# Khadaji's Whatcha Readin' thread - August 2014 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 28, 2014, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-august-2014/694253 "2014-07-28T16:29:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [August 5, 2014, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-august-2014/694253/41 "2014-08-05T12:34:08Z")
I don’t see the point of being a grown-up if I can’t read all the children’s books I want! Started this morning on [Snowblind](http://www.amazon.com/Snowblind-Christopher-Golden/dp/1250015316/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1407241682&sr=8-1&keywords=snowblind+christopher+golden), by Christopher Golden. It has a fair enough premise and a cover blurb by Stephen King (though I’m learning to ignore those). The writing seems a little amateurish, though. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-august-2014/694253/42 "2014-08-05T12:43:38Z")
I’ve finally started reading Agatha Christie. My mom had a copy of [Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6839057-miss-marple) that I’ve never bothered to take off the shelf except to move it to a different shelf. Well last week I took the time to open it up and look at the words on the page. Why did it take me thirty years to do this? :smack: I absolutely love this and will be looking for more Miss Marple. ---
**Author:** ![Macca26](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@Macca26](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Macca26)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-august-2014/694253/43 "2014-08-05T14:34:33Z")
I was lucky enough to finally (finally!) find a used bookstore within an hour of me. I’d been searching on google every few months and somehow up until now this bookstore never crossed my search radar. Regardless, it’s an excellent shop and I bought my $50 limit of books there just last weekend. I could hardly believe it but when I asked if the fellow had a copy of _Japanese Tales of Mystery and Imagination_ by Edogawa Rampo he got this look on his face. “We just had someone drop off a box of books and there were some japanese anthologies in there, I think…” and after fiddling through the classics section he went straight to the one sci-fi/fantasy shelf I’d accidentally passed over and BAM! There it was! I’ve been searching for this book for years and the fates aligned to give it to me. After looking on Amazon I see that they recently put it back in print (which is why this copy looks so new) and to top it off, other publishers have started translating the rest of Rampo’s work. I’m going to be a happy camper. And so today, I get to re-read _The Human Chair_, the first short story in this book. ---
**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:** [August 5, 2014, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-august-2014/694253/44 "2014-08-05T14:51:54Z")
> [@Macca26](#): > > After looking on Amazon I see that they recently put it back in print (which is why this copy looks so new) and to top it off, other publishers have started translating the rest of Rampo’s work. I’m going to be a happy camper. > > And so today, I get to re-read _The Human Chair_, the first short story in this book. Added to my Amazon wish list! I will keep my eyes open locallyas well. ---
**Author:** ![notquitekarpov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@notquitekarpov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notquitekarpov)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-august-2014/694253/45 "2014-08-05T15:33:43Z")
Approaching the end of Evan Mawdsley’s “December 1941: Twelve Days that Began a World War” - an excellent read and not too long. Have Primo Levi’s “If This is a Man/The Truce” waiting for me on the bedside table. Suspect I may need to be in the right mood for that. Basically taking it on as think it is one of those books I really should read. Dipping into the “Russian Endgame Manual”, in translation naturally, in preparation for the upcoming start of the Edinburgh Chess League and SNCL season. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-august-2014/694253/46 "2014-08-05T15:35:40Z")
> [@notquitekarpov](#): > > Have Primo Levi’s “If This is a Man/The Truce” waiting for me on the bedside table. Suspect I may need to be in the right mood for that. Basically taking it on as think it is one of those books I really should read. Have you read “The Periodic Table”? I would be tempted to start with that. Levi’s a great writer. ---
**Author:** ![notquitekarpov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@notquitekarpov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notquitekarpov)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-august-2014/694253/47 "2014-08-05T16:11:44Z")
Nope. Thanks for the tip - I recall seeing the title. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2014, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-august-2014/694253/48 "2014-08-05T16:54:59Z")
I’m currently ~30% of the way through David Baldacci’s _**[The Innocent](http://www.amazon.com/The-Innocent-Will-Robie-Series/dp/0446572985/)**_. It’s the first book in the Will Robie series: someone in an earlier thread praised the third book in the series, but I like to start at the beginning of series and I used to like Baldacci (I hadn’t read him in a while), so I figured I’d take a chance on the first book. It started a bit slow, but now that the title character has been introduced it’s getting better. I also just downloaded two books by Tyler Dilts: _**[A Cold and Broken Hallelujah](http://www.amazon.com/Cold-Broken-Hallelujah-Beach-Homicide/dp/1477824499/)**_ was among the August [Kindle First](http://www.amazon.com/gp/digital/kindle/botm/) selections, and it sounded worthwhile but – again – is the third book in a series. I checked out the reviews of the first book, _**[A King of Infinite Space](http://www.amazon.com/King-Infinite-Space-Beach-Homicide/dp/1935597094/)**_, and thought it also sounded worthwhile, so I bought it. The Kindle First book was free and the other one was just $1.99…I figured two books for two bucks wasn’t bad at all. 🙂 If I like the first one, I’ll buy the second one before reading the third. Has anyone read any Dilts? Even better, either \*A King of Infinite Space \*or _The Pain Scale_ (the second book in the series)? ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-august-2014/694253/49 "2014-08-06T00:52:22Z")
AAAAAHH! I’m reading The Magician’s Land, book 3 of Lev Grossman’s trilogy. I’m at 50%, according to my kindle, and I don’t want it to end. My favourite chapter so far is chapter 9. ---
