# Khadaji's Whatcha Readin' thread - November 2016 Edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 29, 2016, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-november-2016-edition/770034 "2016-10-29T16:12:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 5
**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:** [November 25, 2016, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-november-2016-edition/770034/81 "2016-11-25T17:39:26Z")
I finally plowed through to the end of **White Trash**. It had some interesting history, and covered the entire span from the Pilgrims to present day. But man, what a slog. The author often went into agonizing detail, and I admit to skimming parts of what is a very weighty tome. So onward to something more fluffy, I’m now reading **The Fireman** , by Joe Hill (son of Stephen King). It’s another long read, but much quicker. I’m still reserving opinion on it, as it’s early going. ---
**Author:** ![Enterprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/76d3ee/32.png) [@Enterprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enterprise)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2016, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-november-2016-edition/770034/82 "2016-11-25T23:50:25Z")
> [@DZedNConfused](#): > > I’m so far behind so… > > I finished **Johannes Cabal The Fear Institute** that was like pulling teeth out chickens to finish. Talk about BORING, And the multiple fake out endings had me cursing JRR Tolkien and Peter Jackson. > 😃 Coincidentally, I also just finished this again, after going back through the series on finishing _Fall of the House of Cabal_. Cabal is a fascinating character, but Howard, overall, seems about 3 for 5 to me. _Fall_ and _Fear Institute_ I thought really fell a bit short…but on the plus side, _Fall_ also made me look up the short stories, which I thought were all fairly decent. In other current readings, I have Austin Grossman’s _Crooked_, wherein we discover the true history of Richard Nixon (and the Cold War), which turns out to be vaguely Lovecraftian so far. I’m about a third in, and my one complaint would be that there’s very little supernatural happening yet. I’ll keep at it… I’ve also cracked upon the rather massive _The Nix_, by Nathan Hill. Fun so far, and came highly recommended by friends. So I’m looking forward to that. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2016, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-november-2016-edition/770034/83 "2016-11-26T02:57:14Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Next up: _The Count of Monte Cristo_, by Alexandre Dumas. My favorite of all the classics I’ve read (admittedly not a humongous number, but not nothing either). It’s not a light read, though, with some of the slowest-moving character plots I’ve ever come across. Still, I need to reread 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:** [November 26, 2016, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-november-2016-edition/770034/84 "2016-11-26T04:54:05Z")
I’ve started _The President’s Vampire_ by Christopher Farnsworth, the second in a series about an American vampire bound by a blood oath - originally sworn to Andrew Johnson in 1866 - to serve the President and eternally counter supernatural threats to the nation. Farfetched but fun, with a clever Lovecraft connection. ---
**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:** [November 30, 2016, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-november-2016-edition/770034/85 "2016-11-30T16:04:35Z")
Finished it. Not as good as _Blood Oath_, the first, but pretty good. Farnsworth weaves in all sorts of secret-history stuff from Lovecraft, the JFK assassination, Watergate and movies like _The Thing, Invasion of the Body Snatchers_ and even _Gremlins_. I also finished Arthur Hertzberg’s _The Jews in America_, which was a bit of a slog, but from which I learned quite a bit. I hadn’t know much before about the struggles between German and Russian Jews in America, the post-WWII rise of Orthodoxy in NYC, the sometimes-fraught relations between American Jews and Israeli, etc. Almost done with John Grisham’s _The Appeal_, and I’m enjoying it. An entertaining mix of mass-tort law and hardball politics. Just starting Conan Doyle’s _A Study in Scarlet_, which I haven’t read in many years. Good to see Holmes’s and Watson’s first meeting 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:** [November 30, 2016, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-november-2016-edition/770034/86 "2016-11-30T23:24:34Z")
December thread: [December: when I get jealous of Southerners in flip flops](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=812496) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-november-2016-edition/770034.md?page=4)