# Khadaji's Whatcha Reading Thread - May 2020 edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 1, 2020, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-may-2020-edition/852990 "2020-05-01T16:31:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**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:** [May 17, 2020, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-may-2020-edition/852990/61 "2020-05-17T16:23:01Z")
Finished _Upstream_, a collection of essays by Mary Oliver. They are mostly about nature, with a few about authors such as Whitman and Emerson. They are very well written. Now I’m reading _The Counterfeit Man and Other Science Fiction Stories_ by Alan E. Nourse. ---
**Author:** ![FollowMeDown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6a8cbe/32.png) [@FollowMeDown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FollowMeDown)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2020, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-may-2020-edition/852990/62 "2020-05-17T17:54:17Z")
Thanks for the suggestions from those that did! I just found the 1984 movie, ‘The Bounty’ on IMDB so took the shortcut but did a lot of follow up online. “Endurance: Shackleton’s incredible voyage” sounds like a good direction. I do thing I saw a documentary in PBS about it. Was quite fascinating. ---
**Author:** ![FollowMeDown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/6a8cbe/32.png) [@FollowMeDown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FollowMeDown)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2020, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-may-2020-edition/852990/63 "2020-05-17T18:25:52Z")
After reading this thread I’ve noticed a lot of books with the word CITY in their titles. I love Vonnegut so I bought a whole bunch at one time but never got around to reading them all. Started “Gala’pagos”. I love his style but not sure if I’ll be able to get through the story. I guess I’m staying for the writing rather than the subject. Matter. Also gonna do “Mother night”, but i might start to read it only to remember that I’ve probably already have. ---
**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:** [May 18, 2020, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-may-2020-edition/852990/64 "2020-05-18T03:25:07Z")
> [@FollowMeDown](#): > > After reading this thread I’ve noticed a lot of books with the word CITY in their titles. > > I love Vonnegut so I bought a whole bunch at one time but never got around to reading them all. Started “Gala’pagos”. I love his style but not sure if I’ll be able to get through the story. I guess I’m staying for the writing rather than the subject. Matter. > > Also gonna do “Mother night”, but i might start to read it only to remember that I’ve probably already have. I read both of those back in the mid 80s. **Mother Night** was weird, I remember sitting in my Dr’s office reading it and thinking “What the \*\*\*\*?” ---
**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:** [May 18, 2020, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-may-2020-edition/852990/65 "2020-05-18T13:50:10Z")
My library reopened! At least for curbside pickup. I am delighted to finally receive my loot. 🙂 This morning I started on [Circe](https://www.amazon.com/CIRCE-New-York-Times-bestseller/dp/0316556343/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1589809668&sr=1-1). ---
**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:** [May 18, 2020, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-may-2020-edition/852990/66 "2020-05-18T17:05:49Z")
Finally managed to finish Arthur Phillips’s novel _The King at the Edge of the World_. It’s set in Britain in the months and years leading up to the death of Elizabeth I, and the question that concerns many, many people in England is whether her apparent successor, James VI of Scotland, is a Catholic or a Protestant. In order to unravel the riddle superspy Geoffrey Belloc enlists the assistance of a kind and rather guileless man–a Turkish doctor named Mahmoud Ezzedine, who was part of a diplomatic mission from the Ottoman to England and was left behind thanks to intrigue. I liked the book very much! Many of Phillips’s books trade heavily in questions such as “what’s the truth” and “who is telling the truth, if indeed anyone,” and “does such-and-such a character know that s/he doesn’t actually know the truth,” and so on…unreliable narrators abound, and no one should be taken as an unimpeachable source. Which makes for fun reading. The setting is interesting, the characters (especially Ezzedine) intriguing, and the writing is excellent. Took me a long time to get through it–time is limited for reading just now–but I’m glad I did. ---
**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:** [May 18, 2020, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-may-2020-edition/852990/67 "2020-05-18T23:00:02Z")
Finished _The Counterfeit Man and Other Science Fiction Stories_ by Alan E. Nourse. Not recommended. He’s written some very good stories (I particularly recommend “Psi High”), but his good stuff’s not in this collection. Now I’m reading _The Ragged Edge of Science_ by L. Sprague de Camp, a collection of essays about science and pseudoscience. ---
