Review: The Rosie Project and The Rosie Effect

I'm reviewing both of these books together, but please understand that I will actually gush more about how hysterical I found The Rosie Project.

I read this book in a day. I'm not even joking. I started it on a Friday night and I'd finished it by Saturday evening. I haven't done that with a non-romance book in ages. 

My husband could hear me laughing, and he was in the man cave (aka basement) while I read in our bedroom upstairs.

Don Tillman, the narrator of these books, works as a genetics professor at an Australian university. You learn early on that he's very much into fitness and knows martial arts. I decided he looked like Eric Bana.

Here he is shirtless and holding a book. Excellent.

So, this guy is a genius, but has undiagnosed Asperger's. Think Sheldon Cooper, but not quite as horrible with other human beings. Don't think that means he's more socially adept. He really isn't. But, for instance, he drinks. This automatically put him in my good graces.

Dating doesn't work for him. He manages to scare his dates off. Not because of creepiness, but because he really doesn't know when to stop talking. He also doesn't know when a woman is hitting on him. I won't reveal too many details, since I can't do justice to these scenes. They had me giggling the whole time, though.

His socially ineptitude leads him to thinking that, if he wants to at some point get married, he will have to go about it in a non-traditional manner. He decides that he should employ more scientific methods to his search. He calls this the Wife Project. This project includes a questionnaire prospective candidates need to fill out before he goes on a date with him.

It sounds awful, but Graeme Simsion makes this work. Not because he can make this not awful, but because he really gets you into Don's head. If he couldn't make Don lovable and sympathetic, this book would not work.

Long story short, Rosie Jarman enters Don's life. During their first date, she walks into the restaurant after he's had to make use of his martial arts skills with the security staff. (It's funny. Trust me.) Rosie has her own issues, but social ineptitude does not figure among them. Don and Rosie's courtship takes the reader on a hilarious ride.

The Rosie Project also had really poignant and heartbreaking moments. During one part of the book, I got quite teary. Simsion does a fantastic job of making these characters real and relatable. I'm recommending this book to anyone that might listen.

Also, it's going to be made into a movie. Sweet baby Jesus, I hope they don't mess it up!

I'll mention a little something about The Rosie Effect. So, I think the fact the reader gets the story only from Don's perspective made the story here not work. At some points in the story, I hated Rosie. Don doesn't hate her, by the way, so that's not the problem. But I had to keep stopping to remind myself that I only had Don's side of the story. I didn't want to hate Rosie. I really didn't. But, it got to a point where I wondered what the hell a grown ass woman was doing acting the way she acted.

Anyway! If you're at all like me, you'll read both books because you want to know what happens. And, honestly, The Rosie Project is so much fun, that I'm recommending these despite my reservations about the second book.

Also, here's another picture of how I hope Don looks in the movie:

Yass,

Musings: Should I Buy/Checkout More Books? (Yes. Always.)

I follow a few reading groups on Facebook. Most of them mostly post pretty drawings of pictures of books in all their glorious beauty. Sometimes cats show up in the photos, sometimes dogs, sometimes coffee or tea. (Yes, this seems to be as far as I will interact with strangers, even on social media.)

I often click Like on these and, sometimes, I even share. For instance:

Yeah, that's really what I'm going to write about today. Because you can never have enough books. Not ever.

Right now, on my night table, I have close to thirty books. That's not counting the ones on my bookshelves. And the ones in the dinning room that I haven't put away. Oh, yeah, also, doesn't include my husband's books, which take up quite a few shelves in the basement. This also doesn't include the books I check out of the library.

And you know what? At this very moment, I have at least two other tabs open on my browser that give me access to more books (i.e. buying more books and checking out more books). 

Is this an addiction?

Yes. Probably. Most likely. I'm not sure. I don't really care.

Should I blow my money on alcohol, junk food, or cigarettes? Hmm? Is that what I should do?

See, unlike some addictions (shoes, clothes, cocaine), this one has the potential to make me a better person. 

I can read as much as I want and still function in society. 

In fact, I can read as much as I like without spending another cent. Libraries are wonderful places and I don't know where we would be as a society without them.

You think about that. Right now, we have retail workers that have to deal with so much shit (sometimes, quite literally) and that's with relatively easy access to all kinds of printed media. That's with thousands of years of humans living in settled communities.

