# Khadaji's Whatcha Reading Thread - Sept. 2019 edition **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 1, 2019, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-sept-2019-edition/839558 "2019-09-01T16:26:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**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:** [September 1, 2019, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-sept-2019-edition/839558/1 "2019-09-01T16:26:34Z")
Last month’s thread: [https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=879768](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=879768) Thus the ninth month begins, and I hope you’re enjoying your latest book(s)! I’m about halfway through an audiobook of Robert A. Heinlein’s _Rocket Ship Galileo_, a gee-whiz 1947 YA novel about a grownup astrophysicist and three teenage science nerds building a rocket to fly to the Moon. Quaint but good fun. Set aside on the shelf for the moment: _The New Jim Crow_ by Michelle Alexander, about mass incarceration and the American criminal justice system today, and _The Seven-Per-Cent Solution_ by Nicholas Meyer, a pastiche in which Sherlock Holmes meets, and is treated for his cocaine addiction by, Dr. Sigmund Freud. Hope to get back to them soon. * * * **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 2013. Consequently when he suddenly and quite unexpectedly passed away, we decided to rename this thread in his honor and to keep his memory, if not his ghost, alive. ---
**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:** [September 1, 2019, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-sept-2019-edition/839558/2 "2019-09-01T22:42:50Z")
Three-fourths of the way through _Here Be Dragons_, by Sharon Kay Penman. Historical fiction covering the intrigue of 13th-century England and Wales. A little soap opera-ish but still very good. First of a trilogy. ---
**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:** [September 2, 2019, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-sept-2019-edition/839558/3 "2019-09-02T03:04:00Z")
Reading **The Outcasts** by Kathleen Kent. So far run of the mill western… ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2019, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-sept-2019-edition/839558/4 "2019-09-02T05:15:38Z")
I started book 6 of _The Pelbar Cycle_ today. This is a series of 7 books by Paul O. Williams. I originally read them when they were released in the 80s and later lent them to a friend who never returned them. I’ve been thinking about re-reading them for a few years and finally tracked them all down on ebay a few weeks ago. The setting of the books is the U.S. 1000 years after a nuclear apocalypse. The story begins focused on a few groups living along the Heart River (the Mississippi). People are just starting to venture out and form relationships with other groups, most of whom they have been warring with for generations. Some are starting to realize that before the “time of fire” everyone belonged to the same society - they speak the same language, have similar “ancient wisdom” that has been passed down. In each successive book, people travel further across the country and start to begin the work of uniting the various tribes they encounter. With, of course, lots of conflict between the different cultures. If you like post-apocalyptic fiction, I think you’d really enjoy this series. ---
**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:** [September 2, 2019, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-sept-2019-edition/839558/5 "2019-09-02T20:22:03Z")
Just finished a re-read of _ **The Mote in God’s Eye** _ by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. When I read it back in the 1970-80’s I thought it was one of the best-ever ‘hard’ SF novels ever. Now, while it is still quite enjoyable to read, I don’t think quite as highly of it and think the sequel, _ **The Gripping Hand** _ is a better written book (albeit it makes no sense if you haven’t read The Mote). ---
**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:** [September 2, 2019, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-sept-2019-edition/839558/6 "2019-09-02T21:37:10Z")
> [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](#): > > Just finished a re-read of _ **The Mote in God’s Eye** _ by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. When I read it back in the 1970-80’s I thought it was one of the best-ever ‘hard’ SF novels ever. Now, while it is still quite enjoyable to read, I don’t think quite as highly of it and think the sequel, _ **The Gripping Hand** _ is a better written book (albeit it makes no sense if you haven’t read The Mote). I’ve read them both several times, and still prefer _Mote_, but I admit it doesn’t read quite as well as it did back when I was in college. ---
**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:** [September 3, 2019, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-sept-2019-edition/839558/7 "2019-09-03T03:10:50Z")
I’ve always felt that Larry Niven creates wonderful worlds and crafts terrific situations but never quit knows how to end his books o he kind of just stops. I’ve enjoyed everything of his I’ve read but the ending are never completely satisfying for me. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2019, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-sept-2019-edition/839558/8 "2019-09-03T08:15:25Z")
_Conviction_ by Denise Mina. I really liked this, a lot. I’ve often been disappointed by an ending in a book I otherwise liked, but this one nailed it. Setup: Anna’s been hiding something in her past, but secrets can’t stay hidden forever–particularly when Anna’s life blows up (again) and intersects with events outlined in a true-crime podcast. It’s a thriller, but one with a lot of human interest, current social concerns, and humor. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2019, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-sept-2019-edition/839558/9 "2019-09-03T11:31:26Z")
