# Khadaji's Whatcha Reading Thread--April 2019 edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 30, 2019, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-april-2019-edition/831775 "2019-03-30T16:28:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2019, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-april-2019-edition/831775/21 "2019-04-05T19:40:19Z")
I am reading Fire & Blood by GRRM. I got a signed copy a few months ago at release event that George attended but just didn’t have time to read it before now. It is basically an in universe history book in the world of Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) and is about the Targaryen line of rulers from the Conquest of the seven kingdoms to the Rebellion that was a few years before the original story (and show) started. I was unable to get into the SoI&F books. I made several attempts to read the first one before the show premiered and never got into it but I really like this book. Since it is a history the story moves fast. I do have an issue with there being so many names and characters, I sometimes have a hard time keeping track who is on what side when there are times of war but I would definitely recommend it if you like the show and/or the books. ---
**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:** [April 5, 2019, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-april-2019-edition/831775/22 "2019-04-05T23:02:25Z")
Finished _The Butler: A Witness to History_, by Wil Haygood, which was okay. Next up: _Dust Tracks on a Road: An Autobiography_, by Zora Neale Hurston. ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2019, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-april-2019-edition/831775/23 "2019-04-06T03:49:37Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > … > > I’m just past the halfway mark of _Consider Phlebas_, the first Culture novel by Iain M. Banks, and am enjoying it. The antihero has his own starship now and seems to have convinced a ragtag band of mercenaries to come along and help him on a dangerous mission to a forbidden planet (not \*that \*forbidden planet). > > … The Culture novels are awesome. You’re in for a great ride. I’m just about to start The Stone Sky, the last novel of N.K. Jemison’s The Broken Earth trilogy. I can see why she won three straight Hugos for them. ---
**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:** [April 6, 2019, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-april-2019-edition/831775/24 "2019-04-06T04:22:02Z")
> [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](#): > > I recommend the movie. It took me four months to finish the book, because not only is it 800 pages, but I also decided to read it on audio book, and I typically take a much longer time to finish audio books since I mainly only listen to them in the car. > > The movie has a much tighter plot than the book. And after spending four months on the same book, I thoroughly appreciated the tight plot. I know a lot of people think Stephen King is too wordy, but I like it. The long version of _The Stand_ left me wanting more. The same with _It_. Of course, I also read all of Marcel Proust’s big opus, and that took me a full year, so I like the longer stories. ---
**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:** [April 6, 2019, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-april-2019-edition/831775/25 "2019-04-06T05:39:47Z")
> [@lisiate](#): > > The Culture novels are awesome. You’re in for a great ride… Thanks. Just finished _Consider Phlebas_ tonight. It got better the more I read, and now I wouldn’t mind reading more books in the series sometime. I also recently finished _The Legend of Ulysses_ by Paul Hamlyn (1965, illustr. by Mario Logli and Gabriele Santini), a YA Greek mythology book. Pretty good. Just started an audiobook of Nathaniel Philbrick’s _In the Hurricane’s Eye: The Genius of George Washington and the Victory at Yorktown_, an American Revolution history which I like so far, although it doesn’t sound like the author has broken too much new ground in his research. ---
**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:** [April 8, 2019, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-april-2019-edition/831775/26 "2019-04-08T12:23:13Z")
Finished a couple of books over the weekend. [The Kingdom of Copper](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39988431-the-kingdom-of-copper) is the second in a trilogy. It’s high-politics high-fantasy, set in the capital city of the Djinni. Other than not being in a European medieval setting, it’s pretty bog-standard fantasy, but fun stuff. Then I read [Vigilance](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41940477-vigilance?from_search=true). Very much in the tradition of the Hunger Games and The Purge: “I’m gonna write a dystopia that comments satirically on how obsessed our society is with voyeuristic violence, by telling a story with a lot of kickass action scenes!” Author Robert Jackson Bennett thinks Fox News is terrible and Alex Jones is terrible and Facebook’s advertising algorithm is terrible, and his satire is not what you’d call subtle. He’s an excellent author, but I kinda felt like I needed a shower after reading this short novel. ---
