# Khadaji's Whatcha Readin' - October 2013
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-october-2013/669990
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [September 30, 2013, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-october-2013/669990 "2013-09-30T11:22:30Z")
**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: [September 30, 2013, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-october-2013/669990/1 "2013-09-30T11:22:30Z")
That was an incredibly busy September! I wish I could say things will settle down soon, but I’d be lying. At least there’s been some time to read in with all the craziness.
I’ve just begun ‘[Who’s my Bottom?](http://www.amazon.com/WhoS-My-Bottom-Christopher-Gillett/dp/1447674936)’, which is the most accurate depiction of the day to day life of an opera singer that I’ve ever read. The sing in question is well known for playing ‘Flute’ in Britten’s ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’, hence the title, but it ranges through all sorts of repertoire and through many different stages of Christopher Gillett’s career. I highly recommend it.
On the top of the ‘to be read’ pile, is ‘[The Time Traveller’s Wife](http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/n/audrey-niffenegger/time-travelers-wife.htm)’, which was recommended to me here.
And you?
A link to [last month’s thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=700948).
**Khadaji** was a long time Doper who was known for his kind, supportive words in many of the self-help threads. He was also a voracious reader who was passionate about books and book discussion. When he passed away in January of this year, we thought there was no better way to honour his memory than to continue this long chain of threads, and name it after him. May his name always bring a smile to a Doper’s face.
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [September 30, 2013, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-october-2013/669990/2 "2013-09-30T14:44:01Z")
Trying to finish my copy of Agnew Bahnson’s **The Stars are Too High** without destroying the book. I keep it in a plastic bag. everytime I take it out or move it or turn a page little pieces of the book break off and litter everything. I’ve never had a book do this before. I have older books that are inpristine condition, but the paper in this copy has been exceptionally aged somehow, and the edges are exceedingly brittle. But I’ve never seen another copy of this. It’s a very odd book, about people who are trying to cause world peace by convincing the governments of the world that we are being invaded by aliens. they do this using a flying saucer they invented. The book precedes other versions of this idea (like the Outer Limits episide “The Architects of Fear”), but it’s by no means the first (As I’ve said Elsewhere, William Tenn wrote a story using the idea n the 1940s). What makes it interesting is that this is Bahnson’s one and only published work, and he and his associates DID obtain a patent on “flying saucer”-type propulsion technology. You get the feeling that this is his ideal fantasy, that he couldn’t quite pull off in real life.
I’m also reading Voltaire’s **Letters on England** , because I got it cheap, it isn’t falling apart, and I like Voltaire.
Also **Inside the Cube** by David Alexander Smith, a tale that fits in with the “Future Boston” collective world that formed the basis of a story collection some twenty years back:
> **[Future Boston: The History of a City 1990-2100: Smith, David Alexander:...](https://www.amazon.com/Future-Boston-History-City-1990-2100/dp/0312890281)**
>
> Future Boston: The History of a City 1990-2100 \[Smith, David Alexander\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. Future Boston: The History of a City 1990-2100
“Inside the Cube” is the only novel-length work to come out of that group, to my knowledge, and I’ve been meaning to read it for years.
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### Author:  [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)
#### Post date: [September 30, 2013, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-october-2013/669990/3 "2013-09-30T15:41:28Z")
I’m still working on _Doctor Sleep_. I’d be done, but I get no reading time on weekends! Anyway, I’ll probably finish it up tomorrow and it’s still pretty good. It’s not necessary to know anything about _The Shining_ to read this one, either.
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [September 30, 2013, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-october-2013/669990/4 "2013-09-30T17:18:33Z")
> [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](#):
>
> On the top of the ‘to be read’ pile, is ‘[The Time Traveller’s Wife](http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/n/audrey-niffenegger/time-travelers-wife.htm)’, which was recommended to me here.
An excellent book. The pigeon in my pigeon thread who’s been visiting us for four years now we named Henry after the main character in that book, because I was reading it at the time.
