# Khadaji's Whatcha Readin' Thread - March 2016 Edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 1, 2016, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-march-2016-edition/747591 "2016-03-01T02:08:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![BetsQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@BetsQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BetsQ)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-march-2016-edition/747591/41 "2016-03-07T18:25:22Z")
I’ve just finished Kate Atkinson’s [A God in Ruins](http://www.amazon.com/God-Ruins-Novel-Kate-Atkinson/dp/0316176508/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1457375005&sr=8-1&keywords=god+in+ruins). I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I’m having a hard time figuring out how to say why I liked it. I also recently read **Infovore’s** [http://www.amazon.com/Threshold-Alastair-Stone-Chronicles-Book-ebook/dp/B00D55MG2C/ref=sr\_1\_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1457375056&sr=8-2&keywords=the+threshold](http://www.amazon.com/Threshold-Alastair-Stone-Chronicles-Book-ebook/dp/B00D55MG2C/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1457375056&sr=8-2&keywords=the+threshold). ---
**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:** [March 7, 2016, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-march-2016-edition/747591/42 "2016-03-07T18:31:21Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > Heh, I’d love to check that out. My own kid is almost old enough to read this book for the first time. Here you go: > **[The Annotated Huckleberry Finn (The Annotated Books): Mark Twain, Michael...](https://www.amazon.com/Annotated-Huckleberry-Finn-Books/dp/0393020398)** > > The Annotated Huckleberry Finn (The Annotated Books) \[Mark Twain, Michael Patrick Hearn, E.W. Kemble\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. The Annotated Huckleberry Finn (The Annotated Books) I’ve read other Annotated editions done by Michael Patrick Hearn. His _Christmas Carol_ and _The Wizard of Oz_ are excellent. ---
**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:** [March 7, 2016, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-march-2016-edition/747591/43 "2016-03-07T19:12:06Z")
Just finished reading Vol. 1 of **Galactic Empires** from 1976, edited by Brian Aldiss. I’d read about it recently, then a day later came across a copy, and had to pick it up. I remember seeing it on the shelves when the paperback came out in 1979. The publication got some ery good reviews. It’s a quick and fun read, but I have to gripe about it. The book ostensibly gives several views of Galactic Empires, sort of like snapshots taken from the lifetime of such an improbable institution. Most of the stories are from the early 1950s. But the stories aren’t as advertised. Most aren’t about Galactic Empires at all. Some are simply aspects of Galactic Confederations, which isn’t the same thing. I’ve read a number of older, interesting SF stories, but they aren’t what I was promised. I had a similar feeling when I read the stories in the anthology _The Fall of Cthulhu_. The premise was that Lovecraft’s immortal, seemingly undefeatable Elder God was to be somehow thwarted in the stories in that volume. Only almost none of them did show that. They were mostly Lovecraft pastiches, but not about how his Superbeing got circumvented – which was supposed to be the point. I’m not sure if I’ll track down a copy of Vol. II of _Galactic Empires_ now. On to **Mothership** by Martin Leicht and Isla Neal, about a space station that is home to several 1950s-style pregnant Unwed Mothers. Hence the title. Pepper Mill liked it. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2016, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-march-2016-edition/747591/44 "2016-03-07T21:55:19Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Here you go: > > [http://www.amazon.com/The-Annotated-Huckleberry-Finn-Books/dp/0393020398](http://www.amazon.com/The-Annotated-Huckleberry-Finn-Books/dp/0393020398) > > I’ve read other Annotated editions done by Michael Patrick Hearn. His _Christmas Carol_ and _The Wizard of Oz_ are excellent. Thanks! I’ll look into it. ---
**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:** [March 8, 2016, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-march-2016-edition/747591/45 "2016-03-08T06:14:01Z")
> [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](#): > > …I still remember the first time I stepped into the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum on the Mall in Washington, DC. There hanging was the Wright Flyer (1903) and directly below it was the Apollo 11 capsule (1969). From Kitty Hawk to the Moon in the span of one lifetime…still boggles the mind. Yes. The Apollo 11 astronauts took a small fragment of original Flyer wing fabric with them to the Moon; it’s now on display in the Flyer gallery at the NASM. A photographer on the Outer Banks also took a picture of the Wright Memorial in Kitty Hawk with the Moon overhead at the exact moment of Armstrong’s “one small step.” > [@CalMeacham](#): > > …On to **Mothership** by Martin Leicht and Isla Neal, about a space station that is home to several 1950s-style pregnant Unwed Mothers. Hence the title. Pepper Mill liked it. Any Heinlein “–All You Zombies–” references? ---