**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:** [May 19, 2020, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-may-2020-edition/852990/68 "2020-05-19T00:53:34Z")
I finished **Reticence** by Gail Carriger, the last book, I suspect, of her Custard Proocal series, which in in her Parasolverse. By far the best of the four CP books and very nearly on par with **Soulless**. the first Parasol book. And seriously, is there anything MORE Japanese than a Temple train and a hot water conduit shaped like a dragon? No? I didn’t think so either. ---
**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:** [May 20, 2020, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-may-2020-edition/852990/69 "2020-05-20T23:23:48Z")
Finished _The Ragged Edge of Science_ by L. Sprague de Camp, a collection of essays about science and pseudoscience. The best was called “How to Speak Futurian”, about how languages change. Now I’m reading _Old Man’s War_, by John Scalzi. ---
**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:** [May 21, 2020, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-may-2020-edition/852990/70 "2020-05-21T03:56:40Z")
I started the lastest Rivers of London book, **False Value** got about 5 pages in and realized that I couldn’t remember what had happened in the previous book except that there was a bell… Fear not, I had the book on my shelf for a quick refresh, but after thumbing through it a bit, I decided that I wasn’t recalling anything, so long story short ish, I started reading **Lies Sleeping** again. 😃 ---
**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:** [May 21, 2020, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-may-2020-edition/852990/71 "2020-05-21T04:30:29Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > …Now returning to _The Ask_ by Sam Lipsyte, a novel about a schlub of a fundraiser for a crappy NYC art school who gets a second chance to save his sputtering career. I’m not thrilled with it, but will keep going. Just finished this. I almost put it down a few times, but stuck with it and am mostly glad I did. It’s bleakly funny, with a downbeat take on fatherhood, academia, family secrets and a curdled American Dream; the writing got better towards the end. Best line: “Around here she [a beautiful woman in a tony Manhattan neighborhood] was almost ordinary, but you could still picture small towns where men might bludgeon their friends, their fathers, just to run their sun-cracked lips along her calves.” Next up: Patrick O’Brian’s Napoleonic sea adventure _The Letter of Marque_, next in the Aubrey-Maturin series. > [@FollowMeDown](#): > > …“Endurance: Shackleton’s incredible voyage” sounds like a good direction. I do thing I saw a documentary in PBS about it. Was quite fascinating. You’ll appreciate this: > **[Endurance (crater)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endurance_(crater))** > > Endurance is an impact crater lying situated within the Margaritifer Sinus quadrangle (MC-19) region of the planet Mars. This crater was visited by the Opportunity rover from May until December 2004. Mission scientists named the crater after the ship Endurance that sailed to the Antarctic through the Weddell Sea during the ill-fated 1914-1917 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition, considered to be the last expedition of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration organized by Ernest Shackleton. > The r... > **[Endurance Crater's' Dazzling Dunes – NASA Mars Exploration](https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/5850/endurance-craters-dazzling-dunes/)** > > As Opportunity crept farther into "Endurance Crater," the dune field on the crater floor appears even more dramatic, as seen in this false-color image. > [@Dendarii\_Dame](#): > > …Now I’m reading _Old Man’s War_, by John Scalzi. Oh, good! Hope you like it. I’m a big Scalzi fan. ---
**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:** [May 21, 2020, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-may-2020-edition/852990/72 "2020-05-21T13:02:24Z")
Wow. I just checked to see how many books I’ve read since I last posted in one of these threads, and it’s a lot. In the fiction category: - I read [The Burning Page](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29345916-the-burning-page) by Genevieve Cogman, which is the third book in the Invisible Library series. It’s a fantasy series, where the main character has to go into dangerous parallel universes to retrieve rare books, save lives, etc. I usually enjoy stuff that’s a little more focused on thoughts and relationships, so while this book provided a change of pace, it wasn’t a favorite of mine. - I read [The Night Garden](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20587874-the-night-garden) by Lisa Van Allen. The main character has skin that’s poisonous to the touch, so she avoids everyone around her and doesn’t get close to people. I thought it might be an appropriate read for being in quarantine. And it started out good, and just got worse and worse and worse. By the end, it felt like the story was going nowhere and I was terribly disappointed. - Then I read [The Family Next Door](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34964898-the-family-next-door) by Sally Hepworth. It’s about a few women who live in the same neighborhood, and it examines the whole concept of things not being as they appear: the secrets each woman is keeping, her jealousy, stuff like that. It also has a shocking twist that leaves you reading furiously as you get towards the end. It was a good book. - [The Unhoneymooners](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43341641-the-unhoneymooners) by Christina Lauren was a book in a