# Khadaji's Whatcha Readin' thread -- August 2018 Edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 30, 2018, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-august-2018-edition/818787 "2018-07-30T00:33:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**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:** [August 9, 2018, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-august-2018-edition/818787/61 "2018-08-09T01:14:35Z")
> [@Sunny\_Daze](#): > > Have you read Meljean Brook’s _Iron Duke_? Steampunk and no shagging monsters. > > A.A. Aguirre (Ann Aguirre and her husband teamed up) to write steampunk “noir” (no romance) mysteries _Bronze Gods_ and _Silver Mirrors_. I enjoyed those. > > Have you read the Eric Carter books by Stephen Blackmore? More noir urban fantasy. > > _The Devil’s West_ books by Laura Ann Gilman would be gaslamp fantasy. The US stops at the Mississippi. France has New Orleans (I think). Spain has the territory West of the Sierras. The land between the Mississippi is a wild territory, still populated by Native Americans, and small settlements governed by someone known as the Devil. The first book is _Silver in the Road_. > > CE Murphy has a series of Austen inspired regency books in a world with magic. The first is _Magic and Manners_. > > Seanan McGuire’s Incryptid series is urban fantasy. I don’t like some of her other series, but this one is pretty good. > > I’m looking for a few other gaslight series. I’m coming across several gunpowder fantasies while I search, does anyone like those? > > Also a few series that are Persian setting variations on gaslight or gunpowder fantasies - interest in those? Very cool, SD. And sure, more is great! (My to-read list is already at about half a million, but I’m finally coming out of my cozy mystery bunker.) ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2018, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-august-2018-edition/818787/62 "2018-08-09T04:32:06Z")
> [@DZedNConfused](#): > > I liked the first two Eric Carter book, but I felt the last one didn’t live up to it’s potential. The end felt rushed and it was entirely to easy > > to defeat the two gods. I was disappointed that he used the Aztec mythos, but never really did anything with it I agree. It did feel a little too easy at the end. I do remember feeling a little relieved though. The first two were heavy on the noir. I was feeling sorry for the guy. ---
**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, 2018, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-august-2018-edition/818787/63 "2018-08-09T05:06:10Z")
> [@Sunny\_Daze](#): > > I agree. It did feel a little too easy at the end. I do remember feeling a little relieved though. The first two were heavy on the noir. I was feeling sorry for the guy. Oh I agree, he had it seriously rough the first two books. Obviously, Richard Kadrey’s Sandman Slim series and Mike Carey’s Felix Castor series are very much in the same vein as Blackmoore’s. ---
**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:** [August 9, 2018, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-august-2018-edition/818787/64 "2018-08-09T12:34:07Z")
> [@DZedNConfused](#): > > Oh I agree, he had it seriously rough the first two books. > > Obviously, Richard Kadrey’s Sandman Slim series and Mike Carey’s Felix Castor series are very much in the same vein as Blackmoore’s. I loved the Mike Carey and didn’t finish the first Richard Kadrey. ---
**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, 2018, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-august-2018-edition/818787/65 "2018-08-09T14:55:02Z")
> [@wonky](#): > > I loved the Mike Carey and didn’t finish the first Richard Kadrey. I’m the opposite, I read the first two or three Carey books and quit, but I’ve read most of Kadrey’s. Stark is totally Kadrey’s Mary Sue wannabee buthe’s having such fun with it. bahahahahahaha! ---
**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, 2018, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-august-2018-edition/818787/66 "2018-08-09T20:41:22Z")
Recently finished: _The Face of Battle_ by John Keegan - Pretty good, but dry; about how warfare affects the common soldier, with case studies of Agincourt, Waterloo and the Somme. _The Complete Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, Vol. Two_ by Gilbert Shelton - Stoner comics, not as funny as I remembered from my high school years (and no, not just because I wasn’t high this time around). _The Judas Goat_ by Robert B. Parker - Parker’s fifth private-eye novel (1978), with Spenser and his rather-less-principled legbreaker pal Hawk tracking down a cell of white-supremacist terrorists. I’m reading the Spenser books in order, and can really see Parker’s skills improving. I particularly enjoyed the smartass dialogue, details of stakeouts and the development of Spenser’s and Hawk’s friendship. > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > …_One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War_ by Michael Dobbs. It’s pretty good. Dobbs devotes a lot of pages to the Russians and the Cubans, who often get sidelined in histories of the Cuban Missile Crisis. May I also recommend _Kennedy’s Wars_ by Lawrence Freedman (an interesting British perspective) and _Essence of Decision_ by Graham Allison (a classic on crisis management, diplomacy and presidential leadership). Both excellent examinations of the foreign policy crises which JFK faced and largely overcame. > [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > …Next up is _Disaster at Stalingrad_, by Peter Tsouras. An alternate history about what if the Germans had won that WWII battle? Loaned to me by a huge history buff who is a fan of the author, whose works are unknown to me. Yes, Tsouras has written a lot of alternative history - never as novels, but rather in a knowing academic style as if you were reading nonfiction from a parallel universe. His book on an alternative Gettysburg is particularly interesting. Meade is badly injured in a Confederate bombardment. A much more confident and aggressive Winfield Scott Hancock takes command of the Army of the Potomac and counterattacks immediately after Pickett’s Charge, driving the Confederates from the field as darkness falls. An ailing Robert E. Lee is captured from a horse-drawn ambulance during the rebel retreat, and the war is over by the end of the year. Hancock is elected President in 1868. Pretty well done, I thought. > [@wonky](#): > > …Maybe the clearer rule: **No shagging the Bad Guys.** If the universe has monsters, they are off-limits for sex! OFF LIMITS! Bad protagonist! Down! Then you smack her very smartly on the nose with a rolled-up copy of _The Times_. ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2018, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-august-2018-edition/818787/67 "2018-08-09T21:59:42Z")
I miss Robert B Parker. ☹ ---
**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:** [August 9, 2018, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-august-2018-edition/818787/68 "2018-08-09T22:13:22Z")
> [@Sunny\_Daze](#): > > I miss Robert B Parker. ☹ His Spenser novels are being carried on by Ace Atkins, which are almost as good as Parker’s. His Westerns are being carried on by Robert Knott, which I think are better than Parker’s. ---
**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:** [August 9, 2018, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-august-2018-edition/818787/69 "2018-08-09T23:05:39Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Then you smack her very smartly on the nose with a rolled-up copy of _The Times_. EXACTLY. And you hope she doesn’t like it too much. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2018, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-august-2018-edition/818787/70 "2018-08-10T01:41:44Z")
Finished **The Dante Chamber** today. The first two thirds were a real slog for me, but it picked up enough in the final third. The author, Daniel Pearl, specializes in 19th-century mystery thrillers involving actual literary folks; this one was about the Rosetti siblings, Robert Browning, and Tennyson. Recommended? Maybe, if you really like this sort of thing; it’s far enough outside of my wheelhouse that I nearly set it down several times. ---
**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 10, 2018, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-august-2018-edition/818787/71 "2018-08-10T04:01:11Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > His Spenser novels are being carried on by Ace Atkins, which are almost as good as Parker’s. His Westerns are being carried on by Robert Knott, which I think are better than Parker’s. I read one of the Atkins books, which was pretty good until the end, when he had a character do something _very_ implausible. Almost ruined the book for me. Haven’t read any of the Knotts. ---
**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 10, 2018, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-august-2018-edition/818787/72 "2018-08-10T04:04:34Z")
> [@wonky](#): > > EXACTLY. And you hope she doesn’t like it too much. Heh. That’s just the risk you take. ---
**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 12, 2018, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-august-2018-edition/818787/73 "2018-08-12T16:07:28Z")
I finished Jim Butcher’s _Brief Cases_ – a collection of new-to-me short stories set in the Dresden Files world – a day after I posted about it (about a week ago). I was, in fact, kind of sad when I finished it. 🙂 And I tried to re-watch the old TV show, but it isn’t available via iTunes, Netflix, or Amazon. Meh. When deciding what to read next, I ignored the virtual pile of purchased books and free samples already on my Kindle and chose something I’d only just heard about: an English professor friend – who was the director of my master’s thesis committee a decade ago – highly recommended _**[Less](https://www.amazon.com/Less-Winner-Pulitzer-Prize-Novel/dp/031631613X/)**_. I found the plot intriguing: Arthur Less, a failed novelist who is about to turn 50, receives an invitation to the wedding of his boyfriend of the past nine years. Attending would be too awkward but declining would feel like admitting some kind of defeat, so of course his only option is to accept a series of invitations to half-baked literary events around the world. I’m something like 40% in, and really enjoying it. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2018, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-august-2018-edition/818787/74 "2018-08-12T17:03:11Z")