**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:** [April 8, 2019, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-april-2019-edition/831775/27 "2019-04-08T13:02:16Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Thanks. Just finished _Consider Phlebas_ tonight. It got better the more I read, and now I wouldn’t mind reading more books in the series sometime. > > I also recently finished _The Legend of Ulysses_ by Paul Hamlyn (1965, illustr. by Mario Logli and Gabriele Santini), a YA Greek mythology book. Pretty good. > > Just started an audiobook of Nathaniel Philbrick’s _In the Hurricane’s Eye: The Genius of George Washington and the Victory at Yorktown_, an American Revolution history which I like so far, although it doesn’t sound like the author has broken too much new ground in his research. I read Philbrick’s book recently. For me the best point about the book is that it covers a lot of the Southern campaigns, which are usually very underrepresented in Revolutionary War histories. At least in my experience. By the way – I don’t think Paul Hamlyn is the author of _The Legend of Ulysses_. I have a big collection of “Paul Hamlyn” mythology books – there was a whole series of African Mythology, Oceanic Mythology, Indian Mythology, etc. All had “Paul Hamlyn” on the spine, but the text was written by various specialists in that particular mythology. “Paul Hamlyn” was the publisher, not the author. Unless this is a rare case of the publisher actually writing the text, the author was probably someone else. A quick search shows that the author was probably Roy F. Brown. [https://www.ebay.com/itm/OLD-hardcover-book-The-Legend-of-Ulysses-Paul-Hamlyn-1965-RETOLD-BY-ROY-F-BROWN-/233167700382?oid=333069868957](https://www.ebay.com/itm/OLD-hardcover-book-The-Legend-of-Ulysses-Paul-Hamlyn-1965-RETOLD-BY-ROY-F-BROWN-/233167700382?oid=333069868957) ---
**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:** [April 8, 2019, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-april-2019-edition/831775/28 "2019-04-08T13:22:21Z")
Yes, that’s the edition I have, thanks. I didn’t see Brown listed in my copy, though. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2019, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-april-2019-edition/831775/29 "2019-04-09T13:10:04Z")
Just finished the latest Expanse book, “Tiamat’s Wrath”. I enjoyed it a lot (as I have for most of the series). This one had almost the cleanest/most wrapped up ending of any of them, IMO. I believe there will be one more book in the series. Highly recommended for fans of the series who are caught up. ---
**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:** [April 9, 2019, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-april-2019-edition/831775/30 "2019-04-09T14:25:00Z")
Just zipped through Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s 1890 short novel _The Sign of Four_, an early Sherlock Holmes case. A hidden treasure from India! A peg-legged man! A tiny assassin! A prison escape! A chase along the River Thames! An exciting Victorian potboiler/detective tale, and just as good as I remembered. ---
**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:** [April 10, 2019, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-april-2019-edition/831775/31 "2019-04-10T00:15:26Z")
Finished _Dust Tracks on a Road: An Autobiography_, by Zora Neale Hurston. Excellent–one of the best books I’ve read this year. Next up: _Other Worlds, Better Lives: Selected Long Fiction, 1989-2003_, by Howard Waldrop. ---
**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:** [April 10, 2019, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-april-2019-edition/831775/32 "2019-04-10T04:16:46Z")
Just began Jo Nesbo’s _Headhunters_. It’s Nordic noir about an executive-search-firm douchebag who moonlights as an art thief and gets in _'way_ over his head with a client, a former Norwegian special-forces soldier. The movie is terrific, and I thought I’d try the book. It’s the first Nesbo novel I’ve read - so far, so good. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-april-2019-edition/831775/33 "2019-04-12T14:53:05Z")
Magna Carta - The Birth of Liberty Dan Jones A straightforward history of the famous document, starting more or less with Henry II (1100s) then his sons Richard and the despised John. John. although competent and intelligent, was also a brutal tyrant who squeezed every pence he could from the lower nobles and went after anyone who defied him, including a mother and her son who were locked in a dungeon until both died. The barons finally had enough and forced John to Runnymeade, a meadow near London where he affirmed the Magna Carta, a set of principles that put limits on what the king could do. Of course, he reneged soon after, and a civil way broke out, but what are you gonna do? As time passed, the idea of Magna Carta grew in the English imagination and then beyond, inspiring part of the U.S. Bill of Rights, something that the original participants would have never imagined. A solid, well-researched and well-written history. Recommended ---
**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:** [April 12, 2019, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-april-2019-edition/831775/34 "2019-04-12T15:31:07Z")
Almost finished with Asimov’s autobiography. Then it’s on to _Space Odyssey_. On audio I listened to Dostoyevski’s **Crime and Punishment** , followed by Mozart’s **Idomeneo, King of Crete**. Now I’m relaxing with my guilty pleasure, Clive (and Dirk) Cussler’s **Celtic Empire**. If I can find a copy of his **Sea of Greed** , that’s up next ---
