# Khadaji's Whatcha Readin' thread -- July 2017 Edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 30, 2017, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2017-edition/790241 "2017-06-30T23:51:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2017-edition/790241/101 "2017-07-27T13:55:51Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Anyway, just finished **The Scarlet Sister**. Totally original plot in a totally original setting: against the backdrop of a quasi-Western-Europe quasi-medieval setting (that really is on a planet settled by spacefarers), a child living in poverty is taken to a school of magic, where she discovers she may be The Chosen One, and anyway where she’s completely kickass at studies. How do authors keep coming up with such new ideas? > > Snark aside, it was reasonably well-written and passed the time. Just for once, I’d like to see the “Chosen One” is actually “chosen” to be the new Dark Lord. 😃 ---
**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 27, 2017, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2017-edition/790241/102 "2017-07-27T15:52:26Z")
You mean, like Anakin Skywalker? Just finished John Scalzi’s _The God Engines_. A very weird sf book with some interesting things to say about faith, technology and slavery. Much bloodier and violent than his other work, and with hardly a trace of his usual humor, but worth a read. I’ve begun an audiobook of Ernest Hemingway’s 1926 novel _The Sun Also Rises_, a fictionalized account of his years as a struggling writer in Paris between the wars. William Hurt is the reader and does the different characters’ voices well. His pronunciation of French individual and place names is also, to my untrained ear, smoothly fluent. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2017, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2017-edition/790241/103 "2017-07-27T16:00:54Z")
I’m almost done with the sad and gorgeous novel **All the Light We Cannot See** , by Anthony Doerr. I knew going in that any book is set in France in the late 30s through the mid 40s meant that things were not going to go well for any of the characters, which is predictably depressing. It’s an amazing book, though. Beauifully written and intensely visual which is interesting and effecting because the main character is blind. And awesome. ---
**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 29, 2017, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2017-edition/790241/104 "2017-07-29T18:32:16Z")
Finished _Four Past Midnight_, a collection of four Stephen King novellas. It was okay, but I expected better based on what I’d heard. My favorite was probably the fourth one, _The Sun Dog_, about a boy who gets a Polaroid Sun 660 for his birthday, and no matter where you point the camera, it keeps taking photos of a very large and mean-looking dog who looks more ready to attack the photographer with each picture. Yesterday started _Washington: A Life_, by Ron Chernow. Enjoying it. I never knew anything about Washington’s early years. With this and his _Alexander Hamilton_, I think Chernow has become one of my favorite historians. ---
**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:** [July 29, 2017, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2017-edition/790241/105 "2017-07-29T18:43:16Z")
I haven’t finished ANY of the books upthread that I said I was reading. _sigh_ Instead: _Too Many Crooks Spoil the Broth_, by Tamar Myers. Cozy mystery. It’s very funny, and I remember enjoying books from this series in the past, but it just felt like it was trying too hard and I wanted everyone to drop dead. _The Death of the Necromancer_, by Martha Wells. Wells is really good. I’m a fangirl at this point. This isn’t really spectacular, though it is good, but she’s just so reliably solid. _At the Bride Hunt Ball_, by Olivia Parker. A fairly run of the mill romance. Probably a bit more humor than most. _Sounder_, by William H Armstrong. Newbery. An effective, depressing book with a narrative gimmick (no one has names except the dog) that works but is also troubling in some ways. ---
**Author:** ![chaika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chaika/32/405_2.png) [@chaika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaika)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2017, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2017-edition/790241/106 "2017-07-29T19:04:00Z")
I just finished _The Patriots_ by Sana Krasikov. Thoroughly absorbing and well written. It’s about an American woman who immigrates to the Soviet Union in the 1930s. Also about her son and grandson, and their lives in the USSR, the US, and contemporary Russia. Some aspects of the novel seemed to strain credibility from a historical standpoint but I would definitely recommend it. I have begun _Eggshells_ by Caitriona Lally. Not read enough yet to draw any conclusions. ---
