# Khadaji's Whatcha Readin' - September 2013 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 31, 2013, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-september-2013/667618 "2013-08-31T00:05:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**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 31, 2013, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-september-2013/667618/1 "2013-08-31T00:05:09Z")
Well, I’m almost back to the real world; just a couple more days of intermittent internet to go. I’d like to thank **Elendil’s Heir** for opening August’s thread for me. Having been out of touch for a while, I’ve finished quite a few books. Robin Lane Fox’s _ **The Classical World - an epic history of Greece and Rome** _ was a very good, sweeping book covering the latest findings and opinions on Greco-Roman history up to the time of the emperor Hadrian. Clear, well written prose, and a joy to read. Highly recommended. I also finished Lars Brownworth’s _ **Lost to the West** _. This is the book which is based on the podcast ‘12 Byzantine Emperors’, and his writing style is as easy-going as his voice. I’ve heard much against his research, but this is a good starting point for people interested in the place and period. There’s lots of time to go through the bibliography and get greater depth. I’m halfway through Tom Standige’s _ **A History of the World in Six Glasses** _, which I’ll likely finish this weekend. Beer, wine, distilled spirits, coffee, tea and rum as major world players in history - great fun. I’ve also started _ **A Game of Thrones** _, the first book in George R. R. Martin’s ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’. I’ve had it thrust into my hands by countless friends, and the fuss over the TV series is getting to be such that I figured I had to read them now before some bugger spoils them for me by blurting out some major development. I can’t help comparing the book to Guy Gavriel Kay, and I can’t help wondering why one of _his_ sweeping epics hasn’t been made into a major motion picture/TV series yet. Anyway, to give Martin his due, his pacing and his plot is outstanding. I also love it that he does not shy away from causing bad things to happen to good and bad people alike. I’m likely to finish sometime over the weekend, and there’s no question that I’ll read the rest of the series before the year is out. And you? A link to [last month’s thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=698191). For those of you new to these threads - **Khadaji** was a long time Doper who was well known for his kindness and compassion. Books were an overwhelming passion of his; he started this series of book discussion threads many years back, and they have been a great source of recommendations, condemnations and (sometimes) debate ever since. Sadly for us, he passed away in January of this year. We decided that the best way to honour his memory would be to rename these threads for him, and continue them indefinitely. Lux perpetua luceat ei. ---
**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:** [August 31, 2013, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-september-2013/667618/2 "2013-08-31T01:46:38Z")
A little over halfway in _Go Tell It on the Mountain_, by James Baldwin. Interesting. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2013, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-september-2013/667618/3 "2013-08-31T01:57:29Z")
I’ll write a more in depth review later, but just popping in to say I finished Saga on the plane to Charlotte, and I definitely recommend it. ---
**Author:** ![Politzania](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ab097/32.png) [@Politzania](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Politzania)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2013, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-september-2013/667618/4 "2013-09-01T23:15:59Z")
On the recent e-reads side, I checked out _**[Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World’s Stolen Treasures](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6827652-priceless)**_ by Robert K. Wittman from the Indiana Digital Media consortium, after seeing a recco from one of my GoodReads pals (Erin). Wittman was one of the first FBI agents to specialize in investigating art crime, and soon found himself going undercover as a corrupt art dealer to help track down stolen masterpieces, both in the US and abroad. Having just read a fictional novel about a film detective, it was interesting to read a real-life narrative on a similar topic. Wittman’s background as the son of an antique dealer, as well as his intense desire to join the FBI (even after an initial failed attempt) gave him a unique perspective on a type of crime that all too often was lumped in with general theft. Wittman makes a case for art crime being not only property theft, but a theft of culture against humankind. This memoir follows multiple cases, most of which ended up successful; with the items recovered and the bad guys behind bars. But Wittman reveals his personal flaws, and how a momentary error in judgement nearly destroyed his career. I’d recommend this book as at least a library read to anyone with an interest in true crime and memoirs. ---
