Bite Size Reviews: Jan 2016 Edition

Greetings Bookworms!

I’ve been reading more than I’ve been blogging lately, and believe it or not, I’ve been reading things OTHER than Harry Potter. Of course, Harry Potter is so SOUL CONSUMING that I didn’t feel like discussing anything else. Today we’re going to play catch up and take a quick look at some of my recent reads.

Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things by Jenny Lawson: I feel like a turd for throwing this into a mini review because I love The Bloggess and I wanted to dedicate a whole post to her. I mean, I love her enough to spend like 6 months worth of Amazon Affiliate commissions on her book. (You think I’m exaggerating, but my affiliate commission account currently has 16 cents in it. When I talk about small commissions, I mean smaaaaaaaaaall.) Of course, I left it so long between reading the book and talking about it, I’ve lost some of my brilliant insights. Mental illness is different for everyone who suffers, but Jenny Lawson tells her stories with such grace (it’s a relative term, okay?) and humor that on the rare occasion I couldn’t relate to an anecdote, I at least felt like I understood on some level. Lawson’s humor is bizarre and random, but I feel like she’s on my wavelength. If you’ve ever read and enjoyed her blog, definitely give her books (both of them!) a whirl.

Sheltering Rain by Jojo Moyes: I checked this bad boy out of the library digitally because that’s how I roll. What can I say? I felt like exploring the Jojo Moyes backlist because she is some kind of wonderful. Sheltering Rain delivered some serious emotional punch along with painfully gorgeous Irish scenery. I liked it, though not as much as some of her other books. I probably would have liked it more if I knew anything at all about horses. Or if the horses had been penguins. Only that would have been really weird because you can’t ride a penguin. Although, you guys remember Even Stevens? Louis wore a penguin jockey costume one Halloween episode. Man. Now THAT was a Disney Channel show.

How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez: I’ve had this sitting on my kindle for FAR too long, but since it was a free download (there was some sort of rockin’ special once upon a time, I didn’t pirate it. I denounce all piracy that doesn’t involve parrots, eye patches, and sea chanties), I don’t feel too guilty about the procrastination. A family of four daughters immigrate to the US after being persecuted by a super scary secret police force in the Dominican Republic. The family were essentially the Kennedys of the Dominican Republic- they had money, power, and lived on a massive compound with a whole bunch of staff. When they came to the states, the story was COMPLETELY different. The book was all kinds of interesting and is ripe for the intellectual pickings. Unfortunately I’m not in a very intellectual mood, so I’ll just tell you that you ought to read it.

So, Bookworms. Whatcha reading? 

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