Myself now, I’m halfway through _The Great Bridge_, by David McCullough. The story of the Brooklyn Bridge. It’s a great read, although I admit to getting bogged down in the passages laying out the really technical details. But in his Author’s Note at the beginning, McCullough says those parts were difficult for him, a non-engineer, to write too. And this is a minor quibble for what is a great book.
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### Author:  [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)
#### Post date: [September 30, 2013, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-october-2013/669990/5 "2013-09-30T18:32:14Z")
It’s time for the State of the Book Pile! _out-of-tune fanfare played on a kazoo_
I’m still slogging through [Little Dorrit](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31250.Little_Dorrit). I think this may earn the title of The Most Boring Dickens Novel Ever. It’s up against some stiff competition: _Hard “At Least It’s Short” Times_, and\* Oliver “Dear God This Is Sentimental Drek” Twist\*. Amy Dorrit is on the short list for getting a good hard slap in the face, though. All she does is simper. **All she does.**
I’m also still going through [Grimm’s Tales for Young and Old](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/254454.Grimms_Tales_for_Young_and_Old). I’ve been reading both of these books for two months. In the Grimms’ case, it’s because I’ve not been steadily reading it.
Something that I haven’t been reading very long is Bhante Henepola Gunaratana’s [Mindfulness in Plain English](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/64369.Mindfulness_in_Plain_English). I like this because it gives a precise explanation of what “focus on the breath” actually means in Buddhist meditation practice.
I’m almost done with [Chapterhouse: Dune](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/105.Chapterhouse). I’ve just gotten to the part where it starts getting weird.
I haven’t started [The Recycled Citizen](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1417084.The_Recycled_Citizen) or [The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/294192.The_Tibetan_Book_of_Living_and_Dying) yet. Soon.
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### Author:  [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2013, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-october-2013/669990/6 "2013-10-01T15:37:23Z")
I finished ‘[Who’s my Bottom?](http://www.amazon.com/Whos-My-Bottom-Christopher-Gillett/dp/1447674936/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1380641421&sr=1-2)’ last night - parts of it made me snort inappropriately in public places, all of it was true to life. The sequel, ‘[Scraping the Bottom](http://www.amazon.com/Scraping-The-Bottom-ebook/dp/B00FEONHH0/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1380641421&sr=1-1)’, is on order.
I’m only ten pages in, but I’m thoroughly enjoying ‘[The Time Traveler’s Wife](http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/n/audrey-niffenegger/time-travelers-wife.htm)’.
And [Why Does the World Exist?](http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/why-does-the-world-exist/9780871403599-item.html?ref=item_page%3avariation) is in at the library for me. October is looking good already.
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### Author:  [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)
#### Post date: [October 1, 2013, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-october-2013/669990/7 "2013-10-01T18:06:26Z")
I finished _Doctor Sleep_ this morning and it turned out fine. I don’t really like to think of it as a sequel to The Shining, though… with no hotel, and no Jack, it just doesn’t feel like The Shining at all. Some nitpicks:
Spoilers ahead…
[spoiler] I’m not sure why we spent any time getting to know about Andi… she didn’t do much. Same as the hospice cat, just a character that wasn’t very important.
I never really felt our heroes were in danger. The True Knot turned out to be a paper tiger, and they folded quick when Danny pulled the ol’ John Coffey on ‘em. About that… I realize now that that’s why Danny was coughing blood and shit, but at the time I just didn’t know why he was suddenly dying. It didn’t make any sense. Maybe I was reading too fast and missed a clue.
And another thing: How did Danny know the ol’ John Coffey was going to work? He hadn’t done it before. He also hadn’t tried freeing anything from the mental lockboxes. The whole thing that happened to Sarey… yeah, I didn’t like that at all. I don’t think Horace would have harmed her, or frankly, even been there.
