# Khadaji's Whatcha Reading Thread - October 2019 edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 1, 2019, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-october-2019-edition/841072 "2019-10-01T02:43:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**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:** [October 11, 2019, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-october-2019-edition/841072/41 "2019-10-11T15:26:29Z")
Finished _Paul Laurence Dunbar: A Poet to Remember_, by Patricia C. McKissack. It was interesting. I hadn’t known that he was friends with Orville Wright. The Wright brothers owned a print shop before they sold bikes, and printed some of his early work. Also, he sent a letter to a writer he admired when he worked for a magazine. When she wrote back, she explained the delay–she had just picked up his letter when she discovered her house was on fire! Putting out the small blaze distracted her from replying. Now I’m reading _The World Jones Made_, by Philip K. Dick. ---
**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:** [October 12, 2019, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-october-2019-edition/841072/42 "2019-10-12T19:16:13Z")
Finished _The World Jones Made_, by Philip K. Dick. Not bad. One thing that I especially noticed was how often he mentioned the prices. It was written in the late 1950’s and takes place in the early 2000’s, and he often says how much a character pays for things. I think its supposed to be shocking, but $50 for a (more or less) cover charge in a nightclub sounds reasonable. And $90 for a longish taxi ride? Yeah, that works. Also, one young woman has the first name “Tyler”, which I think he considered exotic. Now, not so much. Now I’m reading _The Pretty One: On Life, Pop Culture, Disabilities, and Other Reasons to Fall in Love with Me_, by Keah Brown. ---
**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:** [October 14, 2019, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-october-2019-edition/841072/43 "2019-10-14T00:00:35Z")
Rereading Woodward and Bernstein The Final Days—Nixon unraveling as the impeachment investigation draws closer. Similar in some ways to what’s happening today, very different in others! ---
**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:** [October 14, 2019, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-october-2019-edition/841072/44 "2019-10-14T18:28:55Z")
Finished _The Pretty One: On Life, Pop Culture, Disabilities, and Other Reasons to Fall in Love with Me_, by Keah Brown. Not bad. Now I’m reading _The Parade_, by Dave Eggers, ---
**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:** [October 15, 2019, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-october-2019-edition/841072/45 "2019-10-15T18:30:17Z")
That’s one cliffhanger of a comma. ---
**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:** [October 15, 2019, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-october-2019-edition/841072/46 "2019-10-15T18:56:23Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > That’s one cliffhanger of a comma. Sorry, should’ve been a period–Dave Eggers is the only author. Finished _The Parade_. Not bad. Much of it reminded me of questions on the Ask a Manager website about problems with co-workers. I recommend that anyone who wants to read this book not read the jacket flap copy first, due to spoilers. Now I’m reading _The Marriage Bureau: The True Story of How Two Matchmakers Arranged Love in Wartime London_, by Penrose Halson. ---
**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:** [October 15, 2019, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-october-2019-edition/841072/47 "2019-10-15T19:06:00Z")
Started reading Bruce Catton’s **The Civil War**. I’ve wanted to read it for a long time, and a copy has appeared in my collection. Finished reading Buddy Ebsen’s autobiography. ---
**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:** [October 15, 2019, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-october-2019-edition/841072/48 "2019-10-15T20:15:40Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Started reading Bruce Catton’s **The Civil War**. I’ve wanted to read it for a long time, and a copy has appeared in my collection… Good stuff. He also wrote the text for the big, lavishly-illustrated _American Heritage_ coffeetable book on the war. ---
**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:** [October 16, 2019, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-october-2019-edition/841072/49 "2019-10-16T14:02:32Z")
Last night I finished _American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race_ by Douglas Brinkley, which is almost a joint bio of JFK and Von Braun. Pretty good, fine scholarship from what I could tell, but sometimes ploddingly written. Just started Patrick O’Brian’s _Treason’s Harbour_, the next in his series of Napoleonic sea adventures, which has Capt. Aubrey stuck ashore in Malta while his warship is being repaired all too slowly, and his friend Dr. Maturin under surveillance by French spies. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2019, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-october-2019-edition/841072/50 "2019-10-16T19:10:29Z")