**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:** [March 8, 2016, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-march-2016-edition/747591/46 "2016-03-08T12:40:12Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Yes. The Apollo 11 astronauts took a small fragment of original Flyer wing fabric with them to the Moon; it’s now on display in the Flyer gallery at the NASM. > > A photographer on the Outer Banks also took a picture of the Wright Memorial in Kitty Hawk with the Moon overhead at the exact moment of Armstrong’s “one small step.” > Any Heinlein “–All You Zombies–” references? Don’t know. Just started it. But I doubt it. This book has a very light tone. ---
**Author:** ![Memnon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Memnon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Memnon)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2016, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-march-2016-edition/747591/47 "2016-03-08T20:28:14Z")
I’ve given up on _Pnin_. I gave it 50 pages but it just wasn’t doing anything for me. I just found it dreadfully boring. Nothing of any real incident happened in the first 50 pages, and given that the entire book is only 160 pages, that’s quite an indictment. It just seems to be the story of an elderly nerd bumbling through his boring life. I’d never have guessed the first book I gave up on this year would be a Nabokov, but there you go. I’ve finished _Ready Player One_ by Ernest Cline, and really enjoyed it. It’s a thoroughly madcap adventure story about a high-stakes treasure hunt through a virtual world. It’s very readable and action packed, well characterised, and very well imagined. It reminded me a little of Neal Stephenson’s _Snow Crash_. I don’t think it’s as good as Snow Crash, but it’s still very good, and if you liked Snow Crash you’ll probably enjoy it. I’d give it four stars out of five. Next up, a classic ghost story, Henry James’ _The Turn of the Screw._ I can’t wait! ---
**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:** [March 8, 2016, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-march-2016-edition/747591/48 "2016-03-08T20:44:54Z")
> [@BetsQ](#): > > I’ve just finished Kate Atkinson’s [A God in Ruins](http://www.amazon.com/God-Ruins-Novel-Kate-Atkinson/dp/0316176508/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1457375005&sr=8-1&keywords=god+in+ruins). I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I’m having a hard time figuring out how to say why I liked it. If you haven’t read her Jackson Brodie novels, get thee to a book store. ---
**Author:** ![Enterprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/76d3ee/32.png) [@Enterprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enterprise)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2016, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-march-2016-edition/747591/49 "2016-03-09T10:25:54Z")
I recently finished reading Matt Ruff’s most recent novel, _Lovecraft Country_. I was very dispapointed in _The Mirage_, his last one, but this was a great return to form. Set in the 1950s, an episodically follows the family of Atticus Finch, a black Korean War veteran, as he discovers his connection to a vaguely Lovecraftian cult. No horrible entities from beyond spacetime, really, but a somewhat chilling investigation of racism, a very passable horror story, and overall good fun. I’m recommending this one. I also finished James Holland’s _The War in the West: Germany Ascendant_. I have fixed feelings about this. It’s most very-well written, engaging, and combines the ground level view with interesting accounts and evaluations of strategy and politics. I’m not sure about its currentness in all aspects, though: Holland’s very down on the Italians, which I think is more an artifact of British sources than necessarily measured consideration (especially with regard to the Italian Navy); and he’s really not good at the technical naval stuff (the operational is fine). And there’s the occasional writing issue that I don’t think needed to have slipped somebody’s attention. Just from memory, in describing the _Bismarck_ chase, he writes something like “Of course, the Royal Navy sent _Hood_ and _Prince of Wales_ to sink her,” without having mentioned either ship before. This happens a couple of times, where the sense (of course, the Royal Navy sent SOMETHING), but the writing doesn’t say that. A minor point, perhaps. Right now, I’m reading Barry Eichengreen’s _Hall of Mirrors_, a study comparing the Great Depression and the Great Recession and the historical lessons rightly and wrongly drawn. Promising, if a bit dense. I’m also reading Bill W. Czolgosz’s_Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim_, which promises to wear thin quickly, I’m afraid. Well. You can’t always get lucky with the zombie mashups. ---
**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:** [March 9, 2016, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-march-2016-edition/747591/50 "2016-03-09T14:39:25Z")
> [@Enterprise](#): > > I recently finished reading Matt Ruff’s most recent novel, _Lovecraft Country_. I was very dispapointed in _The Mirage_, his last one, but this was a great return to form. Set in the 1950s, an episodically follows the family of Atticus Finch, a black Korean War veteran, as he discovers his connection to a vaguely Lovecraftian cult. No horrible entities from beyond spacetime, really, but a somewhat chilling investigation of racism, a very passable horror story, and overall good fun. I’m recommending this one. Oh good! It’s waiting for me at the library. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2016, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-march-2016-edition/747591/51 "2016-03-09T14:48:35Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Oh good! It’s waiting for me at the library. I enjoyed it too, although I hadn’t expected the break at the end of the first episode. Finally finished my old copy of _Monday Begins on Saturday_ by the Strugatsky Brothers, which was absurd fun, and am now starting on _Fold_ by Peter Clines, which should be a faster read! Teleportation is discovered, but maybe there’s a catch? ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2016, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-march-2016-edition/747591/52 "2016-03-09T14:50:14Z")