Seriously, where would we be without books?

Think about how much time we waste on mindless tasks or about how much money we spend on things that go out of style. I'm totally guilty of both of these. I can't tell you how much clothing I have and I can't account for all the time I've wasted on YouTube watching Buzzfeed videos. Seriously, it's embarrassing.

But! I will never ever feel any kind of embarrassment for the amount of books I own and/or checkout from the library.

Will I ever get through all of them? Of course not. I won't live long enough to read the ones I already have, much less the ones that will come out during my lifetime. (And I do hope I have quite a lot more years ahead of me.)

That doesn't matter. Maybe, if I have children someday, they will inherit all of my books. They will remember me by these books. They will have some insight into who I was and what kind of people I hope they will be. If I have children someday, I hope they can't drive or walk past a library without feeling at least a little bit giddy.

Because, for some of us folks that have little to no athletic prowess or that don't exactly have a desire to go off and sky dive:

And they have given me some of the best highs of my life.

Except wine. Maybe wine. Wine and books=best Friday night ever.

Musings: My (Somewhat) Secret Shame

It started out when I got my eReader for Christmas. A typically story, really. It was just so easy. Just a tap-tap on the green button and it there it was, at no cost whatsoever. And, even better, nobody had to know.

It started my on a path that had no way back: romance novels.

I love reading them. So much so, in fact, I go through them like cookies.

Shown: Figurative representation of how I go through romance novels. Also, of how I eat cookies.

We've all heard these criticism, I'm sure: "I only read nonfiction. Novels are so poorly written nowadays." Or, one of my favorites, "I only read books where I can learn something. Why would you read something just for fun? It's a waste of time." And it only gets worse if you get these folks started on romance novels.

Well, you know what? Nobody should feel ashamed for reading romance or any other genre. Everyone should read what they want to read. Nothing turns off more people to reading than pretentious assholes that act like everyone else is an ignorant peasant if they read a genre said assholes don't respect.

So, to those folks, here's my plebeian response to you:

But I digress.

After I started reading romance novels, I found a whole world out there I had no idea existed. Websites like Smart Bitches, Trashy Books showed me how plenty of smart, educated, and completely well-adjusted women read these books all the time. I didn't think only stupid women read these books. It's just that, back in the day, most of the novels that came out were historical bodice-rippers that had too much of a rapey tone for me to enjoy. And, of course, I judged people who read romance by that misguided preconception.

Sure, some novels out there still have rapey undertones. But so many more of them have some of the strongest female characters in fiction. You can find everything from books where the main characters just hold hands to erotica where anything goes. It took me a bit to find the ones that I truly enjoyed, but find them I did.

During times when I've been under a lot of stress, reading these novels have helped me. I'm one of those people that, more often than not, reads the end of a book early on. I don't really do that with romance novels because I know a happy ending awaits. I don't want the heroine and the hero to have an easy time of it (angst and tortured souls are my romance catnip) but life beats the shit out of you enough on its own. Once in a while, I want to know the story I'm reading ends well.

For a long time, I refused to read romance novel hard copies on mass transit. For incredibly sexist and ignorant reasons, people feel completely free to criticize your reading material and your intellect if you have a romance novel in your hands. I also don't talk about it freely with just anyone. The judgement is real and I just don't want to deal with it.

So, here I am: confessing to anyone that might read this that I enjoy romance novels. I enjoy them frequently and with relish.

I have plenty to say about romance novels and how many people perceive them, but my advice to anyone that likes reading romance, or sci-fi, or fantasy, or whatever the hell else you enjoy, is the following:

Musings: Reading in Spain

Pictured: Carl and Ellie being an awesome couple.

For the first time in the 11 years that my husband and I have been married, we both got to go visit his parents in Madrid for the second year in a row. This meant, of course, that we would go visit some book stores in the city at least twice. Because that's how my husband and I roll. We're just cool like that.

One of the reasons Madrid is one of my favorite cities ever (besides the fact that I haven't really traveled that much and that I met my husband there) is that it is a city of readers. At least, it used to be. I remember taking the metro to university and seeing all these people reading during their commute. Mind you, during rush hour that is a feat of contortionism and determination.

Pictured: I'm pretty sure this is the one in Nuevos Ministerios. I think.