**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 30, 2017, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2017-edition/790241/107 "2017-07-30T01:27:28Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > …Yesterday started _Washington: A Life_, by Ron Chernow. Enjoying it. I never knew anything about Washington’s early years. With this and his _Alexander Hamilton_, I think Chernow has become one of my favorite historians. Agreed. Both books are excellent. Someday I’ll read his prize-winning _Titan_, about John D. Rockefeller. ---
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2017, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2017-edition/790241/108 "2017-07-30T05:46:25Z")
I am reading **Revolutionary Summer,** by Joseph Ellis, whom I really enjoy. There are some fine quotes in the book about the Summer of 1776. Describing the delegates to the Continental Congress:“They knew what they were against but they did not know what they were for.” And John Adams’ comment to Abigail on the battle for New York: “In general, our generals were out-generalled.” ---
**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:** [July 30, 2017, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2017-edition/790241/109 "2017-07-30T15:01:29Z")
About a week ago I finished Laura Lippman’s _Wilde Lake_. My overwhelming feeling upon finishing it was “meh.” I struggle to even summarize the plot in my own words, but I will say that I definitely don’t agree with Amazon’s description of it being “a modern twist on _To Kill a Mockingbird_”! It wasn’t badly written, or something I had to force myself to finish, but I think the main draw for me were the chapters set in Columbia, MD, in the early '70s. I grew up near there, and am only 1 year younger than the narrator, so the “memory lane” aspect was entertaining. But the action constantly shifted between the '70s and the present day, and I found neither storyline to be very compelling. I wouldn’t call it bad, but I won’t seek out anything else by Lippman without a strong recommendation. I read my Kindle sample of Craig Carlson’s _Pancakes in Paris_ – the story of the Breakfast in America restaurants in Paris that **Dendarii Dame** mentioned upthread – but I wasn’t interested enough to buy the book/keep reading after finishing the sample. There’s a Breakfast in America location very close to the hotel I’ll be staying in at the end of September, though, and I intend to check it out. 🙂 I have returned to my comfort zone, and am currently reading David Baldacci’s _**[The Target](https://www.amazon.com/Target-Will-Robie-David-Baldacci/dp/1455521183/)**_: #3 in the Will Robie (CIA hitman) series. It’s a few years old, but #5 is coming out in November and I’m trying to catch up before then. ---
**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 30, 2017, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2017-edition/790241/110 "2017-07-30T16:04:26Z")
> [@Misnomer](#): > > About a week ago I finished Laura Lippman’s _Wilde Lake_. My overwhelming feeling upon finishing it was “meh.” I struggle to even summarize the plot in my own words, but I will say that I definitely don’t agree with Amazon’s description of it being “a modern twist on _To Kill a Mockingbird_”! It wasn’t badly written, or something I had to force myself to finish, but I think the main draw for me were the chapters set in Columbia, MD, in the early '70s. I grew up near there, and am only 1 year younger than the narrator, so the “memory lane” aspect was entertaining. But the action constantly shifted between the '70s and the present day, and I found neither storyline to be very compelling. I wouldn’t call it bad, but I won’t seek out anything else by Lippman without a strong recommendation. This was in my Goodreads deals this morning. 😃 ---
**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:** [July 30, 2017, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2017-edition/790241/111 "2017-07-30T16:50:07Z")
Ha! 🙂 I know others enjoy her and liked this book, so I definitely wouldn’t say “don’t bother.” I just wasn’t impressed. ---
**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 30, 2017, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2017-edition/790241/112 "2017-07-30T16:57:33Z")
It doesn’t sound like my genre of choice anyway. I was just amused. ---
**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 30, 2017, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2017-edition/790241/113 "2017-07-30T17:07:22Z")
New thread! [ZOMBIES!!!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=20380033#post20380033) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2017-edition/790241.md?page=5)