**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:** [August 6, 2014, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-august-2014/694253/50 "2014-08-06T02:29:47Z")
> [@Macca26](#): > > …I asked if the fellow had a copy of _Japanese Tales of Mystery and Imagination_ by Edogawa Rampo he got this look on his face. “We just had someone drop off a box of books and there were some japanese anthologies in there, I think…” and after fiddling through the classics section he went straight to the one sci-fi/fantasy shelf I’d accidentally passed over and BAM! There it was! I’ve been searching for this book for years and the fates aligned to give it to me… Good on ya, **Macca**! Quite a bibliophilic coup. ---
**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:** [August 6, 2014, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-august-2014/694253/51 "2014-08-06T12:20:55Z")
I had to let _Snowblind_ go, I’d lost the momentum. But I started this morning on [The Borrower](http://www.amazon.com/Borrower-Thorndike-Reviewers-Choice/dp/1410440818/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=) by Rebecca Makkai, and I’m enjoying it much much more. I think I picked it up because someone else here is reading _The Hundred-Year House_, and I’m going to get that one as well. ---
**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:** [August 7, 2014, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-august-2014/694253/52 "2014-08-07T22:18:42Z")
I have the attention span of a over caffienated grasshopper on meth right now, so, of course, I started another book. 😃 Somewhere I read some favorable reports for Barry Eisler’s John Rain books, and I was able to find a copy of the first one, under the original title of **Rain Fall** in the paperback exchange here. Apparently this series has had a more recent rerelease under new names so Good reads lists this book as **A Clean Kill in Tokyo**. ---
**Author:** ![SBGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@SBGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SBGeek)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-august-2014/694253/53 "2014-08-08T00:19:07Z")
The Singularity is Near by Ray Kurzweil might be an interesting book i have to read soon. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-august-2014/694253/54 "2014-08-08T00:58:54Z")
I’m re-reading Rex Stout’s _Nero Wolfe_ series, and some books on textual biblical criticism. ---
**Author:** ![araminty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5e925/32.png) [@araminty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/araminty)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2014, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-august-2014/694253/55 "2014-08-08T02:02:00Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > But I started this morning on [The Borrower](http://www.amazon.com/Borrower-Thorndike-Reviewers-Choice/dp/1410440818/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=) by Rebecca Makkai, and I’m enjoying it much much more. I think I picked it up because someone else here is reading _The Hundred-Year House_, and I’m going to get that one as well. I think that was me. Enjoy! Well, I finished The Magician’s Land. It was great. I didn’t LOVE it love it, and, like with the other two, I found myself wishing I’d been his editor - I found just a few flaws that could SO easily have been polished off. I’m waiting for my husband to reread book 2, then read book 3, so I can read it over again. ---
**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:** [August 8, 2014, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-august-2014/694253/56 "2014-08-08T13:00:19Z")
**araminty** , I feel like you’ve recommended other stuff I liked. I wish I’d thought of this when I started keeping a list on Goodreads: to put down the source of a recommendation so I could know better which folks to listen to. 🙂 ---
**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:** [August 8, 2014, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-august-2014/694253/57 "2014-08-08T14:55:17Z")
I’m about a third of the way through [Tigerman](http://www.amazon.com/Tigerman-Nick-Harkaway-ebook/dp/B00I7695S2/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407509457&sr=1-1&keywords=tigerman) by Nick Harkaway, and am enjoying it immensely. It’s not as mind blowing as his first two books, but the weirdness is starting to pick up a little steam. My bed time book is a re-read of Bryson’s [A Short History of Nearly Everything.](http://www.amazon.com/Short-History-Nearly-Everything-ebook/dp/B000FBFNII/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407509556&sr=1-1&keywords=a+short+history+of+nearly+everything) the To-be-read pile is [The Prefect](http://www.amazon.com/Prefect-GOLLANCZ-S-F-Alastair-Reynolds-ebook/dp/B0015DYJY4/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407509611&sr=1-1&keywords=the+prefect+by+alastair+reynolds) by Alistair Reynolds and [The Rhesus Chart](http://www.amazon.com/Rhesus-Chart-Number-Laundry-Files-ebook/dp/B00G3L7YT0/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1407509700&sr=1-1&keywords=the+rhesus+chart), the new Laundry novel from Charles Stross ---
**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:** [August 9, 2014, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-august-2014/694253/58 "2014-08-09T19:42:42Z")
Just finished Philip Short’s new bio, _A Taste for Intrigue_, about French President Francois Mitterrand. Pretty interesting, esp. as to his WWII experiences - serving in the French Army, being captured by the Germans, escaping three times from a POW camp, and eventually becoming a minor Vichy functionary before joining the Resistance. He was a foe of De Gaulle’s autocratic ways. He ran for President three times before being elected (faking an assassination attempt against himself in 1959) and had a second family, including a daughter, that wasn’t revealed until near the end of his life. I didn’t like Mitterrand much after reading this, but I think I understand him a little better. ---
**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:** [August 9, 2014, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-august-2014/694253/59 "2014-08-09T22:32:37Z")
Finished **Rain Fall/A Clean Kill in Tokyo** by Barry Eisler. The original title is far more descriptive of the book, which I enjoyed immensely. It wasn’t anything deep or soul shaking but it was well paced and the characters enjoyable. I think maybe I need to sit down with Harry Bosch now for a bit … ---
**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:** [August 10, 2014, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-august-2014/694253/60 "2014-08-10T00:04:32Z")
If anyone recomends **The Notebook** to you because you are dealing with someone with dementia, my advice would be to smile, nod and read something else. Contrived, manipulative Hallmark Special Occaision card of a wretched book! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-august-2014/694253.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-august-2014/694253.md?page=4)