert A. Heinlein’s _Space Cadet_ together, and enjoying it very much.
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