I struggle with Dresden these days. I enjoy the character and series so much, but good gravy has that guy ended up in an endless slog of the suck. I know the series was inspired by noir detective stories, but I don’t know how long I can keep going if Dresden doesn’t catch a break soon. I’ll take a look for where the series might be available. It’s one of my favorites. 🙂 ---
**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:** [August 12, 2018, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-august-2018-edition/818787/75 "2018-08-12T17:10:19Z")
> [@Sunny\_Daze](#): > > I struggle with Dresden these days. I enjoy the character and series so much, but good gravy has that guy ended up in an endless slog of the suck. I know the series was inspired by noir detective stories, but I don’t know how long I can keep going if Dresden doesn’t catch a break soon. I’ll take a look for where the series might be available. It’s one of my favorites. 🙂 I had to bail out of the series a book or two back for exactly this reason. I just couldn’t handle all of the hostage-taking. ---
**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 12, 2018, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-august-2018-edition/818787/76 "2018-08-12T17:12:07Z")
> [@Sunny\_Daze](#): > > I struggle with Dresden these days. I enjoy the character and series so much, but good gravy has that guy ended up in an endless slog of the suck. I know the series was inspired by noir detective stories, but I don’t know how long I can keep going if Dresden doesn’t catch a break soon. That would be my summation as well, it got tiring to reach the end of the book and everyone was mad AGAIN at Harry. And I loathe Butcher’s women, whores, bitches and doormats. ---
**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 13, 2018, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-august-2018-edition/818787/77 "2018-08-13T00:18:32Z")
I finished **Good Omens** by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman. I love the book even if the ending felt somewhat anticlimatic, whichwas the point I suspect, still it’s MUCH better than the end of American Gods. ---
**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 13, 2018, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-august-2018-edition/818787/78 "2018-08-13T13:31:29Z")
RE: Harry Dresden I definitely admit that the “but the damsel needs rescuing!” attitude Harry has gets old. \*Very \*old. But I’ve read every book in the series, so something keeps me coming back. Nothing in _Brief Cases_ bothered me. I don’t agree with **DZedNConfused** about Butcher’s women. The vampire and fairy queen types are definitely whores and bitches, but the human women are…by and large…pretty human. Flawed, but strong and (mostly) independent. One of the things I liked about _Brief Cases_ is that the stories are told from different characters’ points of view: one is told by Warden Anastasia Luccio, and one is told by Molly Carpenter. Neither of whom is a whore, bitch, or doormat. 🙂 ---
**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 13, 2018, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-august-2018-edition/818787/79 "2018-08-13T21:06:05Z")
Just finished Jeffrey Archer’s 1980 short-story collection _A Quiver Full of Arrows_, which I hadn’t read in 20-some years and which wasn’t as good as I remembered. By far the best story was “Old Love,” a charming romance about fierce academic foes at Oxford who fall in love, get married and continue a good-naturedly combative professional, although not personal, rivalry to the end of their days. ---
**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 14, 2018, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-august-2018-edition/818787/80 "2018-08-14T12:08:01Z")
I’m currently reading [The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August](https://www.amazon.com/First-Fifteen-Lives-Harry-August-ebook/dp/B00ECE9OD4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1534248320&sr=8-1&keywords=the+first+fifteen+lives+of+harry+august+by+claire+north) by Claire North, a novel about a man who lives over and over as the same person and remembering his past lives. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-august-2018-edition/818787.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-august-2018-edition/818787.md?page=5)