RITA HAYWORTH and SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION (audiobook) by Stephen King

Originally published in 1982 as a novella in the collection Different Seasons.

Read by Frank Muller.
Duration: 3 hours, 57 minutes.
Unabridged.

I originally read this novella when it was published as a part of the collection called Different Seasons more than 35 years ago. This is the third time I have read this story, but the first time in the last 20 years.  I have never seen the beloved movie.

Stephen King

Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption tells the story of two prisoners in Shawshank Prison in Maine, starting in the late 1940's. One is the main supplier of things smuggled into the prison (but not hard core drugs) and the other is a banker that has been falsely convicted of murdering his wife and her lover. They are not exactly friends, but they are friendly and they certainly respect one another.

The banker has an odd habit of collecting rocks he finds in the prison yard and carving them into little sculptures - but could it be a sign of something more?

I have never seen the movie because I was always sort of indifferent to the novella. Strange considering that I've read it three times now. I gave it a try this time to see if my opinion had changed. Turns out it hasn't. Frank Muller did a fine job reading this story, but I still have to rate it 3 stars out of 5.

This story can be found on Amazon.com here: RITA HAYWORTH and SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION (audiobook) by Stephen King.

In November of 2023 it was announced that the group Moms for Liberty had challenged more than 300 books in Florida. This is one of the short stories in one of the books that the Moms challenged. Read more about the books here.

THE FIXER (audiobook) by Joseph Finder

 

Published in 2015 by Penguin Audio.

Read by Steven Kearney.
Duration: 9 hours, 33 minutes.
Unabridged.

The Fixer features Rick Hoffman, who used to be one of the biggest journalists in Boston. But, the magazine he worked for downsized and he lost his job. He also lost his girlfriend (undoubtedly related) and he had to move out. He is forced to move into his father's abandoned house. His father had a stroke years ago and Hoffman let his house fall into disrepair. It's been vandalized and it's pretty obvious that squatters have lived in it in the past. Basically, Hoffman is camping in the house.

His neighbor is a childhood acquaintance. The neighbor heads up a construction crew and offers to work with Hoffman to rehab the house with a sweat equity investment. As they are looking through the house Hoffman climbs into a secret attic room and finds a giant pile of cash - millions of dollars. He realizes two things: 1) this house is not a secure place and 2) he really doesn't know his neighbor that well and he's not sure how much of the money he saw and if can even trust him. 

Hoffman now has to use the skills he honed as a reporter to figure out where the money came from and what his incapacitated father was doing to amass a pile of cash. Soon enough, he discovers that someone with friends in powerful places wants their money back...

The premise of this audiobook is strong. The follow-through was not. There is a long scene at a very upscale men's store that goes into excessive detail when Hoffman uses some of the found money to buy a fancy set of clothes. It goes on and on and on and does very little to add to the story. It could have been handled in a single paragraph. It made me wonder if this was a real-life store in Boston and Finder was giving a friend some free advertising. The same thing happens just a few minutes later in the audiobook with a fancy restaurant. Editing these scenes could have cut at least a half an hour from the book and would have only helped it.

But, there were bigger issues. There are plot lines that dramatically start and then drop without explanation - specifically the interactions between Hoffman and the construction crew. It felt like someone suggested edits to Finder and he made them very sloppily, leaving plot threads everywhere.

This book could have been cleaned up, tightened up and perhaps clocked in at 7 hours and been a very good thriller. Instead, I am rating this audiobook 2 stars out of 5. This book can be found on Amazon.com here: THE FIXER by Joseph Finder. 

JESUS and JOHN WAYNE: HOW WHITE EVANGELICALS CORRUPTED a FAITH and FRACTURED a NATION (audiobook) by Kristen Kobes du Mez

 

Published on July 14, 2020 by Kalorama.

Read by Suzie Althens.
Duration: 12 hours, 3 minutes.

Unabridged.

Kristen Kobes du Mez comes to Jesus and John Wayne from the perspective of a person of faith. This is important because this book is highly critical of a certain strand of Christianity.

This strand of Christianity has replaced the values of Jesus with the values personified by John Wayne. Don't get me wrong - I have watched my fair share of John Wayne movies. I always stop to watch "The Cowboys" and the big muddy fistfight scene in "McClintock!" "Rooster Cogburn and the Lady" is one of my favorite westerns, even if it isn't a favorite of most John Wayne fans.

