# Khadaji's Whatcha Reading Thread - June 2020 edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 30, 2020, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-june-2020-edition/854744 "2020-05-30T18:10:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**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:** [June 26, 2020, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-june-2020-edition/854744/61 "2020-06-26T16:32:16Z")
Interesting. I’ve given up on four books I’ve started in the last month, so I’m definitely not the sort of person who likes/finishes every book she starts, but I enjoyed _Me Before You_. If you didn’t, then yeah, I’d recommend staying away from the sequel, since it probably appeals to the same audience as the first book. ---
**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:** [June 26, 2020, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-june-2020-edition/854744/62 "2020-06-26T19:57:01Z")
I am more than happy to take your advice! ---
**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:** [June 27, 2020, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-june-2020-edition/854744/63 "2020-06-27T02:17:34Z")
I ummmmm went a little free with the add to cart button this morning and ended up purchasing three books by Vern & Bonnie Bulough, who wrote about sexual attitudes and variance through history. My July should be, shall we say, interesting? I finished **Name from a Hat Trick** by L.A. Witt today. More m/m relationships, hockey and well more hockey. 😍 ---
**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:** [June 27, 2020, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-june-2020-edition/854744/64 "2020-06-27T23:12:49Z")
Finished _The Frangipani Tree Mystery_ , by Ovidia Yu, which was okay. Now I’m reading _Stories of Grit_ by Archer Wallace. ---
**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:** [June 28, 2020, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-june-2020-edition/854744/65 "2020-06-28T21:06:46Z")
Finished _Fair Warning_, by Michael Connelly. Veteran journalist Jack McEvoy learns that a woman he had a one-night stand with a year before was brutally murdered. He soon realizes a particularly vicious serial killer is out there. The book’s title is the name of the consumer-advocacy website he now works for. It turns out the website is real, and the author is on the real-life board of directors. In fact, he has made the real-life editor of the website, Myron Levin, a major character in the story. Pretty neat. And the book is yet another skillful entry by Connelly. He’ll have another Bosch-Haller entry come out later this year too. While trying to navigate this train wreck of a new message board, I started and am almost finished with my next Elvis Cole-Joe Pike noir by Robert Crais, _Sunset Express_. The wife of a celebrity owner of a chain of restaurants is kidnapped and murdered. The husband is arrested, and it seems open and shut at first, but then it looks like the cops planted evidence. Or did they? Very good, and again, I’m almost finished with it. ---
**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:** [June 28, 2020, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-june-2020-edition/854744/66 "2020-06-28T23:34:53Z")
Finished _Stories of Grit_ by Archer Wallace. Meh. Now I’m reading _A Single Bead_ by Stephanie Engelman. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2020, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-june-2020-edition/854744/67 "2020-06-29T04:14:55Z")
Becky Chambers, _To Be Taught, If Fortunate._ I like the voice, and if she manages the plot well enough, I’ll read something else of hers. ---
**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:** [June 29, 2020, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-june-2020-edition/854744/68 "2020-06-29T12:22:38Z")
I just finished [Network Effect](https://www.amazon.com/Network-Effect-Murderbot-Novel-Diaries-ebook/dp/B07WZ7SB5D/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2IERSLFU13SEC&dchild=1&keywords=network+effect+martha+wells&qid=1593432974&s=books&sprefix=network+martha+wells%2Caps%2C158&sr=1-1), the recent Murderbot novel. It was good. I lost the thread of the plot from time to time, but SecUnit had some emotions and so did I. 🙂 Next up, some pleasant pandemic reading: [Wastelands: The New Apocalypse](https://www.amazon.com/Wastelands-Apocalypse-John-Joseph-Adams/dp/1785658956/ref=sr_1_3?crid=23U8UTU9KWM1O&keywords=wastelands+stories+of+the+apocalypse&qid=1593433140&s=books&sprefix=wasteland%2Cstripbooks%2C155&sr=1-3), edited by John Joseph Adams. Short stories about life after the collapse of civilization. Pretty good so far; my biggest peeve is that the book’s two inches thick and only about the size of my phone. ---
