# Khadaji's Whatcha Readin' thread -- January 2019 Edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 31, 2018, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-january-2019-edition/826964 "2018-12-31T05:06:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2019, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-january-2019-edition/826964/81 "2019-01-22T13:32:06Z")
I picked up several books at the Arisia convention this past weekend. After reading things about Poul Anderson’s “Operation” stories, I found that they were “fixed up” into a novel that I’d never read, **Operation Chaos** , which I found there right off the bat. People seeing me reading this kept telling me “You know, he wrote a sequel…” I did, but tht doesn’t stop them. So eventually I bought a copy of the sequel, **Operation Luna** that I also found there. My friend Jeff Hecht wrote a book _Beam Weapons_ ages ago, which I read before I met him. There’s been a lot of water under the bridge since then, and he finally wrote a new book, **Lasers, Death Rays, and the Long Strange Quest for the Ultimate Weapon** , that just came out. (I’d covered the cultural history of the ray gun in my own book _How the Ray Gun Got Its Zap!_, which Jeff had attended one of my talks about. we traded information on Ray Gun History). I also picked up a copy of **Terrytoons: the Story of Paul Terry and his Classic Cartoon Factory** by the unlikely-named W. Gerald Harmonic. I’ve read several books about the Disney cartoons and Warner Brothers cartoons, and Leslie Cabarga’s great book on the Fleischer studios, but AFAIK there hasn’t been one out about Terrytoons. I grew up watching Mighty Mouse, Deputy Dawg, Tom Terrific, Heckle and Jeckle, Hashimoto Mouse, and others from his stable (He called it “the Woolworth of animation” , in comparison to Disney’s “Tiffany” studio. But Terry started making cartoons seven years before Disney ever did,) This incredibly detailed book grew out of interviews Harmonic and earlier historians conducted with Terry and those who worked with him, research at cartoon collections, and twenty years of writing. It looks interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2019, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-january-2019-edition/826964/82 "2019-01-23T01:04:33Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Finished _The Rooster Bar_, by John Grisham. A small group of third-year law students who collectively owe several hundred thousand dollars in student loans decide to drop out at the beginning of their final semester, pose as actual lawyers and hit the criminal courts to troll for DUIs and other low-level offenders, bypassing the need to pass any pesky bar exams. What could possibly go wrong? After all, who really bothers to check a lawyer’s credentials? Chaos ensues. There is a subplot in which one of the group was born in the US but whose parents and siblings are undocumented aliens from Senegal. This was a very good story, enthralling from beginning to end. Grisham got too preachy for a while in some of his books 10 or 15 years ago but avoids that in this subplot, in which the travails of illegals and their treatment by ICE are explored. Quite a find for me too, as I picked up the hardback in a used-book store for just $1. With this novel and \*Camino Island \* before it, Grisham is on a roll. > > Next up is _Ragtime_, by EL Doctorow. I enjoyed _The Rooster Bar_ too. Haven’t read _Ragtime_ in a while, but really liked it when I read it a while back. I haven’t been moved much by Doctorow’s other novels; this one was terrific. (Look up, or read, Heinrich von Kleist’s novella _Michael Kohlhaas_ after you finish if you want a little literary background…) I read a potato chip mystery–Simon Brett’s most recent novel about actor-slash-alcoholic Charles Paris, _A Deadly Habit_. The mystery is a little light, as it often is, but the theatrical background is always fun, and Charles is an interesting guy in his own rather pathetic way. “Oh, _Charles_,” I typically sigh when I finish one of these novels, and this one was no exception. I read L’Engle’s _A Wrinkle in Time_ when I was a boy, and loved it. Read it again as an adult, twice, and still like it a lot (though I see its flaws more clearly than I did at age ten). L’Engle wrote a couple of sequels which I only read in my early twenties, _Wind in the Door_ and _A Swiftly Tilting Planet_. I recalled liking the latter and not thinking much of the former, but couldn’t have told you why lo these many years later. So I decided to try rereading \*Wind in the Door \*and– oh, good Lord, it’s awful. I’m about a third of the way through and maybe it gets better later, but I ain’t counting on it. Repetitive, wordy, and did I say repetitive? The characterizations seem random and the plot equally so; the dramatic tension is lacking; the author seems more interested in telling rather than showing. I’ll probably finish it, because I can’t believe it’s going to remain this dreadful, but wow, it’s bad. ---
