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.

#75 in 2023:

I also finished another classic Science Fiction novel, the 1969 Hugo Award winner:


Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started the very non-Science Fiction classic novel (despite the fact that it is the first volume in a series named "In Search of Lost Time")


Swann's Way by Marcel Proust

I finished the second installment in Asimov's Robots series


The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading the middle book in the Xenogenesis series


Adulthood Rites by Octavia E. Butler

#74 in 2023:

I finished the second installment in Asimov's Robots series


The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading the middle book in the Xenogenesis series


Adulthood Rites by Octavia E. Butler

I finished the "Pastoral Science Fiction" novel which won the 1964 Hugo Award for Best Novel


Way Station by Clifford D. Simak
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading Roger Zelazny's first novel, originally titled "...And Call Me Conrad"


This Immortal by Roger Zelazny

#73 in 2023:

I finished the "Pastoral Science Fiction" novel which won the 1964 Hugo Award for Best Novel


Way Station by Clifford D. Simak
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading Roger Zelazny's first novel, originally titled "...And Call Me Conrad"


This Immortal by Roger Zelazny

I got to hear Matthew Perry's voice one last time when I listened to his audiobook which he narrates


Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

D.L. wrote: "I am not sure if this will suit everyone's tastes but I like the franchise so I'm going with it lol What about Red Dragon by Thomas Harris - the first Hannibal Lecter no..."

That is a terrific book.

I started this one today and got through the Introduction. It does require your attention - playing it in the background while you do other stuff doesn't seem to work with this book.

I finished the second of the Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries and was not overly impressed, dash it all!


Clouds of Witness by Dorothy L. Sayers
Rating: 2 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading the second Continental Op novel


The Dain Curse by Dashiell Hammett

#72 in 2023:

I finished the second of the Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries and was not overly impressed, dash it all!


Clouds of Witness by Dorothy L. Sayers
Rating: 2 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading the second Continental Op novel


The Dain Curse by Dashiell Hammett

Welcome back Blagica! We missed you. :)

I finished the Midwestern noir


Ice Harvest by Scott Phillips
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading the Hugo Award-winning classic Science-Fiction novel


Way Station by Clifford D. Simak

#71 in 2023:

I finished the Midwestern noir


Ice Harvest by Scott Phillips
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading the Hugo Award-winning classic Science-Fiction novel


Way Station by Clifford D. Simak

GENERAL FICTION AND CLASSICS IN 2023:

It was a GREAT year for General Fiction and Classics in 2023. I finished 26 books, and that is not including some books such as The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells that I could have included in this category but I decided it would better fit in the Horror category (it could also have gone in the Science-Fiction category - oh how tricky these things get).

Although many of these books were excellent and there was more than one 5-star read, one book stood out and it will be my General Fiction/Classics Read of 2023:


Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
5 stars

Other 5-star reads in 2023:
Martin Eden by Jack London

4-star reads: (and some of these narrowly missed a 5-star rating)
Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
The Heart of a Dog by Mikhail Bulgakov
The Quiet American by Graham Greene
Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino
Jazz by Toni Morrison
Stoner by John Williams
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Summer by Edith Wharton
The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene
The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
The Moon Is Down by John Steinbeck
In the Shadow of Time by Kevin Ansbro

3-star reads:
On the Eve by Ivan Turgenev
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Washington Square by Henry James
H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald
The Aeneid by Virgil
Vathek by William Beckford
The Shepherd, the Angel, and Walter the Christmas Miracle Dog by Dave Barry

2-star reads:
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coelho

EXPECTED GENERAL FICTION/CLASSICS READS IN 2024:

I am currently reading


Kolyma Stories by Varlam Shalamov

which is about the author's time in a Siberian prison camp in the 40s and 50s. The stories aren't really "stories" - I wouldn't publish one in an anthology for example, unless it was about prison camps or something. Rather, they are vignettes that show the dehumanization of the camps over time; how prisoners are methodically stripped of their souls one bit at a time. There is a second part to the work - Sketches of the Criminal World: Further Kolyma Stories - and I will read it as well, but probably not in 2024. That might be just a little too depressing.

Other General Fiction and Classic books I hope to read in 2024:


Swann's Way by Marcel Proust


Roughing It by Mark Twain
(yeah, I know, this might not be strictly "fiction" since it is based on Twain's travels, so let's just call it a "classic")


The Evening and the Morning by Ken Follett


Memed, My Hawk by Yaşar Kemal


These Thousand Hills by A.B. Guthrie Jr.


