# Khadaji's Whatcha Readin' thread -- June 2017 Edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 31, 2017, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2017-edition/787784 "2017-05-31T17:38:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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 9, 2017, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2017-edition/787784/21 "2017-06-09T19:45:35Z")
> [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](#): > > I read [The Mirror](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/133738.The_Mirror) by Marlys Millhiser, which I learned about through one of these Whatcha Reading threads. Oh, that was a good one. I remember loving the first half, and the rest…not so much, but still it’s a darn fine read. > [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](#): > > I read this book, and while it had the potential to be a good book, I don’t think it delivered. The author makes no effort to orient you in any way, just constantly throwing in random scenes with characters we’ve never met in different situations that don’t seem to have any connection to one another. I’m often a fan of postmodern books with unreliable narrators and confusing circumstances, but this book was too much for me. Oh good. Because in reality, I probably won’t get back to it again. This morning I finished [The Family Plot](https://www.amazon.com/Family-Plot-Novel-Cherie-Priest/dp/0765378248/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1497037425&sr=8-1&keywords=family+plot+cherie+priest) by Cherie Priest. I love a haunted house story, and the author was competent, so although I think the ending was weak, it was a pretty good book overall and I’m going to try some more by Ms. Priest. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2017, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2017-edition/787784/22 "2017-06-09T23:11:54Z")
Recently read _Summer Lightning_ and _Heavy Weather_, and currently reading _Uncle Fred in the Springtime_ – all part of the Blandings Castle series by P G Wodehouse. Also reading _Longbow Girl_, a YA time-travel story by Linda Davies ---
**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:** [June 10, 2017, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2017-edition/787784/23 "2017-06-10T00:14:20Z")
Finished **Throne of Jade** by Naomi Novik, which I enjoyed even more than His Majesty’s Dragon. Also finished **The Weird Wild West** anthology. The first two stories are still the best. Started **The History of Medicine in 50 Objects** by Gill Paul and **Wait 'Til I Winch In the Bear: Appalachian Anecdotes** by Andrew Thomas. ---
**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 11, 2017, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2017-edition/787784/24 "2017-06-11T16:40:35Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > …Almost halfway through the audiobook of Michael Crichton’s 1996 novel _Airframe_, about the investigation of a lethal in-flight incident aboard a Chinese passenger jet flying into Denver. it started slow but is picking up speed (no pun intended). > > I’ve also started Charles Stross’s _The Atrocity Archives_, a tongue-in-cheek Lovecraft/Le Carre mashup about a top-secret British agency fighting eldritch horrors. It’s not as funny as it could be, but it has its moments. I finished _Airframe_, which plodded at times and also had some WTF moments - in particular, the heroine foolishly put herself in danger several times when she didn’t have to. The ending was so-so. Not Crichton’s best. Still going with _The Atrocity Archives_. Just starting an audiobook of David McCullough’s 1977 history _The Path Between the Seas_, about the people, politics and engineering behind the construction of the Panama Canal. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2017, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2017-edition/787784/25 "2017-06-11T16:45:15Z")
I’m about 60 pages into **Giant of the Senate** , by Al Franken. Autobiographical, interesting and amusing. He’s a good writer. ---
**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:** [June 11, 2017, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2017-edition/787784/26 "2017-06-11T16:47:22Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Just starting an audiobook of David McCullough’s 1977 history _The Path Between the Seas_, about the people, politics and engineering behind the construction of the Panama Canal. That’s a good one. I recall one of the backers of the canal also had a connection to the Johnstown Flood, which McCullough also wrote about. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2017, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2017-edition/787784/27 "2017-06-11T18:03:21Z")
I just finished _Wayfaring Stranger_ by James Lee Burke. Great book! And the author also bears an uncanny resemblance to Tommy Lee Jones, who has also starred in a movie adaptation of one of his novels. Weird. Burke: [https://www.google.com/search?q=jamie+lee+burke&tbm=isch&imgil=IRQ7zwhlZ6R0GM%253A%253B8WkeOgM3Ta-gyM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.goodreads.com%25252Fauthor%25252Fshow%25252F7031.James\_Lee\_Burke&source=iu&pf=m&fir=IRQ7zwhlZ6R0GM%253A%252C8WkeOgM3Ta-gyM%252C\_&usg=\_\_1wAH9ehaXm2YMey6xwk1qtwq000%3D&biw=1920&bih=974&ved=0ahUKEwjb\_vKhrrbUAhVH34MKHRVVBlQQyjcInQE&ei=yoM9WdvxLse-jwSVqpmgBQ#imgrc=vMsc2jjE1phPTM:](https://www.google.com/search?q=jamie+lee+burke&tbm=isch&imgil=IRQ7zwhlZ6R0GM%253A%253B8WkeOgM3Ta-gyM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.goodreads.com%25252Fauthor%25252Fshow%25252F7031.James_Lee_Burke&source=iu&pf=m&fir=IRQ7zwhlZ6R0GM%253A%252C8WkeOgM3Ta-gyM%252C_&usg=__1wAH9ehaXm2YMey6xwk1qtwq000%3D&biw=1920&bih=974&ved=0ahUKEwjb_vKhrrbUAhVH34MKHRVVBlQQyjcInQE&ei=yoM9WdvxLse-jwSVqpmgBQ#imgrc=vMsc2jjE1phPTM:) Jones: [https://www.google.com/search?q=jamie+lee+burke&tbm=isch&imgil=IRQ7zwhlZ6R0GM%253A%253B8WkeOgM3Ta-gyM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.goodreads.com%25252Fauthor%25252Fshow%25252F7031.James\_Lee\_Burke&source=iu&pf=m&fir=IRQ7zwhlZ6R0GM%253A%252C8WkeOgM3Ta-gyM%252C\_&usg=\_\_1wAH9ehaXm2YMey6xwk1qtwq000%3D&biw=1920&bih=974&ved=0ahUKEwjb\_vKhrrbUAhVH34MKHRVVBlQQyjcInQE&ei=yoM9WdvxLse-jwSVqpmgBQ#tbm=isch&q=tommy+lee+jones&imgrc=mISD9GsO7kWfOM:](https://www.google.com/search?q=jamie+lee+burke&tbm=isch&imgil=IRQ7zwhlZ6R0GM%253A%253B8WkeOgM3Ta-gyM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.goodreads.com%25252Fauthor%25252Fshow%25252F7031.James_Lee_Burke&source=iu&pf=m&fir=IRQ7zwhlZ6R0GM%253A%252C8WkeOgM3Ta-gyM%252C_&usg=__1wAH9ehaXm2YMey6xwk1qtwq000%3D&biw=1920&bih=974&ved=0ahUKEwjb_vKhrrbUAhVH34MKHRVVBlQQyjcInQE&ei=yoM9WdvxLse-jwSVqpmgBQ#tbm=isch&q=tommy+lee+jones&imgrc=mISD9GsO7kWfOM:) ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2017, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2017-edition/787784/28 "2017-06-11T20:54:39Z")
Finished Franken and started Head in The Cloud by William Poundstone (of Big Secrets fame). It’s about the value of knowledge in an age when you can look anything up. Only just started but interesting so far. I suspect many people on this board would like it as it touches on many topics we discuss on here. ---
**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 15, 2017, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2017-edition/787784/29 "2017-06-15T20:36:53Z")
I’m about halfway through [Printer’s Error: Irreverent Stories from Book History](https://www.amazon.com/Printers-Error-Irreverent-Stories-History/dp/0062412310/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1497558649&sr=8-1&keywords=printers+error+rebecca+romney). It’s written with a light tone and a lot of cultural references and jokes thrown in. That’s annoying to many Amazon reviewers, but I appreciate it…it’s keeping me from falling asleep while reading about this somewhat dry subject. I’m learning stuff too. ---
**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:** [June 15, 2017, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2017-edition/787784/30 "2017-06-15T20:59:21Z")
Finished The History of Medicine in 50 Objects by Gill Paul and Wait ‘Til I Winch In the Bear: Appalachian Anecdotes by Andrew Thomas. The former has some interesting anecdotes, like the fact that the Roman Empire didn’t allow dissection of the human body, but Galen learned a lot about anatomy by looking into gladiators’ wounds. The latter has some interesting stories about people the author knew, including the Hatfields and McCoys. The title isn’t a metaphor; one of the Hatfields chained a bear as a guard animal in his yard, and winched it in to let people inside. (Poor bear.) Now I’m finishing two books I started a while ago: Memoirs of Solar Pons, by August Derleth, and Night of the Cooters and Other Stories by Howard Waldrop. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2017, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2017-edition/787784/31 "2017-06-16T01:04:53Z")
Just finished **Assassin’s Fate** , by Robin Hobb, her 9th book about the Fitz and the Fool. I enjoyed it thoroughly. It brought together her other book series’ about Live ships and dragons quite nicely. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2017, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2017-edition/787784/32 "2017-06-16T11:57:19Z")
I recently tried a John LeCazrre novel (Mission Song) and I found it pretty disappointing. There is a current crop of novelists who have well exlceeded the standards of those who were considered the best of several decades ago… But I am now rfe-reading Cormaqc McCarthy’s “Blood Meridian”, and it is still awesome. ---
**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:** [June 16, 2017, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2017-edition/787784/33 "2017-06-16T19:51:36Z")
I’m not sure how long it’s been, but I continue with my cozy mystery obsession. It’s hard because cozies are so often simply terrible. Why must this obsession continue? ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2017, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2017-edition/787784/34 "2017-06-19T21:16:56Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > I’m not sure how long it’s been, but I continue with my cozy mystery obsession. It’s hard because cozies are so often simply terrible. Why must this obsession continue? Please share any good ones you come across, I too like a cozy but you’re right about the usual quality. My motto: no cats, no cooking; whimsy optional. For me, I came here to recommend \*The Manual of Detection: A Novel \*by Jedediah Berry. It is among the very oddest things I have ever read, sort of Dark City meets Inception, all about dream-reading and sleep-induction and detectives and exotic criminals and a carnival, all taking place in a city where it’s always raining, with an engaging everyman as the central character. I am not quite finished, just about to embark on the final showdown between, well, maybe good and maybe evil. In a book like this, the ending is everything (does it keep the promise of all the weirdness up to this point, or does it crap out and ruin everything that came before?) I’ll pop in again once I’ve finished it. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2017, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2017-edition/787784/35 "2017-06-19T23:04:47Z")
I give the ending 7.5 out of ten. Pretty good, but not smashing. Still a wonderful read and highly recommended. ---
**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 19, 2017, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2017-edition/787784/36 "2017-06-19T23:24:31Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > I give the ending 7.5 out of ten. Pretty good, but not smashing. Still a wonderful read and highly recommended. Kool, I added it to my Goodreads queue. 😃 ---
**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 20, 2017, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2017-edition/787784/37 "2017-06-20T13:35:30Z")
I’m nearly halfway through a pretty good murder mystery, [The Dry](https://www.amazon.com/Dry-Novel-Jane-Harper/dp/1250105609/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1497965410&sr=8-1&keywords=the+dry+jane+harper), by Jane Harper. ---
**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:** [June 22, 2017, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2017-edition/787784/38 "2017-06-22T13:47:13Z")
My vacation is nearly over and I hardly did any reading! :eek: I finished Grisham’s _The Broker_ two days before my vacation started, but I wasn’t quite ready for something different yet so I decided to read _The Hit_: #2 in the Will Robie series, by David Baldacci (you’ll see more Will Robie books from me in these threads: #5 will be out in November, and I want to catch up by then). When I finished that two nights ago, I finally \*was \*ready for something different: I started _**[Lincoln in the Bardo](https://www.amazon.com/Lincoln-Bardo-Novel-George-Saunders-ebook/dp/B01FPH2N0C/)**_. A co-worker recommended it a couple of months ago, so I’d already been planning to check it out, and then the other week a friend (whose taste I trust) raved about it on Facebook. I’m not very far into it yet, but so far I’m enjoying it immensely. Here is the Amazon description: \*February 1862. The Civil War is less than one year old. The fighting has begun in earnest, and the nation has begun to realize it is in for a long, bloody struggle. Meanwhile, President Lincoln’s beloved eleven-year-old son, Willie, lies upstairs in the White House, gravely ill. In a matter of days, despite predictions of a recovery, Willie dies and is laid to rest in a Georgetown cemetery. “My poor boy, he was too good for this earth,” the president says at the time. “God has called him home.” Newspapers report that a grief-stricken Lincoln returns, alone, to the crypt several times to hold his boy’s body. From that seed of historical truth, George Saunders spins an unforgettable story of familial love and loss that breaks free of its realistic, historical framework into a supernatural realm both hilarious and terrifying. Willie Lincoln finds himself in a strange purgatory where ghosts mingle, gripe, commiserate, quarrel, and enact bizarre acts of penance. Within this transitional state—called, in the Tibetan tradition, the bardo—a monumental struggle erupts over young Willie’s soul.\*The content is sometimes historical nonfiction and sometimes supernatural fiction, and – so far, at least – the story is told entirely as quotes. It reads almost like a play, minus the stage directions (I read somewhere that the novel began as a play). The vocabulary, spelling, and grammar vary depending on the narrator. The style takes a few pages to get used to; it’s a little disorienting at first, but not frustrating. My vacation ends on Sunday, and I may well try to finish it by then! ---
**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 22, 2017, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2017-edition/787784/39 "2017-06-22T14:28:36Z")
_approaches_ Lincoln in the Bardo\*, sniffing cautiously\* I’m going to try this as an audiobook. From what I just read about it, seems like that would work well. They got some really big names to read it, too! ---
**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:** [June 22, 2017, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2017-edition/787784/40 "2017-06-22T14:55:07Z")
LOL! Yes, I could also see it working well as an audiobook – as long as there is a decent variety of readers and voice types, to help distinguish among the many different narrators. One way in which I wish the book were more like a play is that the “speaker” isn’t identified until after the narrative (which is why I used the term “quotes” before). Sometimes I find myself turning a page to see who is “talking” and then flipping back to read the actual content. It’s not too distracting, though. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2017-edition/787784.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2017-edition/787784.md?page=3)