The Rhine: Following Europe’s Greatest River from Amsterdam to the Alps - Ben Coates The subtitle explains it pretty well. The author, a British man living in Holland, explores Western Europe’s major river, from the North Sea to its source in the Austrian Alps. Not the most challenging travel writing assignment, but anyways…In between descriptions of quaint half-timbered homes and soaring cathedrals, there are discussions of the historical importance of the river, from the Roman times (it was basically the border between Roman and not Roman) up to World War 2. Pleasant book, with a fair amount of British humor. Recommended. I also recommend that I take another European vacation soon. ---
**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:** [October 17, 2019, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-october-2019-edition/841072/51 "2019-10-17T13:07:45Z")
Started today on Joe Hill’s newest collection, [Full Throttle](https://www.amazon.com/Full-Throttle-Stories-Joe-Hill/dp/0062200674/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1571315080&sr=1-1). I have read several of these stories before, but don’t mind reading them again. I’ve been amazed by all of it so far…the man is just a wonderful writer. The only books I generally purchase are Stephen King’s, but I’m giving serious consideration to collecting Joe’s stuff as well. Five stars! ---
**Author:** ![Thing\_Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@Thing\_Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing_Fish)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2019, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-october-2019-edition/841072/52 "2019-10-17T17:50:44Z")
You do know Joe is Stephen’s son, right? I agree, he is good; the apple didn’t fall too far. ---
**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:** [October 17, 2019, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-october-2019-edition/841072/53 "2019-10-17T18:16:22Z")
Yes, and the intro to Full Throttle talks about some of Joe’s childhood memories. Really fascinating. ---
**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:** [October 18, 2019, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-october-2019-edition/841072/54 "2019-10-18T14:00:29Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I found Katherine Howe’s **The Physik Book of Dale DEliverance** in the library and started listening to it. It’s pretty good in general, but I’m severely annoyed that the Ph.D. candidate protagonist severely screws up the history of the Salem Witchcraft trials – and during her oral qualifying exam, at that! To have one of her professors then comment on her knowledge as “excellent” really hurts after that. But I’m going to give the book a chance. > > (In case you’re wondering – she says that no historians took the idea of witchcraft seriously – not true. Some have assumed that witchcraft WAS practiced at Salem, and have made the case for it. The historians generally don’t believe in the reality of supernatural phenomena, though. Furthermore, she says that Cotton Mather was a prosecutor at Salem. He wasn’t, and had no real connection with the case or the court, aside from defending them and their decisions. He seems only to have visited Salem once during the trials, but had no jurisdiction there.) Just finished this book (_The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane_) last night. It was good enough to finish, but not good enough to recommend. The author is the type who will go to great lengths describing the way a person looks, the gestures they make, the way a room is decorated, etc. to the detriment of the story. ---
**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:** [October 18, 2019, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-october-2019-edition/841072/55 "2019-10-18T14:39:13Z")
Joe Hill’s writing for the _Locke & Key_ graphic novels, set in Lovecraft, Mass., is very good. Impressive artwork, too: [Locke & Key - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locke_%26_Key) ---
**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:** [October 18, 2019, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-october-2019-edition/841072/56 "2019-10-18T14:56:02Z")
> [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](#): > > Just finished this book (_The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane_) last night. It was good enough to finish, but not good enough to recommend. The author is the type who will go to great lengths describing the way a person looks, the gestures they make, the way a room is decorated, etc. to the detriment of the story. I just finished it yesterday, and found it moderately interesting. What disturbs me is that Howe gets a lot of things wrong. She has her heroine, at her Ph.D. Qualifying orals at Harvard say that Cotton Mather was a magistrate at the Salem Witchcraft Trials. He wasn’t. He never had any jurisdiction over that region, and never sat on the courts. He helped arrange the court, and did go in FOR ONE DAY and inspected things, and he wrote a vigorous defense of the people who WERE the judges, but he was not himself a judge at the trials. > **[Cotton Mather](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton_Mather)** > > Cotton Mather FRS (/ˈmæðər/; February 12, 1663 – February 13, 1728) was a Puritan clergyman and author in colonial New England, who wrote extensively on theological, historical, and scientific subjects. After being educated at Harvard College, he joined his father Increase as minister of the Congregationalist Old North Meeting House in Boston, Massachusetts, where he preached for the rest of his life. He has been referred to as the "first American Evangelical". > A major intellectual and