Khadaji's Whatcha Readin' thread - August 2016 edition

Cafe Society
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Here ya go! August dog day reading for those of us sweltering.

I’ve not been reding much lately. I think my brain is on vacation, it will pick up the end of the month.

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Khadaji was one of the earlier members of the SDMB, and he was well-known as a kindly person who always had something encouraging to say, particularly in the self-improvement threads. He was also a voracious, omnivorous reader, and he started these monthly book threads. Sadly, he passed away in January 2013, and we decided to rename these monthly threads in his honor.

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Last Month’s thread

No more fireworks please!

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Just finished Dirk Patton’s 12th installment in the V Plague series, Fulcrum, that was released last Friday. Good continuation of this serialized novel. Always quick reads.

Continuing to read the Thomas Perry’s Jane Whitefield series. Am in the middle of the 3rd book in that series.

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I just finished CivilWarLand In Bad Decline by George Saunders. I’m usually not big on short stories, but these were exceptional, if (almost) relentlessly bleak. I’ll be looking for more of his stories.

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I’m working on I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid. I’m not sure what’s really going on yet. I do know the protagonist and her boyfriend have these really deep conversations about reality and shit. And that she makes stupid horror-movie decisions like going down to the basement when she has no business in there. Pretty interesting so far.

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I finally finished *Stiletto *this weekend. It was okay, but certainly not as good as the first offering.

About 1/3 of the way through Daring Greatly by Brene Brown. Really not a whole lot to say on this one.

Recently started Far From the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity by Andrew Solomon. I like it so far, I’m only a little ways into it and already talking about the concepts of horizontal traits and vertical traits, and how desperately parents want their children to be like them, to my husband. I will caution, though: I bought this as an audio book on Amazon’s Audible, and man, the reader’s voice (the reader is the author) will put you to sleep! I wish they had hired a voice actor to read it instead.

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And now I’m mad. —> :mad:
I think I “get” what might have happened…but I don’t think the author does. I think he just flung us a steaming hot mess and left us to try making something out of it. Or maybe I’m just not smart enough and that still makes me mad. I wish there was a carnival game where I could pay for three tries to throw this book and hit the author in the crotch.

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I’ve got about five things on the boil.

On audio: Redshirts by John Scalzi. I’m about halfway through and enjoying Wil Wheaton as narrator in this nerdy, metafictional Star Trek-esque romp. It’s fun, especially for someone who happily watched Star Trek reruns after school every day.

Graphic novel: Sandman Omnibus, vol. 1, by Neil Gaiman. I have no idea how I missed reading the Sandman series before, but this huge compilation is literally gorgeous and and perfect for binge-ing. I love the complexity of Morpheus’ character, and the dramatic, highly-colored art brings the stories vibrantly to life (or death, as the case may be).

The Mabinogion, 1910 Charlotte Guest edition. This collection of magic-imbued tales of chivalry drags me back to fantasy roots - the original swords & sorcery here. A true classic. Insert obligatory joke about the Welsh lack of vowels. Since the edition I’m reading is so old, it’s literally falling to bits in my hands despite care. :frowning:

Treadmill: **Just One Damned Thing after Another**by Jodi Taylor. Lucy Maxwell is an historian under the auspices of St. Mary’s, an organization that sends individuals back in time to observe and record the details of historical events. It’s got humor and some fascinating timelines to explore; Lucy’s biggest adventure has been in the Cretaceous, for instance. I think I’d be enjoying this much more if I hadn’t just read Connie Willis’ Doomsday Book, which is a much more emotionally complex, deeper treatment of a similar trope. Still, this is interesting enough for me to keep going, though I’m not sure I’ll read the next in the series.

Other treadmill: Wake of Vultures by Lila Bowen. Nettie Lonesome is a slave to Mam and Pap in Gloomy Bluebird, a parched town in an alternate Old West. Half-breed, half-starved, and unloved, her life takes a startling turn when she kills a vampire who tries to assault her. Bolstered by her newfound ability to take care of herself, Nettie passes as Nat, a boy, to hire on as a ranch-hand who breaks horses at a nearby ranch. Once she’s killed a vamp, though, she sees the supernatural in ways others do not - and it’s not finished with her yet. Intriguing premise that’s well-executed thus far, though I’m only 20% in.

