# Khadaji's Whatcha Readin' thread -- April 2017 Edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 31, 2017, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-april-2017-edition/783418 "2017-03-31T15:45:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-april-2017-edition/783418/42 "2017-04-10T18:42:08Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > I’m quite looking forward to it. > > As a literary trivia question, what are good examples of family members that are fellow writers where the apple does/doesn’t fall far from the tree? When I was a child, I loved Anne Lindbergh’s books. Since grownups knew that I loved to read, they would ask me what authors I liked, and every time I mentioned Anne Lindbergh, they’d say “Ah, yes! Anne Morrow Lindbergh.” No, actually, Anne Morrow Lindbergh was the mother of the children’s author (whose full name was Anne Spencer Lindbergh). ---
**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:** [April 10, 2017, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-april-2017-edition/783418/43 "2017-04-10T19:39:53Z")
> [@delphica](#): > > I just read the first one! It was so good (it’s called _Slow Horses_). One of the reasons I liked it so much was that it was wacky, as well as being a thriller. It’s legitimately funny. The dialogue is a little too wry and snappy to be realistic, but it really works in the book. It reminds me of _The Rook_ in terms of tone, minus the supernatural elements. > > One unexpected thing, though, is that it made me feel very American. I am about as liberal and pro-gun control as you can get; I _do_ want to take your guns away for the most part. But even so, when reading this book, I was often surprised when it became clear that the agents didn’t necessarily have guns. Right? Plus, some of the slang used has sent me to Google more than once, and my mother is British. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-april-2017-edition/783418/44 "2017-04-10T23:17:35Z")
Recently finished: _Lincoln: A Photobiography_, by Russell Freedman. Part of the Newbery book club. It’s good, though biography is not really something I tend to read. _Rest You Merry_, by Charlotte MacLeod. I didn’t end up really liking any of the characters, so I felt disengaged. It’s fairly funny at times, though. _A Gathering of Days_, by Joan W. Blos. Part of the Newbery book club. A gentle, easy read, though nothing stellar. _Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry_, by Mildred D. Taylor. Part of the Newbery book club. I was expecting a gut punch and got something less devastating (though still sad). Good characters, except the inconsistent narrator. _Murder by the Seaside_, by Julie Anne Lindsey. To quote my own Goodreads review: " An absolute mess of a plot, with a protagonist randomly deciding she MUST solve a mystery for REASONS and then randomly getting assaulted, doing something stupid, fainting, being rescued, wondering if the boy who just kissed her might like her “in that way,” wondering if another boy might like her “in that way,” being scared then doing something scary, swooning, throwing a tantrum about her independence, assault, faint, stupid, rescue, swoon, scared, tantrum, swoon, assault, faint, stupid, rescue, faint, swoon, faint, scared, assault, stupid, rescue, assault, scared, tantrum, swoon, swoon, faint, stupid…" Currently reading: _The Crossover_, by Kwame Alexander. Newbery. _Island of the Blue Dolphins_, by Scott O’Dell. Newbery. _The Body in the Belfry_, by Katherine Hall Page. Cozy. _Wildest Dreams_, by Kristen Ashley. I thought fantasy, but I think now it’s romance. And I still have a list I’ve started and haven’t finished. Bah. ---
**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:** [April 10, 2017, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-april-2017-edition/783418/45 "2017-04-10T23:28:35Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > R > > _Rest You Merry_, by Charlotte MacLeod. I didn’t end up really liking any of the characters, so I felt disengaged. It’s fairly funny at times, though. The first one is a bit rough, the Sarah & Max books, and Madoc Rhys ones are the best in my not even remotely humble opinion. ---
**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:** [April 11, 2017, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-april-2017-edition/783418/46 "2017-04-11T00:05:26Z")
I’ve started another James Willard Schultz book, **Rising Wolf, The White Blackfoot**. Hugh “Rising Wolf” Monroe was Canadian-born, but left home at 18 to see the West (Montana and other areas). This was three years before Lewis & Clark made their journey through the area. He quickly went to live with the Blackfoot tribes, learning their languages and marrying into the Blackfoot tribe. He spent many years living among the Kootenai and died at a very advanced age, estimated to be at least 108 years old. This book is an account of the first year of his life on the frontier. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-april-2017-edition/783418/47 "2017-04-11T13:43:18Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > As a literary trivia question, what are good examples of family members that are fellow writers where the apple does/doesn’t fall far from the tree? An instance here: where there may be uncertainty as to whether “does”, or “doesn’t”, is appropriate. One of the writers concerned, showed up briefly and incidentally in another recent Cafe Society thread. Two British female novelists who were great-grandmother and great-granddaughter: Elinor Glyn (1864 – 1943) and Caroline Glyn (1947 – 1981). Elinor – as Wiki puts it – “specialised in romantic fiction considered scandalous for its time”, though “relatively tame by modern standards”. Her output of such novels was considerable, in the early years of the 20th century; later, she spent time as a scriptwriter for Hollywood film-makers. The lady’s personal life was reputedly, also amorously colourful. Her best-known novel is _Three Weeks_, published 1907: “about an exotic Balkan queen who seduces a young British aristocrat”. Caroline’s life was much shorter than her great-grandmother’s – she was born with a serious heart defect which more or less guaranteed that her lifespan would be fairly brief. She had a “precocious talent”: her first novel, \*Don’t Knock The Corners Off \* – about British schooling for those of teenage years, and its flaws, at that time; and about being a teenager – was published when she was aged 15. She had published, another half-dozen novels and a fair amount of poetry (was also into the visual arts). At the age of 20, she became a nun in the enclosed Poor Clares order, and remained so until her death aged 33. (It would seem that some arrangement must have been come to, to enable her to combine “nunning” and novel-writing.) The only work by her that I’ve read, is _Don’t Knock…_ (impressive, for a fifteen-year-old author): I gather though, that her later novels (which I must try some time) partake of familiarity with the world, and humour – in her teens she was apparently an engagingly kooky lass, with a great love of the natural world and, especially, trees; it would seem for sure, that she was not a closed-minded, sanctimonious, censorious kind of “monastic person”. ---
**Author:** ![BrassyPhrase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ea666f/32.png) [@BrassyPhrase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrassyPhrase)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-april-2017-edition/783418/48 "2017-04-11T16:55:34Z")
I just started **The Hallowed Hunt** by Lois McMaster Bujold. A friend of mine lent me some of her books and I’m getting them read to return to her. I’m not usually into this subgenre of fantasy, but I’m really enjoying them. I read **The Curse of Chalion** and **Paladin of Souls** first. I like her worldbuilding. I’m always happy to find a writer that I enjoy who has a ton of books! Next up will be **The Collapsing Empire** by John Scalzi. The Fella already read it and said it was great. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-april-2017-edition/783418/49 "2017-04-11T18:57:17Z")
> [@BrassyPhrase](#): > > I just started **The Hallowed Hunt** by Lois McMaster Bujold. A friend of mine lent me some of her books and I’m getting them read to return to her. I’m not usually into this subgenre of fantasy, but I’m really enjoying them. I read **The Curse of Chalion** and **Paladin of Souls** first. I like her worldbuilding. I’m always happy to find a writer that I enjoy who has a ton of books! I greatly liked Bujold’s Vorkosigan novels, but couldn’t get, much, into the Chalion material. I found \*The Curse of Chalion \* good-ish; but got bogged down in, and came to find annoying, _Paladin of Souls_ – packed it in maybe halfway through. Have tried no more “Chalion”. Feel sometimes that I’m hard to please, not in a good way ! ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-april-2017-edition/783418/50 "2017-04-11T19:04:29Z")
> [@BrassyPhrase](#): > > I just started **The Hallowed Hunt** by Lois McMaster Bujold. A friend of mine lent me some of her books and I’m getting them read to return to her. I’m not usually into this subgenre of fantasy, but I’m really enjoying them. I read **The Curse of Chalion** and **Paladin of Souls** first. I like her worldbuilding. I’m always happy to find a writer that I enjoy who has a ton of books! I find that I like Carol Berg and Martha Wells in the same way. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2017, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-april-2017-edition/783418/51 "2017-04-11T19:34:02Z")
Finished Cartoons for Victory by Warren Bernard, a collection of cartoons and comic strips during World War II, with some explanatory material. Nothing here I wasn’t familiar with, but it was interesting to read the comics from the times. My favorite was about tire rationing; bank robbers were racing away and one cop yells to another, “Don’t shoot the tires, McShane!” Just started **And Then There Were Nuns: Adventures in a Cloistered Life** , by Jane Christmas. It’s her memoir of visiting various religious orders when she was interested in joining one herself. ---
**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:** [April 12, 2017, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-april-2017-edition/783418/52 "2017-04-12T01:09:26Z")
I’m binging the audiobooks of Adrian McKinty’s [Detective Sean Duffy series](http://www.adrianmckinty.com/sean-duffy-series/). Set in Ireland during the 80s, our hero busily checks underneath his car for mercury tilt bombs as he solves crimes with “The Troubles” as a backdrop. The plots meanader a bit, but D.I. Duffy is an appealing character, in the world weary tradition of a younger Harry Bosch, and he has excellent taste in music. 🙂 (I guess I should admit that I am a bit hypnotised by the lovely accent and cadance of this Irish narrator, who I would happily listen to read Danielle Steele …so I would.) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2017, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-april-2017-edition/783418/53 "2017-04-12T12:08:36Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Finished “reading” Michael Moore’s _Here Comes Trouble_ on audio. Intersting stuff. > Besides _Alternate Presidents_, I’m reading _The Unfinished Stories of Mark Twain_, which I got mainly because I wanted to read _Tom Sawyer and the Indians_ again, but which has much other Twain that I haven’t read. > > My bedside reading is a book I got Pepper Mill for Christmas, but that she’s finished – Nelson Johnson’s **Boardwalk Empire** , the basis for the HBO series. Flipping through the index on _Boardwalk Empire_, I find that there’s not a single mention of the Steel Pier! That’s kinda like writing a history of Manhattan and not mentioning Times Square! ---
