January-March 2016 books

Orgullo y Prejuicio (graphic novel). Dec. 2015-Feb. 2016
My dad bought me a graphic novel version of Pride & Prejudice in Spanish, as a Christmas present. It's an ok envisioning; the speech bubbles' copying and pasting of text should have been edited a bit more closely, and I don't like how all the girls look 16 and all the guys look 40. The artwork was kinda cartoony, and more detail/accuracy could have been kept in the depictions of clothing, etc. 3.9/5

Bon Appetit by Sandra Boyd. early January
A Christian chick lit book about an American woman who moves to France to become a pastry chef in a culinary school. Great depictions of baking and food; this made me want to visit France so bad! I think this is part of a series, although it stands alone. 4/5

Epic by John Elderidge. early January
This is a reread I did one Saturday afternoon. I do love books that are like 'there's a spiritual reasoning behind loving fairytales/myths/etc.!' 4.9/5

Behind Lewis's Lions: Searching the Bible for C.S. Lewis's Lions by Mary Tilden. Jan.-Feb.
This was a free Nook ebook I was initially excited to read, but turned out to be kinda dull and repetitive. I did learn a bit about how the Bible portrays lions, but it's annoying to me when books are like "look up these 8 Bible verses!" without providing the text (I'm lazy, ok?). Plus she did that thing where she extrapolated too much from it, like, "see how the Bible portrayed lions like this? Lewis clearly was referencing/inspired by that when he wrote Aslan!!" Like, not necessarily. 3/5

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. mid February
I had heard good things about this book, but didn't get around to reading it until my book club chose to read it. This (library) book was really good but SO SAD. I'm talking major domestic abuse/violence situation as well as mean school bullying. Teens from different social backgrounds are thrust together in their high school, bond over music and comic books and overcome obstacles like cliques and fear of what others think to fall in love, set in the 1980s.  Like I'm glad? I read it, but it did a number on me emotionally. It ends on a happy note, I guess. 4/5

Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris. Mid-late March
I read and own Me Talk Pretty One Day and loved it, so I was excited when the next book my book club chose was this one (and lbr, we needed a lighthearted palate cleanser after E&P). David Sedaris is a great writer and very funny/outlandish, but I didn't like this book as much as MTP1D. I don't know if it was lesser in quality or humor, or if I just now have way less patience for privileged white men's opinions about stuff (especially about other cultures and/or race). I think the funniest essay/story was about Costco. 3.9/5

Batter Up by Robyn Neeley. Late March
The least substantial of all chick lit about a baker chick whose cupcake batter spells out the name of the person a bachelor is going to marry. I was interested in the magic stuff, but the author chose to focus more on the stale "bicker then fall for each other" and "quirky/meddling small town" tropes, which made it pretty lame and forgettable. 3/5