genre I didn’t even know existed: romantic comedy. I know romantic comedy is an extremely popular movie genre, but I haven’t encountered a whole lot of books in that style. I loved this book. The plot hinged upon some pretty improbable coincidences, but if you could suspend your disbelief, the chemistry between the two main characters was cute and fun, and I enjoyed rooting for the main character. I look forward to reading more books from this author duo. - The last book I finished was [Every Single Secret](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36154689-every-single-secret) by Emily Carpenter. It’s about a couple hiding secrets from one another, and then going on a couples retreat that seems sinister. This one’s kind of hard to describe how I felt about it. Overall, I enjoyed the book. But I had the same reaction to it as I did to the other book I read of hers (Burying the Honeysuckle Girls). Both books were good, but there was something missing that kept it from being great. A lack of emotional depth, maybe? I still recommend it, though – a book doesn’t have to be a five-star read to be worth reading. - I’m currently halfway through [Dark Matter](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45697427-dark-matter) by Blake Crouch. IIRC, I discovered this book when Goodreads had famous authors put together lists of recommended reading during quarantine. This was on someone’s list, and it’s not at all the type of book I’d normally read. It’s classified as science fiction, and I read so little science fiction that I honestly couldn’t even tell you any other book I’ve read in that genre. But this book is GOOD. I just started reading it on Monday, and it’s been a pretty busy work week and has also included some long phone conversations and emails to friends. But even so, I’m halfway through it because I stay up past my bedtime reading it. I highly recommend it, unless the ending sucks. The basic plot is that the main character, Jason, is kidnapped and drugged by another Jason from a parallel universe, and is tossed into the other universe so that the two Jasons trade places. But the Jason of the parallel universe is in high demand, since he managed to figure out how to travel through universes, and his workplace will torture and murder and imprison whomever they need to in order to keep Jason around and discover his secrets. ---
**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:** [May 21, 2020, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-may-2020-edition/852990/73 "2020-05-21T13:32:56Z")
I’m reading A. Merritt’s **the Face in the Abyss** , which I picked up months ago in a used book store (This quarantine is giving me a chance to work through my stack of bought-but-not-yet-read books). It’s typical Merritt fare – intrepid (and not) explorers in the wilderness, a Lost Civilization with weird superscience, a barely-dressed beautiful young woman who falls for the protagonist, and a fix-up book in which the first part doesn’t seem to have a lot to do with the second. Interesting, dated, diverting fare. I finished Alan Steele’s **Captain Future in Love** , in which he shows the titular character in his formative years, and comes up with plausible reasons for that absurd title (and a better container for “The Brain”). Captain Future was created by Mort Weisinger (later editor at DC comics), but written mostly by Edmond Hamilton (who went on to write comics – mostly Superman – for Mort). A poster that’s a blowup of the cover of Captain Future #1 appears next to the door in Sheldon and Leonard’s apartment in _Big Bang Theory_: [![](https://isfdb.org/wiki/images/7/76/CPTNFTRWIN1940.jpg) ](https://isfdb.org/wiki/images/7/76/CPTNFTRWIN1940.jpg) It is the epitome of 1940 pop Science Fiction. Appearance to the contrary, it shows the Captai with his two companionsm, Otho (an android) and Grag (a robot – Hamilton championed the distinction between artificial life/organic chemically based “androids” and metal “robots”, which has been eroding since the 1960s), each armed with a different type of ray gun. Steele works in an explanation of the Captaion’s weird expanding-circles gun in his story. I hadn’t realized it, but Steele had written Captain Future stories before. He won a Best Novella Hugo for one story – “The Death of Captain Future” – that was kinda but not really about the character (along with a sequel). But he actually wrote at least two straight stories about Curt. After this, eve though I’ve got unread stacks, I’d like to get Christopher Moore’s latest, **Shakespeare for Squirrels**. It’s the third book staring Pocket, King Lear’s Fool. > **[Amazon.com: Shakespeare for Squirrels: A Novel: 9780062434029: Moore,...](https://www.amazon.com/Shakespeare-Squirrels-Novel-Christopher-Moore/dp/0062434020)** > > Amazon.com: Shakespeare for Squirrels: A Novel: 9780062434029: Moore, Christopher: Books As for audiobooks, I haven’t been reading them. I can’t get to the library to return my now-finished copy of _Oliver Twist_, and I haven’t started any of the unread ones I have lying about. I’ve been listening to news or music during my commute. ---
**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:** [May 21, 2020, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-may-2020-edition/852990/74 "2020-05-21T13:37:31Z")
Damned Duplicate Post ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2020, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-may-2020-edition/852990/75 "2020-05-21T14:20:51Z")
