# Khadaji's What'cha Readin' thread - June 2014 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 1, 2014, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2014/689776 "2014-06-01T16:29:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2014, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2014/689776/101 "2014-06-19T20:02:50Z")
> [@Grrlbrarian](#): > > Just popped in to give my recommendation for two books I finished in the last 48 hours. > > First: [The Tale of the Dueling Neurosurgeons](http://www.amazon.com/The-Tale-Dueling-Neurosurgeons-Revealed/dp/0316182346/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1403206104&sr=8-1&keywords=tale+of+the+dueling+neurosurgeons) by Sam Kean. It’s organized by brain system: cerebellum, limbic system, etc. - and illustrated with anecdotes of history-making injuries that illuminated the workings of the brain system under discussion. I was hooked from the first with the opening description of the ‘dueling neurosurgeons’ who treated Henry II’s jousting accident. If you have any interest in laypersons’ neuroscience, you won’t be able to put down this book. > > Second: [Corvus, A Life with Birds](http://www.amazon.com/Corvus-Life-Birds-Esther-Woolfson/dp/1582434778/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1403206542&sr=8-1&keywords=corvid+esther+woolfson) by Esther Woolfson. No plain memoir this. Woolfson has cared for many members of the corvid family, including crows and magpies, and gone to admire many more. She recounts their fascinating behavior but also muses on their relationship to each other, the ethical burden of ‘owning’ or ‘taming’ a bird, and much more. This is a sipping, not a bingeing book, that leaves lots of thoughtful questions behind. If you’ve ever wished to have a raven for a pet (or to be the pet of a raven), you’ll be entranced. Heh, I liked Kean’s other two books. I think I’ll pick this one up. Thanks! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Reno\_Nevada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Reno\_Nevada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reno_Nevada)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2014, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2014/689776/102 "2014-06-19T20:35:09Z")
> [@LavenderBlue](#): > > I am reading \*A World Lit Only by Fire: The Medieval Mind and the Renaissance Portrait of an Age \*by William Manchester. It’s basically the story of Martin Luther and the sparking of the modern era after a great time of almost nothing at all in Europe. As someone who is not Christian I find that Manchester has a wonderful knack for making difficult Christian concepts clear to the non-specialist. His prose is very engaging with an eye for the thoughtful and insightful detail. I read this recently and enjoyed it a lot; it is very well written. Unfortunately, I am not sure how well-researched it is. I get the feeling that Manchester swallowed every scurrilous \*Weekly World News \*level story whole without second thoughts. I am currently reading \*Crown of Renewal \*, the last of the 5-book \*Paladin’s Legacy \*series by Elizabeth Moon. I liked her \*Deed of Paksennarion \*a lot, and this series is a sequel to the previous series, but I don’t like this one nearly as much. She has too many characters, too many things going on–I just can’t keep straight who is doing what to whom. I did read the \*Paksennarion \*trilogy all at one time, and this series as the books were published, so that might have made a difference, but I doubt if I will ever re-read this series. ---
**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:** [June 20, 2014, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2014/689776/103 "2014-06-20T03:31:59Z")
> [@delphica](#): > > Finished _The Imperfectionists_, by Tom Rachman, which is really more of a collection of short stories about the various people connected with an American-owned, English language international newspaper based in Rome. I enjoyed this a lot, I thought it captured the expat experience (in Italy) nicely, and I liked that some of the stories had “blink and you miss it” twists and reveals… My book club read that a few years ago, and we all - myself included - raved about it. A tragicomic masterpiece. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2014, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2014/689776/104 "2014-06-20T14:49:46Z")
_ **The Laughing Policeman** _ was a very fast read (but not a partcularly good story), so back to classics. I just started _ **The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter** _ this morning. ---
**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:** [June 23, 2014, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2014/689776/105 "2014-06-23T13:01:40Z")
I just finished Jeff Vandermeer’s _Authority_, second of the Southern Reach trilogy. Bits of it were interesting, notably the very end, but for the most part it was just a slog. I guess since there’s just one more book to go and it’s coming out soon, I’ll read it, but ugh. This one almost finished me. Currently reading [Dismantled](http://www.amazon.com/Dismantled-A-Novel-Jennifer-McMahon/dp/B002SB8P8S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1403527622&sr=8-1&keywords=the+dismantlers+jennifer) by Jennifer McMahon, who has so far been very dependable. This one is about something bad a bunch of dirty hippies did in college. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2014, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2014/689776/106 "2014-06-23T13:27:02Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > I just finished Jeff Vandermeer’s _Authority_, second of the Southern Reach trilogy. Bits of it were interesting, notably the very end, but for the most part it was just a slog. I guess since there’s just one more book to go and it’s coming out soon, I’ll read it, but ugh. This one almost finished me. That’s a shame as I liked the first volume. Not been reading much this month - holidays! - but I’ve started **Robert Reed** ’s _The Memory of Sky_. It’s ‘a Great Ship Trilogy’ in one volume and is the story of a strange little boy being brought up secretly by his parents on a generation starship. But all he knows is that he’s being brought up inside one of the dozens of giant trees all of humanity live in… I’m about a third of the way through the first novel of the set. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2014, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2014/689776/107 "2014-06-23T21:08:34Z")
I finished _Vicious Circle_, the second of Mike Carey’s Felix Castor novels. Fix is hired to track down the kidnapped ghost of a little girl. But before that gets going, his demon-possessed friend Rafi has a bad episode (to put it lightly) in the mental institution he’s confined in and the director has given Fix twenty-eight days to find another place to put him or else he’ll be turned over to a research institution. Meanwhile Juliet, the succubus that Fix took on as an intern at the end of the first book, is dealing with a possessed church. Chaos happens in an entertaining fashion. I loved it as much as I did the first book. By the end, Fix has twenty-one days to find a place for Rafi, a nice cliffhanger for the next installment. My local library only has the first two books. I am most displeased with this development. ---
**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:** [June 23, 2014, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2014/689776/108 "2014-06-23T21:18:43Z")
_peers around shiftily_ I am reading manga this weekend: Ouran High School Host Club 9,10, 11 (for my inner teenage girl) by Bisco Hatori Blue Exorcist 6 Kazue Kato Natsume’s Book of Friends 16 by Yuki Midorikawa And No 6 # 4 by Asuko Asano & Hinoki Kino ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2014, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2014/689776/109 "2014-06-23T23:28:50Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Next, I am thinking of tackling _Ivanhoe_. I am hoping for another classic adventure. I read _The Prisoner of Zenda_ a while back, and enjoyed it thoroughly. Hope Scott is as entertaining. [I re-read Ivanhoe a couple of months ago.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=17253592&postcount=19) The adventure parts are pretty good, but I have to admit that the undercurrent of sexual slavery struck me as creepy the second time around. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2014/689776/110 "2014-06-24T14:08:04Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > [I re-read Ivanhoe a couple of months ago.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=17253592&postcount=19) The adventure parts are pretty good, but I have to admit that the undercurrent of sexual slavery struck me as creepy the second time around. It had tons of creepy stuff in it. Potential burning at the stake for one main character and torture in a medieval dungeon for another, for starters; and of course one of the bad guys was carrying on his family tradition of kidnapping and raping women. In fact, the plot was largely composed of creepy stuff! 😃 That’s what the heroes were for - to rescue the good guys from some _extremely_ bad guys. Then there was the conflicted bad guy, that Templer dude. ---