I’m almost half way through _Gods of Jade and Silver_ by **Silvia Moreno-Garcia** and really enjoying it. It’s a fantasy, set in Mexico in 1927 and features a young girl enlisted as an assistant by an ancient Mayan god of death she’s inadvertently freed! He immediately starts scheming to regain his power and his Kingdom of the Dead from his very slightly younger twin brother. Great period feel, both to the rural sections and in Mexico City just as the swinging 20’s are affecting fashion, music, architecture, etc. Also lots of Mayan mythology, which I’m happy to believe is broadly correct… ---
**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:** [September 3, 2019, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-sept-2019-edition/839558/10 "2019-09-03T12:33:14Z")
Currently reading [Final Girls](https://www.amazon.com/Final-Girls-Novel-Riley-Sager/dp/1101985364/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1567513554&sr=1-1) by Riley Sager, a novel about a woman who survived an attack by a serial killer. It’s holding my interest although it has some implausibilities and I don’t care for the main character. ---
**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:** [September 3, 2019, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-sept-2019-edition/839558/11 "2019-09-03T13:20:46Z")
Finished the Clive Cussler novel **Treasure** (the last of the “vacation” books I picked up). Am now reading Theodore Sturgeon’s **Godbody** (which I picked up mainly for the Heinlein intro, which I had not read before). It’s his last work, published posthumously. After that it’s Dennis Piszkiewicz’s **The Nazi Rocketeers**. My wife has put Trevor Noah’s \*\*Born a Crime \*\* on my nightstand. Both she and my daughter have read it, and putting it there implies that I should, too. On audio I finished Steve Berry’s **The Lincoln Myth** , and am re-reading Jules Verne’s **20,000 Leagues Under the Sea**. The Tantor Media edition uses the abysmal Mercier Lewis translation from the turn of the century, probably because it’s free. But it still contains things like “The Disagreeable Country of South Dakota” when it should read “The Badlands of South Dakota”, and gives the density of iron as “0.7 that of water”. But I suppose that using a more modern, accurate translation would’ve cost too much. Nevertheless, I am pleasantly surprised – the book “read” well, even with these howlers. Clever writer, that Verne. ---
**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:** [September 3, 2019, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-sept-2019-edition/839558/12 "2019-09-03T13:44:04Z")
I read [When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35412097-when) by Daniel Pink. It’s a quick read, but interesting. I was particularly interested in learning about how to find your midpoint of sleep and what that tells you about your mood throughout the day. I was a little hesitant to read [Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in Middle America](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1869.Nickel_and_Dimed) by Barbara Ehrenreich, because the premise made it sound like a real downer of a book. The author decides to deliberately apply for low paying, manual labor jobs, and try to make a budget where she’s not spending any more money than she’s taking in. And while it is a bit of a downer, it’s more engaging than I was expecting, and provides me with an interesting change from my typical perspective. [The Unseen](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12851075-the-unseen) by Katherine Webb was a book firmly in my comfort zone. It’s a historical romance/mystery, and I’m a sucker for those; plus, I’d already read and liked two other books the author had written, so I was pretty confident I’d like this one, too. And I did. It examines the relationships between social classes in the early 1900s between the wealthy, the poor man, the servants, and the secretly-broke-upper-class. The story is inspired by the Cottingley Fairies incident that happened around a century ago. ---
**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:** [September 3, 2019, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-sept-2019-edition/839558/13 "2019-09-03T14:03:57Z")
Just finished Robert A. Heinlein’s 1947 YA book _Rocket Ship Galileo_. Silly but fun, about an amateur, rather slapdash voyage to the Moon c. 1955 or so (although Heinlein never mentions the year) and finding and fighting a secret lunar colony of Nazis who escaped the fall of the Third Reich. Some nice details: there’s passing reference to 51 US states and, when a character is looking at the face of the Moon from space, the first region he names is the Sea of Tranquility, where Apollo 11 of course made the first landing IRL. Next up: Ian Fleming’s 1955 James Bond novel _Moonraker_. I didn’t consciously pick two Moon-related novels in a row, but there you have it. ---
**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:** [September 3, 2019, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-sept-2019-edition/839558/14 "2019-09-03T14:28:00Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Just finished Robert A. Heinlein’s 1947 YA book _Rocket Ship Galileo_. Silly but fun, about an amateur, rather slapdash voyage to the Moon c. 1955 or so (although Heinlein never mentions the year) and finding and fighting a secret lunar colony of Nazis who escaped the fall of the Third Reich. Some nice details: there’s passing reference to 51 US states and, when a character is looking at the face of the Moon from space, the first region he names is the Sea of Tranquility, where Apollo 11 of course made the first landing IRL. > > Next up: Ian Fleming’s 1955 James Bond novel _Moonraker_. I didn’t consciously pick two Moon-related novels in a row, but there you have it. I’ve got _Rocket Ship Galileo_ on audio, where it’s read by Spider Robinson (who has a surprisingly good reading voice and style). Before I got that I hadn’t re-read the book in a long time, but hearing it I caught things I had missed when I’d first read it in print. It’s a better book than I had thought it, but you can see it’s the first of his juveniles – he got better quick. I was just reading about Moonraker recently\*, and the reviewer called it one of the “weaker” Bond novels. He seemed to prefer to ones in foreign