# Khadaji's Whatcha Reading Thread--July 2019 edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 30, 2019, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2019-edition/836312 "2019-06-30T22:00:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 4
**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:** [July 23, 2019, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2019-edition/836312/61 "2019-07-23T15:12:13Z")
I’m now listening to Nathaniel Philbrick’s **Mayflower: a Story of Courage, Community, and War** on audio. ---
**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:** [July 23, 2019, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2019-edition/836312/62 "2019-07-23T21:39:17Z")
Finished _Best. State. Ever.: A Florida Man Defends His Homeland_, by Dave Barry. Not bad, but not quite as funny as I’d hoped. Now I’m reading _Jumping Off the Planet_, by David Gerrold. ---
**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:** [July 24, 2019, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2019-edition/836312/63 "2019-07-24T03:25:28Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > …Next up: Robert Parker’s 1982 Spenser novel, _Ceremony_, in which the smartass Boston PI goes looking for a teenage runaway who may have turned to prostitution. Just finished it - a good, quick read. The scenes of Spenser and Hawk’s mutual tough-guy kidding, and Spenser and his sweetie Susan’s relationship, were highlights. I enjoyed it. Next up: _American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race_ by Douglas Brinkley. I’m a JFK fan (for all his faults) and a space junkie, so it should be right up my alley. ---
**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:** [July 24, 2019, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2019-edition/836312/64 "2019-07-24T13:07:41Z")
I finished Dave Barry’s _Lessons From Lucy_. It wasn’t quite as uproariously funny as he used to be, but amusing. The final chapter had no humor at all, but was sweet and interesting (and no, the dog doesn’t die). I’m now passing the time with Chuck Klosterman’s [Raised in Captivity: Fictional Nonfiction](https://www.amazon.com/Raised-Captivity-Nonfiction-Chuck-Klosterman/dp/0735217920/ref=sr_1_1?crid=18VCPP0MFG75O&keywords=raised+in+captivity&qid=1563973395&s=books&sprefix=raised+in+captivity%2Caps%2C151&sr=1-1). I say “passing the time” because I’ll go on and finish it though it’s not really grabbing me. These are short stories with interesting premises and very readable, but then they end before ever becoming anything. I hate it when that happens, but then the _next_ one looks promising, and on I go. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2019, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2019-edition/836312/65 "2019-07-26T01:53:55Z")
Recently finished: _Fallout_, by Harry Turtledove. Second volume in the Hot War trilogy, in which Truman authorises the use of A-bombs in Korea in 1951. _Rome: A History in Seven Sackings_, by Matthew Kneale. A book in seven chapters: Gauls, Goths, More Goths, Normans, Spanish and Lutherans, French, Nazis. Now reading: _Armistice_, by Harry Turtledove. Third volume in the Hot War trilogy. _Encounter with Tiber_, by Buzz Aldrin and John Barnes. About aliens who land on Earth ~9000 years ago, and astronauts who go to visit said aliens’ homeworld. Excellent book – strongly recommended. Up next: Not sure yet… ---
**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:** [July 26, 2019, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2019-edition/836312/66 "2019-07-26T02:23:26Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > …Next up: _American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race_ by Douglas Brinkley. I’m a JFK fan (for all his faults) and a space junkie, so it should be right up my alley. Brinkley is reviewing the history of early rocketry in surprising detail, from Goddard to Oberth and Tsiolkovsky, so that’s a plus. I learned for the first time that Charles Lindbergh helped Goddard raise funds for his rocketry experiments (widely dismissed as crackpot foolishness at the time). ---
**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:** [July 27, 2019, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2019-edition/836312/67 "2019-07-27T13:55:11Z")
Finished _Jumping Off the Planet_, by David Gerrold. It got off to a slow start, but I enjoyed it once the plot got moving. Reads like a Heinlein juvenile with four-letter words. Now I’m reading _The Keeper of Lime Rock: The Remarkable True Story of Ida Lewis, America’s Most Celebrated Lighthouse Keeper_, by Lenore Skomal. ---
**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:** [July 28, 2019, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2019-edition/836312/68 "2019-07-28T06:42:43Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > To add: I am sure I have not ready any of the other LA Quintet installments. Make that Quartet, of course. ---
**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:** [July 28, 2019, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2019-edition/836312/69 "2019-07-28T18:14:47Z")
Finished The Keeper of Lime Rock: The Remarkable True Story of Ida Lewis, America’s Most Celebrated Lighthouse Keeper, by Lenore Skomal. Interesting. Most of her rescues could be described in the same way: several young men got drunk, stole a boat, and she pulled them out of stormy waters when it capsized. (Twice it was a boat belonging to her brother.) Now I’m reading Junkyard Dogs, a Walt Longmire mystery by Craig Johnson. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2019, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2019-edition/836312/70 "2019-07-28T23:27:21Z")
_This Storm_ by James Ellroy Picking up from _Perfidia_, Ellroy’s latest novel traces early WWII history in LA and Mexico, primarily seen through the perspectives of several corrupt cops chasing down leads and suspects in a gold robbery, fire and triple murder all linked to an unlikely commie-Nazi alliance to thwart the expected breakout of postwar global democracy. As usual, real-life figures - e.g., Police Chief Wm. H Parker, Otto Klemperer, Orson Welles, etc. - mix with fictional ones (not always convincingly), including some characters from past Ellroy books. Typically convoluted, overwritten in spots and repetitive, it nevertheless maintained interest throughout and contained a few bravura passages. Whilst I suspect Mr. Ellroy’s best novels may be behind him, this was shorter and a definite improvement over _Perfidia_, for which I was doubly grateful. ---
