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.

Zachariah wrote: "Wilde is definitely someone I would want at my dinner parties."

That's a great observation. I bet he was hilarious in social settings.

Kristin wrote: "I have been listening to a lot of The Smiths lately and feel like I am reading a novelization of their music."

That made me laugh out loud, just because it's so true and a great observation that I hadn't thought of until you said it. I really enjoyed The Smiths back in the 80s-90s but haven't heard a lot of them since then. Morrisey on his own wasn't quite as enjoyable to me though.

I just finished chapter 6 so I'm just starting this section. I'm of two minds right now. On one hand, I think Wilde's observations, especially as verbalized by his likely alter-ego Lord Henry, are witty and amusing, like Victorian Era snark. On the other hand, Wilde's prose is a bit long in the tooth at times, especially his descriptions of setting and his dialogue which often meanders around just so he can fit in some more snark. I find that it's hard for me to read more than 7-8 pages without my mind wandering elsewhere.

*Amber* wrote: "It does comes across to me that Lord Henry is majorly crushing on Dorian. What fuels this idea for me is that Lord Henry’s relationship with his wife appears to be for show on both their parts, as they don’t spend much time with each other and appear together in society every now and then. It seems that character’s appearances to the outside world is very important in this book but I think during that era and society it is set in, it was."

It's been said that "Lord Henry" was just a way of Wilde writing himself into his own book. From what I know of Wilde that seems like a valid observation. I wonder if others in the book were based on people Wilde knew in real life.

I'll absolutely watch the film when it comes out. I usually like Spielberg's movies and I got a kick out of the book even though I think we all know it's not "great literature" or anything. There's nothing wrong with a book just being fun.

Ankit wrote: "

The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon"

That was pretty good - I read it in 2016 but haven't seen the movie yet.

Still, I think I'm going to throw my support behind A Wrinkle in Time. I read that in grade school and would love to revisit it.

Michelle wrote: "You really seem to know what you're doing here, Randy :)"

Thanks Michelle, but I'm just making it all up as I go along. ;-)

Good luck on your goal! I'm sure you'll figure out a number that works for you.

Kristin wrote: "A great goal, Randy. Like you, I have started to quit books that aren't working for me. Some aren't even terrible -- they just might not be the right book for me at the time. I have returned to and..."

Thank you Kristin! I hope you have a great 2018!

Happy New Year everyone! May 2018 be successful and prosperous for you and your families! And hopefully we'll all get to read a lot of great books! :-)

As you may recall from my posts in 2017, I read a lot of books at the same time. This helps me not get bored and fall into the dreaded reading slump.

Last year I read a lot of books as group reads for my various GoodReads book clubs. This year I'm going to try to participate in group reads if I already own the book and want to read it, with some rare exceptions. In general I'd like to participate in a couple group reads each month however this month I'm reading along in six group reads!

To start the year off I'm reading:
- Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick for the Evolution of Science Fiction book club
- Uprooted by Naomi Novik for the SciFi and Heroic Fantasy book club
- Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan for the SciFi and Heroic Fantasy book club
- Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey for the SciFi and Heroic Fantasy book club
- The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith for the Pulp Fiction book club
- The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde for this book club!
- A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin - I haven't been in a rush to finish this since there's no sign that the next volume in the series is approaching publication
- Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System from Crisis — and Themselves by Andrew Ross Sorkin - I've put this aside to focus on some book club group reads but would like to get back to it
- Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders by Neil Gaiman - I'm just picking at this one whenever I get a chance and am so inclined

I'm hoping to finish the first 6 on the list by the end of the month.

I finished the first chapter. It's a bit slow but I expected that. This is one of those books that I will just pick away at. I'm glad I have a whole month to finish it. There are some terrific quotes so far and the book has a timeless feel in many ways.

Susy wrote: "Randy wrote: "I did it! 50 books for 2017!...
Thanks everyone and I hope you all have a safe and happy new year! "

Congratulations Randy!!

A safe and happy new year to you too!!"

Thanks Suzy!

I did it! 50 books for 2017!

#47 - The Best American Mystery Stories 2015 edited by James Patterson - my first read in this series was enjoyable enough - I got introduced to some new authors and also got to read some short stories by some familiar writers - I gave it a solid 3 stars - you can read my review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

#48 - Doomsday Book by Connie Willis - My first Willis read, for the Sword and Laser GR bookclub, was this Hugo and Nebula award-winner that is the first novel in Willis' Oxford Time Travel series - I thought it was a bit overwritten but picked up a lot in the last 100-150 pages or so - I gave it 3 stars - you can read my review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

#49 - Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein - Heinlein's military Sci-Fi classic is probably my favorite of his books that I've read but a bit slow and preachy at times - I gave it 3 stars - you can read my review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

#50 - Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang - this is a very interesting short story collection which contains "Story of Your Life" which was the basis for the movie "Arrival" - I liked it pretty well and each of the stories seemed to have some interesting ideas even if some of the stories worked better than others - I gave it 4 stars - you can read my review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

So I started a whole bunch of new books, including:

- Uprooted by Naomi Novik - this has gotten a lot of really good reviews so I finally picked it up in time for the SciFi and Heroic Fantasy GR bookclub group read - I'm enjoying it so far with some minor reservations that hopefully don't turn out to be a big deal

- Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey - I'm reading this one also for the SciFi and Heroic Fantasy GR bookclub group read

- Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan - also for the SciFi and Heroic Fantasy GR bookclub group read

- The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde - group read for this GR bookclub!

- Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick for the Evolution of Science Fiction GR bookclub group read

And of course I'm still working on these books:
- Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders by Neil Gaiman
- A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin
- Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System from Crisis — and Themselves by Andrew Ross Sorkin

Now I'll probably transition over to my 2018 challenge, although if time permits I might post one more time, something like "2017 in review"

Thanks everyone and I hope you all have a safe and happy new year!

Blagica wrote: "Best of luck with your challenge!"

Thank you Blagica!

Wow! D. G. you are super-organized. Good luck on your 2018 goal!

Good luck Suzy! I love your list and how organized you are for the upcoming year. I see a few on your list that I need to read also.

D.G. wrote: "Randy - Love your post detailing on how you arrived at your goal!

And 42 is definitely not a step back, just think that you're adapting to changed circumstances! And if it made you think of Jackie..."

Thanks D. G.! Good luck on your goal as well!

Susy wrote: "I think 42 is a great number Randy! And as I said I'm glad you decided to participate in at least some of the group reads. I too trie to only participate when the chosen book is already on my TBR l..."

Thanks Suzy! Good luck on your 2018 goal also! Hopefully we'll have plenty of good books to discuss in the coming year.

So Why 42?

Last year I shot for 40 books and at the time I write this I'm at 46, not including 3 books I kicked and did not finish. I have a good shot at hitting 50 for 2017. You can see more about that topic here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

So why on 42 this year? Isn't that a step backwards? Well, yes it is. But I believe I will have less time, not more, for reading this year. For the first few months of 2017 I was unemployed and when I did accept a job offer in April I spent about 3 months working from home completing some training and licensing classes, which allowed me to be flexible with my schedule.

But I've learned to be creative. I take a book with me wherever I go and try to read when I have some dead time, instead of playing on my phone which I used to do.

I think I can get to 42. Heck, I might even surprise myself and get to 50! But really I'd like to focus on the quality of the books I read. I know I know, I said that last year too. The quality of my reads didn't really go up. In fact, they may have gone down a little. So what happened?

Well, I started participating more in group reads. I enjoy being able to discuss a book I've just read, although not many of my friends read and those who do often have different tastes than I do. But sometimes my group reads lead me to read different books than I would have otherwise. And here I have several hundred books sitting on my shelves that are begging to be read, including series that I'd like to continue. So, how can I reconcile all this?

I've decided I'm going to continue my group reads, but I'm only going to read books that I already own or was nearly about to buy anyway. I'd like to keep it to 1-2 per month, but I think I'm going to have 5-6 in January depending on how the voting turns out in some of my groups. Hopefully that will allow me some time to focus on books I want to read that fall outside the group reads.

And as far as quality goes, I've tried to organize my bookshelves - both my physical shelves and my GR shelves - to help me focus on some good books that I would like to read. I'm also going to be less tolerant of reading bad books - I kicked three books in 2017 and it felt great each time I did it. I also suffered through another book that I wish I would have kicked - I got no sense of accomplishment from finishing it by the way, just relief that it was over. Some books are just terrible. Life is too short to waste time on them.

So that's how I got to 42, which is coincidentally the number Jackie Robinson wore when he played for my beloved Dodgers, although that had nothing to do with why I picked it. That equates to 3.5 books per month. Now let's see if I can do it.

Feel free to comment, and of course friend requests are always appreciated if you think we have similar tastes or if you're just looking to chat about books or heck even if you just want more friends!

More updates coming soon, both on this thread and my 2017 thread.

Blagica wrote: "I wish you the best of luck with your 40 books Randy. I will however *cross my fingers* and hope that you make it to 50 this year."

Thank you Blagica!

I had to kick two books that were just draining my energy with their terribleness:

I kicked The Wanderer by Fritz Leiber which was just awful despite winning the Hugo Award for best Novel in 1965 - you can read more about it in my 1-star review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Also I had to kick Rama II by Arthur C. Clarke and Gentry Lee which was not only terrible but had been lingering in my currently reading pile for about 10 months, yet I found I was only a bit past halfway done with it - life is too short for awful books and you can read more about it in my 1-star review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

In my 2017 Challenge and my Year of Books these both show up as completed however I didn't really finish them so I'd like to figure out a way to get them off my "Read" shelf without deleting my reviews and ratings. Feel free to offer any suggestions you might have.

But I did finish two books that I liked:

#45 - Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie - I blew through this one quickly as part of the group read for this very book club - I gave it 4 stars and you can read my review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

#46 - Go Girl!: Raising Healthy, Confident and Successful Girls Through Sports by Hannah Storm and Mark Jenkins - it took me a while but I pecked away at this one for a few months until finally finishing it yet yesterday - I gave it 3 stars although I wouldn't recommend it to anyone except those with young children who are looking to get them into sports - you can read my review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

And of course I'm still working on these books - hopefully the top four will be done by the end of the year:
- The Best American Mystery Stories 2015 edited by James Patterson
- Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang
- Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein
- Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
- Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders by Neil Gaiman
- A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin
- Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System from Crisis — and Themselves by Andrew Ross Sorkin

I still think I can pull off 50 books this year if everything goes OK...stay tuned for 1-2 more updates through the end of the year.