But, the lessons taught in most John Wayne movies are not the lessons taught by Christ. His movies rarely model turning the other cheek and often endorse revenge. They are escapist entertainment, but hardly the basis of a religious movement.

Or, are they? There is a movement in evangelical Christianity that endorses the idea that Jesus was a lot more like John Wayne than the traditionally thought. John Wayne becomes the model for the true Christian man - a man of action who acts the way a man ought to act - a man who is the "protector, provider and patriarch" as another book with both Jesus and John Wayne in the title concludes is embodied in the screen personae of John Wayne.

How did the come to pass? The author takes us back to the days of radio evangelists and finds that there has always been a manly man strain in the evangelical movement, even if those impulses contradict the teachings of Christ. The author follows that line of thinking as it matures a bit under Billy Graham and continues to grow until it comes into full flower with organizations like Focus on the Family and preachers that re-interpret (or outright make up) history just to prove their dubious theological points, like Douglas Wilson. 

At first I thought this book was dreadfully slow and not really making any points. I considered quitting the book. But, starting about 1/3 of the way in, it became obvious that she had been slowly building her argument by laying down a strong foundation for the rest of the book. I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5. 

Highly recommended.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: JESUS and JOHN WAYNE: HOW WHITE EVANGELICALS CORRUPTED a FAITH and FRACTURED a NATION.

HARRY POTTER and the PRISONER of AZKABAN (Harry Potter #3) (audiobook) by J.K. Rowling

Originally Published in 1999.

This audio edition published by Pottermore in 2015.
Read by Jim Dale
Duration: 11 hours, 49 minutes.
Unabridged

I am 21 years late to the Harry Potter party. I had seen the first movie and some of the second one but I knew nothing of this novel so I was able to come to it without having already formed any sort of impression.

The first part of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban disappointed me. The tried and true plot points of the first two novels were brought back (Harry and his horrible muggle family, yet another shopping trip for school supplies, a new super-fast broom was being sold, and a focus on the strange candy.  The monster books that were actually monsters themselves probably delight children (and it is a children's book so that it is appropriate), but this middle-aged teacher kept wondering what is wrong with the administration at Hogwarts when they let a teacher order a book like that!

A little past the halfway point, the novel takes a darker turn. This was a welcome change - the novel gets much more complicated and adult. Harry has multiple tough decisions to make and the action gets pretty complicated pretty quickly. I would rate the first half of the book 3 stars out of 5. I'd rate the second half of the book 4.5 out of 5. I'll make the whole book 4 stars out of 5.

The narrator, Jim Dale, is both a plus and a minus to the book. His voice characterizations for Hagrid and Professor McGonagall are excellent. However, almost all of his Slytherin characters sound the same and his characterization of Hermione Granger is horrible. She sounds like a nagging whiner.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: HARRY POTTER and the PRISONER of AZKABAN (Harry Potter #3) by J.K. Rowling.

Note: this entire book series has been on banned book lists multiple times since it was originally published due to complaints from religious conservatives. Check out this website for more info.

AFTER JESUS: THE TRIUMPH of CHRISTIANITY by Reader's Digest

Published in 1992 by Reader's Digest.

Back in the day, Reader's Digest was famous for taking a popular novel and editing it down without losing the essence of the story. They were so good at it that the phrase "the Reader's Digest version" was a common way of saying getting the short version of a story.

In this case, Reader's Digest has provided a short, easy-to-read and easy-to-follow history of Christianity from the death of Christ to the rise of Islam in 321 pages. It is also a passable history of the Roman Empire for the same time period.

Technically, this is a re-read for me. I enjoyed it thoroughly more than 20 years ago and to my surprise, i enjoyed it just as much the second time around. Look through 3 or 4 pages and you will see several full color photos of ancient art, artifacts or locations and, most importantly, get a solid rundown of the people, ideas and controversies of the era.

The only weakness is the periodic inclusion of illustrations from one of their staff artists. Those illustrations are very generic - like the stuff you would find in old textbooks. The cover is a great example of this. Don't let the cover dissuade you from taking a look at this book.

I rate this book 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: AFTER JESUS: THE TRIUMPH of CHRISTIANITY by Reader's Digest.

COUNTDOWN 1945: THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY of the ATOMIC BOMB and the 116 DAYS THAT CHANGED the WORLD (audiobook) by Chris Wallace and Mitch Weiss

Published by Simon and Schuster in June of 2020.
Read by one of the authors, Chris Wallace.
Duration: 8 hours, 40 minutes.
Unabridged.

