# Khadaji's Whatcha Readin' thread - December 2016 Edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 30, 2016, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-december-2016-edition/773500 "2016-11-30T23:18:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DaphneBlack](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daphneblack/32/5389_2.png) [@DaphneBlack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaphneBlack)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2016, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-december-2016-edition/773500/21 "2016-12-01T21:32:56Z")
> [@RunSilent](#): > > I started THE SHADOW OF THE WIND by Carlos Ruiz Zafon this morning, I have finished the first six chapters, it is definitely holding my interest. A charming, lovely book. I hope you continue to enjoy it. ---
**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:** [December 2, 2016, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-december-2016-edition/773500/22 "2016-12-02T14:30:00Z")
Started today on [The Last One](https://www.amazon.com/Last-One-Novel-Alexandra-Oliva/dp/1101965088/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1480688620&sr=8-1&keywords=the+last+one+alexandra+oliva) by Alexandra Oliva. It’s a novel about a bunch of people competing on a reality show like Survivor, and during the course of the show a real-life calamity befalls the outside world. Liking it so far. ---
**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:** [December 2, 2016, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-december-2016-edition/773500/23 "2016-12-02T17:23:06Z")
Just finished John Grisham’s _The Appeal_, and I mostly liked it, despite the downbeat ending (he fakes you out, making you think there’ll be a surprise happy ending, but it’s not that kind of book). An entertaining mix of mass-tort law and hardball politics. I’m also reading Conan Doyle’s _A Study in Scarlet_, which I haven’t read in many years. Good to see Holmes’s and Watson’s first meeting again. Tonight I expect to start Sarah Vowell’s _Lafayette in the Somewhat United States_, about the French hero of the American Revolution and his decades-later visit to the young republic. I enjoyed her _Assassination Vacation_ and this looks like it’ll be good, too. > [@Chefguy](#): > > …So onward, I think, to _Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City_, by Matthew Desmond. Haven’t read that, but I’ve heard good things. I know a housing court judge who practically requires his staff to read it. > [@RunSilent](#): > > I started THE SHADOW OF THE WIND by Carlos Ruiz Zafon this morning, I have finished the first six chapters, it is definitely holding my interest. I had very mixed feelings about that book - interesting premise, but not written especially well - but I’d say it’s worth a read. ---
**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:** [December 2, 2016, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-december-2016-edition/773500/24 "2016-12-02T18:10:12Z")
My wife already finished _Evicted_ and says it’s very good, and very sad. No-cause evictions are allowed in Portland, and with the real estate market exploding beyond all reason here, landlords are cashing in on their neglected properties. Homes that should not bring over $150K are going for $600K. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2016, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-december-2016-edition/773500/25 "2016-12-02T18:51:55Z")
“The Son” by Philipp Meyer. I picked this up at the college library (here in Texas), assuming that it was just a mandated acquisition of Texas writers. But there is an enormity to this man’s work, which I think remains to be recognized. Just a few chapters in, but he may be a legitimate claimant to carry the Cormac McCarthy tradition into a new generation. (Now that McCarthy has sold out to Hollywood.) ---
**Author:** ![peedin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peedin/32/14095_2.png) [@peedin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peedin)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2016, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-december-2016-edition/773500/26 "2016-12-03T23:45:29Z")
Got Miss Marple short stories at the liberry and picked up the latest Maggie Hope mystery at the bookstore. Author is Susan Elia MacNeal and the series takes place in England during WWII. ---
**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:** [December 6, 2016, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-december-2016-edition/773500/27 "2016-12-06T17:13:30Z")
Finished **Imprudence** by Gail Carriger today. She is really NOT tapping into the fabulousness of the first series here at all. She really _needs_ to decide if she wants to write another YA series or an adult series, there’s coy amounts of giggly type of adolescent pre sex and some off screen sex but c’mon, lady you’re embarrassing yourself here, expecially after the scenes in the first book involving a naked werewolf locked in a cage with Alexia. Also her technology is getting on my nerves, steampunk so overblown Victoriana with unecessary embellishment but you have international air travel, tourism, international communications that don’t depend on wires but you can’t grasp refrigeration? Other than that, I liked the book 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2016, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-december-2016-edition/773500/28 "2016-12-06T17:17:22Z")
I’m onto the final Gentleman Bastards book, **Republic of Thieves**. Yep, this series will be one I reread. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2016, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-december-2016-edition/773500/29 "2016-12-07T02:38:33Z")
