# Khadaji's Whatcha Readin' Thread - January 2016 Edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 30, 2015, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-january-2016-edition/741740 "2015-12-30T17:41:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [January 13, 2016, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-january-2016-edition/741740/41 "2016-01-13T17:25:40Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > Just read a very good, very odd graphic novel. No-one I know would possibly be interested in it except my mathematician brother, but maybe some of you folks would be. > > It’s _The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage–The (Mostly) True Story of the First Computer_ by Sydney Padua. It’s on my TBR list at Good reads 😃 I’ve heard all kind of great reviews of it. ---
**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:** [January 13, 2016, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-january-2016-edition/741740/42 "2016-01-13T17:53:18Z")
On Monday night I finished David Baldacci’s _**[The Escape](http://www.amazon.com/Escape-John-Puller-David-Baldacci/dp/1455521256/)**_, #3 in the John Puller series. Puller, an investigator with the U.S. Army’s CID, is assigned to look into the escape of a prisoner from the military’s high-security prison – his big brother, a former U.S. Air Force officer convicted of treason and national security crimes. I enjoyed it, as I enjoyed the two previous John Puller novels. I like Baldacci’s writing. That said, the whole “Puller meets a smart, sexy woman who he starts to fall for despite himself and then she gets seriously injured” thing was definitely wearing thin by this book. I’ll read #4 if/when there is one, but if I see a similar romantic sub-plot developing I might have to ditch it. Though maybe it only stood out to me because I read all three books consecutively. Anyway, when I finished that I looked through all of the sample chapters on my Kindle and decided to start reading _**[Career of Evil](http://www.amazon.com/Career-Evil-Cormoran-Strike-Novels/dp/0316349933/)**_, the next book in Robert Galbraith’s (aka J.K. Rowling’s) Cormoran Strike series. Yep, another series…what can I say, I like it when I find a protagonist I like. 🙂 From Amazon: _“When a mysterious package is delivered to Robin Ellacott, she is horrified to discover that it contains a woman’s severed leg. Her boss, private detective Cormoran Strike, is less surprised but no less alarmed. There are four people from his past who he thinks could be responsible–and Strike knows that any one of them is capable of sustained and unspeakable brutality. With the police focusing on the one suspect Strike is increasingly sure is not the perpetrator, he and Robin take matters into their own hands, and delve into the dark and twisted worlds of the other three men. But as more horrendous acts occur, time is running out for the two of them…”_ I’m only a chapter or two into it, so no opinion just yet. I expect to like it as much as I did the others, though. ---
**Author:** ![BetsQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@BetsQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BetsQ)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-january-2016-edition/741740/43 "2016-01-13T21:51:58Z")
I just finished [Dreamers of the Day](http://www.amazon.com/Dreamers-Day-Mary-Doria-Russell/dp/0345485556/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1452721955&sr=8-1&keywords=dreamers+of+the+day), but Mary Doria Russell. I haven’t yet decided what I thought of it. The protagonist is a middle-aged spinster from Ohio who decides to travel abroad after all of her family dies of influenza in 1920. She arrives in Cairo during the Cairo Conference (1921) that designed the modern Middle East and spends time with Churchill, Lawrence of Arabia, and Gertrude Bell. It was definitely uneven as a novel, but as a sociologist I enjoyed the discussion of how events shape a society’s culture. Between the book and associated forays into Wikipedia, I also learned a bit about the history of the Middle East, but to be honest, I was starting from pretty much a blank slate. Next up is [My Brilliant Friend](http://www.amazon.com/My-Brilliant-Friend-Neapolitan-Novels/dp/1609450787/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1452722026&sr=8-1&keywords=brilliant+friend), by Elena Ferrante. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-january-2016-edition/741740/44 "2016-01-13T21:53:13Z")
> [@DZedNConfused](#): > > It’s on my TBR list at Good reads 😃 > > I’ve heard all kind of great reviews of it. It’s a fun one. At least, I found it so. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-january-2016-edition/741740/45 "2016-01-14T19:10:05Z")
I recently read _Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg_, by Irin Carmon, which was entertaining enough since I knew little about Ginsburg. It’s a lightweight, enthusiastic hagiography with no attempt at political neutrality. One of the authors writes the tumblr blog [notoriousrbg](http://notoriousrbg.tumblr.com/), and the book is full of comics and photos of pop culture references to “RBG”. This made the kindle version hard to read, so I’d recommend a paper copy. I just finished _Brideshead Revisited_, and I’m not sure how much I liked it. It’s beautifully written, and I do really enjoy the between-the-wars time period. ---
**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:** [January 14, 2016, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-january-2016-edition/741740/46 "2016-01-14T20:44:24Z")
If you want something a little more substantive on SCOTUS, **Eleanor** , I highly recommend _The Nine_ by Jeffrey Toobin. A great overview of the modern court, and a very readable mix of law, history, politics and behind-the-scenes gossip. ---