Also, they have libraries in the metro. Bibliometro, which I first saw in the Nuevos Ministerios metro station and I almost fainted with happiness. If DC Metro were even remotely competent, I would ask they get these immediately. (But that is another story.)

They also have Bibliobus, which is a library bus. A library bus, you guys! How can you not love a city with so much access to free reading materials for its residents?

Now, I'm sure there are other cities/communities that have comparable services. The DMV area, though, is not one of them. Thankfully, we have pretty fantastic county library systems here, so I can't complain too much. They have an uphill battle since this is certainly not a society of active readers. (Or is it?)

Which brings me to what got me thinking about writing this post in the first place. Spanish Television (RTVE, by its initials in Spanish), has a program called Página Dos. It's a half hour show all about books. They just started their 9th season with their 300th episode. In the episode, they interviewed a few famous Spanish authors. In one segment, they talk to authors about whether or not they can live exclusively from their writing. Julia Navarro, the author of La Biblia de Barro (The Bible of Clay), among other bestsellers, said that she thinks it's a miracle she now live off her writing since Spain doesn't have as many readers as it should.

What?!?!

Does she mean, like, the country as a whole? Doesn't most of the population in the country live in the big metro areas? So, like, they have access, right? Right???

During this last trip, I did notice that there are less people with hard copies of books. But! There are several things I attributed this to:

1. I did not go on metro during rush hour at all. 
2. I did see quite a few people using e-readers. 
3. Of those on their phones that I spied on, about half were reading a book.

Anyway, my main point (if I have one) is that I always experience some form of culture shock whenever I go to Spain. I've been married to a Spaniard for 11 years, we've been together for 14, and I still run into things I don't understand. They think they don't have enough readers, while I squee internally with glee whenever I'm there and see all of these readers.

Maybe the moral is that everyone, everywhere, should read more?

Review: Paris: The Novel

I have been incredibly lucky, despite what my times of incessant whining might suggest. One of the things I have been blessed enough to have done is to have traveled to Paris. Twice. Both times, I couldn't quite believe I was there. I'm one of those people that plans stuff, expecting that something will happen that will keep me from accomplishing my goal.

But not Paris! I've been to Paris. Twice!

That's me and my best friend, from ProlixMe, at Notre Dame, the first time I went to Paris. It's been a while.

And though I honestly believe that Madrid and Barcelona have nothing to envy modern day Paris, it's still one of my favorite places ever.

So, I've read quite a bit about Paris and stories set in Paris. My fascination with the city led me to pick up Edward Rutherfurd's quite hefty Paris: The Novel. I swear it took me ages to finish. The hardcover version is just over 800 pages long and it doesn't have large print, let me tell you.

The novel overall is not written in a linear fashion. Rutherfurd goes back and forth, with the overarching story being the one that goes in order. That one starts in Belle Epoque Paris, with three families at it's center. All the chapters set further back in the past connect to this story.

Rutherfurd goes back as far as 1261 and goes up to 1967. That's a lot to cover in one book. It felt like a novel with several short stories and/or novella's attached. Thankfully, the first few pages includes a family tree for each of the families covered in the novel. It really helped.

The part of the novel set during WWII got to me the most. You know bad things will happen. Of course they will. But the tragedy still made me tear up. It redeemed the book for me. Some parts went far too slowly and I felt didn't really succeed in showing me the heart of Paris. The lack of set focus on any of the characters made the city the real protagonist of the novel. Sometimes that really came through.

If you have the discipline, I would say this book is worth the effort. I stuck to it and I don't do that with books that don't hold my interest. But, though it's not a complicated read per se, it demands the reader's full attention.

Review: Deep Down Dark

Just in case you missed it, the fifth anniversary of the disaster at the San Jose mine in Copiapó, Chile is here. This will last a while, since the 33 men that were trapped in that mine didn't get out until October 13, though the accident occurred on August 5.

Take a good look at that date range. August 5-October 13. That's 69 days. For 69 days, 33 miners found themselves trapped about 2,300 feet below the ground.

Take a good look at that figure. Two thousand and three hundred feet inside a mountain. To put that into perspective, the tallest twin skyscrapers in the world, the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, measure just under 1,500 feet in height each.

