# Khadaji's Whatcha Readin' thread - July 2014 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 2, 2014, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2014/692215 "2014-07-02T19:57:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**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:** [July 19, 2014, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2014/692215/121 "2014-07-19T03:50:36Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > … I’ve already read _The Forever War_, _The Fountains of Paradise_, and _The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress_. George R.R. Martin is _Game of Thrones_, is he not? I have attempted GoT twice, but I can’t keep the characters and story arcs straight. > > But I like military sci-fi as Heinlein did so well - maybe I will tackle _Old Man’s War_. Thanks!.. Even if _Game of Thrones_ was too big and sprawling, _Tuf Voyaging_ definitely is not. I urge you to try it. No one to whom I have recommended it (and there have been many) has disliked it. > [@SpazCat](#): > > John Scalzi once again underwhelms me. I read\* Zoe’s Tale\*, the fourth of the Old Man’s War novels. I want to go on the record as saying John Scalzi cannot write a believable teenage girl. I \*wish \*my sarcasm had made me as popular as Zoe’s did when I was sixteen/seventeen. Most real teens don’t really have the rapier wit that the ones in this book had. I ended up wanting to slap them all. > > Also, this was mainly a retelling of _The Last Colony_ from another perspective… That was actually why I liked it; I thought it dovetailed nicely with _The Last Colony_. And the characterization of the heroine didn’t seem too off-base to me; I’ve known girls like that. ---
**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:** [July 19, 2014, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2014/692215/122 "2014-07-19T04:13:33Z")
I’ve got _The Goldfinch, The Journals of Spalding Gray,_ and the 9th (I think) _Sandman_ volume going right now. I keep thinking about the Vinge I just read, and might need to read the next in the set. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2014/692215/123 "2014-07-19T09:35:16Z")
> [@SpazCat](#): > > …Next up on the Scalzi list is _The God Engines_. At least this one is short, so if it pisses me off like the last two I’ve read I won’t be out much time. I read this when it came out - thought it was excellent. A bit disturbing and violent, though, iirc. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2014/692215/124 "2014-07-19T14:47:05Z")
Finished _ **Ragtime** _, and am now reading Geoffrey Household’s old thriller \*\*\*Rogue Male. * * * ---
**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:** [July 19, 2014, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2014/692215/125 "2014-07-19T14:48:58Z")
> [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](#): > > Except I’m going to be reading _The Count of Monte Cristo_ for the rest of my life, I think. The first few hundred pages were good - wrongful imprisonment, escape, unearthing the treasure, rescuing his loyal former employer - but these post-escape shenanigans in Rome have been tedious. I know it’s a setup for an elaborate revenge scheme, and I hope the plot picks up soon. I’m beginning to see why there are abridged versions of this. Don’t feel alone, I have the same problem. I started it after seeing Gankutsuou, a Japanese anime loosely based on the story, and yeah, flew through the first hundred or two pages and then hit a wall… and the book has sat in the back of my truck for about 5 years now. The offspring and I read **Guards! Guards!** by Terry Pratchett again yesterday. Well we listened to it because Pterry makes a 12 hour drive so MUCH more enjoyable. We arrived in the PNW just as the dragons flew off into the sunset 😃 ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2014, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2014/692215/126 "2014-07-19T23:51:02Z")
I am reading **Cavalier: A Tale of Chivalry, Passion and Great Houses** by Lucy Worsley – only a few pages in and already very engaging prose. The author that has a really good knack for telling a story. ---
**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:** [July 20, 2014, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2014/692215/127 "2014-07-20T16:09:12Z")
Finished _The Street Lawyer_, by John Grisham. A young attorney on the fast-track to partnership in a blue-chip Washington law firm gets taken hostage along with eight colleagues by a homeless man. After the siege ends with the hostage taker’s blood spattered all over him – not a spoiler, as it happens early on and is described on the book-cover blurb – he changes tack to become a lawyer for homeless rights. Good but not great. Next up is the last Grisham I have (I bought several that our library’s semi-regular used-book sale): _The Testament_. ---