> [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](#): > > - I’m currently halfway through [Dark Matter](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45697427-dark-matter) by Blake Crouch. IIRC, I discovered this book when Goodreads had famous authors put together lists of recommended reading during quarantine. This was on someone’s list, and it’s not at all the type of book I’d normally read. It’s classified as science fiction, and I read so little science fiction that I honestly couldn’t even tell you any other book I’ve read in that genre. But this book is GOOD. I just started reading it on Monday, and it’s been a pretty busy work week and has also included some long phone conversations and emails to friends. But even so, I’m halfway through it because I stay up past my bedtime reading it. I highly recommend it, unless the ending sucks. If you like it so far, I think you’ll like the rest of it. It’s a fun book, and gets into some interesting effects of the many-worlds theory. It’s just complicated enough to keep your interest, but not so much that it gets confusing. ---
**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:** [May 22, 2020, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-may-2020-edition/852990/76 "2020-05-22T20:52:31Z")
Finished _Old Man’s War_, by John Scalzi, which I enjoyed. Now I’m reading _The Vinland Sagas: The Norse Discovery of America_, translated and with an introduction by Magnus Magnusson and Hermann Palsson. ---
**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:** [May 23, 2020, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-may-2020-edition/852990/77 "2020-05-23T21:29:56Z")
I read a few of Rudyard Kipling’s short stories recently and decided I’d try _Captains Courageous_, a Kipling novel that I’d read in middle school many many years ago. A sea story, with echoes of \*The Voyage of the Dawn Treader \*and _Moby Dick_. Eustace, I mean Harvey, is a spoiled kid (well, he’s 15) who falls off an ocean liner in the Grand Banks and is rescued by the crew of a fishing vessel. Though Harvey tries to get them to head for land immediately, using his father’s enormous wealth as a cudgel, the captain doesn’t believe him and makes him part of the crew. Harvey very quickly adapts to the situation. Most of the rest of the book is a loving description of Life Aboard a New England Fishing Vessel. Not a lot of drama after the first thirty pages, or characterization, but plenty of description, and much Kiplingesque stuff about What It Means to be a Man. No dragons. Meh. I also reread _The Pushcart War_. A children’s classic, which I read back when I was in fourth grade or so. Guess I’m into nostalgia right about now. The account of the famous Pushcart War between New York City’s pushcarts and the trucks that are steadily taking over the city. It’s still quite wonderful and holds up surprisingly well. If you haven;t read it in the last fifty years, consider giving it a try. ---
**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:** [May 24, 2020, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-may-2020-edition/852990/78 "2020-05-24T18:49:27Z")
Finished _The Vinland Sagas: The Norse Discovery of America_, translated and with an introduction by Magnus Magnusson and Hermann Palsson. Parts of it were very interesting. I especially enjoyed the names (which reminded me of the names in Julian May’s _Saga of Pliocene Exile_), like Thorfinn the Skull-Splitter and Aud the Deep Minded. Now I’m reading _Altered States of the Union_, edited by Glenn Hauman. It’s an anthology of alternate history stories about how the United States of America could have been different. ---
**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:** [May 25, 2020, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-may-2020-edition/852990/79 "2020-05-25T11:06:53Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > If you like it so far, I think you’ll like the rest of it. It’s a fun book, and gets into some interesting effects of the many-worlds theory. It’s just complicated enough to keep your interest, but not so much that it gets confusing. You’re right. I was mind-blown at how good this book was! > [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](#): > > In the fiction category: \ > and it’s been a pretty busy work week and has also included some long phone conversations and emails to friends. … Well, you can consider that last post a testament to how busy the week was, because I meant to do a post after this one with the nonfiction books I’ve read lately, but it’s four days later and I still haven’t gotten around to that post. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2020, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-may-2020-edition/852990/80 "2020-05-25T12:19:46Z")
> [@DZedNConfused](#): > > I finished **Reticence** by Gail Carriger, the last book, I suspect, of her Custard Proocal series, which in in her Parasolverse. By far the best of the four CP books and very nearly on par with **Soulless**. the first Parasol book. > > And seriously, is there anything MORE Japanese than a Temple train and a hot water conduit shaped like a dragon? No? I didn’t think so either. It’s definitely the best of that quartet of books. I’m pleased her novella came out this month and we finally found out who Dimity married. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-may-2020-edition/852990.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-may-2020-edition/852990.md?page=5)