# Khadaji's Whatcha Reading Thread - January 2020 edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 1, 2020, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2020-edition/845715 "2020-01-01T14:03:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**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:** [January 1, 2020, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2020-edition/845715/1 "2020-01-01T14:03:29Z")
Here it is… the Roaring Twenties once again! Let’s make this decade count! So Whacha all reading? I am reading: **The Misfit Mage** by Michael Taggart, it is his first book and is a bit rough but it has ineresting characters, magic and a fierce kitten. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Khadaji was one of the earlier members of SDMB, and he was well-known as a kindly person who always had something encouraging to say, particularly in the self improvement threads. He was also a voracious, omnivorous reader, who started these threads way back in the Stone Age of the early 2000s. Consequently when he suddenly and quite unexpectedly passed away in 2013, we decided to rename this thread in his honor and to keep his memory, if not his ghost, alive. ---
**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:** [January 1, 2020, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2020-edition/845715/2 "2020-01-01T14:05:37Z")
Old year, old thread: [Buh-bye 2019](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=22056155&posted=1#post22056155) ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2020-edition/845715/3 "2020-01-01T15:39:24Z")
1984 by George Orwell. I haven’t read it since high school. ---
**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:** [January 1, 2020, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2020-edition/845715/4 "2020-01-01T21:20:29Z")
Just finished _Looking Backward_, by Edward Bellamy. Meh. Now I’m reading _The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind_, by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer. ---
**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:** [January 2, 2020, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2020-edition/845715/5 "2020-01-02T03:15:21Z")
Just went through all the Khadaji threads for the year and counted. I read 56 books this year, not counting ones I forgot to enter (there were a couple of months when I didn’t list anything, but I know I read something then). A friend of mine kept a spreadsheet of all her books last year, and inspired me to do that this year. I’m interested to see how it turns out! Anyway, now I’m reading [A Little Hatred](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35606041-a-little-hatred), a Joe Abercrombie grimhumor fantasy. So far, it’s doing the Abercrombie thing exactly, which is reasonably entertaining but nothing amazing. We’ll see how it goes. ---
**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:** [January 2, 2020, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2020-edition/845715/6 "2020-01-02T03:15:30Z")
Just zipped through an old favorite of mine, Joe Haldeman’s _Tool of the Trade_, a Cold War sf/espionage thriller about a Soviet deep-cover agent in Boston who discovers a practical method of mind control, and then must go on the lam, pursued by both the CIA and the KGB. Haldeman doesn’t always write great endings, but this book’s is _perfect_. I’ve now begun an audiobook (45 hours long!) of the well-reviewed bio _Van Gogh: The Life_ by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith. So far, so good. Apparently he was a brat as a kid and showed very little interest in art until he dropped out of school. Best New Year’s wishes to all my fellow Doper bibliophiles! ---
**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:** [January 2, 2020, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2020-edition/845715/7 "2020-01-02T03:16:33Z")
Oh, and here’s my customary thread for your Top Ten books from last year: [https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=887688](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=887688) ---
**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:** [January 2, 2020, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2020-edition/845715/8 "2020-01-02T03:16:50Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > A friend of mine kept a spreadsheet of all her books last year, and inspired me to do that this year. I’m interested to see how it turns out! I keep track with the Goodreads Challenge. ---
**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:** [January 2, 2020, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2020-edition/845715/9 "2020-01-02T12:53:36Z")
I read 43 books last year, an all time low since I started tracking. There’s been a downward trend. ☹ I haven’t quite got started yet this year, but the last book I read in 2019 was Zelazny’s [A Night in the Lonesome October](https://www.amazon.com/Night-Lonesome-October-Rediscovered-Classics/dp/1556525605/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1577969451&sr=8-1). I’m certain I’ve read it before, but it’s been so long I got to experience it all over again, and it was wonderful. ---
**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:** [January 2, 2020, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2020-edition/845715/10 "2020-01-02T14:09:39Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > I read 43 books last year, an all time low since I started tracking. There’s been a downward trend. ☹ > I haven’t quite got started yet this year, but the last book I read in 2019 was Zelazny’s [A Night in the Lonesome October](https://www.amazon.com/Night-Lonesome-October-Rediscovered-Classics/dp/1556525605/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1577969451&sr=8-1). I’m certain I’ve read it before, but it’s been so long I got to experience it all over again, and it was wonderful. I love that book! It’s weird and wonderful. And I was fortunate to hear Zelazny read all of it when he attended a con here, ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2020, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2020-edition/845715/11 "2020-01-03T01:53:11Z")
Just finished my first re-read in almost 30 years of Michael Crichton’s _ **Jurassic Park** _, which spawned a written sequel and a movie empire. Book is not bad, but more often I continued it to see how the characters differ from book to movie (some who die, live, some who live, die and some are simply not in the movie or book). He does spend a lot of the second half having Malcolm (read the author) ranting about science and how it’s messing things up. Since no one is ‘intelligent’ enough to argue with him in the book, it becomes more of a screed than a storyline, IMHO. Still, it kept me turning the pages and worth the read…but I can wait another 20 years or so for the next go at it (maybe by then we will have real dinosaurs…) ---