**Author:** ![Enterprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/76d3ee/32.png) [@Enterprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enterprise)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2014, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2014/692215/128 "2014-07-20T18:09:11Z")
I read the first two volumes of Neal Stephenson’s _Baroque Cycle_, \*Quicksilver \*and _The Confusion_, over the past two weeks or so. I’d read them before, but forgotten just how remarkable an achievement these books are. Went to a conference and met a guy recommending I get into _The Cryptonomicon_; so I’m on this before I go back and finish _The System of the World_. I also discovered Mark Gatiss’s novels centered on the character of Lucifer Box–quite fun! Raunchy, slightly Flashman-esque. Box is a secret agent in the British secret service. ---
**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:** [July 21, 2014, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2014/692215/129 "2014-07-21T01:45:02Z")
Just finished George R.R. Martin’s _Dreamsongs, Vol. I_, a collection of short stories and an unproduced screenplay. The two short stories which I’d looked forward to reading, “The Skin Trade” (about a werewolf and a P.I. in a nameless, crumbling big city) and “Portraits of His Children” (in which an author encounters, in the flesh, what appear to be characters from his books), were both disappointing. There’s some other good stuff in the book, though. Just started _The Children of Men_ by P.D. James, which is significantly different from the dystopic sf movie based on it. So far, so good, though. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2014, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2014/692215/130 "2014-07-21T15:21:33Z")
> [@Enterprise](#): > > I read the first two volumes of Neal Stephenson’s _Baroque Cycle_, \*Quicksilver \*and _The Confusion_, over the past two weeks or so. I’d read them before, but forgotten just how remarkable an achievement these books are. Went to a conference and met a guy recommending I get into _The Cryptonomicon_; so I’m on this before I go back and finish _The System of the World_. > > I also discovered Mark Gatiss’s novels centered on the character of Lucifer Box–quite fun! Raunchy, slightly Flashman-esque. Box is a secret agent in the British secret service. The _Baroque Cycle_ and _Cryptonomicon_ are indeed achievements. Some of my favorite historical fiction ever. They are much hated by a subset of science fiction fans who would prefer more in the style of _Snow Crash_ - which is also good, but totally different. ---
**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:** [July 22, 2014, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2014/692215/131 "2014-07-22T12:59:33Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Next up, some non-fiction, [Confessions of a Sociopath: A Life Spent Hiding in Plain Sight](http://www.amazon.com/Confessions-Sociopath-Spent-Hiding-Plain/dp/0307956652/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1405606621&sr=1-1&keywords=m.e.+Thomas), by M.E. Thomas. The author is not a criminal and so far there hasn’t been anything too icky for me to cope with. I don’t feel inclined to check out her website, though. I realized this morning that the last of my interest in this book had quietly drizzled away. I don’t really want to know anything about sociopaths other than how to identify and avoid them and I didn’t feel this book was helping. So I laid it aside and picked up Terry Pratchett’s _Guards! Guards!_ and now I am happy again. ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2014/692215/132 "2014-07-22T13:18:06Z")
I’m now reading [Blindsight](http://www.amazon.com/Blindsight-Peter-Watts-ebook/dp/B003K15EKM/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1406034915&sr=1-1&keywords=blindsight), by Peter Watts. Good, hard first-contact sci-fi. Unfortunately, the book is marred by the inclusion of vampires. Vampires, in a freaking hard sci-fi book! Watts tries to wrap it in a seemingly plausible branch of evolution premise, but it’s not quite working for me. It’s a constant annoyance in an otherwise (so far) excellent book. ---