I finished reading “The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair. The first half was fine misery porn, a la Emile Zola. But I was turned off by the racist tirade in the last half where lazy, banjo-pickin’, crap-shooting “buck Negroes” came north to take our jobs and our womenfolk. Oy. The socialist mumbo-jumbo at the end was just boring. I was interested, however, to find out which are “the lowest foreigners”. For the record: Greeks, Roumanians, Sicilians, and Slovaks (not necessarily in that order). ---
**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:** [December 7, 2016, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-december-2016-edition/773500/30 "2016-12-07T03:14:01Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > I finished reading “The Jungle” by Upton Sinclair. The first half was fine misery porn, a la Emile Zola. But I was turned off by the racist tirade in the last half where lazy, banjo-pickin’, crap-shooting “buck Negroes” came north to take our jobs and our womenfolk. Oy. The socialist mumbo-jumbo at the end was just boring. > > I was interested, however, to find out which are “the lowest foreigners”. For the record: Greeks, Roumanians, Sicilians, and Slovaks (not necessarily in that order). Kind of amazing how they’re always “lazy” or on public assitance but they also steal all the jobs too… ---
**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:** [December 7, 2016, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-december-2016-edition/773500/31 "2016-12-07T04:51:40Z")
> [@DZedNConfused](#): > > Kind of amazing how they’re always “lazy” or on public assi[s]tance but they also steal all the jobs too… They’re cunning that way, ain’t they? Enjoying Sarah Vowell’s _Lafayette in the Somewhat United States_, good snarky historical fun, and have begun E.L. Doctorow’s _The March_, a novel about Gen. Sherman’s 1864 March to the Sea. It has an interesting cast of characters, including escaped slaves, cranky old Southern coots, two deserters from the Confederate Army, a Southern belle-turned-nurse, Sherman himself, and Coalhouse Walker, said to be 22 in 1864, which makes me think he’s the father or even the grandfather of the character of the same name in Doctorow’s _Ragtime_. ---
**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:** [December 8, 2016, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-december-2016-edition/773500/32 "2016-12-08T13:19:54Z")
Just finished [The Last One](https://www.amazon.com/Last-One-Novel-Alexandra-Oliva/dp/1101965088/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481202700&sr=8-1&keywords=the+last+one+alexandra+oliva) by Alexandra Oliva. If you like books about the end of the world, try this one. I really enjoyed it. Since it was a first novel, I rounded up a bit to five stars over at Goodreads. I’ll be looking out for this author in future. ---
**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:** [December 8, 2016, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-december-2016-edition/773500/33 "2016-12-08T16:21:13Z")
On Tuesday I finished _No Man’s Land_, the newest book in the John Puller series (by David Baldacci). At first I was wary of the setup – Puller’s mother disappeared 30 years prior and suddenly his father, a retired 3-star and Army legend now suffering from advanced dementia, has been accused of her murder – but I wound up liking it just as much as the previous Puller stories. I knew that next up would be the new collection of P.D. James short stories, _**[The Mistletoe Murder: And Other Stories](https://www.amazon.com/Mistletoe-Murder-Other-Stories-Random/dp/1524708925/)**_. I just started the third story, and so far they do not disappoint. 🙂 The first story, in particular, I thought was very clever; that one will stay with me for a while. The author’s famous character Adam Dalgliesh finally makes an appearance in this third story, and it’s nice to see that name featured in a plot I’m not familiar with yet. I’ve missed reading new James since she died. I expect to wrap up the short stories either tonight or tomorrow night…then it will be time to refamiliarize myself with all of the samples that are on my Kindle, and pick the next adventure! ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-december-2016-edition/773500/34 "2016-12-08T18:50:16Z")
Just finished the latest “Expanse” book, “Babylon’s Ashes”. Lots of fun, as usual. ---
**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:** [December 9, 2016, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-december-2016-edition/773500/35 "2016-12-09T01:17:40Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > Just finished the latest “Expanse” book, “Babylon’s Ashes”. Lots of fun, as usual. Love me some Expanse! I gave up on the Trees book in favor of the new Ken Liu book, **The Wall of Storms**. It’s set in an island nation with east Asia-ish culture, heavy on the courtly intrigue, great stuff for epic fantasy nerds like me. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2016, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-december-2016-edition/773500/36 "2016-12-09T02:29:34Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > So onward, I think, to _Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City_, by Matthew Desmond. Came in to mention this…just finished it about 5 minutes ago. I will have to let it settle and read it again. Prior to that I read “Between the World and Me,” by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Interspersed those with a post-apocalyptic short story collection called “Wastelands” and a horror anthology. Apparently I’m in quite the mood. ---
**Author:** ![pohjonen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pohjonen/32/423_2.png) [@pohjonen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pohjonen)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2016, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-december-2016-edition/773500/37 "2016-12-09T04:06:35Z")
I’m on a grizzly bear true story binge. Almost through [The Night of the Grizzlies](https://www.amazon.com/Night-Grizzlies-Jack-Olsen-ebook/dp/B00NU5WL72/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1481255585&sr=1-1&keywords=night+of+the+grizzlies) by Jack Olsen … an oldie, but a riveting read. It’s about the two girls killed by grizzlies on the same night in Glacier Park in 1968 - the first bear deaths in the park in over sixty years. This was back when they would still dump garbage to draw the bears in in order to entertain the park visitors. Next up is [Mark of the Grizzly](https://www.amazon.com/Mark-Grizzly-Stories-Attacks-Lessons-ebook/dp/B004HD4A6G/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1481256024&sr=1-3&keywords=mark+of+the+grizzly). These are working very well to distract me from all of the politics that have absorbed me for so long. 🙂 Yay. ---