**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:** [January 14, 2016, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-january-2016-edition/741740/47 "2016-01-14T21:41:30Z")
I am still plugging away at **The Name of the Wind** , I just haven’t had a lot of time to read lately. ☹ But I have read 7 manga so far this year 😃 1. Millenium Snow 3 - Bisco Hatori 2. Millenium Snow 4 - Bisco Hatori 3. He’s My Only Vampire 2 - Aya Shouoto 4. The Ancient Magus’ Bride 3 - Kore Yamazaki 5. Black Bird 3 -Sakurakouji Kanoko 6. Black Bird 4 -Sakurakouji Kanoko 7. Demon Prince of Momochi House 3 - Aya Shouoto 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Grrlbrarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrlbrarian/32/4048_2.png) [@Grrlbrarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrlbrarian)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-january-2016-edition/741740/48 "2016-01-14T21:45:17Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > Just read a very good, very odd graphic novel. No-one I know would possibly be interested in it except my mathematician brother, but maybe some of you folks would be. > > It’s _The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage–The (Mostly) True Story of the First Computer_ by Sydney Padua. > > It is about the ultimate Victorian odd couple - Lady Ada Lovelace, the only legitimate child of “Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know” Lord Byron, and Charles Babbage, genius inventor and eccentric (the author describes him as being a cross between Da Vinci and Mr. Toad :D). Babbage invented, but did not build, a mechanical computer made of gears and powered by steam; his friend Lovelace (he described her as his “enchanted fairy of numbers”) allegedly wrote the very first software for it. > > Their story is odd and enchanting but ends sadly - shortly after writing her paper, Lovelace dies young of cancer; Babbage lives on, but never makes his machine, and dies a cantankerous and disappointed old man. The author goes on to imagine adventures for them in an alternate universe. > > The author’s method is what makes this so obsessively cool - she literally references everything. Pretty well each line of dialogue in their story is referenced to original sources, such as their correspondence. This continues into their purely imaginary adventures. The pair emerge as fully formed, very appealing characters. Why did Lovelace get into mathematics? Because her mom was terrified that her kid would inherit Lord Byron’s “poetical” nature and insanity, and though that math was the antidote! (Later tutors in math grew concerned that Lovelace was growing _too_ interested in math, and would ‘overtax her female body’!). > > As the author notes, “It’s not easy being the daughter of a celebrity mad genius deviant sex god, and Ada was monitored by the entire country, it sometimes seemed, for signs of madness, genius, and deviant sex. She would gratify expectations on all of the above.” > > There is controversy over Ada’s contributions to computing; the author makes a convincing case that these contributions are genuine. It’s not often that one it treated to a rollicking read on the history of mathematics … Read this and loved it! It was on my ‘best books of 2015’ list. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Grrlbrarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrlbrarian/32/4048_2.png) [@Grrlbrarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrlbrarian)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-january-2016-edition/741740/49 "2016-01-14T21:55:01Z")
I’ve got a couple of things on the hob, as it were. Reading before bed: Charles Dickens’ [**The Pickwick Papers**](http://www.amazon.com/Pickwick-Papers-Wordsworth-Collection-Classics/dp/1853260525). It’s so episodic that I’ve picked it up but not finished it many times before. Really enjoying it now; about 1/3 of the way through. In the car, I’m listening to the unabridged **[In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex](http://www.amazon.com/Heart-Sea-Tragedy-Whaleship-Essex/dp/0141001828/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1452808253&sr=1-1&keywords=whaleship+essex)** by Nathaniel Philbrick. I haven’t seen the film and probably won’t; this is intense enough just to imagine. I’ve had many a mind-boggling moment: 1) Men who put to sea for two years or more who CANNOT SWIM A LICK; 2) Harpooning 40-ton animals from a 26-foot flimsy boat; 3) Going on an ocean voyage without gleaning intel about pertinent islands, etc. Nantucket whalemen were a rare breed, one way and another :eek: I’m very slowly reading through **[A Confederacy of Dunces](http://www.amazon.com/Confederacy-Dunces-John-Kennedy-Toole/dp/0802130208)** by John Kennedy O’Toole. I know it’s supposed to be an American comic masterpiece but by gum, so far I hate it like fire and grim death. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-january-2016-edition/741740/50 "2016-01-14T22:05:33Z")
> [@Grrlbrarian](#): > > Read this and loved it! It was on my ‘best books of 2015’ list. 😉 I’m glad to hear it. My wife thinks I’m nuts, because I kept giggling over tidbits in the comics or mentioned in the footnotes when I was reading. She can’t understand what could possibly be so funny about the history of math and technology - reading the anecdotes to her didn’t help. Oh well. 😉 I guess the part I found most appealing overall, aside from the whole weirdness of their situation as depicted, is that they seemed to have had a genuinely wonderful odd-couple relationship. ---