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Oh good, I’m not the only “late to the party” :smiley: I should grab that. I really liked Doll’s House and the “convention” :wink:

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Recently finished Hanns Heinz Ewers 1911 novel Alraune; a small press finally got around to reprinting the 1929 English translation, which was hard to find as THAT was also printed by a small press, specializing in outre erotica. Illustrated by Mahon Blaine, yee haw!!!

Now I’m gonna watch the 1928 film, starring Brigitte Helm (Metropolis)and Paul Wegener
(Der Golem) on YouTube. I’ve already seen the flawed 1952 version – Unnatural – with Erich Von Stroheim.

Got two volumes of poetry in yesterday’s mail: Anna Akhmatova’s Selected Poems and The Best of Ogden Nash. Sublime to the ridiculous.

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Rereading an old (well, 10 years or so) favorite: China Mieville’s Perdido Street Station.

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Reading Thug: The True Story of India’s Murderous Cult by Mike Dash. Fascinating stuff.

Apparently, there’s a bit of a controversy over the reality of the Thugs: a theory extant that the whole notion was, basically, a creation of colonial Brits, to justify their rule. This author doesn’t agree at all with that theory (too much detailed evidence against it), though he points out that the depredations/death counts of the Thugs were much exaggerated (basically to boost the careers of those Brits who put them down); also, that their nature was described incorrectly (they were not motivated by religious concerns, although they were very superstitious - they were strictly motivated by making a living at murdering travelers, so the “murderous cult” part of the title is a bit of a misnomer).

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Space Hostages, by Sophia McDougall. It’s a sequel to Mars Evacuees. In the beginning it wasn’t nearly as much fun as the first book, but now it’s hit its stride.

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Started reading the Star Trek Legacies trilogy. I have books one and two. Three comes out this month. Good so far. Classic TOS adventure featuring “Number One” from The Cage.

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R K Narayan’s “The Bachelor of Arts”. Leaving on a trip next week, so I picked something short I could finish before I go.

Just finished Frederik Backman’s “A Man Called Ove”, which was a surprisingly nice little book. Ordinarily not my kind of reading, but Backman (and his translator) did a nice job.

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I finished reading Dostoevsky’s “The Idiot”. It was an interesting combination of melodrama and a comedy of manners and satire. I liked it much more than “The Brothers Karamazov”, mostly because of the humour and the likeable (well, to me) main character.

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I finished and mostly liked The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North, about a hidden subculture of repeatedly-reincarnated people spanning almost all of modern history, although it bogged down in the middle, and the ending was a bit implausible, even given the premise. Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life and Ken Grimwood’s Replay are both better, I’d say.

I gave up on Wool by Hugh Howey - a sf novel about an underground human colony centuries after some unspecified catastrophe ruined the Earth’s surface - after 50 pages or so. The writing is clumsy, the backstory/world-building is poor, and the characters are cardboard-thin. Skip it.

On the other hand, I’m about a third of the way into Ian W. Toll’s Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy, and it’s excellent. Toll has the deft historical touch of David McCullough, and the high-seas storytelling flair of Patrick O’Brian. Highly recommended for any Aubrey-Maturin fan.

I’m also reading Michael P. Zatarga’s The Battle of Roanoke Island, about amphibious warfare along the North Carolina coast during the Civil War; it’s only so-so. Much more enjoyable is Robert Lawson’s Capt. Kidd’s Cat, a favorite from my childhood, in which the alleged pirate’s snarky cat tells the real story behind his notorious owner’s voyages. Engaging writing and wonderful illustrations.

It didn’t hold my interest all the way through, but I was particularly taken by the chapters on children who are the results of rape (and the very mixed emotions their moms have), and children who are musical prodigies (their parents just can’t win - those who push too hard can warp their kids; those who don’t push hard enough are often later resented by their kids, who think they might otherwise have had much more successful musical careers).

I’ve enjoyed virtually everything Scalzi has ever written, and that’s one of his best. I hope you like the ending as much as I did.

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I am about halfway through Kage Baker’s** In the Garden of Iden** and I am enjoying it. Time travel, immortals, English and Spanish history, sex, religious skullduggery, unicorns (well, one sort of unicorn) and that’s only the first half.

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Cronkite (Brinkley)

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OMG, another Johannes Cabal novel coming out next month! Life is good.