The 116 days referred to in the title is the time between the day that Harry S. Truman became President and the day the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Chris Wallace quickly catches the reader up on what was going on and then uses a countdown for the chapters to add a sense of drama - will the scientists make it on time?

Of course, we know that they do succeed - the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are one of the most well-known historical facts of the 20th century. Wallace's re-telling of the story in Countdown 1945 is full of facts but not particularly told in an interesting way.

For example, there is a great deal of information about the Potsdam Conference (July 17 - August 2, 1945) that met in Germany. The Conference was important because it included the leaders of the USSR, the United States and the UK and in many ways it paved the path for post-war Europe and the Cold War. But, there was so much detail involved (dinner sets, meals, the weather, the cars they rode in) that it began to feel like filler.

Mushroom clouds from the bombings of the Japanese cities of
Hiroshima (left) and Nagasaki (right)

Of course the Potsdam Conference is an important part of the story, but the main story was the construction, testing and deployment of the bombs. If I had been the editor of this book, I would have pushed for more information on the physical results of the bombs and their effects on the residents of Nagasaki and Hiroshima and less on the mundane details of the Potsdam Conference like descriptions of the meals they ate.

Note: I thought the authors did a very good job of explaining both points of view on the atomic bombings of Japan, but eventually settle on the argument that they were horrible weapons, but their use was justified.

The audiobook was read by Chris Wallace, one of the authors. This makes sense considering that Wallace is a nationally known television personality. At first I thought this was a great choice. I enjoy Wallace's Sunday morning political show and I think he is a tough, fair interviewer and I like his style. But, that unique voice of his started to wear on me after a while. Not a bad book - I wouldn't tell someone not to read it or listen to it - but not as good as it could have been.

So, I rate it 3 stars out of 5 because parts of the book felt padded and the narrator's voice wore on me.  This book can be found on Amazon.com here: COUNTDOWN 1945: THE EXTRAORDINARY STORY of the ATOMIC BOMB and the 116 DAYS THAT CHANGED the WORLD by Chris Wallace and Mitch Weiss.

DEMOCRACY in ONE BOOK or LESS: HOW IT WORKS, WHY IT DOESN'T, and WHY FIXING IT IS EASIER THAN YOU THINK (audiobook) by David Litt

Published by HarperAudio in June of 2020.
Read by the author, David Litt.
Duration: 11 hours, 51 minutes.
Unabridged.

David Litt is a former speech writer for President Obama. You need to know that before you read Democracy in One Book or Less, David Litt is unapologetically liberal. If that is a deal breaker for you, don't even bother to pick this book up.

Personally, I am not a liberal, but I do enjoy political discussion and hearing different people's points of view. Litt offers plenty of both.

The book starts off with a weird stunt involving Mitch McConnell's former fraternity house. This almost made me abandon the book, but the book got better pretty quickly.

The primary point of the first half of the book is that state and local governments work very hard to make sure that voting is not particularly easy, especially when compared to other countries. For example, Texas has especially tough voter registration laws that make it hard to organize registration drives. On top of that, it is a crime for a non-Texan to touch a Texas voter registration form.

Florida has a lot of laws that make you a felon, criminalizing behaviors that might not even be worthy of mention in other states. Felons are not allowed to vote (even those that are done serving their time) and more than 10% of the state of Florida's population is not allowed to vote, 23% of the African American population. Just to compare - some states allow felons to vote - even those that are currently serving time in prison!

Gerrymandering is also an issue - personally, it is my biggest area of concern because I have seen some very oddly shaped Congressional districts designed to create safe seats for sitting representatives.

Litt moves on to a weaker section of the book, in my mind. He spends a great deal of time going after the Senate. He is bothered that each state gets two Senators and spends a lot of time detailing how this could be changed. This was interesting, but pointless. There is absolutely no push for this. He also discusses changing the Electoral College - that is a discussion that might possibly go somewhere.

The last third of the book talks about the inner workings of the Congress - both

Mitch McConnell

the House and the Senate - and how those inner workings often favor doing nothing, which can increase the political clout of the GOP. They also affect the choices made for federal judiciary positions, including the Supreme Court. Mitch McConnell (the Senator from Kentucky who heads the Senate) does not come out looking well in this section.

Bottom line: Informative political discussion with a pronounced slant.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: DEMOCRACY in ONE BOOK or LESS: HOW IT WORKS, WHY IT DOESN'T, and WHY FIXING IT IS EASIER THAN YOU THINK by David Litt.