# Khadaji's Whatcha Readin' Thread - October 2015 Edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 30, 2015, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-october-2015-edition/733052 "2015-09-30T16:27:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-october-2015-edition/733052/101 "2015-10-23T13:47:36Z")
> [@Bonaventure](#): > > People either love _The Wasp Factory_ or it puts them off reading permanently. I’ve heard too many gross things about it to risk it. > > I’m reading “The Secret in Their Eyes” before the movie comes out and ruins it. So far it seems a pretty decent police procedural with nothing in common with the movie trailer. > > I like David Mitchell but I really disliked the “fantasy” portions of _The Bone Clocks_. Heh, it was written to be intentionally provocative, and at the time it must have been strong stuff indeed. The version of _The Wasp Factory_ I had, had the usual critic’s blurbs on the back - and they were all negative. 😃 Stuff like “This is purile garbage that would only appeal to the depraved - TIME” (Not an actual quote, but they were all of that sort). I thought that was clever. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-october-2015-edition/733052/102 "2015-10-23T13:51:57Z")
> [@Catamount](#): > > I hereby declare I’ve given up on V.S. Naipaul now and forever. People have told me that [A House for Mr Biswas](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5849.A_House_for_Mr_Biswas) is his best book since it was written before he was a bitter old misogynist. After reading three and a half chapters (they’re long chapters) I’ve come to the conclusion that such a time has never existed. He has always been a bitter old misogynist and Mr Biswas is a hateful excuse for a main character. I want them all to die in a fire, but it’s a library book so I’ll return it for the next unwitting victim to pick up. > > To hell with you, V.S. Naipaul, and all you stand for. Heh, we were forced to read that in HS for class, and I don’t remember a thing about it - except that, ever after, it became a byword for tortuous unpleasant reading experience. “Oh man, look at all the homework today … well, at least it isn’t a chapter of “A House for Mr. Biswas” …” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bonaventure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c57346/32.png) [@Bonaventure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonaventure)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-october-2015-edition/733052/103 "2015-10-23T14:19:19Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > Heh, it was written to be intentionally provocative, and at the time it must have been strong stuff indeed. The version of _The Wasp Factory_ I had, had the usual critic’s blurbs on the back - and they were all negative. 😃 Stuff like “This is purile garbage that would only appeal to the depraved - TIME” (Not an actual quote, but they were all of that sort). I thought that was clever. Wow, I didn’t know that. What you posted made me interested in “negative blurbing” and I found this NYTimes article from 1997 that mentions “The Wasp Factory”: > **[MEDIA: PUBLISHING; Book jacket blurbs are, by definition, shameless. Want...](https://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/13/business/media-publishing-book-jacket-blurbs-are-definition-shameless-want-attention-pan.html)** > > Traditional hyperbole in blurbs used by publishers to promote books has spurred some publishers to react by using acid blurbs; Verso, small publishing firm, is using negative commentary to call attention to progressive and radical books; drawing (M) I think this is my favorite: ''It is a sick, sick world when the confidence and investment of an astute firm of publishers is justified by a work of unparalleled depravity." I hope Iain chose that for his headstone. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-october-2015-edition/733052/104 "2015-10-23T15:09:50Z")
> [@Bonaventure](#): > > Wow, I didn’t know that. What you posted made me interested in “negative blurbing” and I found this NYTimes article from 1997 that mentions “The Wasp Factory”: > > [http://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/13/business/media-publishing-book-jacket-blurbs-are-definition-shameless-want-attention-pan.html](http://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/13/business/media-publishing-book-jacket-blurbs-are-definition-shameless-want-attention-pan.html) > > I think this is my favorite: > > ''It is a sick, sick world when the confidence and investment of an astute firm of publishers is justified by a work of unparalleled depravity." I hope Iain chose that for his headstone. Heh, the reissue mentioned in that article must be the exact issue of the book I have. 😃 Great find. I had no idea there were other examples out there, and that “negative blurbing” was, well, a thing. ---
**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:** [October 23, 2015, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-october-2015-edition/733052/105 "2015-10-23T19:44:02Z")
Ebert knew how to do it: > **[Your Movie Sucks: Ebert, Roger: 0050837245310: Amazon.com: Books](https://www.amazon.com/Your-Movie-Sucks-Roger-Ebert/dp/0740763660)** > > Your Movie Sucks \[Ebert, Roger\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. Your Movie Sucks > **[I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie - Kindle edition by Ebert, Roger. Humor &...](https://www.amazon.com/Hated-This-Movie-ebook/dp/B00E5BY3OO)** > > I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie - Kindle edition by Ebert, Roger. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-october-2015-edition/733052/106 "2015-10-23T19:46:15Z")
It’s how I explain my devotion to Charles Bukowski’s work. “I hated Ham on Rye so much, I couldn’t stop reading.” ---