**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:** [April 12, 2019, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-april-2019-edition/831775/35 "2019-04-12T23:36:44Z")
Finished _Other Worlds, Better Lives: Selected Long Fiction, 1989-2003_, by Howard Waldrop, which I enjoyed. Next up: _Trail of Lightning_, by Rebecca Roanhorse. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2019, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-april-2019-edition/831775/36 "2019-04-13T19:25:12Z")
I’m reading Dan Brown’s **Origin** (My problem is I have to stop reading to Google the landmarks and museums and pictures he mentions) with Grisham’s **The Rooster Bar** waiting in the queue. ---
**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:** [April 13, 2019, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-april-2019-edition/831775/37 "2019-04-13T20:18:46Z")
Finished _Needful Things_, by Stephen King. A new shopkeeper in the tiny burg of Castle Rock, Maine in October 1991 exchanges goods for money and mysterious deeds performed by the customer. The title is the name of the shop. Very good. I’ve been reading a lot of King lately, and this is one of his better ones. One thing I noted was this reference early on to a Springsteen music video: “And suddenly, as the rhythm section blasts off, he is holding a hand out, holding it out to HER, the way Bruce Springsteen (who will never be The King in a million years, no matter how hard he tries) holds his hand out to that girl in his ‘Dancing in the Dark’ video.” ("He " and “The King” being Elvis.) I know that video. Springsteen is performing on stage, the audience is rocking along, when all of a sudden he reaches down and pulls up a lucky young fan onto the stage to dance with him. A seemingly random young fan. But there was nothing random about it, as she was an actress planted there for the video. She was a then-unknown Courteney Cox, who later went on to fame as Monica Geller on _Friends_. _Needful Things_ came out a couple of years before _Friends_ aired, and he could not have known he was referencing a future star. Just thought that was neat. Next up is _The Fear Index_, by Robert Harris. ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2019, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-april-2019-edition/831775/38 "2019-04-14T02:52:27Z")
I did finish Schulz’s _Being Wrong_, which I still think is terrific, if a bit more philosophical than I have the patience for. This line caught me up short (the context is the American electorate’s general preference for candidates who are forceful and don’t accept much in the way of ambiguity): “It would seem that the desire for certainty in our leadership unites the misogynist strain and the anti-intellectual strain of American politics.” Only she wasn’t talking about the current president and the most recent Democratic candidate, since the book came out in about 2007–this was a reference to the Bush-Kerry election of 2004. A rather prescient way to put it. ---
**Author:** ![Rough\_Draft](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@Rough\_Draft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rough_Draft)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2019, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-april-2019-edition/831775/39 "2019-04-15T16:18:45Z")
In my more-than-two-year-long quest to read all of Agatha Christie’s mysteries, I’m just finishing up _The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories_ (boy, did that woman ever write a lot of short stories!). The title story is a classic, having been made into plays, movies, and a TV miniseries\*. It’s a surprisingly brief story with two nice twists at the very end. The other stories are all good to one degree or another, although some are a little predictable (I’ve noticed it’s always easier to guess the bad guy in Agatha’s short stories as opposed to her novels, because there are fewer characters and less text to hide clues in and send you down false pathways). A couple of the stories (_S.O.S._ and _Philomel Cottage_) have confusing endings (at least to me and a lot of commenters on Goodreads). In fact, if anyone can explain the ending of _Philomel Cottage_ to me, please send me a message with your thoughts! \*I watched the 2016 BBC production of _Witness_this weekend, and I have to say I was disappointed, especially when comparing this production to the excellent 2015 version of _And Then There Were None_. This miniseries is obsessed with four subjects: coughing, yellowish fog, greenish fog, and yellowish-greenish fog (it’s everywhere! Even in the courtroom!). It’s also sexed-up and violenced-up to a ludicrous decree. I don’t mind modernizing Christie’s settings and characters, but this was just silly. ---
**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:** [April 15, 2019, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-april-2019-edition/831775/40 "2019-04-15T22:12:26Z")
Finished _Trail of Lightning_, by Rebecca Roanhorse, which was okay. Now I’m reading _Rogue Protocol_, by Martha Wells. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-april-2019-edition/831775.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-april-2019-edition/831775.md?page=3)