**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:** [April 13, 2017, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-april-2017-edition/783418/54 "2017-04-13T15:37:24Z")
I finished **Necropolis** by James Silverstein this morning. I enjoyed the book thoroughly. I started **The Emperor’s Edge** by Lindsay Buroker this morning. So far so good. ---
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2017, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-april-2017-edition/783418/55 "2017-04-13T18:58:43Z")
I read Jewel’s book [Chasing Down the Dawn](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/766079.Chasing_Down_the_Dawn), written while she was on tour back in 2000. It was sort of a memoir, but more of a journal than anything. And, well, I think it kind of suffered for that. Her more recent memoir, [Never Broken](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24611929-never-broken), is my favorite book. I love her insights, her writing style, her personality. Chasing Down the Dawn still has her beautiful writing style, but it lacks organization, and I wish she (or someone, at least) had spent more time editing it to read more like an actual book. I still enjoyed reading it, though. Also read [Penpal](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17369352-penpal), which I learned about in one of these monthly threads. I completely recommend it. The book got me so hooked, to the point where I’d be staying up past my bedtime and jumping if my husband came into the room because I was so engrossed in the book that I was losing track of my surroundings. But it’s also creepy, so don’t read it if you don’t like horror. Then I read [Sleights of Mind: What the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals About Our Everyday Perceptions](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7873438-sleights-of-mind). The book looks at magic tricks and explains how they’re performed, then goes on to explain how our visual and neural systems work in such a way that the magician successfully manipulates our attention. It was engaging, and I was frequently (very frequently) putting the book down to pull up YouTube and Google whatever magician they were talking about, so that I could see the actual trick rather than just a written explanation of it. The videos greatly enhanced my reading experience. I wasn’t a fan of the epilogue, where I feel like they were trying too hard to make the stuff in the book practically useful for everyday life. Just knowing the stuff about contrast detection and change blindness and eye tracking was cool enough, I don’t need to be advised on how to charm my boss or confuse a salesman. ---
**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:** [April 13, 2017, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-april-2017-edition/783418/56 "2017-04-13T22:18:42Z")
Ifinished **The Gentleman** by Leo Forrest…what can I say about it that hasn’t been said about horse dung already? ---
**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:** [April 14, 2017, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-april-2017-edition/783418/57 "2017-04-14T12:33:36Z")
Oh darn, I _just_ picked that up at the library. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2017, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-april-2017-edition/783418/58 "2017-04-14T17:58:48Z")
Finished **And Then There Were Nuns: Adventures in a Cloistered Life** , by Jane Christmas. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t very interesting, either. A man had just proposed to the author, and she visited three convents and a monastery to see if she’d rather become a nun or get married. It’s a memoir, by the way. The man was remarkably okay with this, waiting over a year for her answer. Reader, she married him. Just started **Criss Cross** , by Lynne Rae Perkins, for the Newbery Club. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2017, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-april-2017-edition/783418/59 "2017-04-14T18:08:12Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > Finished **And Then There Were Nuns: Adventures in a Cloistered Life** , by Jane Christmas. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t very interesting, either. A man had just proposed to the author, and she visited three convents and a monastery to see if she’d rather become a nun or get married. It’s a memoir, by the way. The man was remarkably okay with this, waiting over a year for her answer. Reader, she married him. _snerk_🙂 ---
**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:** [April 14, 2017, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-april-2017-edition/783418/60 "2017-04-14T21:44:47Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Oh darn, I _just_ picked that up at the library. 🙂 Your mileage may vary, reviews called it hilarious and I …had an entirely different experience. ---
**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:** [April 17, 2017, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-april-2017-edition/783418/61 "2017-04-17T18:39:48Z")
Just finished my audiobook of Ernest Hemingway’s 1932 nonfiction book _Death in the Afternoon_, about what he called the “decadent art” of bullfighting. He didn’t shy away much from the blood and suffering of the ring, but argued that the skill, showmanship and courage of the best matadors made it worth observing, and an important part of Spanish culture. Reading the Wiki article on bullfighting, it’s interesting to see just how little has changed since he wrote it. Still reading Dan Chaon’s creepy, present-day thriller _Ill Will_, as well as the histories _Our Lives, Our Fortunes and Our Sacred Honor: The Forging of American Independence, 1774-1776_ by Richard R. Beeman, and _A Thread Across the Ocean: The Heroic Story of the Transatlantic Cable_ by John Steele Gordon. All different; all good. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-april-2017-edition/783418.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-april-2017-edition/783418.md?page=4)