In Deep Down Dark: The Untold Story of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine, and the Miracle That Set Them Free, Héctor Tobar does a fantastic job of reporting what took place before, during, and after the accident that thrust these 33 men and their families into worldwide fame.

Tobar really delves into the complex relationships that existed between all the players in this dramatic event. This means he doesn't sugar coat anything. These men, survivors of the highest order to be sure, are still men. They have flaws and virtues, just like everyone else, including the other players in these dramatic events.



It took me a bit to get through the book because I kept referring back the the pictures of the men to make sure I had the right face to each name. I really wanted to make sure I took in the story as being something that happened to real people, folks that got up one morning thinking they were going to have another ordinary day and found themselves living an extraordinary hell. Unfortunately, that didn't end after they were rescued.

The most heartbreaking part of the story, surprisingly enough, was the aftermath. Everyone thought these guys would be set for life. That's not what happened at all. Some, shockingly, have had to go back to working in the mines.

You think about the fact these men spent 69 days inside a mountain that never stopped rumbling. Really sit and stew in that. Then think about how some had to go back to the work that put them there.

I only have one thing that I didn't like about Tobar's writing: he expresses his own opinion more often than he should, IMHO. Of course, he's within his right, and he's the one that analysed all of the information he collected. Still, sometimes it seemed a little out of place.

Other than that, this is a really good book. Tobar reminds us that, at the heart of it all, this is a human story.

Strong Women in Books...and Four Jerks

So, I haven't been as good about blogging again this time as I would like. Sorry about that. I was taking a programming class that was totally kicking my ass. Basically, it stole all joy out of being on my laptop.

I'm in between classes now, so I figured I should go ahead and take advantage while I can. The class may have been manhandling me, but I still managed to sneak in time to read. I had to go looking through my Goodreads list, since that's how I keep track of what I've read. There are plenty of audiobooks in there right now, but since I commute a total of an hour every day, it adds up. I'll keep my reviews short, kind of like a round robin of what I've been reading/listening to for the last few months.

Books I've read:

• Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter, by Liz Wiseman and Greg McKeown. I had to read this for work. It had confirmed that I self-help books are really not my thing.
• Cuatro Amigos, by David Trueba. I believe this one isn't available in English. I'm pretty sure it's available as an ebook in Spanish, if you're really interested in reading it. A Spanish friend of mine recommended this book to me. She really loved it, saying it was true to life and hysterically funny. I really like this person, so, of course, because I am how I am, I haven't texted her yet to let her know I hated this book. I read it ages ago, and I still can't bring myself to tell her. The book is about four friends that go on a road trip together during their summer vacation. In Spain, folks get a full month or some such off, so they have plenty of time. The narrator is an asshole. His friends are assholes. The narrator's ex-girlfriend is an asshole. No one in this book has enough redeeming qualities for me to enjoy the story. Maybe the dog, but even he was kind of pathetic. It's well written, but that's about all I can say that is positive about this book.
• Murder on the Champ de Mars, by Cara Black. Aimée Leduc is back and she has a baby! This is the 15th (yes, you read that right) book in this series. I've enjoyed all of them. This time around, Aimée has to balance her job with being a single mother. René still helps out more than he should, and Morbier is still trying to keep Aimée out of trouble. This one definitely had quite a cliffhanger/shock ending, so expect to be pissed that the next book doesn't come out until next year.
• As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust, by Alan Bradley. Flavia is back! For those that have been following the series, this book will definitely come across as different from the others. You have to expect this as the series progresses, since Flavia can't be a pre-teen forever. She still has a wicked sense of humor and, of course, she's still brilliant. I know some of the fans didn't like the changes that took place in this one, but I think they work. I'm looking forward to the next installment.
• My Wish List, by Grégoire Delacourt. The only thing I can say definitively about this book is that it's very quick to read. Jocelyne, the story's protagonist, is a middle age woman who has a pretty normal and quiet life, with her husband of over 20 years and two grown children. She wins the lottery--a pretty decently sized prize--and instead of yelling into the four winds that she won, she decides to keep quiet and not cash the ticket right away. A twist in the middle of the book really jarred me. I kind of knew something like that might happen, but still. I recommend it, though I really still don't know what to think.

That's it for the round robin. The next few books I read I wanted to review on their own. Stay tuned.