**Author:** ![BetsQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@BetsQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BetsQ)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2016, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-december-2016-edition/773500/38 "2016-12-09T06:50:17Z")
I had a cross-country flight earlier this week, so I got some reading in. First up was [Gourmet Rhapsody](https://www.amazon.com/Gourmet-Rhapsody-Muriel-Barbery/dp/1933372958/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1481265563&sr=1-4&keywords=muriel+barbery), by Muriel Barbery, which is set in the same time and place as her earlier, wonderful book, [The Elegance of the Hedgehog](https://www.amazon.com/Elegance-Hedgehog-Muriel-Barbery/dp/1933372605/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1481265563&sr=1-3&keywords=muriel+barbery). Gourmet Rhapsody was a relatively quick and enjoyable read, especially if you like reading about French food and/or social class. The writing is lovely. I also read [Hidden Figures](https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Figures-American-Untold-Mathematicians/dp/0062363603/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481265815&sr=8-1&keywords=Hidden+Figures) by Margot Lee Shetterly, a non-fiction book about black women who worked for NASA and it’s predecessor from approximately 1944 through 1970. I like stories of the Civil Rights movement, STEM-y women, and pretty much anything space related. Unfortunately, the book as a whole is a little bit less than the sum of it’s individual parts. I’m not sure exactly how I would improve it, but I think it could have been improved with a little restructuring. Still, the personal stories and the historical context were interesting. I’ll need to hit the bookstore in the airport for the trip home! ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2016, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-december-2016-edition/773500/39 "2016-12-09T13:36:14Z")
Finished _The Arm_, which is about pro baseball pitchers and Tommy Johns surgery and contract negotiations. Surprisingly interesting to this non-baseball fan. That was on paper - also some boring thing about bullying that I dropped halfway thru and can’t even remember the name of. On audio/dog walking, I finished R.L.Stevenson’s _The Black Arrow_, which started slowly, rambled on for a bit, and then ended. Meh. I guess you can’t always expect something as glorious as _Treasure Island_ or _Kidnapped_ with every time out. Also _A Bullet for Cinderella_, which was 50s pulp fiction by John D. McDonald and shows it. They used to say about some women “she’s no better than she should be”, and this is the same. And I am about a third of the way thru one of my favorite authors, Murray Leinster, and his _The Pirate of Ersatz_. Huge fun, as always - this time it’s space travel with a cynic. Some of the philosophizing at the beginning reminds me of Heinlein. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2016, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-december-2016-edition/773500/40 "2016-12-10T00:21:42Z")
> [@BetsQ](#): > > I also read [Hidden Figures](https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Figures-American-Untold-Mathematicians/dp/0062363603/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481265815&sr=8-1&keywords=Hidden+Figures) by Margot Lee Shetterly, a non-fiction book about black women who worked for NASA and it’s predecessor from approximately 1944 through 1970. I like stories of the Civil Rights movement, STEM-y women, and pretty much anything space related. Unfortunately, the book as a whole is a little bit less than the sum of it’s individual parts. I’m not sure exactly how I would improve it, but I think it could have been improved with a little restructuring. Still, the personal stories and the historical context were interesting. Agree with this! I just finished this book, and it’s a fascinating story, but the book doesn’t quite rise to it. It felt jumbled to me, as if the author and editor couldn’t decide on whether to stick to straight chronology, or focus on one individual woman at a time, or group things by theme. There were also a few things that seemed sloppy, for example they referred to one of the astronauts sometimes by his given name and sometimes by his nickname (Virgil/Gus Grissom) in a way that didn’t make it clear it was the same person, if you didn’t already know. That seems really nitpicky, but whenever I come across things like that, it always makes me wonder what else I missed. I am still looking forward to seeing the movie! I had read _Between the World and Me_ a bit ago, and just reread it for a work seminar. There is so much in a relatively short book that I was glad to have a more structured opportunity to discuss many of the themes and issues. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-december-2016-edition/773500.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-december-2016-edition/773500.md?page=3)