**Author:** ![Cyros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a698b9/32.png) [@Cyros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyros)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2013, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-september-2013/667618/5 "2013-09-01T23:40:46Z")
I’m a bit late to the party but just finished both \*The Name of the Wind \* and _The Wise Man’s Fear_ and quite enjoyed both. I am eagerly awaiting book three and kicking myself for starting another series before it is finished. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-september-2013/667618/6 "2013-09-02T00:10:03Z")
I’m about three quarters of the way through _David Copperfield_. Dickens is a lot funnier than I had been led to believe. ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-september-2013/667618/7 "2013-09-02T02:34:35Z")
I just finished _The Things They Cannot Say_ by Kevin Sites, a wartime photojournalist. It’s about soldiers’ difficulties dealing with things they’ve seen and done during their war experiences. There were some interesting insights, especially the quotes from references by psychologists and psychiatrists. I could have done without the author’s inserting himself into the book as frequently as he did. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2013, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-september-2013/667618/8 "2013-09-02T18:44:34Z")
> [@Max\_the\_Immortal](#): > > I’m about three quarters of the way through _David Copperfield_. Dickens is a lot funnier than I had been led to believe. I’ve read that book, and am currently re-reading _Great Expectations_. ---
**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:** [September 2, 2013, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-september-2013/667618/9 "2013-09-02T20:27:03Z")
> [@Politzania](#): > > On the recent e-reads side, I checked out _**[Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World’s Stolen Treasures](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6827652-priceless)**_ by Robert K. Wittman… That sounds really good - thanks. I’m about halfway through Scott Reynolds Nelson’s _Steel Drivin’ Man_, one historian’s attempt to find out the true story behind the now legendary/semi-mythical railroad builder John Henry. It’s a pick of my book club, and although it started out dry, I’m liking it more now. Lots of interesting stuff on Reconstruction-era Virginia, although the historical record on the real John Henry is so thin (some prison records, some court documents, some songs), it sometimes seems like padding. Still have Roy Jenkins’s huge bio _Churchill_ on my reading stack, and am about a third of the way through that. Very, very good stuff. ---
**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:** [September 3, 2013, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-september-2013/667618/10 "2013-09-03T13:47:58Z")
Finished _ **A Game of Thrones** _ - it was pretty much what I expected - a great ripping yarn with an engaging plot. I wish I could learn to write with his sense of pacing. I’m now re-reading _ **Captain Hornblower, R.N.** _, the C. S. Forester omnibus that includes ‘Hornblower and the Atropos’, ‘The Happy Return’, and ‘A Ship of the Line’. I’ve learned to be unashamed of re-reading, especially in understudy rehearsals. (Sit around, wait, then your guy goes on and does something so you need to pay attention, then they go back - lather, rinse, repeat. If you don’t have something to read, you’ll go nuts; if you do have something to read, you won’t ever be able to give it your full attention. Don’t get me wrong - I love my silly job. I just recognize that this is not an ideal situation for the philosophy and history reading list…) ---
**Author:** ![yanceylebeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yanceylebeef/32/12290_2.png) [@yanceylebeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yanceylebeef)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-september-2013/667618/11 "2013-09-03T14:36:55Z")
It’s been a really busy summer, with lots of travel, so I haven’t been reading as much as usual. That being said, [MaddAddam](http://www.amazon.com/MaddAddam-ebook/dp/B00BRUQ3PS/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1378218957&sr=1-1&keywords=madd+addam) just dropped into the kindle last night, so that’s what I’ll be doing for the next week or so. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-september-2013/667618/12 "2013-09-03T14:44:11Z")
Currently almost finished **Scudder’s Game** , a 1980s sf novel by _D. G. Compton_. Actually, the sf is fairly low key; it’s about a son returning home 17 years after walking out, aged 17, and discovering unpleasant facts about his parents. And the new _Kim Stanley Robinson_ novel, **Shaman** , should arrive within the hour, so that’s probably my next book! Unless I decide to read something by the late _Fred Pohl_ in memory of him. ---