[/spoiler]
I think other than that, Steve is still on his recent trend for the better.
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### Author:  [@Alba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alba)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2013, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-october-2013/669990/8 "2013-10-02T08:23:45Z")
Finished [11/22/63](https://www.google.com.ng/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CCsQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2F11%2F22%2F63&ei=WtZLUvviLouC9gS454DQBg&usg=AFQjCNFh8MFI94n-j8goR8ZclZbeK54lrQ&bvm=bv.53371865,d.eWU) this weekend. It’s a decent book and reads quite snappily. However, there’s a lot of redundant information in my opinion and I thought it, being a King book, would have a lot more suspense.
I guess my expectations were set a bit wrong. I can recommend it, but it wasn’t as good as I hoped. I was expecting…more cause and effect time travelling wise, there hardly was any. Moreover, quite a few things were predictable.
To date the best book I read concerning time travel was (as others have mentioned) _The Time Traveller’s Wife_.
I also started and finished the first book of [Tales of Dunk and Egg](https://www.google.com.ng/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CCsQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FTales_of_Dunk_and_Egg&ei=eNJLUvzfFeWd0AW43oFw&usg=AFQjCNGXH1CnRgQiqPLbGBMs7oKLQkVB9A&bvm=bv.53371865,d.d2k) by George Martin. It is set one hundred years before the Game of Thrones saga and set in the same world. I liked the first book (only 129 pages on my e-reader) and will save the other 2 (also small) for my flight in 2 weeks. If you’ve finished GoT this is a nice, but very short, story to put yourself back in the world of the seven kingdoms.
Not sure which book I’m going to read next (too many choices), but I think I’m going to start reading the Dune series or The Stand by King. I have 3,5 weeks of holiday coming up and I’m going to line up some books.
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### Author:  [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2013, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-october-2013/669990/9 "2013-10-02T15:10:36Z")
I’m currently reading [Mirror, Mirror Off the Wall: how I learned to love my body by not looking at it for a year](http://www.amazon.com/Mirror-Off-Wall-Learned-Looking/dp/0399160175), by Kjerstin Gruys. The author is a sociologist and an ex-anorexic. The book itself isn’t really blowing me away, but the topic is interesting to think about.
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### Author:  [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2013, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-october-2013/669990/10 "2013-10-02T16:57:13Z")
I recently finished Joe Hill’s _**[NOS4A2](http://www.amazon.com/NOS4A2-ebook/dp/B009NF6Z2K/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=1-1&qid=1380732408)**_, which I highly recommend. First _Heart-Shaped Box_, then _Horns_, and now this…I’m definitely officially a fan of his. And I must deeply thank whichever Doper mentioned that the hardback edition contains some “extra” story that the Kindle edition doesn’t include!
I’m currently about 70% of the way through Stephen King’s _**[Under The Dome](http://www.amazon.com/Under-Dome-A-Novel-ebook/dp/B0030H7UIU/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1380732507&sr=1-1&keywords=under+the+dome)**_. I gave up on the TV show a few episodes in, but was intrigued enough by the premise to pick up the book – which friends assured me was worlds better. And it is! I tend to stay up too late reading it. 🙂
I recently went on a bit of a Kindle shopping spree, and the following titles are queued up (in no particular order):[ul]
[li]Two of Dean Koontz’s “Frankenstein” books[/li][li]Robert Galbraith/JK Rowling’s _**[The Cuckoo’s Calling](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AA20E5Y/ref=kinw_myk_ro_title)**_[/li][li]Jason Mott’s _**[The Returned](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ATMP806/ref=kinw_myk_ro_title)**_[/li][li]Stephen King’s _**[Doctor Sleep](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A6CCF0K/ref=kinw_myk_ro_title)**_[/li][li]John Grisham’s _**[A Time To Kill](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003B02O0A/ref=kinw_myk_ro_title)**_ (I want to re-read it before I read the sequel, _Sycamore Row_)[/li][li]Gary Burton’s autobiography, _**[Learning To Listen: The Jazz Journey of Gary Burton](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ENGZRXM/ref=kinw_myk_ro_title)**_[/li][\*]Andrew Solomon’s _**[Far From the Tree: Parents, Children and the Search for Identity](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007EDOLJ2/ref=kinw_myk_ro_title)**_[/ul]
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### Author:  [@HenryDorsettCase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HenryDorsettCase)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2013, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-october-2013/669990/11 "2013-10-02T17:13:33Z")
Just finished ‘The Woman Who Lost Her Soul’ written by Robert Shacochis. War in Haiti and Bosnia; time slides between the two; Green Berets; conspiracy theory; voudoo; love; drugs, and some… off the wall sex. Dark with very little humor, it appealed to me from several pieces of my psyche. Like most books I consider worth while reads, will probably go back to it but it will be a while.