**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:** [January 15, 2016, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-january-2016-edition/741740/51 "2016-01-15T18:58:19Z")
I’m in the middle of [Descent](http://www.amazon.com/Descent-Novel-Tim-Johnston/dp/161620477X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1452884074&sr=8-1&keywords=tim+johnston+descent) by Tim Johnston, another book I picked up on Michael Koryta’s recommendation. It’s about a family and what they go through when the eighteen year old daughter is abducted. So obviously this is some emotionally hard subject matter and once or twice I’ve thought of putting it down. But I can’t. It’s well-written and riveting so far. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-january-2016-edition/741740/52 "2016-01-15T19:30:43Z")
I read _Death on the Prairie_, by Kathleen Ernst. It’s in the middle of a mystery series, but worked fine as a stand alone. I picked it up because it’s set in the world of Laura Ingalls Wilder fans; the characters are visiting various _Little House_ sites and that part is all really cute. I’m a big LIW fan (although not an outright bonnethead; I’m more LIW adjacent in terms of my fandom). It definitely renewed my interest in visiting more of the sites myself, and quilting comes into the story a lot, so naturally I’ve been thinking I should definitely start a LIW quilting project. Aside from the Laura stuff, it’s like a cozy mystery that isn’t really my favorite thing. The sassy young woman solves murders almost by accident, there are a lot of jokes about needing to get some chocolate to calm one’s nerves. It’s all a little saccharine. But I also knew that going in, that it was going to be like this, so I can’t complain too much. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-january-2016-edition/741740/53 "2016-01-15T19:32:28Z")
> [@Grrlbrarian](#): > > I’m very slowly reading through **[A Confederacy of Dunces](http://www.amazon.com/Confederacy-Dunces-John-Kennedy-Toole/dp/0802130208)** by John Kennedy O’Toole. I know it’s supposed to be an American comic masterpiece but by gum, so far I hate it like fire and grim death. I have come to the very liberating conclusion that I am going to live my life and die without finishing this one; I have made a few attempts and found it unbearable every time. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-january-2016-edition/741740/54 "2016-01-15T19:40:13Z")
From _The Salmon of Doubt_ by Douglas Adams: > [@](#): > > This actually did happen to a real person, and the real person is me. I had gone to catch a train. This was April 1976, in Cambridge, U.K. I was a bit early for the train. I’d gotten the time of the train wrong. I went to get myself a newspaper to do the crossword, and a cup of coffee and a packet of cookies. I went and sat at a table. I want you to picture the scene. It’s very important that you get this very clear in your mind. Here’s the table, newspaper, cup of coffee, packet of cookies. There’s a guy sitting opposite me, perfectly ordinary-looking guy wearing a business suit, carrying a briefcase. It didn’t look like he was going to do anything weird. What he did was this: he suddenly leaned across, picked up the packet of cookies, tore it open, took one out, and ate it. > > Now this, I have to say, is the sort of thing the British are very bad at dealing with. There’s nothing in our background, upbringing, or education that teaches you how to deal with someone who in broad daylight has just stolen your cookies. You know what would happen if this had been South Central Los Angeles. There would have very quickly been gunfire, helicopters coming in, CNN, you know… But in the end, I did what any red-blooded Englishman would do: I ignored it. And I stared at the newspaper, took a sip of coffee, tried to do a clue in the newspaper, couldn’t do anything, and thought, What am I going to do? > > In the end I thought Nothing for it, I’ll just have to go for it, and I tried very hard not to notice the fact that the packet was already mysteriously opened. I took out a cookie for myself. I thought, That settled him. But it hadn’t because a moment or two later he did it again. He took another cookie. Having not mentioned it the first time, it was somehow even harder to raise the subject the second time around. “Excuse me, I couldn’t help but notice…” I mean, it doesn’t really work. > > We went through the whole packet like this. When I say the whole packet, I mean there were only about eight cookies, but it felt like a lifetime. He took one, I took one, he took one, I took one. Finally, when we got to the end, he stood up and walked away. Well, we exchanged meaningful looks, then he walked away, and I breathed a sigh of relief and sat back. > > A moment or two later the train was coming in, so I tossed back the rest of my coffee, stood up, picked up the newspaper, and underneath the newspaper were my cookies. The thing I like particularly about this story is the sensation that somewhere in England there has been wandering around for the last quarter-century a perfectly ordinary guy who’s had the same exact story, only he doesn’t have the punch line. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2016, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-january-2016-edition/741740/55 "2016-01-16T02:20:44Z")
> [@Grrlbrarian](#): > > I’m very slowly reading through **[A Confederacy of Dunces](http://www.amazon.com/Confederacy-Dunces-John-Kennedy-Toole/dp/0802130208)** by John Kennedy O’Toole. I know it’s supposed to be an American comic masterpiece but by gum, so far I hate it like fire and grim death. > [@delphica](#): > > I have come to the very liberating conclusion that I am going to live my life and die without finishing this one; I have made a few attempts and found it unbearable every time. I did finish it, and while I think it’s a worthwhile read, I too was less than enamored with the protagonist, to say the least. ---