**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:** [September 3, 2013, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-september-2013/667618/13 "2013-09-03T16:50:09Z")
Finished _Go Tell It on the Mountain_, by James Baldwin. On the oldest son’s 14th birthday in March 1935, family members of a Harlem preacher review their lives in flashbacks. An interesting read. Next up: _Atonement_, by Ian McEwan. What’s odd is we saw the [2007 film adaptation](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0783233/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_1), and I rarely read a book after seeing the film version. However, some weeks ago I made a note to look up this book. But I didn’t note down why, and I’ve since forgotten why. (Yes, I _am_ getting old and dotty, thank you for asking.) But I did make the note, presumably for a good reason, and there the book was sitting on the shelf in our library, so I checked it out. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-september-2013/667618/14 "2013-09-03T17:25:41Z")
A little more than halfway through _ **Confederates in the Attic** _. Man. The South is a mental patient, still hung up on that war. ---
**Author:** ![Politzania](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ab097/32.png) [@Politzania](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Politzania)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-september-2013/667618/15 "2013-09-03T17:41:21Z")
Just finished the audiobook of _**[From Russia with Love](http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3764.From_Russia_With_Love)**_, Ian Fleming’s fifth Bond novel… tho you’d hardly know it at first. Mr. Bond doesn’t even rate a mention until the end of Chapter 5, and doesn’t appear in person til Chapter 11. Fleming spends the first portion of the book building up a SMERSH plot aimed not only at taking out Bond, but damaging the Service as well. I don’t want to do a full review until I’ve had a chance to re-watch the film (tho, from what I vaguely recall, there’s not a lot in common), but I did want to say I enjoyed how the review of Bond’s dossier by the Russians referenced the previous novels. Fleming also wraps up certain … elements … of _Diamonds are Forever_ in a way which makes this novel’s plot more believable. I quite enjoyed Darko Karim’s character - I think he and Leiter would have gotten along quite well. Tatiana Romanova is still more a plot point than a well-rounded character, but at least she has a bit of personality. I wasn’t expecting the novel to end the way it did (again, from a vague recollection of the film) and am finding it hard to not dive right into _Doctor No_ to see what happens next. ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-september-2013/667618/16 "2013-09-03T18:00:38Z")
Having a bit of a stressful time here, so I’m lightening my mood with “ **Thank You, Jeeves** ” by P. G. Wodehouse. Wodehouse is always my go-to author when I need some relief from the strains of the day. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-september-2013/667618/17 "2013-09-03T18:18:42Z")
I just finished two books from Jewish perspectives. _Real Jews Secular Vs. Ultra-Orthodox and the Struggle for Jewish Identity in Israel_ by Noah J. Efron. The book was written about a decade ago so it’s a bit out of date but I found his thoughts quite illuminating. He talks about how conflict between secular Jews and the extremely religious Jews known as Haredim have come into conflict in Israel. His view is that the Haredim are essentially harmless and that secular fears of them and the lit used to describe the Haredim in the Israeli media are overblown and filled with accidental and sometimes deliberate anti-Semitism. I have to admit I found that later utterly ridiculous. The Haredim are religious extremists. They believe in some rather vile views about women. In their societies women are basically told to stay home and have as many babies as possible. They’ve done things like force a local bus line that serves them to create separate sections for men and women with the women of course being relegated to the back of the bus. They’ve also insisted that they should be allowed to avoid military service and spend their days studying torah and doing little else. It’s not exactly a flattering portrait. He sort of ignores the understandable anger at their actions. What secular or moderately religious woman would want to work hard in Israeli society only to be taxed to support a sexist pig to do nothing but breed and study all day? I am left wondering if things have changed much in the last ten years. _Kosher Chinese: Living, Teaching and Eating with China’s Other Billion_ by Michael Levy. It’s about his experiences teaching Chinese overseas with the Peace Corps. I admit it was nice to get a more nuanced view of being a Chinese Peace Corps member than some of what I’ve read about it elsewhere. I found his insights into rural China fascinating. You really don’t see that story covered very much in the media here. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2013, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-september-2013/667618/18 "2013-09-03T19:24:47Z")
