# Khadaji's Whatcha Readin' thread -- July 2018 Edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 29, 2018, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2018-edition/816999 "2018-06-29T15:53:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**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 16, 2018, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2018-edition/816999/41 "2018-07-16T13:22:03Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > If I disappear in the next couple of weeks, that’s why, and it won’t be for long. Thanks for the heads up. I finished **Black Ajax**. I don’t give a tinker’s damn about boxing, but I was never bored. George MacDonald Fraser was just that good an author. Started today on [Hangsaman](https://www.amazon.com/Hangsaman-Penguin-Classics-Shirley-Jackson/dp/0143107046/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1531747027&sr=8-1&keywords=hangsaman+by+shirley+jackson) by Shirley Jackson. TBH, I’m finding it rather irritating so far. I had never heard of this book before, now I think I see why. But, you know, _Shirley Jackson_, so I’m going to hang in there. ---
**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 16, 2018, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2018-edition/816999/42 "2018-07-16T14:14:58Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > If I disappear in the next couple of weeks, that’s why, and it won’t be for long. Bring souvenirs back! ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2018, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2018-edition/816999/43 "2018-07-16T21:21:19Z")
Ron Chernow’s biography on Ulysses Grant is quite good. He mostly defends Grant’s presidency pointing out he made major efforts to protect the rights of Blacks in the South which ultimately failed after he left office. Some bad appointments in an era where the size of government increased but he always prosecuted but he never really seem to realize people weren’t as honest as he was. ---
**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 16, 2018, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2018-edition/816999/44 "2018-07-16T21:27:24Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Started today on [Hangsaman](https://www.amazon.com/Hangsaman-Penguin-Classics-Shirley-Jackson/dp/0143107046/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1531747027&sr=8-1&keywords=hangsaman+by+shirley+jackson) by Shirley Jackson. TBH, I’m finding it rather irritating so far. I had never heard of this book before, now I think I see why. But, you know, _Shirley Jackson_, so I’m going to hang in there. I’m 99% certain I read that, and I found it annoying too. But it’s been 30+ years… ---
**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 17, 2018, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2018-edition/816999/45 "2018-07-17T04:23:17Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > Ron Chernow’s biography on Ulysses Grant is quite good. He mostly defends Grant’s presidency pointing out he made major efforts to protect the rights of Blacks in the South which ultimately failed after he left office. Some bad appointments in an era where the size of government increased but he always prosecuted but he never really seem to realize people weren’t as honest as he was. I’ve been meaning to get to that book. Chernow’s Washington and Hamilton bios are both excellent. ---
**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 17, 2018, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2018-edition/816999/46 "2018-07-17T05:04:38Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Thanks for the heads up. > > I finished **Black Ajax**. I don’t give a tinker’s damn about boxing, but I was never bored. George MacDonald Fraser was just that good an author. And I hope you noted Flashman’s father making an appearance. ---
**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 17, 2018, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2018-edition/816999/47 "2018-07-17T12:29:19Z")
Yep, good ol’ Buck, fucking things up. **DZedNConfused** , I’m up to page 69, still annoyed! ---
**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 17, 2018, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2018-edition/816999/48 "2018-07-17T13:03:08Z")
> [@](#): > > The sight of the mountains far away was sometimes so perfectly comprehensible to Natalie that she forced tears into her eyes, or lay on the grass, unable, after a point, to absorb it – she was, of course, adequately hidden from the windows of the house – or to turn it into more than her own capacity for containing it; she was not able to leave the fields and mountains alone where she found them, but required herself to take them in and use them, a carrier of something simultaneously real and unreal to set up against the defiantly real-and-unreal batterings of her family. :mad: Grrrrr ---
**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:** [July 17, 2018, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2018-edition/816999/49 "2018-07-17T13:44:08Z")
Just finished\* The Russian Endgame\* by Allan Topol. Not recommended. Just started _When the Trees Say Nothing: Writings on Nature_, by Thomas Merton. ---
**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 17, 2018, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2018-edition/816999/50 "2018-07-17T14:04:42Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Representative sentence from Hangsaman… [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/MrCPIrs90eg/hqdefault.jpg "My brain hurts") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrCPIrs90eg) ---
**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:** [July 17, 2018, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2018-edition/816999/51 "2018-07-17T14:18:39Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > :mad: Grrrrr Woah. Does Jackson realize that pronouns have antecedents? Or that the word “comprehensible” has a meaning–one that applies neither to the sight of mountains nor to that sentence? ---
**Author:** ![Rough\_Draft](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@Rough\_Draft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rough_Draft)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2018, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2018-edition/816999/52 "2018-07-17T17:59:57Z")
I finished _The Pharaoh Key_ by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child. It’s the last volume of their Gideon Crew series, and I can’t say I’m going to miss Gideon too much. The story should have been right up my alley: Gideon & company solve an ancient code and go off to a remote corner of Egypt to find a treasure. The problem is, the treasure hunt part of the story is almost non-existent. They use a computer to solve the code at the beginning of the book, which takes all the fun out of that aspect of the hunt, and then they spend almost the entire remainder of the story getting sidetracked on their way to the treasure. Just about every plot padding device imaginable is used: duplicitous native guides, corrupt officials, almost dying from thirst, mysterious _femme fatales_ showing up out of nowhere, and lost tribes of primitive hunters who almost kill our heroes at first but wind up worshiping them. And of course at the end, with the treasure in reach, comes the ultimate _cliche_ conclusion, which I won’t reveal even though it’s lame as hell. I’ll read anything by Preston & Child, but this kind of lazy writing really tested my patience. ---
**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:** [July 18, 2018, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2018-edition/816999/53 "2018-07-18T14:23:51Z")
Finished _When the Trees Say Nothing: Writings on Nature_, by Thomas Merton. Some beautiful prose, very reminiscent (unsurprisingly) of Robert Frost’s poetry. Started _The Big Chunk of Ice: The Last Known Adventure of The Mad Scientists’ Club_, by Bertrand R. Brinley. It’s fun so far. ---
**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 18, 2018, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2018-edition/816999/54 "2018-07-18T17:41:55Z")
The last time I posted (in last month’s thread) I’d just started Mishell Baker’s _[Borderline](https://www.amazon.com/Borderline-Arcadia-Project-Mishell-Baker/dp/1481429787/)_, the first book in the Arcadia Project series. Back in May, **Left Hand of Dorkness** reviewed/recommended the third book in the series; when something sounds good, I like to start at the beginning if I can. 🙂 Two months ago, **DZedNConfused** posted that based on the Goodreads blurb it sounded “a bit like _The Rook_ with more schizophrenia and fewer vampires.” I kept feeling that it was something like _The Rook_ meets Harry Dresden, if Harry were a chick. And an amputee. Anyway, I finished it about a month ago and liked it very much! In fact, I immediately bought – but haven’t yet started – the second book in the series. After _Borderline_ I tackled Stephen King’s latest, _[The Outsider](https://www.amazon.com/Outsider-Novel-Stephen-King/dp/1501180983/)_. I’m a huge King fan, but – like **[FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=21031374&postcount=59)** – I found the overall story to be a little meh. No twists or surprises. And the inclusion of Holly Gibney seemed to be somewhat gratuitous. I also agree with **[Dung Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=20994322&postcount=8)** (not surprisingly!). I don’t regret reading it or anything, though. After finishing King (five days ago) I was up for a political thriller, so I dove into _**[The President is Missing](https://www.amazon.com/President-Missing-Novel-James-Patterson/dp/0316412694/)**_ – by James Patterson and Bill Clinton. No opinion yet, because I’m not very far into it: the president is still present and accounted for. In a related aside, I’ve been unemployed all month\* but surprisingly I haven’t been reading any more than usual! I still tend to only read in bed, right before I fall asleep. I’ll be going on vacation at the end of the month – a trip to the Seattle area to see some friends and go to a small jazz festival – and I’ll read in the airports/on the planes, so I’m hoping to finish the Patterson book before this month/thread ends. 🙂 \*I quit my job; my last day in the office was 7/2. I’ve had the Seattle trip planned for a while, and I’m in a position to be able to cover some time off, so I decided to take the whole month. Happily I’ve already received/accepted an offer for a new job, which will start on 8/6. ---
**Author:** ![jamburger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jamburger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jamburger)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2018, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2018-edition/816999/55 "2018-07-18T22:30:29Z")
I just finished Christopher Greyson’s Jack Stratton book 2 Jack Knifed. Loved it! Gonna start on the third book soon! Personally, I especially enjoy mystery/crime fiction heavier on the character stories than the mystery itself. Greyson’s book have a great combo of both. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2018, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2018-edition/816999/56 "2018-07-18T22:53:17Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > I’m on book 3 of the [Gentlemen Bastards](https://www.amazon.com/Gentleman-Bastard-3-Book-Series/dp/B00PL9LM48) series. Waiting patiently for book 4. You will need to be very very very very patient. ---
**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 19, 2018, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2018-edition/816999/57 "2018-07-19T12:18:50Z")
Finished _Hangsaman_, at last. It was absolutely awful. Shirley Jackson wrote one of my favorite books of all time, but I’m kind of mad at her right now. ---
**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, 2018, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2018-edition/816999/58 "2018-07-19T12:40:21Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Finished _Hangsaman_, at last. It was absolutely awful. Shirley Jackson wrote one of my favorite books of all time, but I’m kind of mad at her right now. Which one? ---
**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 19, 2018, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2018-edition/816999/59 "2018-07-19T12:49:59Z")
_The Haunting of Hill House_. A masterpiece! 🙂 ---
**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, 2018, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2018-edition/816999/60 "2018-07-19T12:53:17Z")
Ahhhhhh, I adore _We Have Always Lived in the Castle_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2018-edition/816999.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-july-2018-edition/816999.md?page=4)