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 should finish this one in the next day or two. I enjoyed the first half more than the second half, at least so far. The story went in a totally different direction than I had anticipated.

Cosmic wrote: "Just found this so i will start today! I have only read one Sherlock Holmes book and am excited to read another one!!"

Welcome Cosmic!

Ashley wrote: "I am almost finished with this story. I am enjoying this one. I like how there are many different things going on and [spoilers removed]"

Yes, I think he did a nice job with the pacing of this story. It was too much to be jammed into the short story format but it made a nice short novel. It was originally serialized in The Strand Magazine over the course of a year. I can't imagine waiting a month to find out what happens in the next chapter!

If you mean new books like just published books I rarely buy those. Only if it's by an author I like or part of a series do I buy newly published books, with the occasional exception.

But "new to me" used books I buy all the time. I trade in my old books and try to buy on the bargain shelves. My TBR pile has grown to the point that it is going to take over my whole house someday.

I finished two more books yesterday and now I'm up to 68 read during 2018:


Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...


The Metamorphosis and Other Stories by Franz Kafka
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

And now I'm starting:


The Night of the Hunter by Davis Grubb


The Black Echo by Michael Connelly

Veda wrote: "Awesome choice & read!"

Are you reading this one with us this month Veda? Glad to have you along! :-)

Oooh...the letters. I thought something like this was going to happen but that was still heartbreaking to read.

I'll be halfway through today and should finish next week. How's everyone else doing?

Hannah wrote: "As soon as I read the Monty Hall problem chapter it reminded me of the scene from the film 21...."

Good call! I had forgotten about that scene.

Blagica wrote: "You are on your way to having a great year in books! Do you have a book you still can't wait to read?"

Thanks Blagica! I'd really like to get to The Terror by Dan Simmons but I'm not sure if I'll be able to fit it in this year or not.

If you're also reading The Hound of the Baskervilles be warned: there are major spoilers in this book for Hound including an entire plot synopsis and villain reveal along with a list of "red herrings." I'm guessing you could skip that chapter and not have any problems following the plot of this book if you wanted to.

I did enjoy the chapter about The Monty Hall Problem, although I still didn't understand it after the narrator explained it. I looked up the Wikipedia page and after I read it I understand it a little more. It's still very counterintuitive however. Here's the link if anyone is interested: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_H...

I'm about a third of the way through. Doyle's writing appears to have improved since the early Holmes stories, especially his sense of pacing. The opening few chapters are all info dumps as usual, but he finds a way to slip a little bit of action in after the visitors leave.

Susy wrote: "Ashleigh wrote: "I'd like to nominate A Christmas Carol because I love Christmas and it always brings me great joy, that time of year!"

Second"

Third

This was a re-read for me and I enjoyed it about as much as I did the first time through. I still got lost somewhere around singularities and imaginary numbers but I followed along with most of the main points. The biographies of some of the scientific greats in the back of the book were interesting.

Yesterday I finished two more which brings me to 66 for the year, on pace to read 88 books in 2018!


The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy, 2016 edited by Rich Horton
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...


The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

And I started reading:


The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle


A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny

I've read about 30 pages already. I'm enjoying this one, especially since I just last month read the Sherlock Holmes short story The Adventure of Silver Blaze from which this novel takes its title. I haven't found a lot of other Holmes similarities yet, but reading this book makes me wonder if Sherlock Holmes might have been on the autistic spectrum?

I got started this morning by reading the first chapter.

It's interesting that this novel marks the first appearance of Holmes since The Adventure of the Final Problem which was the last story in The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. Hound was published eight years after Memoirs, but there is no mention at all of the events in The Final Solution.

This seems like a good Holmes story to read in October.

Mary Pat wrote: "A co-worker recommended the movie a few months ago and I watched it and loved it. Now I am 34% into the book and feeling that much was missing in the movie. I will definitely re-watch the movie whe..."

I think the movie makes a great companion to the book. There are a lot of things that have to be changed to shorten the length and make it understandable to an audience that hasn't read the book but they did a fantastic job of hitting the high points while also staying true to the themes of the book.

I finished two more which brings me to 64 for the year:


The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...


The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I'm starting:


The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

I finished! I thought The Naval Treaty was excellent - the longer length gave a bit more time for the plot to develop but not so long as to get boring. The Adventure of the Final Problem was less of a mystery and more action-oriented than the usual Holmes story, noteworthy for it's ending of course.

Onto The Hound of the Baskervilles starting on Monday!