Finished _Arcadia_, by Ian Pears. It was awesome. Highly recommended! Perhaps the best take on time travel storytelling I’ve ever read. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2016, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-march-2016-edition/747591/53 "2016-03-09T15:07:23Z")
_Arcadia_ was one of my favourite books last year! Apparently he created an app for it too, although I’ve not used it. There’s an interesting [article here](http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/aug/20/novel-use-for-app-iain-pears-arcadia)… So, do you think that the future society was the creation of the other ‘Inkling’ who was writing about his perfect future society, as Arcadia was based on the fantasy book? I assume it was but I don’t think he comes out and says so directly. ---
**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:** [March 9, 2016, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-march-2016-edition/747591/54 "2016-03-09T15:10:57Z")
> [@Enterprise](#): > > I recently finished reading Matt Ruff’s most recent novel, _Lovecraft Country_. I was very dispapointed in _The Mirage_, his last one, but this was a great return to form. Set in the 1950s, an episodically follows the family of Atticus Finch, a black Korean War veteran… An… interesting name for that character! ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2016, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-march-2016-edition/747591/55 "2016-03-09T15:16:17Z")
> [@Meurglys](#): > > _Arcadia_ was one of my favourite books last year! > Apparently he created an app for it too, although I’ve not used it. There’s an interesting [article here](http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/aug/20/novel-use-for-app-iain-pears-arcadia)… > > So, do you think that the future society was the creation of the other ‘Inkling’ who was writing about his perfect future society, as Arcadia was based on the fantasy book? I assume it was but I don’t think he comes out and says so directly. Heh good question. I was asking myself the same. [spoiler] I assumed it was. Though I think this was a plot-line that maybe got dropped. There was no road-map as to _how_ the dystopian future was created out of the other “Inkling”'s story. Indeed, if I’m following the plot-lines correctly, the dystopian future never actually existed at all - it wiped itself out, by sending a bomb back into the past and creating a nuclear war! It was, in effect, replaced. [/spoiler] As for the app - I never even knew it existed. Now, I’ll have to look it up. ---
**Author:** ![BetsQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@BetsQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BetsQ)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2016, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-march-2016-edition/747591/56 "2016-03-09T18:14:07Z")
I added Arcadia to my list of books to read over the weekend, and now I’m going to bump it up the priority list a bit. I’m also going to have to remember to come back and look at those spoiler boxes later! **Chefguy** , I have read Case Histories. I’ll have to revisit Jackson Brodie. I was not terribly impressed with the BBC production, sadly. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-march-2016-edition/747591/57 "2016-03-10T04:14:16Z")
Philippa Gregory’s _The White Queen_. I’m really annoyed at myself for reading these books out of sequence. ---
**Author:** ![Enterprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/76d3ee/32.png) [@Enterprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enterprise)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-march-2016-edition/747591/58 "2016-03-10T07:40:36Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > An… interesting name for that character! My bad, sorry-- Atticus, yes, but not Finch. Still, the reference is clear. I’m not quite sure what to make of it, truth be told. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-march-2016-edition/747591/59 "2016-03-10T10:58:50Z")
I’m reading book 6 of [Taylor Anderson’s](http://www.taylorandersonauthor.com/) Destroyermen series. It’s one of the best sci-fi epics I’ve ever read. Both of my kids are working thru the series as well. Short summary: Strange electrical storm transports a WWII destroyer and crew to an alternate universe/earth. Charts are still accurate, but evolution has run a radically different course on their “new” Earth. There are 10 books (so far). ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-march-2016-edition/747591/60 "2016-03-10T11:36:30Z")
Have lately read _Pied Piper_ by Nevil Shute (came upon it while staying with relatives who have a house chock-full of books of all kinds). Started it with mild curiosity, but no great hopes – my experience of Shute has been: a few books which I rate as good, but rather more which I’ve found unreadable: simplistic, and cringe-makingly cloying. _PP_ is set at the time of the fall of France in 1940: recounts the experiences of a group of people from Allied nations (mostly children, led by an elderly British guy) trying to make their way through the chaos of France collapsing under German invasion, in the hope of getting out and reaching Britain. Getting the picture that this was what the book was about, I was expecting it to strike me as revoltingly mawkish, and that I’d abandon it and put it aside in disgust after a very few chapters. Was pleasantly surprised to find it moving and gripping, but written in a cool and restrained tone: I experienced it as a great read. Just occasionally, old Nevil managed to produce something which _wasn’t_ crap. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-march-2016-edition/747591.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-march-2016-edition/747591.md?page=4)