# Khadaji's Whatcha Readin' thread - May 2016 edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 28, 2016, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-may-2016-edition/753337 "2016-04-28T14:38:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**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:** [May 20, 2016, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-may-2016-edition/753337/61 "2016-05-20T15:26:57Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > Slowly reading **[Let’s Pretend This Never Happened](http://amzn.com/0425261018)** by Jenny Lawson. It’s basically an autobiography about her, growing up in an insane family, and her own mental illness. It’s funny to the degree that it’s unsafe to read in public. I just sent a sample chapter to my Kindle. Thanks. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-may-2016-edition/753337/62 "2016-05-20T22:40:47Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > I’m reading **The Finches’ Fabulous Furnace** , by Roger Wolcott Drury. My husband loved it as a kid, but couldn’t remember the title, only that the “furnace” was a volcano in the basement. One day in a used book store, I found it. I loved this book so, so much as a kid! ---
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2016, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-may-2016-edition/753337/63 "2016-05-21T05:40:03Z")
I just finished **Night Work** by Steve Hamilton and recommend it highly. If you have read any of his other books set in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, this has a different protagonist, a probation officer, and is set in a small city in upstate New York. the plotting and characters are excellent. ---
**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:** [May 23, 2016, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-may-2016-edition/753337/64 "2016-05-23T17:23:27Z")
> [@delphica](#): > > I loved this book so, so much as a kid! Just finished The Finches’ Fabulous Furnace–say that three times fast! It was pretty good. Now I’m reading Parenting is Easy! (You Must Be Doing It Wrong) by Sara Given. Funny. ---
**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:** [May 23, 2016, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-may-2016-edition/753337/65 "2016-05-23T19:16:03Z")
I’ve finished several things since I last popped in. Here are some of them: 1. King, Stephen. [**On Writing**](http://www.amazon.com/Writing-10th-Anniversary-Memoir-Craft/dp/1439156816/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1464029890&sr=8-1&keywords=on+writing). King offers practical tips as well as some backstory on how he became a writer. Any aspiring writer will find some useful nuggets here, and King infuses it all with a down-to-earth tone and great humor. 2. Wiebe, Kurtis J. [**Rat Queens, vol. 1: Sass and Sorcery**](http://www.amazon.com/Rat-Queens-1-Sass-Sorcery/dp/1607069458/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1464029947&sr=8-1&keywords=rat+queens+vol.+1). If you like graphic novels with strong woman characters set in a fantasy world, you’ll love this. The Rat Queens are an adventuring group of four ‘battle-maidens’ who kick butt, take names, and misbehave in epic style. I’m jealous I’m not a Rat Queen myself! 3. I also read volumes 4 and 5 of Brian K. Vaughan’s \*\*[Saga](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1632150778/ref=s9_simh_gw_g14_i4_r?ie=UTF8&fpl=fresh&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=desktop-1&pf_rd_r=0KHRE1JEVJESYNTHPAX6&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=5d23eaf6-6278-49c1-b6df-7de0cb9b3a26&pf_rd_i=desktop)\*\*graphic novel series. It just keeps getting better and more fantastical all the time. Read other things too, but most of it was meh. I’m 2/3 of the way through Lydia Davis’ translation of **[Madame Bovary](https://www.amazon.com/Madame-Bovary-Penguin-Classics-Deluxe-ebook/dp/B0044DEHQ2?ie=UTF8&keywords=emma%20bovary%20lydia%20davis&qid=1464030460&ref_=sr_1_2&s=books&sr=1-2)** right now. The plot feels both fresh and accurate in its portrayal of small-town France in the 1800s; Flaubert is an amazing writer. Lydia Davis renders an outstanding translation of the original, from what I can tell. I’m glad I saved this as a special treat since it certainly is. 😃 I’m also partway through Carl Zimmer’s **[At the Water’s Edge: Fish with Fingers, Whales with Legs, and How Life Came Ashore but Then Went Back to the Sea](http://www.amazon.com/At-Waters-Edge-Fingers-Whales/dp/0684856239/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1464030781&sr=8-1&keywords=Carl+Zimmer+edge)**. Zimmer explains evolutionary concepts so that they’re both fascinating and understandable to the layperson. I’m not sure if it’s his anecdotes or language use (or even his expert eye at what to leave out or simplify), but he is one of our best living science writers, for my money. Another summer reading treat I gave to myself, and I’m thrilled I did! ---
**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:** [May 23, 2016, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-may-2016-edition/753337/66 "2016-05-23T21:42:53Z")
I started and chucked **Beyond the Ice Limit** , which was flat, dull and …not good. Disappointing, too, since **The Ice Limit** was the first book I read and loved by Preston and Child. ---
**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:** [May 24, 2016, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-may-2016-edition/753337/67 "2016-05-24T01:42:02Z")
I finished **The Master and Margarita** by Mikhail Bulgarov. I’m going to say it was as boring and unfunny as a 51 year old adult as it was to the 22 year old kid. I really only liked the historical fiction parts… Anyway should you choose to read it: [Master and Margarita](https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/146279675) ---
**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:** [May 24, 2016, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-may-2016-edition/753337/68 "2016-05-24T01:48:52Z")
Sorry I missed the edit time that’s Mikhail Bulgakov not Bulgarov ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2016, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-may-2016-edition/753337/69 "2016-05-24T15:13:39Z")
I am about to take an early lunch to RUN down to the local Barnes & Noble to purchase and devour the EXTREMELY long-awaited third book in Justin Cronin’s _The Passage_ trilogy, [The City of Mirrors](http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-city-of-mirrors-justin-cronin/1123222796?ean=9780425286722&st=SEM&sid=BNB_DRS_MAKEBOOKS+-+Spring+2016_00000000&2sid=Bing_e&sourceId=SEBiS768). I’ve been waiting three years for this damned thing, and my boss doesn’t know it yet, BUT I’M FEELING KINDA REALLY SICK RIGHT ABOUT NOW! 😉 Will let y’all know how it comes out. ---
