RJ's Ridiculously Realistic Goal of 52 in 2023

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

#39 in 2023:

I finished the historical account of the greatest racehorse of all time


Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand
Rating: 5 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading the non-fiction account of Graham Greene's travels in rural Mexico in the 1930s (that prompted him to write The Power and the Glory)


The Lawless Roads by Graham Greene

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

#40 in 2023:

I finished the classic suspense thriller


Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading


The Expendable Man by Dorothy B. Hughes

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

#41 in 2023:

I finished this story collection which includes the very first Swords & Sorcery story ever written


Kull: Exile of Atlantis by Robert E. Howard
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading the next installment in my Publication-Order reading of the Discworld books


Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

#42 in 2023:

I finished the novel that started the Star Wars "Extended Universe" (known as "Star Wars Legends" in the post-Disney-acquisition era) which shares a title, and probably a lot more, with the upcoming Star Wars movie directed by Dave Filoni


Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading the fourth volume in the six-volume Old Man's War series


Zoe's Tale by John Scalzi

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

Also, for a group read, I started reading


The Island of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

#43 in 2023:

I finished Dorothy Hughes's final novel


The Expendable Man by Dorothy B. Hughes
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading


The Burglar by David Goodis

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

#44 in 2023:

I finished the Pulitzer Prize-winning historical novel about the Civil War battle of Gettysburg


The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading my first by James


Washington Square by Henry James

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

Also, I kicked (stopped reading) these books because they were somewhere between depressingly mediocre and insultingly awful


The Wolf's Hour by Robert R. McCammon
Rating: 1 star
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...


Zoe's Tale by John Scalzi
Rating: 1 star
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading


The Witching Hour by Anne Rice


Life, the Universe and Everything by Douglas Adams

Rice is a little long-winded and this 1000+ page beast is no exception, but at least we get right to the Talamasca in the first chapter so I'm hopeful that she's on the right track. Her Vampire series failed to capture my attention much after the first three installments.

As for the Hitchhiker's series, I am on record as not really loving them the way some people do but at least I'm not embarrassed to read one of them (unlike Scalzi's books which are just regrettably bad at times).

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

#45 in 2023:

I finished the classic Science-Fiction/Horror novel


The Island of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading the first book in the Border Trilogy, winner of both the U.S. National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1992


All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

#46 in 2023:

I finished the bleak noir classic


The Burglar by David Goodis
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading a WWI-era spy novel that is the sequel to The Thirty-Nine Steps


Greenmantle by John Buchan

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

#47 in 2023:

I finished the short novel


Washington Square by Henry James
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading the autobiographical


H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

#48 in 2023:

I finished the non-fiction travel account of Graham Greene's 1938 trip to Mexico which inspired him to write The Power and the Glory


The Lawless Roads by Graham Greene
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading another book written about events on the opposite side of the globe just two years prior...


The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

#49 in 2023:

Also, I finished the sequel to The Thirty-Nine Steps


Greenmantle by John Buchan
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading the first in the Travis McGee series


The Deep Blue Good-By by John D. MacDonald

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

#50 in 2023:

I finished the somewhat-autobiographical classic


Martin Eden by Jack London
Rating: 5 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I will take a quick break to read the short story

Andrea by John O'Hara

then I will be moving on to this collection of short stories based on the author's time served in a Siberian gulag


Kolyma Stories by Varlam Shalamov

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

#51 in 2023:

I finished an anthology containing 26 of the most notable Science-Fiction short stories from the time period 1929-1964


The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume One, 1929-1964 edited by Robert Silverberg
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started on the first half of the second volume of the anthology which contains the 23 most notable classic Science-Fiction novellas from roughly the same time period (with one notable exception - The Time Machine by H.G. Wells from 1895) - this volume, Part II-A, contains 12 novellas


The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two A: The Greatest Science Fiction Novellas of All Time Chosen by the Members of The Science Fiction Writers of America edited by Ben Bova

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

GOAL MET!

#52 in 2023:

I finished the first book in the Border Trilogy


All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started a book by a Goodreads author friend


In the Shadow of Time by Kevin Ansbro

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

#53 in 2023:

I finished the memoir


H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and after a quick break to read the short story

Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville

I will be reading the short story collection


Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by James Tiptree Jr.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

#54 in 2023:

I finished the first Travis McGee novel


The Deep Blue Good-By by John D. MacDonald
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading


Triple by Ken Follett

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

#55 in 2023:

I finished the third book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy "trilogy"


Life, the Universe and Everything by Douglas Adams
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading a classic Science-Fiction space opera


Triplanetary by E.E. "Doc" Smith

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

#56 in 2023:

I finished the sixth (publication order) book in the Discworld series


Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading the final installment in the Books of Babel series


The Fall of Babel by Josiah Bancroft

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

#57 in 2023:

I finished the light-hearted time travel novel


In the Shadow of Time by Kevin Ansbro
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading


Stoner by John Williams

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

#58 in 2023:

I finished the Cold War-era espionage thriller


Triple by Ken Follett
Rating: 2 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading


The Bottoms by Joe R. Lansdale

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

#59 in 2023:

I finished the acclaimed campus novel


Stoner by John Williams
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading the epic poem


The Aeneid by Virgil

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

#60 in 2023:

I finished the excellent Science-Fiction short story collection


Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by James Tiptree Jr.
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading


A Curtain of Green and Other Stories by Eudora Welty

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

#61 in 2023:

I finished the inspirational account of the 1936 USA Gold-Medal winning 8-Man Crew team


The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown
Rating: 5 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading


A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

#62 in 2023:

I finished the classic Science-Fiction fix-up novel about a generation ship where the crew has forgotten they are on a ship


Orphans of the Sky by Robert A. Heinlein
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

#63 in 2023:

I finished the disappointing Edgar Award winning mystery novel


The Bottoms by Joe R. Lansdale
Rating: 2 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading


A Simple Plan by Scott Smith

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

#64 in 2023:

I finished the short story collection


A Curtain of Green and Other Stories by Eudora Welty
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading


Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

#65 in 2023:

I finished the classic Science-Fiction novel - the first in the Lensman series, which inspired DC Comics "Green Lantern" among many others


Triplanetary by E.E. "Doc" Smith
Rating: 2 stars (but it might be the best two star book I've ever read - haha!)
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading the second in the "Robots" series


The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

2023 IN REVIEW:

It's hard to believe, but we're almost done with this year! It's been nowhere near as bad, in general, as the three prior years, but it's not exactly been great either.

As for reading, I think this year could best be summarized with these bullet points:
- many new-to-me authors read, including many Russian authors read, for the first time
- excellent general fiction, non-fiction, and short story year
- a return to some good Science-Fiction, both newer and classic

Over the next few weeks, I'll try to summarize areas of my reading this year, as well as look down the road towards what 2024 looks like.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

NON-FICTION IN 2023:

I finished four Non-Fiction books this year, and all of them were at least "good." It's hard to pick a favorite from the top three I read - all of which I rated five stars - so I'm going to name all three my co-winners of Top Non-Fiction Read in 2023:


Battle Cry of Freedom by James M. McPherson


Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand


The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown

Note: the only Non-Fiction book I read this year wasn't a co-winner of my Non-Fiction Best Read of 2023 was H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald which I enjoyed, but not as much as the other three. I rated it three stars.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

FANTASY IN 2023:

I read four fantasy books in 2023, and none were five-star reads. However, one of the books did stand out from the others with a four-star rating. So my 2023 Fantasy Read of 2023 Winner is:


Kull: Exile of Atlantis by Robert E. Howard

This collection brings together all of the Kull stories including various fragments and drafts and notes written by the character's original creator, Robert E Howard. Kull was eventually supplanted by Howard's most famous creator, Conan.

Other Fantasy reads in 2023 were (all of which I rated 3 stars)
Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett
The Road to Amber by Roger Zelazny
The Princess Bride by William Goldman

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

HORROR IN 2023:

I only finished four Horror books in 2023, although I read some Sci-Fi stories that could be called Horror, and some of my General Fiction reads had gothic elements in them. But sticking with strictly Horror books, the Winner of my 2023 Best Horror Read is:


The Damnation Game by Clive Barker

Barker's first full-length novel isn't as good as some of the heights he hit in his Books of Blood short story collection, but it was good enough for a 4-star rating from me.

Other Horror reads in 2023:

The Island of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells (4 stars) - yes, this could have been considered Science-Fiction, but I think it is best classified as Horror which is why it appears here
The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle (3 stars)
Intensity by Dean Koontz (2 stars)

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

I finished two more yesterday:

#66 and #67 in 2023:

I finished the Gothic novel written in French but first published in English and set in Arabia:


Vathek by William Beckford
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I also finished the epic Latin poem (which has been snarkily referred to as "Homer Fan Fiction")


The Aeneid by Virgil (translated by Frederick Ahl
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading the Hugo Award-winning novel about overpopulation set in the future in 2010 and using narrative techniques lifted from Dos Passos' USA Trilogy


Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

#68 in 2023:

I finished


A Simple Plan by Scott Smith
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading the second Lord Peter Wimsey book


Clouds of Witness by Dorothy L. Sayers

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

#69 in 2023:

I finished the sweet and amusing (and short) holiday story


The Shepherd, the Angel, and Walter the Christmas Miracle Dog by Dave Barry
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

#70 in 2023:

I finished the classic gothic romance novel


Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Rating: 2 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading


Ice Harvest by Scott Phillips

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

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

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

#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

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

#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

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

#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

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

#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

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

#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

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

#76 in 2023:

Yesterday I also finished, but did not particularly enjoy, the second Continental Op novel


The Dain Curse by Dashiell Hammett
Rating: 2 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading the book that was the basis for the 1987 Kevin Costner film No Way Out as well as two other older film versions


The Big Clock by Kenneth Fearing

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

I've finished my reading for 2023! I mean, I'm still reading of course, but I won't finish any other books until the calendar flips over to 2024.