The Fish That Climbed a Tree by Kevin Ansbro


Ghostwritten by David Mitchell

There may be a few more since I like to insert group reads when I can. Also, I am not sure if the calendar will permit me to get to the last couple of books on my list, but if not they will remain in the batting order and I will get to them in early 2025, assuming we all survive the 2024 Presidential Elections, God help us.

EXPECTED HORROR READS IN 2024:

I am currently reading the massive paperback of


The Witching Hour by Anne Rice

and, like all the other Anne Rice books I've read, it really could be called "gothic paramormal romance" rather than "horror" but I'll let that slide for now. I do like it, but the Anne Rice formula is getting tiresome.

After I finish that one, I'll be moving on to:


Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist


Night Shift by Stephen King


The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson


Weaveworld by Clive Barker


Foundations of Fear edited by David G. Hartwell

EXPECTED FANTASY READS IN 2024:

I am reading the fourth and final installment in the Books of Babel series:


The Fall of Babel by Josiah Bancroft

Other Fantasy books I hope to read in 2024 include:


Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik


Delirium's Mistress by Tanith Lee


Tehanu by Ursula K. Le Guin


The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis


Moon Over Soho by Ben Aaronovitch

As usual, the order could change if I slip in another book for a group read or whatever.

EXPECTED NON-FICTION READS IN 2024:

Right now I'm reading


A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

and I am enjoying it so far, although not as much as my top three Non-Fiction reads from last year.

I also hope to read:


Basin and Range by John McPhee


Crazy Horse and Custer: The Parallel Lives of Two American Warriors by Stephen E. Ambrose


My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell


Coach Wooden One-on-One by John Wooden and Jay Carty


Vicksburg: Grant's Campaign That Broke the Confederacy by Donald L. Miller


Fatal Forecast: An Incredible True Tale of Disaster and Survival at Sea by Michael J. Tougias


The Accidental President: Harry S. Truman and the Four Months That Changed the World by A.J. Baime

Of course, I might not get to all of those. And it's always possible that another book sneaks in, for a group read perhaps. But right now these are the next Non-Fiction reads I have planned.

60 in 2024!

For the last few years I have set my reading "goal" at 52 books for the year. And, for the last few years, I have exceeded that total. So this year I'm going to bump it up to 60.

Why 60? Why not push myself and go for an all-time best? Well, this isn't weightlifting. I want to focus on the quality of my reads, and not the quantity. I've been doing much better at increasing the quality of my reads over the last few years and I think having an enriching reading experience is far superior to just trying to finish books to hit a number.

Below I'm going to post my projections for books that I think I will be reading in the upcoming year. As usual, I break books down into the following categories and try to have at least one of each going at the same time:

- General Fiction/Classics
- Non-Fiction
- Mystery/Crime/Thriller
- Science-Fiction
- Fantasy
- Horror/Weird
- Short Stories

That's right, I read multiple books at the same time, usually 8-9 at once, sometimes more. This has cured the dreaded "reading slump" for me, since I don't get bogged down in one book. (I also have gotten more aggressive about quitting books that I don't like, rather than try to trudge through them out of some misguided sense of duty.)

Below, I will summarize the books I plan to read in my various categories in 2024, with the caveat that I reserve the right to change my plans if something more interesting comes along.

I will also mention that although I may read audiobooks and graphic novels, but I don't count them toward my total books read for the year. I also don't count individual short stories as a "book" although I will count a short story collection or anthology. There's no minimum word count here; basically, it has to have been published as a "book" for me to count it, not just a story in a larger collection.

People often seem to get a kick out of how I rate books so I'll repeat my rating system again here for those who might be interested:

5 stars - an all-time favorite
4 stars - I really liked it
3 stars - THIS IS MY "BASELINE" RATING - a good book but just didn't move the needle much
2 stars - So-so, it dragged or made me roll my eyes
1 star - foul piece of excrement - anything I give up on is an automatic 1-star rating

I should mention that I rate books solely on personal reading enjoyment. So while I read a few classics every year, it is possible (and quite likely) that I may recognize the artistry of a book and the contribution it made to literature, but I might still not like it much. That doesn't mean I think Ender's Game is "better" than Wuthering Heights, it just means I enjoyed one more than the other. That's what we're doing here, right? Having fun?

Wanna see what I read in 2023? Click here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Bring on 2024! Motto: it can't be worse than the last few years! (Can it?)

Jordan wrote: "I nominate Naomi Novik's 'His Majesty's Dragon,' an alternate history of aerial warfare fought with dragons in the Napoleonic Wars.

"

I second this one