**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:** [July 29, 2019, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2019-edition/836312/71 "2019-07-29T14:51:14Z")
Reading a Western this week, [Whiskey When We’re Dry](https://www.amazon.com/Whiskey-When-Were-John-Larison/dp/0735220441/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=whiskey+when+we%27re+dry&qid=1564411560&s=gateway&sr=8-1) by John Larison. It’s about a young female sharpshooter who disguises herself as a boy and goes in search of her brother. ---
**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:** [July 29, 2019, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2019-edition/836312/72 "2019-07-29T15:39:26Z")
> [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > Finished The Keeper of Lime Rock: The Remarkable True Story of Ida Lewis, America’s Most Celebrated Lighthouse Keeper, by Lenore Skomal. Interesting. Most of her rescues could be described in the same way: several young men got drunk, stole a boat, and she pulled them out of stormy waters when it capsized. (Twice it was a boat belonging to her brother.) > > Now I’m reading Junkyard Dogs, a Walt Longmire mystery by Craig Johnson. I have a soft spot in my heart for ol’ Ida. Many years ago I pitched the idea of an article about her to the editor of a children’s magazine. The editor bit and the story was eventually published, but not until the article had been rewritten twice and I had provided a very long list of sources. I think I got something like $234 for it, which probably amounted to about $2.50 an hour. BUT! The article was picked up and reprinted at least a dozen times after that–a couple of anthologies of various descriptions, but mostly being used for passages in educational texts and elementary school texts–and I got half the proceeds and sometimes more than that, and some of the test publishers in particular pad quite well…so in the end Ms. Lewis earned me several thousand bucks. Thanks, Ida! I hadn;t known there was a bio. Thanks for the information! ---
**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:** [July 29, 2019, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2019-edition/836312/73 "2019-07-29T15:47:59Z")
Too late to edit: should’ve read “educational texts and elementary school te **s** ts” But you knew that already. ---
**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:** [July 31, 2019, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2019-edition/836312/74 "2019-07-31T13:42:34Z")
> [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](#): > > BUT! The article was picked up and reprinted at least a dozen times after that–a couple of anthologies of various descriptions, but mostly being used for passages in educational texts and elementary school texts–and I got half the proceeds and sometimes more than that, and some of the test publishers in particular pad quite well…so in the end Ms. Lewis earned me several thousand bucks. Thanks, Ida! > > I hadn;t known there was a bio. Thanks for the information! FYI: The same Ida Lewis biography was also published under the title _The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter._ Finished _Junkyard Dogs_ by Craig Johnson. It was pretty good–reminded me a little of the Spenser novels by Robert B. Parker. Now I’m reading _None of My Business: P. J. Explains Money, Banking, Debt, Equity, Assets, Liabilities, and Why He’s Not Rich and Neither Are You_, by P. J. O’Rourke. ---
**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:** [July 31, 2019, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2019-edition/836312/75 "2019-07-31T14:31:57Z")
If I don’t get the new thread up tonight, it will be up tomorrow. I have to work extra hours today, so I may not get to it. That sounds interesting Dendarii Dame, I’ll await your assessment! ---
**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:** [August 2, 2019, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2019-edition/836312/76 "2019-08-02T00:01:19Z")
New thread: [We survived July… what next?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=21784354#post21784354) ---
**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:** [August 2, 2019, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2019-edition/836312/77 "2019-08-02T03:43:56Z")
> [@Dropo](#): > > _This Storm_ by James Ellroy > > Picking up from _Perfidia_, Ellroy’s latest novel …was shorter and a definite improvement over _Perfidia_, for which I was doubly grateful. I gave up on _Perfidia_ after my usual 50 pages. The relentlessly racist and bigoted tough-guy dialogue finally irritated me enough to put it aside, although that period of history certainly interests me. > [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Reading a Western this week, [Whiskey When We’re Dry](https://www.amazon.com/Whiskey-When-Were-John-Larison/dp/0735220441/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=whiskey+when+we%27re+dry&qid=1564411560&s=gateway&sr=8-1) by John Larison. It’s about a young female sharpshooter who disguises herself as a boy and goes in search of her brother. Sounds interesting. Does she join the US Cavalry or a gang, posse or organization, or just go solo? ---
**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:** [August 2, 2019, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2019-edition/836312/78 "2019-08-02T12:42:37Z")
Solo at first, and then she does join up with a militia, and a gang. I wouldn’t say it’s an utterly believable story but it’s held my interest. ---
**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:** [August 4, 2019, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2019-edition/836312/79 "2019-08-04T02:21:46Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I gave up on _Perfidia_ after my usual 50 pages. The relentlessly racist and bigoted tough-guy dialogue finally irritated me enough to put it aside, although that period of history certainly interests me. I think what Ellroy does is re-create the mindset of the time. I know if I ever write a novel of my time growing up in West Texas, it would be impossible to keep out the racism of the overall local society. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2019-edition/836312.md?page=3)