# Khadaji's Whatcha Readin - May 2013 edition **URL:** \ **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:** 7\ **Page:** 6
**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:** [May 29, 2013, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-may-2013-edition/657149/101 "2013-05-29T15:48:51Z")
Wow, it has been a busy month of not-enough-time-to-read. Sharing a dressing room with three younger, gabby singers and working up a recording didn’t help at all… I finished ‘Fluke’, which was exactly the sort of enjoyable fluff I needed. Christopher Moore’s writing reminded me somewhat of Tom Robbins, Terry Pratchett and Carl Hiaasen’s YA novels. I got a new Penguin translation of the ‘Meditations’ of Marcus Aurelius, and of the ‘Analects’ of Confucius. I also have a very fun book from the library - ‘The Man Who Lied to his Laptop’ by Clifford Nass and Corina Yen. It’s a fascinating look into what our relationships with computers reveal about people. If anyone here is interested, there is also the Anthology Thread of the most recent SDMB Short Fiction contest posted here in the Café Society. There are nine stories this time around, all of which were completed in \<60 hours, using the same three words and photograph as a starting point. Votes and commentary most welcome… ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2013, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-may-2013-edition/657149/102 "2013-05-29T16:22:16Z")
My hold came in, so I’ve also started _The Way of the Knife_, by Mark Mazetti, a Pulitzer Prize winner. It’s a look deep inside CIA operations post-9/11, and its return from being a largely moribund agency to a one heavily involved in assassinations and paramilitary operations. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2013, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-may-2013-edition/657149/103 "2013-05-29T16:29:39Z")
I just finished **“Life After Life”** by Kate Atkinson. I really loved it and there are a lot of similarities to Ken Grimwood’s **Replay**. The biggest difference is that the novel is set mostly in early 20th century England and has a lot of World War overtones. The Amazon description is: \*What if you could live again and again, until you got it right? On a cold and snowy night in 1910, Ursula Todd is born to an English banker and his wife. She dies before she can draw her first breath. On that same cold and snowy night, Ursula Todd is born, lets out a lusty wail, and embarks upon a life that will be, to say the least, unusual. For as she grows, she also dies, repeatedly, in a variety of ways, while the young century marches on towards its second cataclysmic world war. Does Ursula’s apparently infinite number of lives give her the power to save the world from its inevitable destiny? And if she can – will she? Darkly comic, startlingly poignant, and utterly original – this is Kate Atkinson at her absolute best. \* Just jumped in to give it a recommend. I love this thread but I usually lurk, and I often try to avoid it because it’s so damn expensive…I buy a LOT of the books I see recommended here. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2013, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-may-2013-edition/657149/104 "2013-05-29T16:51:24Z")
> [@BetsQ](#): > > I saw a trailer for Ender’s Game recently, so I decided to finally read that. It was really, really good. I can tell it’s one that will stick with me for a while. Now, do I want to read the rest of them, too? > > Also, I’m not at all convinced that this will make a good movie. I really love that first book. It’s so good. I actually really liked \*Ender’s[Shadow/b], a sequel to the first book which runs concurrent to that story line from a different characters POV. Basically it’s more of the same which is a good thing and enriches Ender’s arc a bit. I only read _Shadow of the Hegemon_ after that and it wasn’t really worth the time. I never read the rest of the Ender trilogy and from what I’ve heard it’s a slog. ---
**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:** [May 29, 2013, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-may-2013-edition/657149/105 "2013-05-29T17:22:09Z")
I just finished **Far From The Madding Crowd** by Thomas Hardy. I really liked it; the funny parts were very funny and the sad parts were very sad. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2013, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-may-2013-edition/657149/106 "2013-05-29T17:26:55Z")
I finished The _ **Old Man and the Sea** _ a couple of days ago. It lives up to the hype. Now reading\*\*\* The Casual Vacancy\*\*\*. It’s early in the book, but I think I’m going to like this more than most people have. I think Rowling has an almost Dickensian talent for creating characters that are _this close_ to being ridiculous and unbelievable, but just on the believable side of the line, so they’re some of the most entertaining, iconic characters ever. ---
**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:** [May 31, 2013, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-may-2013-edition/657149/107 "2013-05-31T20:14:54Z")
The June thread is up and running [at this link.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=692521) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-may-2013-edition/657149.md?page=5)