RJ - Slayer of Trolls’s Comments

RJ - Slayer of Trolls’s comments from the 2025 Reading Challenge group.

Note: RJ - Slayer of Trolls is not currently a member of this group.

I finished the third book in A.B. Guthrie's Dick Summers series about the American West:


Fair Land, Fair Land by A.B. Guthrie Jr.
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading:


Matilda by Roald Dahl

which is not my usual fare, I know. I don't usually do well with reading children's books as an adult but my daughter cleaned out her shelves recently and I decided to read this one before it is given away.

#51 in 2022: one away from my goal! (spoiler alert - I'll hit my goal this weekend)

I finished the third book in A.B. Guthrie's Dick Summers series about the American West:


Fair Land, Fair Land by A.B. Guthrie Jr.
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading:


Matilda by Roald Dahl

which is not my usual fare, I know. I don't usually do well with reading children's books as an adult but my daughter cleaned out her shelves recently and I decided to read this one before it is given away.

Ashleigh wrote: "I'd like to nominate The Wayfarer Redemption by Sara DouGLASS!

Glass is in the author's name"

second

I finished the classic Science-Fiction novel (by my favorite SF author)


The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and the Pulitzer and National Book Award winner


The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading the "authorized" sequel to The Time Machine by H.G. Wells


The Time Ships by Stephen Baxter

and the first book in the Academy series


The Engines of God by Jack McDevitt

also I gave up on the hopelessly inadequate


Into the Water by Paula Hawkins

and started reading the third book in the Bosch series


The Concrete Blonde by Michael Connelly

#49 and 50 in 2022:

I finished the classic Science-Fiction novel (by my favorite SF author)


The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and the Pulitzer and National Book Award winner


The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading the "authorized" sequel to The Time Machine by H.G. Wells


The Time Ships by Stephen Baxter

and the first book in the Academy series


The Engines of God by Jack McDevitt

also I gave up on the hopelessly inadequate


Into the Water by Paula Hawkins

and started reading the third book in the Bosch series


The Concrete Blonde by Michael Connelly

I finished a classic "romantic suspense" novel by the author of Rebecca and The Birds


My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading


Into the Water by Paula Hawkins

but I admit I'm not completely sure why

#48 in 2022:

I finished a classic "romantic suspense" novel by the author of Rebecca and The Birds


My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading


Into the Water by Paula Hawkins

but I admit I'm not completely sure why

Elisa wrote: "Maybe 10% in and omg so many people to keep straight already. Already getting people confused. I read this book ages and ages ago but remember nothing."

I noticed this too. Christie does a much better job in later books of introducing all the characters and differentiating them early in the story. And Then There Were None is a great example of how efficient she became.

Re-reading this (and knowing already how it ends) I've enjoyed seeing how AC plants the clues and the red herrings. It's very polished for a first novel.

Ashleigh wrote: "What narrator are you all listening to?..."

Richard Armitage

I finished my first by a noted crime author


Somebody Owes Me Money by Donald E. Westlake
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

And I started the first in the Rivers of London urban fantasy series


Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch

and I also started a noteworthy Australian novel I've wanted to read for a long time


Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay

#47 in 2022:

I finished my first by a noted crime author


Somebody Owes Me Money by Donald E. Westlake
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

And I started the first in the Rivers of London urban fantasy series


Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch

and I also started a noteworthy Australian novel I've wanted to read for a long time


Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay

I started listening to the audiobook yesterday also. I'm on Chapter 4 now. The reader is very good. The audiobook is free if you have an Audible Plus subscription.

I finished John Fowles's first novel


The Collector by John Fowles
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and a non-fiction book about the 1916 New Jersey shark attacks that inspired the book and film JAWS:


Close to Shore: The Terrifying Shark Attacks of 1916 by Michael Capuzzo
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading the Pulitzer-Prize winner


The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

#45 and 46 in 2022:

I finished John Fowles's first novel


The Collector by John Fowles
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and a non-fiction book about the 1916 New Jersey shark attacks that inspired the book and film JAWS:


Close to Shore: The Terrifying Shark Attacks of 1916 by Michael Capuzzo
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading the Pulitzer-Prize winner


The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

I finished this grit-lit punch in the kisser:


Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading this light-hearted crime novel:


Somebody Owes Me Money by Donald E. Westlake

#44 in 2022:

I finished this grit-lit punch in the kisser:


Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading this light-hearted crime novel:


Somebody Owes Me Money by Donald E. Westlake

I've read this one before but I haven't seen any of the adaptations. It was interesting to read the "origin" of Poirot; I really wasn't aware about Belgian refugees in England during and after WWI so it made me more aware of that aspect of history. I thought the mystery was clever as well and it certainly led to a long and fruitful career for Christie.

I finished an influential collection of Gothic horror stories


Green Tea and Other Weird Stories by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading


The Collected Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe by Edgar Allan Poe

#43 in 2022:

I finished an influential collection of Gothic horror stories that contains all of the stories from In a Glass Darkly and MORE:


Green Tea and Other Weird Stories by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading this doorstopper:


The Collected Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe by Edgar Allan Poe

I finished two short story collections by the late William Gay:


I Hate to See That Evening Sun Go Down: Collected Stories by William Gay
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...


Wittgenstein's Lolita and The Iceman by William Gay
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading:


My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier