# 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:** 14\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2017-edition/787784/61 "2017-06-30T05:41:54Z")
I’m rereading some old stuff. Just finished Rapture of the Nerds so now I’m wending my way through the Deathstalker series. ---
**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 30, 2017, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2017-edition/787784/62 "2017-06-30T12:40:20Z")
Just finished [One of Us is Lying](https://www.amazon.com/One-Us-Lying-Karen-McManus/dp/1524714682/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1498825717&sr=1-1&keywords=one+of+us+is+lying), a YA murder mystery by Karen McManus. As a lover of the eighties, I was drawn in by all the reviews mentioning The Breakfast Club. The book is nothing like that except that all the characters were in detention together for about two minutes at the beginning. And they’re all the different high school stereotypes: the jock, the brain, etc. The story is told by alternating characters, but they all sounded so much alike I kept forgetting which one was narrating and having to check the chapter titles for the names. Anyway, it passed the time this week and didn’t put any undue stress on my weary brain cells. ---
**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 30, 2017, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2017-edition/787784/63 "2017-06-30T12:42:59Z")
Finished Down Among the Sticks and Bones. Very good, but I wish more of it had been set on the Moors, not in “real life”, even though I understand the author wanted to show why the twins were the way they were. Just started Return to the Willows, a sequel to The Wind in the Willows. It’s by another author, Jacqueline Kelly. ---
**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 30, 2017, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2017-edition/787784/64 "2017-06-30T12:43:15Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Just finished [One of Us is Lying](https://www.amazon.com/One-Us-Lying-Karen-McManus/dp/1524714682/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1498825717&sr=1-1&keywords=one+of+us+is+lying), a YA murder mystery by Karen McManus. As a lover of the eighties, I was drawn in by all the reviews mentioning The Breakfast Club. The book is nothing like that except that all the characters were in detention together for about two minutes at the beginning. And they’re all the different high school stereotypes: the jock, the brain, etc. The story is told by alternating characters, but they all sounded so much alike I kept forgetting which one was narrating and having to check the chapter titles for the names. Anyway, it passed the time this week and didn’t put any undue stress on my weary brain cells. My brain cells are degenerating into gibberish when I’m not on the job. I think my reading level is regressing as we speak. I’ll be reading only board books soon. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2017-edition/787784/65 "2017-06-30T13:04:33Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Thanks for that. It’s what I figured. Seems funny today but it was a whole other world back then. Times have definitely changed regarding language and social mores. I just finished reading Fredric Brown’s _His Name was Death_\*, a murder thriller written in and set in the 1950s. Part of the plot concerns a young man and a young woman about to be engaged and their mental gymnastics and actions about the possibility of sex. They’re both horny as hell but have furious inner dialogues about whether they should go to bed together before marriage. Changing social mores (and effective birth control) changed a lot of that a decade later. I wonder if kids today can even understand the tensions in a book like that. It’s similar with Neil Simon’s first real success, the comedy _Come Blow your Horn_, in which we follow the goings-on in an apartment shared by two brothers, the younger one having just jumped from the nest. At one point the older one’s girlfriend, having gotten herself drunk, threatens to go to the bedroom , strip, and have sex with the older brother. He tries to talk her out of it, even though they both want to, really. In a modern play she wouldn’t need to bolster her courage with alcohol, and they probably would’ve slept together long before this. (They turned this into a film in the 1960s with an outrageously miscast Frank Sinatra as the older brother, a part he was way too old for) \*I’m a very big Brown fan, but I’d never read this one before. I stumbled across it in an antique store. ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2017-edition/787784/66 "2017-06-30T18:18:40Z")
It has been a while since I read something new and remarkable, but I just finished a new science fiction novel, _Children of Time_, by Adrian Tchaikovsky, which is worth mentioning. It features large, intelligent spiders on a terraformed planet where insect life was accidentally targeted by a nanovirus meant to speed the process of evolution. The depiction of the spider civilization is really brilliant. The book also tells the rather depressing story of the last remnants of humanity, traveling in an ark ship looking for a new home, but the human part of the book is not nearly as good as the stuff about the spiders. I like the movie _Enigma_, starring Kate Winslet: a spy thriller set at Bletchley Park in 1943. I went looking for the Robert Harris book it’s based on, and I really enjoyed it. My only complaint is that it’s relatively short, and there’s not a lot more substance than what appears in the movie. It does offer a nice glimpse of wartime England: shortages, blackouts, and especially bad food - every meal the protagonist eats sounds terrible. I’m also fascinated by the “girls” who worked at Bletchley and at the intercept stations, listening to Morse code all day: > [@](#): > > Only no one ever tells us, see? Rubbish, that’s all it is to us, just rubbish, rubbish, rubbish, all day long. And all night, too. You try to go to sleep and you can still hear it - beep-beep-bloody-beep. Drives you barmy after a bit. I joined up, see, volunteered, but it’s not what I expected, this place. Can’t even tell my mum and dad… You _are_ making sense of it? It _is_ important? ---
**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 30, 2017, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2017-edition/787784/67 "2017-06-30T18:48:32Z")
> [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](#): > > It does offer a nice glimpse of wartime England: shortages, blackouts, and especially bad food - every meal the protagonist eats sounds terrible. I’m also fascinated by the “girls” who worked at Bletchley and at the intercept stations, listening to Morse code all day: I think that jobs women have done in the backgrounds while men hogged the glory is all kinds of fascinating. I was unaware of the human computers at NASA until I saw Hidden Heroes and that’s just a tiny bit of what we’ve done behind the scenes through history ---
**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 30, 2017, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2017-edition/787784/68 "2017-06-30T20:25:07Z")
> [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](#): > > …I like the movie _Enigma_, starring Kate Winslet: a spy thriller set at Bletchley Park in 1943. I went looking for the Robert Harris book it’s based on, and I really enjoyed it… His alternative-history novel _Fatherland_, about Germany winning WWII in Western Europe and facing off against the U.S. by 1964 in a different kind of Cold War, is also excellent. I also enjoyed his recent _Conclave_, about a near-future Vatican conference to choose the successor to a Pope very much like Francis. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2017-edition/787784/69 "2017-06-30T20:28:09Z")
Finished _A Dreamer’s Tales_ by Lord Dunsany. I don’t usually like fantasy that is almost all atmosphere and little plot, but it is very good atmosphere, so I finished it. Also read _11/22/63_ by Stephen King. Which confirmed that I no longer like Stephen King. He has been too successful, and ISTM that editors are afraid to cut anything. This one was 30% longer than it needed to be, and it wandered all over, from the expected “fish out of water” to “the past doesn’t want to be changed” to a love story (a fairly unconvincing love story). I got the same feeling that I got when I read the un-edited version of _The Stand_ - there is a reasonable novel buried in here somewhere. Next up is _The Club of Queer Trades_ by G.K. Chesterton. Then, I don’t know what. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2017-edition/787784/70 "2017-06-30T20:55:33Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Wow, yes they did! Might lend an ear sometime myself: [https://www.amazon.com/Lincoln-Bardo-Novel-George-Saunders/dp/0553397575/ref=sr\_1\_1\_twi\_aud\_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1498147194&sr=8-1&keywords=lincoln+bardo](https://www.amazon.com/Lincoln-Bardo-Novel-George-Saunders/dp/0553397575/ref=sr_1_1_twi_aud_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1498147194&sr=8-1&keywords=lincoln+bardo) > > I’m nearing the end of Stross’s _The Atrocity Archives_ and it’s so-so. Not great and not bad. The DK-issued _The Sherlock Holmes Book (Big Ideas Simply Explained)_ is still good and I’m enjoying it. I’m also now about halfway through McCullough’s very engaging _The Path Between the Seas_; it’s 1901-1902, and Congress is debating the merits of a Nicaragua vs. a Panama canal. I have a feeling I know what they’ll decide… I loved _Lincoln in the Bardo_ as an audiobook. But then George Saunders is my favorite, so I’m biased. ---
**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 30, 2017, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2017-edition/787784/71 "2017-06-30T23:40:28Z")
I finished **Blood and Betrayal** by Lindsay Buroker today. Read in two days, I believe, highly implausible that they survived those adventures but a fun read nevertheless. I think I will take a slight breather before going onto the next book in the series and finish up a few of the other ones I’m reading. I need to read some of this manga I have stacked up here too… my hubby would like to use his closet again. 😃 ---
**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 30, 2017, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2017-edition/787784/72 "2017-06-30T23:53:03Z")
New Thread: [July, it’s hot seriously have you SEEN Arizona temps?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=20316607#post20316607) ---
**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 1, 2017, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2017-edition/787784/73 "2017-07-01T16:11:40Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I also enjoyed his recent _Conclave_, about a near-future Vatican conference to choose the successor to a Pope very much like Francis. Did not know he had a new one out. Will definitely look for that. > [@Shodan](#): > > Also read _11/22/63_ by Stephen King. Which confirmed that I no longer like Stephen King. He has been too successful, and ISTM that editors are afraid to cut anything. This one was 30% longer than it needed to be, and it wandered all over, from the expected “fish out of water” to “the past doesn’t want to be changed” to a love story (a fairly unconvincing love story). I got the same feeling that I got when I read the un-edited version of _The Stand_ - there is a reasonable novel buried in here somewhere. Now see, I’m the opposite. I loved _11/22/63_, every word of it, as well as the unedited version of _The Stand_. An English friend did not like the former for the reason you cite, saying that whole school-teacher interlude could have been cut out. But it really played well for me. And he had to have been doing something during those years. Sure, the time portal could have been closer to the event than six years, but I liked it that he had to stay so long and that he did not just skip a few years. ---
**Author:** ![Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Eleanor\_of\_Aquitaine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleanor_of_Aquitaine)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2017, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2017-edition/787784/74 "2017-07-01T21:06:56Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > His alternative-history novel _Fatherland_, about Germany winning WWII in Western Europe and facing off against the U.S. by 1964 in a different kind of Cold War, is also excellent. I also enjoyed his recent _Conclave_, about a near-future Vatican conference to choose the successor to a Pope very much like Francis. I just read his _Pompeii_, and I was less impressed with it. The setting was good, as was the depiction of the eruption, but the plot and characterizations were lacking. I’m not used to short, shallow historical novels. It felt like it was written to be turned into a screenplay. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-june-2017-edition/787784.md?page=3)