**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:** [June 24, 2014, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2014/689776/111 "2014-06-24T14:31:15Z")
Reading a few new (to me) books at present. Primary fiction read is Salman Rushdie’s [**Midnight’s Children**](http://www.amazon.com/Midnights-Children-Modern-Library-Novels/dp/0812976533/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1403618928&sr=8-1&keywords=midnight%27s+children). I’ve been working on this one for a while, and I still can’t quite get into it. I don’t know why. I love books set in or about India, and this magical realistic portrait of children (and one child in particular) born at the moment of Partition should captivate me. But somehow, it doesn’t. I find myself longing for one of RK Narayan’s Malgudi novels instead. Normally I love magic realism, too. Not sure what gives. Maybe I’ve got an unreasonable dislike of Saleem Sinai’s ‘cucumber-like’ nose or something! Secondary fiction read is Neil Gaiman’s [**American Gods**](http://www.amazon.com/American-Gods-Neil-Gaiman/dp/0380789035/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1403619092&sr=8-1&keywords=american+gods). It’s been an interesting journey with Shadow and Mr. Wednesday as they summon the old gods of America to defeat the new ones. In a neat cultural conjunction, I just watched Supernatural’s “Hammer of the Gods” episode last night to see many of the same personalities. Ultimate moral of either story: Never, ever mess with old gods. Tertiary fiction reads are a couple of children’s / YA books: [**Un Lun Dun**](http://www.amazon.com/Un-Lun-Dun-China-Mieville/dp/0345458443/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1403619521&sr=8-1&keywords=un+lun+dun) by China Mieville and [**Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library**](http://www.amazon.com/Escape-Lemoncellos-Library-Chris-Grabenstein/dp/0307931471/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1403619561&sr=8-1&keywords=mr.+limoncello%27s+library) by Chris Grabenstein. Neither one quite grabs me, and I really WANTED to like both. I might be reading **Un Lun Dun** at too advanced an age, but it feels overlong and scattered to me (but then I’m not done yet, either). Not that I have to, but I don’t find most of the main characters likable either. **Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library** has some elements I’d normally love: cool libraries, puzzles, clever kids. This book feels derivative of Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Jumanji to me (with maybe some of The Game of Sunken Places thrown in). I also get an uncomfortable feeling, reading along, as though it was written to be more filmed than read. Sorry, Mr. Grabenstein, but I think you’ve got a better script here than a book, though many 4th through 6th graders might disagree. Nonfiction remains [Good-bye to All That](http://www.amazon.com/Good-Bye-All-That-An-Autobiography/dp/0385093306/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1403620021&sr=8-1&keywords=good-bye+to+all+that) by Robert Graves. The more I read, the more respect I have for the men and women who endured World War I. Graves conveys the utter horror of daily reality in the trenches in such a matter-of-fact way that I literally find myself gulping and flinching from time to time. His bare prose conjures up such images - and yet the combatants were expected to bear it all with stiff upper lip and make a good show. :eek: ---
**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:** [June 24, 2014, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2014/689776/112 "2014-06-24T15:24:20Z")
> [@Grrlbrarian](#): > > Secondary fiction read is Neil Gaiman’s [**American Gods**](http://www.amazon.com/American-Gods-Neil-Gaiman/dp/0380789035/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1403619092&sr=8-1&keywords=american+gods). It’s been an interesting journey with Shadow and Mr. Wednesday as they summon the old gods of America to defeat the new ones. In a neat cultural conjunction, I just watched Supernatural’s “Hammer of the Gods” episode last night to see many of the same personalities. Ultimate moral of either story: Never, ever mess with old gods. I read that one a few years ago, it was okay but I felt the ending was flat. Maybe the point just flew over my head… I _would_ like Neil Gaiman to follow up and write more about some of the side characters, Mr Toth and his cohort(name escapes me Anubis?) and the afreet and Middle Eastern fellow, that chapter ended MUCH to soon for me. ---
**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:** [June 24, 2014, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2014/689776/113 "2014-06-24T15:38:05Z")
> [@DZedNConfused](#): > > I read that one a few years ago, it was okay but I felt the ending was flat. Maybe the point just flew over my head… > > I _would_ like Neil Gaiman to follow up and write more about some of the side characters, Mr Toth and his cohort(name escapes me Anubis?) and the afreet and Middle Eastern fellow, that chapter ended MUCH to soon for me. Mr. Ibis and Mr. Jacquel! 😃 I’d like that too. He’s prolific enough, he may do it, especially since we got a whole book of, well, **Anansi’s Boys**. I’ve got 35 or so pages to go. I do think I see the stinger in the tail (at last) and if so, it promises cleverness. I’ll be disappointed if said cleverness is not delivered, particularly if I get flatness instead! ---
