Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion

A Star Is Bored by Byron Lane

Welcome to the buddy read for our giveaway book!

Synopsis
A hilariously heartfelt novel about living life at full force, and discovering family when you least expect it, influenced in part by the author’s time as Carrie Fisher’s beloved assistant.

Charlie Besson is about to have an insane job interview. His car is idling, like his life, outside the Hollywood mansion of Kathi Kannon. THE Kathi Kannon, star of stage and screen and People magazine’s worst dressed list. She needs an assistant. He needs a hero.

Kathi is an icon, bestselling author, and an award winning actress, most known for her role as Priestess Talara in the iconic blockbuster sci-fi film. She’s also known for another role: crazy Hollywood royalty. Admittedly so. Famously so. Fabulously so.

Charlie gets the job, and embarks on an odyssey filled with late night shopping sprees, last minute trips to see the aurora borealis, and an initiation to that most sacred of Hollywood tribes: the personal assistant. But Kathi becomes much more than a boss, and as their friendship grows, Charlie must make a choice. Will he always be on the sidelines of life, assisting the great forces that be, or can he step into his own leading role?

Laugh-out-loud funny, and searingly poignant, Byron Lane's A Star is Bored is a novel that, like the star at its center, is enchanting and joyous, heartbreaking and hopeful.

I hope people have received their copies (at least the electronic ones...) and are ready to go with this.

Got mine, shall start it later today. probably. I need motivation to start it....

Cat wrote: "Got mine, shall start it later today. probably. I need motivation to start it...."

same, I've been struggling to read books with my eyes and feel a bit overwhelmed by all the books I still need to read this year to finish the popsugar reading challenge 😬

but I'll try to start it tomorrow!

I've managed to start it! Have read the first 3 chapters so far. It feels like the author has taken his life and put a thin veneer of fiction on top at the moment.

Sophie wrote: "I've managed to start it! Have read the first 3 chapters so far. It feels like the author has taken his life and put a thin veneer of fiction on top at the moment."

yes!

though hopefully he's not actually as annoyingly whiny as the narrator is...

I suspect this will be a slow read for me, as I'm not (3 chapters in) loving the voice.

Well I'm halfway through now. Slow and steady progress seems to be the way to go. He gets less whingy as it goes on which is a definite bonus!

Good to know, Sophie! I'm still somewhere in the middle of Chapter 3 and I usually HATE stopping mid-chapter...

Final review:

Hmmm. I struggled to get into this. The main character is quite whiny and self-pitying which is not what I want to read and I felt like it was a thinly veiled autobiography of the author. There were some good moments between Charlie and Kathi, and the changes to Charlie's life outside of his job were better. I think the author would have done better to step further outside his personal experiences, despite the disclaimer that this is fictional.

Christina, that's not a good sign at all! If it doesn't improve for you, there is no shame in dropping it.

The audiobook will be available for me on 11/29 on scribd so I'll give that a shot then if I don't get any further into the ebook.