Soooo, _ **Saga** _. I don’t think I’ve ever cried over a comic book before. Not even gotten a little bit verklempt. This one had me almost openly weeping on a plane. I think the only thing that kept it from being any “worse” was that there were usually enough giggles on every second or third page. Also, if I try to tell you any of the details, you’re going to go :dubious:. E.g., a bounty hunter with a sidekick who is a cat that tells when someone is LYING. “Robot” royalty that look (and fuck) like normal human beings, except that where you have a head, they have a CRT TV. Rocketship Forests. Giants with giant bone clubs and giant, pendulous giant-parts. I could go on. But it is just spectacularly good once you get into it. The plot: Landfall (planetary home of people with wings who have guns and stuff) has been at war with Wreath (moon of Landfall; home of people with horns who have magic and stuff) for longer than anyone remembers. So long, in fact, that for the most part, the average person from either side is no longer involved; they’ve spread the war out into the galaxy, and now mostly fight with proxies, like the aforementioned TV-headed “robot” people and adorable anthro-mouse medics. Our protagonists are a woman from Landfall and a man from Wreath; the latter a conscientious objector who surrendered on the battlefield, the former his guard. They fell in love and escaped. And when the story starts, she’s having a baby (with horns _and_ wings). (Aside: the flashback to the conception of said baby is hilarious. “I believe your exact words were, ‘I want you to shoot it in my twat.’”) And Landfallian forces are trying to bust in to kill them and take the baby. Because that’s what pretty much everyone wants to do. Selling this thing ain’t easy, as you may have noticed. The characters are richly developed–while things have happened, the actual plot movement in twelve or thirteen issues as of yet hasn’t been that enormous. A lot of it is very human, very mundane stuff: love/sexual relationships; relationships with parents; relationships with exes; raising a child for the first time. There are also seahorse-people who act as agents for mercenaries and “robot” princes who have a hard time performing in bed. And I just got choked up again thinking about a few things from it. Anyway, it’s good. Y’all should read it. ---
**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:** [September 3, 2013, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-september-2013/667618/19 "2013-09-03T19:47:12Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > …Next up: _Atonement_, by Ian McEwan. What’s odd is we saw the [2007 film adaptation](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0783233/?ref_=fn_tt_tt_1)… Starring Keira Knightley. Le sigh. Did you realize that the Dunkirk beach sequence was shot in a single continuous take, one of the longest of recent movie history? Just amazing. > [@bup](#): > > A little more than halfway through _ **Confederates in the Attic** _. Man. The South is a mental patient, still hung up on that war. I read that last month and really liked it. My favorite line: an old black woman in Charleston tells the author, “It’s all right if they [white “Lost Cause” Southerners] remember the war, as long as they remember they _lost_ it.” > [@LavenderBlue](#): > > …_Real Jews Secular Vs. Ultra-Orthodox and the Struggle for Jewish Identity in Israel_ by Noah J. Efron. The book was written about a decade ago so it’s a bit out of date… I am left wondering if things have changed much in the last ten years… The Haredi may soon lose their exemption from military service, but it’s still a contentious issue: [Israel Puts Off Decision on Whether to Draft 5,100 ultra-Orthodox Jews - Haaretz Com - Haaretz.com](http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/.premium-1.535313) ---
**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:** [September 3, 2013, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-september-2013/667618/20 "2013-09-03T20:22:35Z")
I finished Joe R. Lansdale’s [The Complete Drive-In](http://www.amazon.com/The-Complete-Drive-In-Joe-Lansdale/dp/098022604X/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_2/181-5452579-7520047), which started out weird and gross and got way more so until Joe wrote himself into the mother of all corners. Lowbrow but I liked it (I can admit that since y’all don’t know me) and I was itching to find out what happened next the whole time. Now I’m on to [The God of the Razor](http://www.amazon.com/God-Razor-Joe-R-Lansdale/dp/1596061154/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1378238967&sr=1-1&keywords=god+of+the+razor). This contains the novella The Nightrunners and several stories inspired by it. Less humor, more gore, and it’s all feeling rather gratuitous now. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-september-2013/667618.md?page=2)