**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 26, 2019, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-january-2019-edition/826964/83 "2019-01-26T05:07:05Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > …Next: Robert Parker’s 1981 Spenser private-eye book, _Early Autumn_. Finished it. Pretty good, although there’s a weird homoerotic vibe in the scenes where Spenser is teaching a teenage dweeb, caught in a custody dispute between his parents, how to be a man. A bit too many mentions of them exercising shirtless together, their chests gleaming with sweat. Next up: _A Man Called Ove_ by Fredrik Bachman, a novel about a Swedish curmudgeon. My sister loved it. ---
**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:** [January 26, 2019, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-january-2019-edition/826964/84 "2019-01-26T16:52:45Z")
Finished _Smoke_ by Donald Westlake. Not bad, but not very original. Some amusing moments. Started _I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings_, by Maya Angelou. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2019, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-january-2019-edition/826964/85 "2019-01-26T17:40:45Z")
Finished N. K. Jemisin’s lovely Inheritance trilogy. Now reading the associated novella and three short stories. ---
**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 26, 2019, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-january-2019-edition/826964/86 "2019-01-26T23:14:53Z")
I finished the **Not a…** series by Madeline Kirby about a cat shifter cop and his oddly psychic boyfriend (Jake’s dreams take him inside the heads of dogs). The premise sounds too weird, but the series is a lot of fun. She has a great ear for realistic dialogue and realistic feeling relationships between characters. ---
**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 27, 2019, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-january-2019-edition/826964/87 "2019-01-27T04:47:32Z")
> [@DZedNConfused](#): > > I finished the **Not a…** series by Madeline Kirby about a cat shifter cop… What’s a cat shifter? Google and Urban Dictionary have failed me. ---
**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 27, 2019, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-january-2019-edition/826964/88 "2019-01-27T05:48:19Z")
A human who shape shifts into a cat. ---
**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 28, 2019, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-january-2019-edition/826964/89 "2019-01-28T04:04:23Z")
Got it! Thanks. ---
**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 28, 2019, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-january-2019-edition/826964/90 "2019-01-28T19:02:08Z")
Currently reading [After the Fire](https://www.amazon.com/After-Fire-Will-Hill/dp/1492669792/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1548701777&sr=8-1) by Will Hill, a YA novel about a girl who survived a Branch Davidian-like commune. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2019, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-january-2019-edition/826964/91 "2019-01-28T20:15:06Z")
Finished **Daughter of Smoke and Bone** and **Days of Blood and Starlight** by Laini Taylor. Started the final book in the trilogy, **Dreams of Gods and Monsters** , today. There’s also a side novella, **Night of Cake and Puppets** , that I’ll get to sometime, but it’s not critical to the central story. ---
**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:** [January 29, 2019, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-january-2019-edition/826964/92 "2019-01-29T01:03:32Z")
Finished _I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings_, by Maya Angelou. Brilliant, and highly recommended. Next up: _Fashion Climbing: A Memoir with Photographs_, by Bill Cunningham. ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2019, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-january-2019-edition/826964/93 "2019-01-29T01:09:12Z")
Reading _Shadows Linger_, the second military fantasy novel in Glen Cook’s The Black Company series. I’m a third of the way into it and I love it. I can’t believe it took me so long to start reading Glen Cook. ---