**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:** [January 3, 2020, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2020-edition/845715/12 "2020-01-03T14:35:41Z")
> [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](#): > > Just finished my first re-read in almost 30 years of Michael Crichton’s _ **Jurassic Park** _, which spawned a written sequel and a movie empire. > > Book is not bad, but more often I continued it to see how the characters differ from book to movie (some who die, live, some who live, die and some are simply not in the movie or book). He does spend a lot of the second half having Malcolm (read the author) ranting about science and how it’s messing things up. Since no one is ‘intelligent’ enough to argue with him in the book, it becomes more of a screed than a storyline, IMHO. > > Still, it kept me turning the pages and worth the read…but I can wait another 20 years or so for the next go at it (maybe by then we will have real dinosaurs…) Hammond was the most interesting difference to me. No kindly grandfather worried about his grandkids here, instead a corporate monster concerned about his image and what this chaos was going to do to HIM. ---
**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:** [January 3, 2020, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2020-edition/845715/13 "2020-01-03T16:43:44Z")
Finished _The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind_, by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer. It was very good. Now I’m reading _Davita’s Harp_, by Chaim Potok. ---
**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:** [January 4, 2020, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2020-edition/845715/14 "2020-01-04T15:18:56Z")
Just finished [A Little Hatred](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35606041-a-little-hatred), by Joe Abercrombie. Abercrombie is Abercrombie: violent, funny, and deeply not-even-kidding cynical about humanity and politics and power. Combine mid-19th-century London and late 18th-century Paris and early 20th-century Russia, plus Vikings, and if you’ve taken the absolute worst of all eras, you’ll have this novel. When I read LeCarre I want to hide under the bed; when I read Abercrombie I want to shower. My fifth-grader read this review over my shoulder and asked, “Did you like this book?” I thought a moment and said, “Yes.” ---
**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:** [January 5, 2020, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2020-edition/845715/15 "2020-01-05T05:02:42Z")
This week, I started _Napoleon: A Life_, by Andrew Roberts. ---
**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:** [January 5, 2020, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2020-edition/845715/16 "2020-01-05T14:53:20Z")
Finished _Davita’s Harp_, by Chaim Potok. Meh, bordering on not recommended. A real disappointment, considering how much I’ve enjoyed the other books by him I’ve read. Now I’m reading _Connections_, by James Burke. ---
**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:** [January 5, 2020, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2020-edition/845715/17 "2020-01-05T16:57:45Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > Now I’m reading _Connections_, by James Burke. It’s a bit dry and his ending wrap up is quite dated, which you probably know if you’ve seen the TV series. But it’s a good read. ---
**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:** [January 5, 2020, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2020-edition/845715/18 "2020-01-05T19:32:38Z")
> [@DZedNConfused](#): > > It’s a bit dry and his ending wrap up is quite dated, which you probably know if you’ve seen the TV series. But it’s a good read. I haven’t seen the TV series. I’m reading an updated edition published in 2007. I’m enjoying it quite a bit so far. ---
**Author:** ![BetsQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@BetsQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BetsQ)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2020, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2020-edition/845715/19 "2020-01-05T22:24:17Z")
I’m currently reading N.K. Jemisen’s [How Long 'Til Black Future Month?](https://www.amazon.com/How-Long-Black-Future-Month-ebook/dp/B07FSLQXY8/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=black+future+month&qid=1578262912&sr=8-1) I think I got it for Christmas in 2018, but I seem to have a hard time reading real books on paper these days so it spent a very long time sitting on my nightstand waiting for me. I’m about 20% in and enjoying it. It’s amazing to me how she can paint such vivid characters and setting in so few words. ---
**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:** [January 5, 2020, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2020-edition/845715/20 "2020-01-05T23:45:06Z")
> [@BetsQ](#): > > I’m currently reading N.K. Jemisen’s [How Long 'Til Black Future Month?](https://www.amazon.com/How-Long-Black-Future-Month-ebook/dp/B07FSLQXY8/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=black+future+month&qid=1578262912&sr=8-1) I think I got it for Christmas in 2018, but I seem to have a hard time reading real books on paper these days so it spent a very long time sitting on my nightstand waiting for me. I’m about 20% in and enjoying it. It’s amazing to me how she can paint such vivid characters and setting in so few words. Heh–I got it for my wife for Christmas in 2018, and I think it’s been sitting on her nightstand as well. Jemisen is amazing, but she’s not light reading. Unlike [Cold Storage](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43229556-cold-storage?from_search=true&qid=3ZAltkRDuo&rank=1), that is. Exhaustively researched and scrupulously faithful to the latest scientific understanding, this book is– –kidding! It’s about space-mushrooms that turn people into zombies! Maybe I shoulda put that into spoilers, but that’s in the prologue. It took me awhile to descend far enough into the silliness of the premise, and to get past some truly clunky dialogue, that I could enjoy the book. Once I did, though, I could appreciate this bog-standard apocalypse-thriller enlivened with a pretty decent sense of humor. It’s not gonna win any awards, but it was an enjoyable way to pass the time. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-january-2020-edition/845715.md?page=2)