Please feel free to join me on my 2024 discussion page: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I'll finish this thread up with summaries of my 2023 reads in the genres of Mystery/Crime, Science Fiction, and short stories below.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

MYSTERY/CRIME READS IN 2023:

As usual, I read a lot of Mystery/Crime books in 2023. Unfortunately, the quality of the books fell off a bit in the second half of the year. I did take some steps to remove some authors who I don't plan to re-visit, but I think otherwise the fall-off was just a statistical anomaly. I look forward to some better reads in 2024!

My Mystery/Crime Read of 2023 goes to:


The Cartel by Don Winslow
the second book in Winslow's Cartel Trilogy, which was my only 5-star Mystery/Crime read of the year.

4-Star Reads:
The Last Good Kiss by James Crumley
Vanish in an Instant by Margaret Millar
Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith
The Expendable Man by Dorothy B. Hughes
The Deep Blue Good-By by John D. MacDonald
The Burglar by David Goodis
Father and Son by Larry Brown

3-Star Reads:
A Simple Plan by Scott Smith
To Die In California by Newton Thornburg
Tiger by the Tail by James Hadley Chase
The Ice Harvest by Scott Phillips
Mischief by Charlotte Armstrong
Greenmantle by John Buchan
The 10:30 From Marseille by Sébastien Japrisot
The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes by Adrian Conan Doyle and John Dickson Carr

2-Star Reads:
Triple by Ken Follett
The Bottoms by Joe R. Lansdale
The Dain Curse by Dashiell Hammett
Clouds of Witness by Dorothy L. Sayers
Dead Man's Blues by Ray Celestin

1-Star Reads:
Into the Water by Paula Hawkins

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

SCIENCE FICTION IN 2023:

After several years of frustration, it was actually a very good year for Science Fiction in 2023! Was that because I focused more on reading award-winners and authors that I liked? Was it because I finally decided to stop reading John Scalzi? Whatever the reason, I'm glad it happened. I grew up reading Science Fiction and it pained me to not be getting much enjoyment from this genre.

My Science Fiction Read of 2023 is a TIE


Roadside Picnic by Arkady Strugatsky and Boris Strugatsky


Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky

both of which were 5-star reads and both were new authors to me.

4-Star Reads:
Way Station by Clifford D. Simak

3-Star Reads:
Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner
The Time Ships by Stephen Baxter
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov
Orphans of the Sky by Robert A. Heinlein
Life, the Universe and Everything by Douglas Adams

2-Star Reads:
Triplanetary by E.E. "Doc" Smith
Sundiver by David Brin

1-Star Reads:
Red Rising by Pierce Brown
Zoe's Tale by John Scalzi

Books that I listed elsewhere but could be considered Science Fiction:
The Heart of a Dog by Mikhail Bulgakov - 4 stars - General Fiction/Classics
The Island of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells - 4 stars - Horror (could also be considered General Fiction/Classics of course)
In the Shadow of Time by Kevin Ansbro - 4 stars - General Fiction

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS/ANTHOLOGIES IN 2023:

I've always like short stories and I read quite a few each year. I don't track individual short stories though. This will be about the collections or anthologies I've finished this year.

My reading has evolved over the years to where I usually have two collections/anthologies in process at the same time, and I switch back and forth between the two until they're completed, so I don't get sick of one of them. Of course, at times I read a short story collection/anthology as a group read, or as part of one of my other categories.

My Best Short Story Collection/Anthology Read of 2023 is A TIE (and they were BOTH Science Fiction stories!)


The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume One, 1929-1964 edited by Robert Silverberg


Her Smoke Rose Up Forever by James Tiptree Jr.

...and that's it! I've been plugging away for over a year now on The Collected Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe which has sucked up a lot of my time in this category. However, I should be finishing Poe and another anthology (The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two A edited by Ben Bova) early in 2024, so my entries next year should be a little more robust in quantity anyway.

I did finish some short story collections that I included in other categories. Here they are, for sake of completeness:
Kull: Exile of Atlantis by Robert E. Howard - 4 stars - Fantasy
Breakfast at Tiffany's and Three Stories by Truman Capote - 4 stars - General Fiction/Classics
The Road to Amber by Roger Zelazny - 3 stars - Fantasy
The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes by Adrian Conan Doyle and John Dickson Carr - 3 stars - Mystery/Crime

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

Here is my review of 2023 on Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...