**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 31, 2019, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-january-2019-edition/826964/94 "2019-01-31T13:05:53Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Currently reading [After the Fire](https://www.amazon.com/After-Fire-Will-Hill/dp/1492669792/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1548701777&sr=8-1) by Will Hill, a YA novel about a girl who survived a Branch Davidian-like commune. Finished _After the Fire_; it held my interest but was unremarkable. Then I started on _Echo Room_, by Parker Peevyhouse. After 25 pages, I was having to backtrack and re-read because my mind was wandering everywhere. Ditched. ---
**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:** [February 1, 2019, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-january-2019-edition/826964/95 "2019-02-01T19:36:00Z")
Started today on [Ghost Wall](https://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Wall-Novel-Sarah-Moss/dp/0374161925/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1549049314&sr=1-1&keywords=ghost+wall) by Sarah Moss, a novel about a young girl and her family participating with a group of students who are reenacting life as it was lived in the Iron Age. I’m really liking it so far, although it’s one of those books that leaves out the quotation marks. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-january-2019-edition/826964/96 "2019-02-01T22:02:44Z")
I re-read **Shogun** and **Gai-Jin** by James Clavell over the holidays, and I just read another Amazon Prime free release, [True Places](https://www.amazon.com/True-Places-Novel-Sonja-Yoerg/dp/1503904555/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1549058474&sr=8-1&keywords=true+places). I keep stumbling into what I call suburban gothic, ie a seemingly perfect, upper middle class (if not wealthy) family with deep dark secrets. This one had an interesting twist but I felt the twist could have been explored a bit better. ---
**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:** [February 2, 2019, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-january-2019-edition/826964/97 "2019-02-02T22:10:52Z")
Finished _Fashion Climbing: A Memoir with Photographs_, by Bill Cunningham, which I enjoyed. It had some funny anecdotes. Now I’m reading _Boy, Snow, Bird_, by Helen Oyeyemi. ---
**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:** [February 3, 2019, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-january-2019-edition/826964/98 "2019-02-03T00:37:16Z")
Almost finished with **[Taken By Bear in Yellowstone](Taken by Bear in Yellowstone: More Than a Century of Harrowing Encounters between Grizzlies and Humans)**. I was on a Bear v. Human reading binge and my library was kind enough to procure this one for me. I love my library. If something is available to purchase and they don’t have it, they take requests. Yay. ---
**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:** [February 4, 2019, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-january-2019-edition/826964/99 "2019-02-04T01:32:39Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > Haven’t read _Ragtime_ in a while, but really liked it when I read it a while back. I haven’t been moved much by Doctorow’s other novels; this one was terrific. Finished _Ragtime_, by EL Doctorow. Fictional and historical characters interact in the greater New York City area largely from 1902-12, with brief scenes continuing to 1917 at the very end. The main story is a black man takes matters into his own hands when a bunch of Irish firefighters vandalize his car and indirectly lead to the death of his fiancee/mother of his child. I especially liked the Harry Houdini story line. Ranked No. 86 on the Modern Library’s top 100 novels of the 20th century. This is a great book. I remember watching the 1981 film when it came out and enjoying that. It was 80-something-year-old James Cagney’s last movie role, as the NYC police commissioner, although I think he did appear in a TV movie after that. He had not acted in a movie in something like 20 years, and he was terrific. Pat O’Brian’s last film too. Like **Ulf** above, I had read only Doctorow’s _Billy Bathgate_ before and found itt only so-so. _Ragtime_ is fantastic. Next up is _The Dead Zone_, by Stephen King. EDIT: Is there a February link? I don’t see one. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2019, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-january-2019-edition/826964/100 "2019-02-04T15:50:37Z")
The Ancestors Tale Richard Dawkins and Yan Wong History of life on earth, told as a series of natural history tales, working backwards from the evolution of humans, primates, mammals, etc The first edition of this book was written around 2004. A lot has been discovered since then, so there is a fair amount of new material Highly recommend even if you read the first edition already [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-january-2019-edition/826964.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-january-2019-edition/826964.md?page=6)