Khadaji's Whatcha Readin' thread - June 2016 edition

Cafe Society
21

I am as usual dividing my time between audiobooks on YouTube while walking the dog, and dead tree books.

On paper I just finished Embrace the Suck, about a guy doing Crossfit (he is a former editor of Bicycling magazine). Not bad for a light read, but not very insightful about much except the cultish aspects of Crossfit. Currently reading Phishing for Phools about deception and so forth in free markets. No startling insights to date, but some moderately interesting stuff about advertising and the 2008 financial crisis.

On audio I finished The Angel of Terror by Edgar Wallace, some turn-of-the-century detective fiction. Almost spoiled by the fact that the heroine is a complete idiot, who does not seem to notice that her best friend is trying to kill her in fairly obvious ways. After that I read The Talleyrand Maxim, which was quite good. The plot could have been better developed (an industrialist dies intestate - maybe) but it was well-paced and had interesting, evil characters.

Currently I am being swept along by The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes, Vol. II which is exactly what you would expect. Some of the stories are better than others, unsurprisingly. The Problem of Cell 13, featuring the Thinking Machine, is quite good. I heard about it but never read it before. Professor von Something-or-other has to escape from a condemned prisoner’s cell in a week using only his mighty brain. A nice little puzzle story.

We drove to my cousin’s daughter’s wedding, and along the way listened to When to Rob a Bank, a collection of blog posts from the authors of Freakonomics. Good stuff, although nothing as controversial as his “abortion reduces crime” from their first work.

Next up on audiobook - not sure. Maybe some old sci-fi - any recommends? I have done most of Jules Verne, Heinlein, E.E. “Doc” Smith, and Murray Leinster. Anything you know is on YouTube that might be interesting?

Hopefully something exciting - when I get to the exciting parts I walk faster, and Leet the Wonder Dog[sup]TM[/sup] likes that.

Regards,
Shodan

22

Still reading A Voyage Long and Strange by Tony Horowitz. Very much my kind of history: very few great men in sight and a lot of personal thinking.

I am also reading Dead Things by Stephen Blackmoore because sometime I can’t hold the large hardback Voyage because my hands hurt. I think this is the book Richard Kadrey thoughts he was writing when he wrote Sandman Slim. Needless to say, I am liking it a lot.

23

I just finished The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney (for some reason I always get sucked into Costco’s little book table). It’s about a somewhat dysfunctional New York family on the brink of an inheritance. It was good, though to me it seemed she wasn’t quite sure how to finish it, so it just kind of stopped. And I wish I hadn’t read the epilogue at all. Medium recommendation.

24

Finally finished The Fireman on Tuesday night. I really enjoyed it, as I have all of Joe Hill’s other novels.

Last night I started Stephen King’s End of Watch, which is the third novel in the Bill Hodges trilogy. I’m only a chapter or two in, but the main characters and King’s writing style are so familiar that I’m immediately comfortable. :slight_smile: I anticipate liking this as much as I did Mr. Mercedes and Finders Keepers.

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Thanks. That’s an upcoming book for our book club. I heard an NPR interview with the author and it sounded - based on that, anyway - like it was worth a read.

26

I finished reading an English translation of Balzac’s Le peau de chagrin (a.k.a. The Magic Skin/The Wild Ass’s Skin). It was a bit of an odd book; a young man is suicidal after driving himself to ruin pursuing a woman who has no interest in love, but when he gets a magic talisman that grants his desires at the cost of his remaining lifespan he tries to force himself into desiring nothing.

The first half was pretty standard melodrama peppered with autobiographical elements, although it kind of pushes the idea that a woman must be a frigid heartless bitch if she doesn’t fall in love with a guy who is obsessed with her. The second half which delves into a sort of fairy tale/science fiction/philosophy/satire tale was definitely an unusual mix, I have to admit.

27

Finished Gray Mountain, by John Grisham. Taking place from September 2008 to early 2009, a young female lawyer in the world’s largest law firm is one of the layoffs in the wake of the Lehman Brothers meltdown. She ends up in a small legal-aid clinic in Appalachia’s coal country, where she transitions from commercial real estate to real people with real problems, particularly black lung disease. I liked it. Grisham has grown somewhat preachy in recent years, but this one is not overly so. A very good read.

Next up is Micro, by Michael Crichton and Richard Preston, a techno-thriller set in Hawaii. I figure this will help get me in the spirit for the Big Move come August. Published three years after Chrichton’s 2008 death, the unfinished manuscript was found on his computer. He had been well into it, and science writer Preston was hired by the publisher to finish it, working from Crichton’s remaining notes.

28

I’m on the home stretch of Catherine Drinker Bowen’s Miracle at Philadelphia, about the 1787 Constitutional Convention. It plods a little but I’m sure I’ll get through it (even though I know how it ends). I just finished The Battle for the Falklands by Max Hastings and Simon Jenkins, and highly recommend it. Well-researched, not afraid to point out mistakes by both the British and the Argentines, and some of the wittiest, most engaging writing in any history book I’ve ever read.

I’m just beginning Mind of the Raven: Investigations and Adventures with Wolf-Birds by Bernd Heinrich, a book club selection, and We Will Not Be Silent: The White Rose Student Resistance Movement That Defied Adolf Hitler by Russell Freedman. There was a passing reference to the White Rose in Robert Harris’s alt-hist novel Fatherland, and I wanted to learn more about those very brave young people.

29

I finished Followed by Frost by Charlie N. Holmberg last night. It’s about a woman who is cursed to be as cold as her heart is, and wherever she goes, she brings cold and snow for about a mile radius, and her skin is so cold no one can touch her. I liked it a lot, enough that I stayed up past my bedtime reading!

About 20% of the way into The Story of the Human Body: Health, Evolution, and Disease. I’m pretty sure I first heard about it here on these boards, but I don’t remember who recommended it. So far, the whole book has been about the evolution of the human body, but I think later in the book it gets more into how our body is ill-equipped for our current societal conditions. It’s a good read, very educational – after each reading session, I’m turning to my husband and saying “Did you know that …” and telling him whatever cool thing I just learned.

Next up is Stilletto by Daniel O’Malley, which was finally released today!!

30

I just want to note that after reading the Doomsday Book, you’re going to be massively depressed (It’s about the Plague – what fun!). So you should also read “To Say Nothing of the Dog” by the same author immediately after. A much more lighthearted look at time travel.

31

OOO! Hopefully my copy will be on the way soon then!

32

Currently reading *The Steel Bonnets: the Story of the Anglo-Scottish Border Reivers * by G. MacDonald Fraser.

A place and time that sounds so grim and unpleasant as to be almost funny. The border was, apparently, for a couple of centuries a cesspit of mafia-like violence, raiding, rape, murder and blackmail - a sort of lawless zone, sometimes encouraged by England and Scotland, sometimes suppressed - that developed its own twisted, nasty and brutal culture (later much romanticized) as a result of constant border clashes. People in that area learned that violence paid more than making stuff; they lived in temporary shacks (or stone towers) because anything permanent but flammable got burned down by raiders; they lived a semi-nomadic lifestyle, always wary of raiders come to kidnap and steal. Sort of like a 16th century Mad Max.

At one point, he discusses how the various place names themselves conjure up sinister imagery (Bloody Bush, Foul-Play Know, Oh Me Edge, Blackhaggs, etc.). The cast of historic characters more than matches that imagery!

Interesting, too, that so many of the famous family names from the bloody border regions are later found prominently in North America - he mentions how, in a presidential campaign, President Nixon was holding a press conference with Johnston and Billy Graham: all three last names are famous borderer names (Nixon, Johnston, Graham).

33

Reading Popular Crime by Bill James. It was recommended in a podcast I heard and I like it so far. it’s essentially an overview of every major crime in the US from the mid 19th century onward done in a slightly tongue in cheek tone and with a slant towards how the media covered them.

34

Does it cover the Ruth Snyder-Henry Gray murder case of 1927? That’s the one that inspired two books and films: The Postman Always Rings Twice and Double Indemnity.

