The Exchange

Good. Lord.

This is Kubi’s fault. I have just spent two hours giggling and exploding in fits of laughter and squee because of The Avery Shaw Experiment. Two hours that I should have spent sleeping because it is now almost three in the morning. Now I wouldn’t be able to sleep because I just have to think about Grayson and Avery like I do every time I finish a book.

This was a post by Hanna, who is still giggling like a schoolgirl with a crush.

It has been a rather difficult week. I am taking refuge in books and films and am now happily getting lost in Richard Siken’s poetry.

This was a post by Hanna, who is celebrating an extraordinary man’s life with her father and her extraterrestrial dog in their house by the woods.

This was a post by Hanna, who has just eaten the last Reese’s peanut butter cup.

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake is an odd little book. Aimee Bender paints a surreal world populated by fragile and vulnerable characters hounded by secrets and unusual gifts.

The novel begins with cake. A chocolate lemon cake, to be exact. Rose’s mother bakes her a chocolate lemon cake for her ninth birthday. When she takes a bite, she tastes her mother’s loneliness and hollowness. Soon after that, she begins to taste the emotions of whoever makes the food she eats. This becomes unbearable for her that she takes refuge in junkfood and vending machines. Her unusual superpower reveals people’s innermost secrets and desires and it helps unfurl the problems within Rose’s family.

It is easy to get lost in Bender’s language because she tells Rose’s coming-of-age tale with such beautiful prose that dispenses fantastical qualities to mundane everyday activities. However, I felt like the individual stories of Rose’s family should have been explored more. Insights into their lives were told in snippets and seemed to lead nowhere. In turn, the characters were not fully developed and plenty of questions were left unanswered. Having said that, I do enjoy reading Bender’s prose and I love how she uses Rose’s strange gift/curse as a metaphor for losing one’s innocence. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea but it is definitely an interesting read.

This was a post by Hanna, who wants to bake a pie.

This was a post by Hanna on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

This was a post by Hanna, who wants a Reese’s peanut butter cup. She is currently reading this book.

After immersing myself in the intense world of science and magic and history and fantastic creatures and tea, I have decided to read about sadness and gustatory pleasures and cake.

This was a post by Hanna, who is sprawled lazily on a black leather couch, listening to jazz on a Sunday morning.

This was a post by Hanna, who is comforted by poetry and dark chocolate cheesecake.

This was a post by Hanna, who has finally gone back home.

This was a post by Hanna, whose Sunday was spent eating ice cream in a garden, looking for dresses, and talking about important things with her secret agent lover man. She is currently reading this book.