2023 Challenge: Shortest Book On Your TBR list: Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption

 Book: Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption

Author: Stephen King

Pages: 128

This is my 14th read for the year

This is the story of a prisoner named Andy Dufresne.  Convicted of killing his wife and her lover, he ends up in Shawshank prison on a life sentence.  His story is told by a fellow prisoner named Red who has been in Shawshank for a long time by the time Andy arrives.  In a story that Red writes about Andy and his time in prison, we learn how Andy spent his time in Shawshank and how he ultimately escapes.  

I will leave it right there because my guess is that most people have seen the movie at this point.  It is one of my favorites, and being a King fan, I don't know what took me so long to read this Novella.  There are differences between the book and the movie (for one Red in the book is a white Irishman) but not too many.  I did like the ending of the movie a bit better than the ending of the book, but overall it is well written and a great read.

Stars: 5

2023 Challenge: A Book About A Vacation - Headhunters On My Doorstep

 Book: Headhunters On My Doorstep

Author: J. Maarten Troost

Pages: 272

This is my 13th book for the year

In Troost's newest installment, he is headed back to the South Pacific.  He has struggled with alcoholism and after rehab and getting himself sober, he set out on a vacation to reconnect to what he loves most - travel.  He falls the path of Treasure Island author - Robert Louis Stevenson and lands himself in the Marquesas, Tuamotus, Tahiti, Kirbati and Samoa.  He meets several other world travelers, and people from all walks of life as he takes us on a journey through the history of this part of the world, and how Stevenson ended up here.

This was another great book by Troost.  I have read all of his books and find him charming, enlightening, educational, and very funny.  His travels and his tales make me long to get back out there and start traveling regularly again.  I was sad to hear he had fallen on hard times, but glad to read that he was in recovery.  He is a great author, and I look forward to reading more of his travels in the future.

Stars: 5

2023 Challenge: A Book With A Color In The Title: Purple Hibiscus

 Book: Pruple Hibiscus

Author: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Pages: 336

This is my 12th book for the year

This is the story of Kambili.  She is a 15 year old girl living with her parents and brother in Enugu Nigeria.  Her familyis wealthy - and they want for nothing.  She is shielded from the troubles around her.  However - behind closed doors, her family is not a picture perfect unit.  Her papa is a tyrant - and life is suffocating for Kambili and her brother.  When Kambili and her brother are sent to visit her aunt, they discover that there are homes filled with laughter, and books, and rancous discussion.  Their eyes are opened to how suffocated they really are.  When traged strikes, Kambili must do what she can to hold her family together.

This was an okay book.  I am a fan of this author - Half Of A Yellow Sun is one of my favorite novels.  This one just missed the mark for me.  For one - I found it a bit rambling.  It was mundane overall and just lacked life.  I didn't really connect with the characters.  And I am not a fan of stories about domestic violence.  I always struggle with these books - often quitting them.  I stuck with this one - wanting to see if a story outside of that developed.  It did - but it wasn't interesting enough to give this book more than 3 stars.

Stars: 3

Book: The Rosie Effect

 Book: The Rosie Effect

Author: Graeme Simsion

Pages: 368

This is my 11th read for the year

In the follow up story to "The Rosie Project" Don and Rosie have moved to New York to start new jobs and a new life.  Busy starting their careers Rosie discovers she is pregnant.  Don sets out to figure out if he is going to be a good father.  His research gets him into trouble, and Rosie starts to have her doubts if this is actually going to work out.

This book was not as good as the Rosie Project.  I really loved that book, and honestly - I should have stopped with that one.  This one was not written as well, and I actually found myself annoyed with Don and Rosie on many occasions.  After reading this one, I think I might pass on the third - holding The Rosie Project as a book I am still so glad I read.

Stars: 3

2023 Challenge: A Book With A Queer Lead and a Book With A Rabbit on the Cover: Everyone in this room will someday be dead

 Book: Everyone In This Room Will Someday Be Dead

Author: Emily Austin

Pages: 256

This is my 10th read for the year

This is the story of Gilda.  She is a young person in her 20s - gay, aethiest, suffering from panic attacks and anxiety and having a hard time holding everything together.  When she gets fired from her job beacuse she stopped showing up, she finds herself employed as a secretary in a Catholic Church.  Hired because the secretary before her was believed to be murdered, Gilda spends a lot of her time trying to get to the bottom of Grace's (the previous secretary) demise and who might have been responsible.  Along the way, she struggles to hold herself together as she navigates a relationship with someone she truly likes.  

This book was pretty terrible.  I really did not like the main character.  She was insufferable and just overly done.  Blurbs about this book state that it is "hilarious" - and it was far from that.  It was dark and depressing, and I barely finished it.  I should have let it go - but I was listening to it on a plane ride, so tried to stick with it.  Sorry I did.

Stars: 2

2023 Challenge: A Book With The Main Character's Name in the Title: The Rosie Project

 Book: The Rosie Project

Author: Graeme Simsion

Pages: 295

This is my 9th read for the year

This is the story of Don Tillman (yes I know the challenge is the main character's name is in the talent - but bare with me).  He is a genetics professor with aspgergers who has trouble with social cues.  He decides to start something called "The Wife Project" because at the age of 39, he finds himself still unmarried.  He puts together a survey in hopes of eliminating women who he would not find compatible with himself.  Until he meets Rosie.  Rosie walks into his office in hopes of finding out who her biological father is and she and Don form a friendship.  Even though Don tells his friends that Rosie would never be a candidate for the Wife Project, as their friendship blooms, so does his love for her and hers for him. 

This book is incredibly sweet. Don is as endearing as he is maddening in his search for a wife.  It is light hearted with very likable characters and great plot.  It is well written, and you find youself rooting for Don to find someone to love him for exactly who he is. Rosie becomes the center of the book and his world, and he finds that people are not just numbers on a page or information in a survey.  

Highly recommend this book. I am so excited that there are more "Rosie" books - looking forward to reading the next one.

4.5

Book: Constance

 Book: Constance

Author: Matthew FitzSimmons

Pages: 343

This is my 8th read for the year

This is the story of Constance D'Arcy.  In the future, the very rich have the chance to have a clone of themselves kept in reserves in case of their untimely death.  Constance, far from rich, was gifted one from her aunt who runs the cloning company.

People who have the clones have to go to the center once a month to upload their consciousness so that if they die their recent memories are up to date.  During Constance's most recent upload, something goes wrong and she wakes up 18 months later.  Her memories of that time are gone and her original - is dead.  Now it is up to her clone to piece together what happened and who is behind her death.

This was an okay book. It acutally was pretty good and held my attention for about 3/4 of the book, and then it went a bit off the rails.  Plot started to fall apart a bit.  The lack of character development left me wanting and not really caring what happened to people.  The plot started to have too many twists and turns for one novel- I felt that the author should have picked one or two and threw the rest out.

I understand there is a second book.  I might check it out just to see if it comes together a bit better.

Stars: 3