locales. But I thought the novel pretty decent (and much better than the awful movie, which was obviously an attempt to cash in on “Star Wars”. The interesting thing is that Drax, who is described in the book as a “Lonsdale type of character”, was played by Michel Lonsdale.) \*I’ve also “read” it on audio, in addition to print. ---
**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:** [September 3, 2019, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-sept-2019-edition/839558/15 "2019-09-03T14:38:51Z")
I read [Velocity Weapon](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41085049-velocity-weapon) a couple weeks ago. It was okay, passed the time, but felt a little bit like a low-rent \*\*Ancillary Justice. I definitely recommend the latter over the former. I’m reading [Blue](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/580323.Blue) to my daughter, on the recommendation of another teacher. It’s set in Hickory, NC–just down the road from us–during World War II and a polio outbreak. Holy shit, this book is grim. About halfway through the book, the protagonist’s 4-year-old brother dies, and there’s a whole chapter where his floppy corpse is on the porch and described in great detail. The other teacher wants me to do this as a class read-aloud, but I’m noping out of that one. I also read [The First Rule of Punk](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33245571-the-first-rule-of-punk?from_search=true), which I’m totally gonna do as a class read-aloud. A girl with a Mexican-American mom, who’s SUPER into raising her daughter as una senorita, also has a white dad who owns a record store and loves old-school punk music; and the girl navigates these worlds. Zine culture is a big part of the book, and the protagonist’s zines appear every few chapters. It’s lively and funny and punk, and I love it, one of the better kid’s books Iv’e read in awhile. For adult reading I’m reading [Killing Commendatore](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38820047-killing-commendatore?ac=1&from_search=true). It’s not really my normal kind of book, but it’s beautifully written, and I’m working my way through it slowly. ---
**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:** [September 3, 2019, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-sept-2019-edition/839558/16 "2019-09-03T18:59:06Z")
Finished _And It Was Good: Reflections on Beginnings_, by Madeleine L’Engle. It’s the first in a nonfiction trilogy about the book of Genesis. I thought it was excellent. Now I’m reading _Bleak House_, by Charles Dickens. ---
**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:** [September 4, 2019, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-sept-2019-edition/839558/17 "2019-09-04T13:18:53Z")
I finished _Final Girls_ by Riley Sager, and I’m sorry to say it was poo. I actually should have known that going in, because there was a blurb from Stephen King on the cover. Next up, [The Best of Richard Matheson](https://www.amazon.com/Best-Richard-Matheson-Penguin-Classics/dp/014313017X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=K7Z35QZA8YHG&keywords=richard+matheson&qid=1567602983&s=books&sprefix=richard+matheson%2Caps%2C142&sr=1-1). I’ve no doubt read all these stories already, but I don’t mind reading them again! Plus, I will likely not finish this book, as Stephen King’s newest comes out next week. ---
**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:** [September 8, 2019, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-sept-2019-edition/839558/18 "2019-09-08T13:43:58Z")
Started _Unearthly Neighbors_ by Chad Oliver. Still reading Dickens’ _Bleak House_. ---
**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:** [September 8, 2019, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-sept-2019-edition/839558/19 "2019-09-08T20:36:39Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I’ve got _Rocket Ship Galileo_ on audio, where it’s read by Spider Robinson (who has a surprisingly good reading voice and style)… > > I was just reading about Moonraker recently\*, and the reviewer called it one of the “weaker” Bond novels. He seemed to prefer to ones in foreign locales. But I thought the novel pretty decent… Yes, I listened to the Robinson audiobook. He did well, I thought. _Moonraker_ is OK but not great, I’d say. Haven’t read enough Fleming books to see how it compares to the others. Do you have a favorite 007 novel, **Cal**? ---
**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:** [September 8, 2019, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-sept-2019-edition/839558/20 "2019-09-08T23:34:18Z")
Finished _Here Be Dragons_, by Sharon Kay Penman. Welsh and English intrigue in the Middle Ages. Covering the years 1183-1240, the story centers on the politically expedient marriage of King John’s illegitimate daughter Joanna to Lewellyn, an up-and-coming Welsh prince, a union that John eventually sours on. All major characters are historical along with most secondary ones. The Magna Carta is signed, although the book refers to it as just the “great charter” and one or two other terms. Doesn’t seem like anyone at the time expected it to prove so momentous. King John seems to have expected the Pope would void it. It taught me a lot about the Angevin Empire and England’s troubles with Wales, France and, to some extent, Scotland. A little soap opera-ish but good nonetheless. This is the first of Penman’s Welsh Princes trilogy, and I plan to look for the other two as well as other medieval fiction the author has written. No dragons in the book – the title comes from the practice among medieval cartographers of writing “Here Be Dragons” in the void beyond their geographic knowledge, which would probably include Wales at the time. Plus the national emblem of Wales is a winged red dragon. Have started _The Reckoning_, by John Grisham. (Note: By coincidence, the final installment of Penman’s aforementioned Welsh Princes trilogy is also entitled _The Reckoning_, but the one I’m reading is Grisham’s latest, not the Penman book.) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/khadajis-whatcha-reading-thread-sept-2019-edition/839558.md?page=2)