**Author:** ![peedin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peedin/32/14095_2.png) [@peedin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peedin)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2020, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-june-2020-edition/854744/69 "2020-06-29T14:37:10Z")
I bought _The Splendid and the Vile_ by Erik Larson. Then I ordered _Thunderstruck_ from the library, also by Erik Larson. Both arrived the same day. I’m reading the liberry book first. It is about Crippen and Marconi. I love how he weaves together totally unrelated story lines. ---
**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:** [June 29, 2020, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-june-2020-edition/854744/70 "2020-06-29T17:01:53Z")
> [@susan](#): > > Becky Chambers, _To Be Taught, If Fortunate._ I like the voice, and if she manages the plot well enough, I’ll read something else of hers. I love Chambers! She’s not the most exciting in terms of her plots, but her characters and her cultures are exactly in my wheelhouse. She’s one of the very best SF authors working the field today. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2020, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-june-2020-edition/854744/71 "2020-06-29T19:55:42Z")
Ja, I’m not sure Wells has the best pacing in this one, and there are a lot of people with similar names to track, but it worked out. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2020, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-june-2020-edition/854744/72 "2020-06-29T19:56:28Z")
Good recommendation, thanks! ---
**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:** [June 29, 2020, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-june-2020-edition/854744/73 "2020-06-29T20:22:43Z")
I’m just over halfway through Banks’s _The Player of Games_ and am enjoying it, although I often seem to figure out what the protagonist should do in his dealings with a violent, oppressive alien race about ten pages before he does. ---
**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:** [June 30, 2020, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-june-2020-edition/854744/74 "2020-06-30T00:40:37Z")
Finished _A Single Bead_ by Stephanie Engelman, which was okay. Now I’m reading _An Informal History of the Hugos: A Personal Look Back at the Hugo Awards, 1953-2000_, by Jo Walton. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-june-2020-edition/854744/75 "2020-06-30T01:51:37Z")
I love Jo Walton. I just bought _Lent._ Also working on Bujold’s latest Penric & Desdemona novella. ---
**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:** [June 30, 2020, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-june-2020-edition/854744/76 "2020-06-30T04:14:10Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > While trying to navigate this train wreck of a new message board, I started and am almost finished with my next Elvis Cole-Joe Pike noir by Robert Crais, _Sunset Express_ . The wife of a celebrity owner of a chain of restaurants is kidnapped and murdered. The husband is arrested, and it seems open and shut at first, but then it looks like the cops planted evidence. Or did they? Very good, and again, I’m almost finished with it. Finished _Sunset Express_, by Robert Crais. Very good. Next up is the next Crais: _Indigo Slam_. ---
**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:** [June 30, 2020, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-june-2020-edition/854744/77 "2020-06-30T14:10:19Z")
Decided to reread some of Stephen King’s early books. Finished 'Salem’s Lot and am nearing the end of Firestarter. ---
**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:** [June 30, 2020, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-june-2020-edition/854744/78 "2020-06-30T18:00:15Z")
I love Firestarter, the only King book that has made me cry until I couldn’t breathe. ---
**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:** [June 30, 2020, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-june-2020-edition/854744/79 "2020-06-30T18:10:53Z")
[New thread for July](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadaji-s-whatcha-reading-thread-july-2020-edition/913825) ---
**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:** [June 30, 2020, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-june-2020-edition/854744/80 "2020-06-30T19:16:55Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Decided to reread some of Stephen King’s early books. Finished 'Salem’s Lot and am nearing the end of Firestarter. I loved _'Salem’s Lot_ and liked _Firestarter_. My other favorite SK books are _The Stand, The Dead Zone, 11/22/63_ and _Misery_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-june-2020-edition/854744.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-june-2020-edition/854744.md?page=5)