**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:** [July 22, 2014, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2014/692215/133 "2014-07-22T14:02:21Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > I realized this morning that the last of my interest in this book had quietly drizzled away. I don’t really want to know anything about sociopaths other than how to identify and avoid them and I didn’t feel this book was helping. So I laid it aside and picked up Terry Pratchett’s _Guards! Guards!_ and now I am happy again. DRAGONS! And Carrot too. 🙂 I discovered a Little Free Library around the corner from my sister’s house, So I gave them a book and took a couple books. Consequently I started **Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe** by Fannie Flagg yesterday. I’m only a couple pages into it tho… ---
**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:** [July 22, 2014, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2014/692215/134 "2014-07-22T14:31:29Z")
> [@Dorjan](#): > > I’m now reading [Blindsight](http://www.amazon.com/Blindsight-Peter-Watts-ebook/dp/B003K15EKM/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1406034915&sr=1-1&keywords=blindsight), by Peter Watts. Good, hard first-contact sci-fi. Unfortunately, the book is marred by the inclusion of vampires. Vampires, in a freaking hard sci-fi book! Watts tries to wrap it in a seemingly plausible branch of evolution premise, but it’s not quite working for me. It’s a constant annoyance in an otherwise (so far) excellent book. I liked that book. I thought the vampire thing was gimmicky, but I liked the idea of the “Crucifix Glitch”. The vampire is specimen of an extinct race with “a cross-wiring of normally-distinct receptor arrays in the visual cortex, resulting in grand mal-like feedback seizures whenever the arrays processing vertical and horizontal stimuli fired simultaneously across a sufficiently large arc of the visual field. Since intersecting right angles are virtually nonexistent in nature, natural selection did not weed out the Glitch until H. sapiens sapiens developed Euclidean architecture; by then, the trait had become fixed across H. sapiens vampiris via genetic drift, and – suddenly denied access to its prey – the entire subspecies went extinct shortly after the dawn of recorded history.” In the two Watts books I’ve read, he’s put together groups of dysfunctional and downright crazy people who in real life would not be trusted to staff a convenience store, much less crew a spaceship. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2014/692215/135 "2014-07-22T18:39:12Z")
Okay, just finished the adventure yarn _ **Rogue Male** _. Time for another work of (ahem) “serious” literature. I’ll let you brilliant people pick from the following books already on my Kindle: _ **Angle of Repose** _ by Wallace Stegner _ **House of Mirth** _ by Edith Wharton _ **The Magus** _ by John Fowles ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2014/692215/136 "2014-07-22T18:50:05Z")
I found **The Magus** to be somewhat mind-bending and I really enjoyed it, so that’s my vote. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2014/692215/137 "2014-07-22T19:27:48Z")
Okay, you win- \*\*\*The Magus \*\*\*it is. ---
**Author:** ![Truman\_Burbank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@Truman\_Burbank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truman_Burbank)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2014/692215/138 "2014-07-22T19:40:42Z")
I just finished \*\*The Art of Fielding \*\*by Chad Harbach, and was quite dazzled by it. You don’t need to be a baseball fan to enjoy it - my wife started it first (it was her book club pick) and we both loved it. I’m picking my way through an old collection of Analog short fiction while I dither over over my next book. I’m trying to get into \*\*The Corrections \*\*by Jonathon Franzen but haven’t managed any traction yet. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2014/692215/139 "2014-07-22T20:31:52Z")
Jeez **astorian** , you’re easy! I’m reading my way through a mystery series by George Harmon Coxe about a newspaper photographer named Kent Murdock. I’ve read some but not all and have been having my own little mystery series tracking some of them down. The first one is from 1935 and the last is 1973. Coxe is a fine writer and I also find the details about newspaper photography as they change through the series to be fascinating. And Murdock is, well, sexy. In one early book he meets a women he will marry but apparently she sort of disappears from the series after a few books. I’ve tried to find out exactly when and how she gets written out but with no luck. Maybe he sends her to Reno? I’m reminded of a thread currently on the Dope someplace about things that are out of date in movies and novels. Everything in these is out of date, except the good sharp writing and the crimes. Murder for love or money never gets out of date. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2014/692215/140 "2014-07-22T21:00:17Z")
Aha, found the thread I mentioned: [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=728281). (It doesn’t really matter but I’m a little OCD.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2014/692215.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2014/692215.md?page=8)