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### Author:  [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2013, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-october-2013/669990/12 "2013-10-02T17:20:21Z")
**Which Lie Did I Tell?: More Adventures in the Screen Trade** , by William Goldman. Some great anecdotes about Hollywood and writing in general by the author of **The Princess Bride** and many screenplays, including _Marathon Man_ and _Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid_.
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### Author:  [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2013, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-october-2013/669990/13 "2013-10-02T17:56:47Z")
I’m reading _ **Enemies of the People** _ primarily\*. A woman born in Budapest in 1947 has researched how the Hungarian secret police decided her journalist parents were spies and locked them up. It can’t decide if it wants to be an extremely personal narrative, or a book to chronicle what inhuman evil socialist totalitarian states managed in the 20th century. It comes across as a very serious book with too many asides about her feelings that almost come off as unprofessional.
\*I’ve got 4 books going. That’s too many.
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### Author:  [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2013, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-october-2013/669990/14 "2013-10-04T15:19:30Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#):
>
> I’m currently reading [Mirror, Mirror Off the Wall: how I learned to love my body by not looking at it for a year](http://www.amazon.com/Mirror-Off-Wall-Learned-Looking/dp/0399160175), by Kjerstin Gruys. The author is a sociologist and an ex-anorexic. The book itself isn’t really blowing me away, but the topic is interesting to think about.
Huh, I had seen reviews that _didn’t_ mention the author was formerly anorexic, and I was thinking that the whole no mirror thing for a year seemed really extreme and inconvenient just on a whim. The anorexia background makes a little more sense, though, I can see more easily why someone who has personally dealt with some very serious body perception issues would want to explore this.
I just finished _Night Film_ by Marisha Pessl. Her debut novel, Special Topics in Calamity Physics, got a lot of hype a few years ago, and I enjoyed it. I liked this one well enough … although it’s pretty much a straightforward thriller (albeit an extremely well-written one) so it’s not exactly my thing to begin with. An investigative reporter starts looking into the death of a young woman whose father is a famous mysterious director of horror films, and uncovers what seems to be a very complicated conspiracy.
I recently read some YA novels as well.
_Pirate Cinema_, by Cory Doctorow, was fine. Kids making illegal mash-ups and movies in a near-future London.
_The Infinite Moment of Us_ by Lauren Myracle is a teen romance, heavy on the luuuurve. It was goofy.
_Far, Far Away_ by Tom McNeal is a sort of magical realism story narrated by the ghost of Jacob Grimm, about two kids in a small mid-western town. It’s both sweet and creepy, and the book is getting a lot of buzz as one of the best YA releases this year. I liked it a lot, although I’m not convinced it’s THE BEST of this year’s crop.
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### Author:  [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2013, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-october-2013/669990/15 "2013-10-04T15:28:16Z")
> [@bup](#):
>
> \*I’ve got 4 books going. That’s too many.
Huh. I didn’t know the words too, many, and books could combine… 😉
“Not enough time”, now that phrase makes sense to me!