**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:** [October 23, 2015, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-october-2015-edition/733052/107 "2015-10-23T20:35:00Z")
I’m reading **Arcadia** , by Lauren Groff. It’s a novel about hippies and pretty well imagined for an author too young to have been there. It’s kind of giving me the heebie-jebbies, though. Sometimes you can’t go home and sometimes you’d just rather not. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-october-2015-edition/733052/108 "2015-10-23T21:16:24Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Ebert knew how to do it: > > [http://www.amazon.com/Your-Movie-Sucks-Roger-Ebert/dp/0740763660/ref=sr\_1\_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1445629426&sr=1-2&keywords=ebert+hated+hated](http://www.amazon.com/Your-Movie-Sucks-Roger-Ebert/dp/0740763660/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1445629426&sr=1-2&keywords=ebert+hated+hated) Best cover design of all times. ---
**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:** [October 25, 2015, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-october-2015-edition/733052/109 "2015-10-25T16:58:59Z")
Finished I.N.J. Culbard’s graphic novel of Robert W. Chambers’s _The King in Yellow_. The four stories within kinda-sorta fit together, but even making allowances for its subject, the book was too cryptic and disjointed. Could have been much better. Still enjoying Lawrence Hill’s _The Book of Negroes_. Meena, the heroine, is about to leave for Sierra Leone to help establish a post-American Revolution colony of freed slaves there, and I suspect things won’t go well… ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2015, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-october-2015-edition/733052/110 "2015-10-26T13:08:22Z")
A long time since I read it, but Chambers’ original set of stories was a bit disjointed and cryptic, so it may not be Culbard’s fault! I ordered a copy after your first mention of it, so I’ll probably read it soon. Currently reading **Hard to be a God** by _Arkady & Boris Strugatsky_. I didn’t take to it at all years ago when I first tried to read it, but this is a new translation and so far it’s going fairly well. I was spurred on to read it by having seen the almost 3 hour long Russian b&w film of it that was released recently. The film was baffling, so I thought I’d read the book to what it was about! ---
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2015, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-october-2015-edition/733052/111 "2015-10-26T13:19:55Z")
I’m reading [The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio](http://www.amazon.com/Prize-Winner-Defiance-Ohio-Mother/dp/0743211235/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1445865363&sr=8-1&keywords=the+prize+winner+of+defiance+ohio) by Terry Ryan. Apparently it was made into a movie ten years ago, I had no idea. From the blurb, it sounded like a story about a mother writing rhymes, and I wasn’t sure how you could make a whole book out of it. But it’s also the story of growing up as one of ten kids, and there are some anecdotes in the story funny enough that I laughed out loud and read the passage to my husband. I’m also reading [Something Borrowed](http://www.amazon.com/Something-Borrowed-Emily-Giffin/dp/0312321198/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1445865486&sr=8-3&keywords=something+borrowed), which was also made into a movie. I’ve had half a mind to read it for a while. My friend who doesn’t like reading swore up and down that this was an amazing book, her absolute favorite book ever, and the endorsement from a non-reader combined with its light pink cover made me wonder if this was nothing but trashy chick lit. So far, I’m enjoying the book, and while it may be chick lit, it’s not the trashy variety. I find it well-written and terribly engaging. ---
**Author:** ![Bonaventure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c57346/32.png) [@Bonaventure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonaventure)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2015, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-october-2015-edition/733052/112 "2015-10-26T16:05:29Z")
> [@Meurglys](#): > > A long time since I read it, but Chambers’ original set of stories was a bit disjointed and cryptic, so it may not be Culbard’s fault! I ordered a copy after your first mention of it, so I’ll probably read it soon. > > Currently reading **Hard to be a God** by _Arkady & Boris Strugatsky_. I didn’t take to it at all years ago when I first tried to read it, but this is a new translation and so far it’s going fairly well. I was spurred on to read it by having seen the almost 3 hour long Russian b&w film of it that was released recently. The film was baffling, so I thought I’d read the book to what it was about! I really liked “Roadside Picnic” but I read it with another Strgatsky novella which was supposed to be a satire or something. Whatever it was, it wasn’t accessible to me without some context. I’m interested to hear your thoughts on “Hard to Be a God.” I’m currently reading a recently reissued “cosmic horror” novella by William Sloane called “To Walk the Night.” So far it’s just mood setting but I like it. I like Lovecraft in moderation and this seems to be very much in the same vein. > **[The Rim of Morning: Two Tales of Cosmic Horror (New York Review Books Classics):...](https://www.amazon.com/Rim-Morning-Cosmic-Horror-Classics/dp/1590179064)** > > The Rim of Morning: Two Tales of Cosmic Horror (New York Review Books Classics) \[Sloane, William, King, Stephen\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. The Rim of Morning: Two Tales of Cosmic Horror (New York Review Books Classics) ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2015, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-october-2015-edition/733052/113 "2015-10-26T16:32:33Z")