publi... Her professor praise her for her accuracy in her examination. That hurts. She says that no historian took Salem witchcraft seriously, and that no one believed that folk magic crossed the Atlantic to the Americas by Puritan days. Evidently she never read Chadwick Hansen’s _Witchcraft at Salem_, which shows pretty conclusively that witchcraft and folk magic WERE practiced at salem (and that book came out long berfore the date most of the novel is set, 1991). Nor all the other books that have been published on the practice of magic in Colonial New England since, all by reputable scholars. If she was doing this to provide background for her story, I can understand her bending the vfacts a little, but it really isn’t necessary. She apparently was unaware of all the above. Oh, well, I thought. She’s a first-time novelist working outside her field. She’ll get better with time. Nope. She has an MA in New England Studies from Boston University and lived in the Salem-Marblehead area. !!! And after this they got her appeared on multiple TV shows and hosted _Salem: Unmasking the Devil_ for the National Geographic channel. And Penguin books got her to edit _The Penguin Book of Witches_ !!! There ain’t no justice in the world. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2019, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-october-2019-edition/841072/57 "2019-10-18T16:50:39Z")
Started Andrew Mayne’s, **[Dark Pattern](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07N869538/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0)**. It’s book 4 of his _The Naturalist_ series. The series centers around Dr. Theo Cray, a computational biologists, turned serial killer hunter. Cray is somewhere on the sprectrum, and doesn’t get along with most people, but has a knack for seeing the obvious within the chaos. ---
**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:** [October 18, 2019, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-october-2019-edition/841072/58 "2019-10-18T18:25:39Z")
For Halloween… I’m reading Frankenstein again. ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Mabes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mike_mabes/32/1782_2.png) [@Mike\_Mabes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Mabes)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2019, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-october-2019-edition/841072/59 "2019-10-18T22:29:07Z")
> **[Crucible: The Long End of the Great War and the Birth of a New World, 1917-1924:...](https://www.amazon.com/Crucible-Great-Birth-World-1917-1924/dp/1610397827)** > > Crucible: The Long End of the Great War and the Birth of a New World, 1917-1924 \[Emmerson, Charles\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. Crucible: The Long End of the Great War and the Birth of a New World, 1917-1924 Crucible: 1917 to 1924 - The Long End of the Great War and the Birth of a New World. One of my favorite times in history to read about are the late 1800s - early 1900s and, well, the birth of a new world. Planes, trains and automobiles etc, the US becomming a world power. The book is in chronological order, and alternates between different cities around the world and what is happening. Here are a couple of paragraphs (or pages) about what is happening in Petrograd. Then we move to London, then to Budapest, then to the front lines of the war, now a little about Einstein, then to Washington, and so on for 600 pages. The book starts in Petrograd with the assasination of Rasputin, which of course would be followed by the assasination of Nicolas II. I’ve mentioned before that I have a fascination with Russia and have read several books up to the revolution. Not much about the specifics of what happened after. Coincidentally, just re-watched Reds the other night for about the 20th time. Emma Goldman - The dream may be dying in Russia but I’m not. I’m getting out. I have a very good general knowledge of this time period, can’t wait to get immersed in the details. Not just about Russia but the entire world. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2019, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-october-2019-edition/841072/60 "2019-10-19T16:09:24Z")
I’m about to finish [_In the Wake of the Plague: The Black Death and the World It Made_ by Norman F. Cantor](https://www.amazon.com/Wake-Plague-Black-Death-World/dp/1476797749/). It covers a wide range of history and conjecture, all linked to the great plague that decimated Europe in the middle of the 14th century. Some of Cantor’s conjectures and prejudices seem so outrageous, one wonders how he got such distinguished academic credentials! But it’s still a good read. Very different in tone, though also covering a very broad range of causes and effects, is the book I read many years ago about the worldwide Plague eight centuries before the Black Death: [_Catastrophe: An Investigation into the Origins of the Modern World_](https://www.amazon.com/Catastrophe-Investigation-Origins-Modern-Civilization/dp/0345408764). Both books are fascinating. While here, I’ll mention another recent addition to my library: [_Life on the Edge: The Coming of Age of Quantum Biology_](https://www.amazon.com/Life-Edge-Coming-Quantum-Biology/dp/0307986829/). It’s a _must-read_ for any layman interested in biochemistry. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-october-2019-edition/841072.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-october-2019-edition/841072.md?page=4)