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### Author:  [@Future\_Londonite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Future_Londonite)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2013, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-october-2013/669990/16 "2013-10-04T15:41:54Z")
I have plowed through a few books lately:
**The Year of the Flood** and **MaddAdam** by _Margaret Atwood_ - parts 2 and 3 of the trilogy that started with **Oryx and Crake**. I have truly enjoyed this trilogy even though it took me a few pages to get settled into O&C
**Walk the Lines - the London Underground, overground** by _Mark Mason_ - as a frequent tube traveler I enjoyed it. Lots of little tidbits about how certain spots in London came to their name and fame
**In the Miso Soup** by _Ryu Murakami_
Next up is **The Handmaiden’s Tale** by _Margaret Atwood_
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### Author:  [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2013, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-october-2013/669990/17 "2013-10-04T17:03:13Z")
I think I’m officially going to sideline _ **Musashi** _, as the only things I’ve been reading lately have been comics. I think I might have a go at the new Temeraire novel as a bit of fun fluff.
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### Author:  [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2013, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-october-2013/669990/18 "2013-10-04T18:25:56Z")
> [@delphica](#):
>
> I just finished _Night Film_ by Marisha Pessl. Her debut novel, Special Topics in Calamity Physics, got a lot of hype a few years ago, and I enjoyed it. I liked this one well enough … although it’s pretty much a straightforward thriller (albeit an extremely well-written one) so it’s not exactly my thing to begin with. An investigative reporter starts looking into the death of a young woman whose father is a famous mysterious director of horror films, and uncovers what seems to be a very complicated conspiracy.
Yay! Someone else read this one too. I had the same take on it as you: Night Film is a straight thriller–I was expecting “literary thriller” due to her first book but there was nothing literary about this one. It’s probably a cut above standard airport novel fare, but no one should expect anything deep or complicated.
Like many supernatural-ish thrillers, I raced through it but was kind of left with an empty feeling at the end. I didn’t begrudge how she resolved it, but at the end I didn’t care about any of the characters or what happened to them. It was fun to read at the time, with the anticipation, but it was like eating a Twinkie. Ultimately empty calories, not that there’s anything wrong with a fun, light read like that.
And actually the fictional movies Pessl described seemed pretty interesting to me. Maybe she can reinvent herself as a horror screenwriter and airport novelist.
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### Author:  [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2013, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-october-2013/669990/19 "2013-10-04T18:48:37Z")
> [@Erdosain](#):
>
> Yay! Someone else read this one too. I had the same take on it as you: Night Film is a straight thriller–I was expecting “literary thriller” due to her first book but there was nothing literary about this one. It’s probably a cut above standard airport novel fare, but no one should expect anything deep or complicated.
Exactly, I was expecting it to be a twist on the thriller genre or something … but it was a thriller. One thing I wasn’t wild about was that the movies were often described as “so horrible, you couldn’t describe it” which is one of my all-time :rolleyes: tropes. And by the end, I was having a little red herring fatigue – by the time a particular plot point had SO many twists and turns, it stopped having much emotional impact.
It definitely kept me engaged while I was reading it, but it’s not the kind of book where I’m going keep pondering anything.
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2013, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-october-2013/669990/20 "2013-10-05T21:18:40Z")
I’m still enjoying Roy Jenkins’s masterful bio _Churchill_, but taking a little break from it at the moment.
Just finished Damon Knight’s _Rule Golden & Double Meaning_, a collection of two of his short stories. The first is quite good, about an alien ambassador helping humanity actually abide by the Golden Rule planetwide; the second is so-so, about a hidebound police investigator of a distant-future Earth Empire trying to find an alien fugitive.
Today I also started _Game Change_ by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, a gossipy, behind-the-scenes history of the 2008 U.S. presidential election that several people had recommended to me (the HBO movie of the same name focused just on the Sarah Palin portion). I’m 13 pages in and so far, I like it.
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