35

That was delivered to my Kindle yesterday, but I’m not going to be able to get to it for a while: I’m less than halfway through End of Watch. I love knowing that it’s waiting for me, though! :slight_smile:

36

Just place Stiletto on hold at the library. I’m 14th in line for the one copy they’ve ordered, so I don’t think I’ll be reading it anytime soon. :frowning:

I am in a lull between books right now because work has been crazy, but my 9 year old daughter has just discovered Harry Potter. I’m really enjoying watching her excitement. She’s in the first half of the Chamber of Secrets and is DYING to know who is turning people to stone.

37

Finished End of Watch the other day and thought it was a good end to the series. As Misnomer said, it had a very familiar comforting feeling to King fans! I noticed a lot of references in it to other King works (room 217, Brooks the librarian) and even some phrases that are direct quotes. One was someone thinking, “I am in so much trouble here”, which is Paul Sheldon’s thought from Misery. Another phrase that rang a bell was “like a bigass bird”, which I haven’t placed but I’m certain it’s in another King book. Then there were a couple of references to Thomas Harris’ Lecter books (Frederica Bimmel, “like the wings of a red dragon”). Probably lots more stuff I didn’t catch!

I also read a non-fiction book, Going Gray: What I learned about beauty, sex, work, motherhood, authenticity, and everything else that really matters by Anne Kreamer. Confession: I am possibly shallow and really interested in thinking about my HAIR, y’all! Anyway, it was pretty good, a little :dubious: in places. By the end I was feeling glad that I haven’t gotten rid of my grays. Yet.

Currently I’m reading Over Your Dead Body by Dan Wells, latest in his John Cleaver series.

And then* Stiletto*! Sheesh, that was a long wait.

38

With my red highlights and gray hair plus new glasses, I look like Rogue’s nerdy great aunt :smiley:

STILETTO! I’m almost scared to read it, for fear that it won’t measure up.

39

Not there yet. The section I am on is a bit before that (around WWI) but I will let you know.

ETA: Checked the table of Contents and it’s there.

40

Been readin’ a lot, but not posting, so there’s a lot of catching up to do:

Read Night Owls by Lauren M. Roy. I met her at a convention, and she gave me a copy and autographed it. It’s the first in a series “Night Owls” is the name of a late-night bookstore near a university. There are vampires and werewolves andsuccubi and other supernatural critters, and Masters who keep libraries. It has a strong “Buffy” vibe to it, but isn’t a clone. It has its own feel.

I read Clive Cussler’s first Dirk Pitt novel, which I picked up cheap – Pacific Vortex. It was published after his first couple of Pitt novels, but it was the first written. OK, but without Cussler’s now-characteristic tics.

I’m almost finished with The Annotated Walden. I’d never read it before. I’m impressed with Thoreau’s erudition and knowledge, but I swear there are times I’d like to slap him. Most of the annotations don’t really add much to it, and there are lots of things that should have been annotated, but weren’t.

I’m more than halfway through James Clavell’s King Rat, which I hadn’t read before, although I’ve read quite a bit of Clavell, and finally saw the movie a couple of years ago. There’s an awful lot the film leaves out.
On audio, I read:

Clive Cussler’s The Wrecker, the second Isaac Bell adventure. Unfortunately, the last disc was missing. Being that it’s a Cussler novel, I KNOW that the Bad Guy gets his gruesome comeuppance, and Bell pprevails, but I don’t quite know how.

I also read Cussler’s Lost Empire, the second of the Fargo stories. Disappointing, although it has more than its share of the “You’ve got to be kidding” moments.

I read Ken Follett’s The Edge of Eternity, the last of his “Century” trilogy. Very well done.

I’m now reading Michael Lewis’ The Big Short on audio. I’d read his Liar’s Poker in the past, and saw the film version of The Big Short a couple of weeks ago. I saw a used copy of the audio and figured I had to read it.

I also listened to part of The Iliad. I already own the Penguin audio version. It’s the Fagles translation, read by Derek Jacobi (who is wonderful). But for some reason, it is incredibly abridged – probably less than half of the entire work. Why this should be, I don’t know – Penguin published the audio edition of The Odyssey unabridged (and read by Ian McKellan, reading the Fagles translation. Definitely worth it.) So now I have picked up an unabridged reading of the Robert Fitzgerald translation – the first one I ever read. The reader is someone I never heard of, and his work isn’t up to the standard of Jacobi and McKellan, but it’s worth it to get the full work.