**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:** [May 24, 2016, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-may-2016-edition/753337/70 "2016-05-24T15:16:10Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > …Next up is _Perfidia_, by James Ellroy. A Japanese-American family in Los Angeles is brutally murdered amid America’s entry into World War II. I just picked up the audiobook of that from the library. I’d be interested to know what you think of it. ---
**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:** [May 24, 2016, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-may-2016-edition/753337/71 "2016-05-24T15:33:20Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I just picked up the audiobook of that from the library. I’d be interested to know what you think of it. I’m almost halfway through and enjoying it. Written in the same style as his Underworld USA Trilogy, with a few characters from those making brief appearances. Seems this is the first volume in a planned second LA Quartet. The two quartets and the USA Trilogy will “span 31 years and form one novelistic history,” as Ellroy puts it. I’m not sure I’ll finish it before heading out to the Sin City of Pattaya for one last look next week. But that’s a good place to be reading noir of any sort, what with its over-the-top sleaze and questionable characters from all different countries. ---
**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:** [May 24, 2016, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-may-2016-edition/753337/72 "2016-05-24T15:55:38Z")
OK, thanks! I’ll give it a try. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2016, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-may-2016-edition/753337/73 "2016-05-26T00:54:37Z")
Just finished The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, a quick little morsel, and now I’m on to Le Morte d’Arthur. I’m not quite sure why it’s not Artur, being that the rest of the title is French. ---
**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:** [May 27, 2016, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-may-2016-edition/753337/74 "2016-05-27T03:14:03Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Next up is _Perfidia_, by James Ellroy. A Japanese-American family in Los Angeles is brutally murdered amid America’s entry into World War II. > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I just picked up the audiobook of that from the library. I’d be interested to know what you think of it. > [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I’m almost halfway through and enjoying it. Written in the same style as his Underworld USA Trilogy, with a few characters from those making brief appearances. Seems this is the first volume in a planned second LA Quartet. The two quartets and the USA Trilogy will “span 31 years and form one novelistic history,” as Ellroy puts it. > > I’m not sure I’ll finish it before heading out to the Sin City of Pattaya for one last look next week. But that’s a good place to be reading noir of any sort, what with its over-the-top sleaze and questionable characters from all different countries. > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > OK, thanks! I’ll give it a try. I haven’t read the first LA Quartet but did see the film version of the third novel, _LA Confidential_. In it, James Cromwell plays Dudley Smith, who figures large in _Perfidia_. And Danny DeVito plays Sid Hudgens, who also appears in _Perfidia_. ---
**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:** [May 27, 2016, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-may-2016-edition/753337/75 "2016-05-27T17:45:14Z")
Ah, good to know - thanks! I’m still enjoying Randall Munroe’s _What If?_, a collection of XKCD columns and good farfetched-science fun. On the home stretch with Thurston Clarke’s _JFK’s Last Hundred Days_, which has some good insights into Kennedy’s growth as a person (after the death of his infant son Patrick, and his rekindling of his relationship with his wife Jackie) and as a leader (Vietnam, civil rights, the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty) in the months before he died. I’m also just starting Catherine Drinker Bowen’s 1966 classic _Miracle at Philadelphia_, about the Constitutional Convention. ---
**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:** [May 27, 2016, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-may-2016-edition/753337/76 "2016-05-27T18:43:29Z")
I finished **Beggars, Cheats and Forgers** by Dave Thomas. It’s a short fun, read and since he covered Mark Hoffman, had a bit of hometown interest for me. I remember the bombings ☹ Based on a rec here, I started **A Voyage Long and Strange** by Tony Horowitz. So far a very enjoyable read and I’m enjoying the personal appraoch Horowitz is taking. ---
**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:** [May 30, 2016, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-may-2016-edition/753337/77 "2016-05-30T01:14:23Z")
June thread: [Summer time, Summertime, Wintertime!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=794366) ---
**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:** [May 30, 2016, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-may-2016-edition/753337/78 "2016-05-30T03:54:47Z")
Just finished Randall Munroe’s _What If?_ XKCD collection, which was fun, and have now begun _The Battle for the Falklands_ by Max Hastings and Simon Jenkins. It’s a great study of the 1982 conflict, equally engrossing as to both the political and the military aspects. The authors have a dry wit and a knack for elegant turns of phrase. ---
**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:** [May 30, 2016, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-may-2016-edition/753337/79 "2016-05-30T14:41:01Z")
Just started _The Boy Who Lost Fairyland_ by Catherynne M. Valente. ---
**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:** [May 31, 2016, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-may-2016-edition/753337/80 "2016-05-31T04:02:03Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Just finished Randall Munroe’s _What If?_ XKCD collection, which was fun… Forgot to mention - it twice referred to the SDMB! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-may-2016-edition/753337.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-may-2016-edition/753337.md?page=5)