**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:** [January 16, 2016, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-january-2016-edition/741740/56 "2016-01-16T03:33:08Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > From _The Salmon of Doubt_ by Douglas Adams… > 😃 You might want a grain or two of salt with those cookies: [The Stolen Biscuits | Snopes.com](http://www.snopes.com/crime/safety/cookies.asp) ---
**Author:** ![Memnon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Memnon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Memnon)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2016, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-january-2016-edition/741740/57 "2016-01-17T08:17:09Z")
I’ve just finished “The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat” by Oliver Sacks. It’s really interesting, wonderfully written, and it’s completely changed the way I think about the brain and how we interact with the world. Not bad for 240 pages. 5 stars. I’m also halfway through “Killing Floor”, the first in the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child. I picked it up on the recommendation of a friend and I didn’t think I’d enjoy it, because the prose is very basic and the characters are (with the exception of Reacher) pretty 2-D, IMO. However, I’m pleasantly surprised by it so far. For all its faults, it’s a cracking story with some genuinely ingenious twists. Child’s prose may be a little sub-par but his grasp of plot mechanics is second to none. Assuming things don’t go horribly wrong in the second half, I’d happily give it 4 out of 5 and I’ll definitely be buying the next one in the series. I’ve just started ‘The Magician’ by Raymond Feist. 30 pages in so far and it’s looking pretty good. ---
**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:** [January 17, 2016, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-january-2016-edition/741740/58 "2016-01-17T15:55:20Z")
> [@Tithonus](#): > > I’ve just finished “The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat” by Oliver Sacks. It’s really interesting, wonderfully written, and it’s completely changed the way I think about the brain and how we interact with the world. Not bad for 240 pages. 5 stars. I keep meaning to read that! A few years ago I read _Musicophilia_, and in addition to enjoying Sacks’s writing style it affected me personally: one of my deepest fears is suffering some kind of severe brain injury and losing music (I’m a musician), but after reading _Musicophilia_ I took great comfort in the idea that music is often one of the last things to go. Not that it couldn’t still happen, but the odds are lower than I’d thought. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-january-2016-edition/741740/59 "2016-01-18T14:34:17Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > You might want a grain or two of salt with those cookies: [The Stolen Biscuits | Snopes.com](http://www.snopes.com/crime/safety/cookies.asp) Oh Mr. Adams. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Grrlbrarian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrlbrarian/32/4048_2.png) [@Grrlbrarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrlbrarian)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2016, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-january-2016-edition/741740/60 "2016-01-18T15:12:42Z")
> [@delphica](#): > > I have come to the very liberating conclusion that I am going to live my life and die without finishing this one; I have made a few attempts and found it unbearable every time. Unbearable about sums up the situation. Thank God it’s set in the French Quarter, or I wouldn’t have gotten even this far. I did a subspeciality in medieval lit, and while I recognize various aspects of Ignatius from that academic world, I fled purposely to avoid people like him. 😉 **Siam Siam** , I salute you. **Malthus** , I couldn’t decide if I liked or disliked the science fiction-y forays in Lovelace & Babbage. Most of me feels the graphic novel (with its wonderful pen & ink) was well enough with just the historical detail and the modern sensibility footnotes. What did you think? Oh, and I finished a couple of reads this weekend. First to go was **[Daring Greatly](http://www.amazon.com/Daring-Greatly-Courage-Vulnerable-Transforms/dp/1592408419/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1453129831&sr=8-1&keywords=daring+greatly+brene)** by Brene Brown. She had some helpful things to say about how shame closes us off and choosing to be vulnerable and authentic opens up our lives. I found it repetitive and somewhat facile, but self-help books are an hard sell for me anyway. Second up was **[Burial Rites](http://www.amazon.com/Burial-Rites-Hannah-Kent/dp/0316243922)** by Hannah Kent. This novel re-imagines the case of a woman convicted to die in 19th century Iceland for the murder of her master and arson of his farm. Afterward she’s sent to live with a farm family until her execution and counseled by an assistant priest, who learn most of her story and what really occurred during the fateful murder and fire. The author used contemporary source documents in the writing of this, and the historical detail and characters are absorbing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-january-2016-edition/741740.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-january-2016-edition/741740.md?page=4)