That would have been **Tale of the Troika** , which is often included with **Roadside Picnic**. I liked it when I first read it and have enjoyed the first half or so a couple of times since but I’ve ended up moving on to something else before finishing it. Sometimes the Strugatskys are very readable, other times not so much. I’m sure that this is down to the translation in some cases at least. I’ve read Roadside Picnic a couple of times ages ago and now there’s a new translation (3 or 4 years ago, I guess) I’m aiming to read that as well in due course. If you find a copy, you might like [The Snail on the Slope](https://www.flickr.com/photos/17270214@N05/16116807681)… ---
**Author:** ![Bonaventure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c57346/32.png) [@Bonaventure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonaventure)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2015, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-october-2015-edition/733052/114 "2015-10-26T20:17:40Z")
Yep, _Tale of the Troika_ was the one I was thinking of. It didn’t make much of an impression on me, positive or negative, I just got the feeling I was missing something important that would have let me appreciate it more. That mass market paperback cover art is insane. Hey, snail, leave that naked lady alone! ---
**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:** [October 26, 2015, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-october-2015-edition/733052/115 "2015-10-26T22:52:16Z")
> [@Bonaventure](#): > > Yep, _Tale of the Troika_ was the one I was thinking of. It didn’t make much of an impression on me, positive or negative, I just got the feeling I was missing something important that would have let me appreciate it more. I had the same feeling after **Night Wach** by Sergei Lukyanenko. I was missing something that hadn’t come through the translation. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-october-2015-edition/733052/116 "2015-10-27T01:26:16Z")
We’re getting towards the end of the month and I should probably just wait until next month but…I’m getting sort of bored with The Paying Guests. I’m about 200 pages into a 500+ page book and it still hasn’t grabbed me. I’ll finish it, but in the mean time I just got Requiem For A Dream and I’m going to start that one and get back to the other one when I’m done. (and yes, I’ve seen the move, probably 3 times, it never disturbed me the way I know it gets to other people). ---
**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:** [October 28, 2015, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-october-2015-edition/733052/117 "2015-10-28T18:26:33Z")
I finished **The Trolley to Yesterday** by John Bellairs yesterday. Oddly enough I enjoyed it more this time than the other times I read it. I think because it was crowded into a couple days time for the most of the book and wasn’t a ghost revenge story but an action adventure. I started **Moon over Soho** by Ben Aaronovitch yesterday. As usual, it is like chasing a runaway rollercoaster 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bonaventure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c57346/32.png) [@Bonaventure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bonaventure)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-october-2015-edition/733052/118 "2015-10-29T19:30:03Z")
I finished William Sloane’s 1937 novella _To Walk the Night_. It was not nearly as pulpy as Lovecraft, no vegetable-headed elder gods with radial symmetry. It was more psychological suspense that takes its sweet time to get going. I liked it, but it was definitely a bit slight. It hasn’t aged too badly, despite going a bit slow and a bit predictably for modern tastes. A nice mood piece for Halloween. ---
**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:** [October 30, 2015, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-october-2015-edition/733052/119 "2015-10-30T11:55:45Z")
I’ve been upcountry since Tuesday, just got back a few hours ago. Not much time for reading but I did manage to finish _The Secret Speech_, by Tom Rob Smith, his sequel to _Child 44_ and the second of a trilogy. The first book was a murder mystery set in early 1950s Soviet Union. This one dealt with the protagonist’s past catching up with him. Leo Davidoff was an MGB agent assigned to head the secret Homicide Department after catching the serial killer in the first book. (It’s secret because the Soviet Union dare not admit that common crime exists in their workers’ paradise.) The title refers to Khrushchev’s 1956 address to the 20th Soviet Congress admitting Stalin’s crimes. Society is shaken by this speech, which was not published but widely disseminated, and Leo’s first political arrest in 1949 comes back to haunt him. I thought this was going to be set in 1965, because on the back cover in big, bold letters it says **MOSCOW 1965** , and that’s quite a typo. The publisher accidentally transposed the five and the six. One premise in the book is the 1956 Hungarian revolution was actually engineered by the Soviets so they could march in and show the world they were still capable of controlling their satellite countries. The book was good but not as good as the first one. This one wasn’t a crime procedural per se, and there was too much soul-searching by the protagonist. I’ll still hunt up the third and final part of the trilogy though. But sometime this weekend or Monday at the latest, I’ll start _The Shipping News_, by Annie Proulx. ---
**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:** [October 30, 2015, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-october-2015-edition/733052/120 "2015-10-30T17:04:47Z")
I finished and really enjoyed Emma Thompson’s _The “Sense and Sensibility” Screenplay and Diaries_ (1996). It’s interesting to see how much the movie (a favorite Austen adaptation of mine) changed from “final” screenplay to finished movie. Thompson’s warts-and-all production diary, and her Golden Globe acceptance speech (written as if by a slightly scandalized J.A. herself), are also both a lot of fun. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-october-2015-edition/733052.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-readin-thread-october-2015-edition/733052.md?page=7)