**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:** [June 24, 2014, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2014/689776/114 "2014-06-24T15:51:58Z")
Mr Ibis yes! They were so fabulous. **Anansi’s Boys** was one of his best in my opinion, I tore through it like a whirlwind! And loved every second of it. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2014/689776/115 "2014-06-24T19:49:40Z")
> [@Grrlbrarian](#): > > Reading a few new (to me) books at present. > > Primary fiction read is Salman Rushdie’s [**Midnight’s Children**](http://www.amazon.com/Midnights-Children-Modern-Library-Novels/dp/0812976533/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1403618928&sr=8-1&keywords=midnight%27s+children). I’ve been working on this one for a while, and I still can’t quite get into it. I don’t know why. I love books set in or about India, and this magical realistic portrait of children (and one child in particular) born at the moment of Partition should captivate me. But somehow, it doesn’t. I find myself longing for one of RK Narayan’s Malgudi novels instead. Normally I love magic realism, too. Not sure what gives. Maybe I’ve got an unreasonable dislike of Saleem Sinai’s ‘cucumber-like’ nose or something! No accounting for tastes.\*\*\* Midnight’s Children \*\*\*is NOT a book I expected to like as much as I did. This is a strange comparison, but it reminded me a lot of\*\*\* Forrest Gump.\*\*\* ---
**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:** [June 24, 2014, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2014/689776/116 "2014-06-24T20:12:54Z")
I’m half way through **Cinnamon and Gunpowder** , by Eli Brown, about a master chef who is kidnapped by the pirate ‘Mad Hannah Mabbot’. While the book is not as complex or ambitious, I don’t think I’ve had as much fun on a 19th Century wooden vessel since **English Passengers**. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2014, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2014/689776/117 "2014-06-24T23:44:58Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > It had tons of creepy stuff in it. Potential burning at the stake for one main character and torture in a medieval dungeon for another, for starters; and of course one of the bad guys was carrying on his family tradition of kidnapping and raping women. > > In fact, the plot was largely composed of creepy stuff! 😃 That’s what the heroes were for - to rescue the good guys from some _extremely_ bad guys. Except it’s way too late for poor Ulrica, who gets captured by Front-de-Boeuf’s father and forced into being his sexual plaything for years until Front-de-Boeuf kills his father and uses her as his own sex toy until she gets too old and ugly. And then when she meets Cedric (one of the good guys), he’s disgusted at her for not fighting back hard enough at her rapists. I thought that was horrifying. I just finished reading “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”. I liked it, but I’ll definitely add it to the category “I Can’t Believe I Thought This Was A Kid’s Story!” along with Ivanhoe and The Three Musketeers, for instance. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2014/689776/118 "2014-06-25T13:38:33Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > Except it’s way too late for poor Ulrica, who gets captured by Front-de-Boeuf’s father and forced into being his sexual plaything for years until Front-de-Boeuf kills his father and uses her as his own sex toy until she gets too old and ugly. And then when she meets Cedric (one of the good guys), he’s disgusted at her for not fighting back hard enough at her rapists. I thought that was horrifying. It certainly was. My point is that there is much in that book that was horrifying - indeed, the majority of the plot, given that it centres around rape, murder and extortion by torture. Ulrica shows what the stakes are, if the heroes fail. Cedric’s judgment of Ulrica is meant to be horrifying - this is a guy who disinherits his own son for not falling in with his vision of the world, so his judgment in-universe is already considered more than questionable - he’s generally speaking incredibly stubborn and judgmental. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2014/689776/119 "2014-06-25T15:43:35Z")
Finished _ **The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter** _, and am now relaxing with Earl Derr Biggers’ _ **Charlie Chan Carries On.** _ ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2014, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2014/689776/120 "2014-06-25T20:23:53Z")
I just splurged and bought both Stephen King’s _Mr Mercedes_ AND Greg Iles \* Natchez Burning\*. in hardcover. At the supermarket. (Along with several other things that I don’t need but looked good. Andouille sausage, organic radishes, orange cauliflower, coconut milk, sesame oil, a cute tea towel…note to self: make a shopping list and stick to it.) But I’ve been looking forward to reading both! Will start _Mr Mercedes_ this evening. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2014/689776.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2014/689776.md?page=7)