Please. I'm badass, but I'm no thief.
Originally, this was a #Bookstagram tag, so don't forget to go check out all the pretty pictures! Unfortunately very few of them actually feature cake - although, let's be honest, even if they all did it still wouldn't be enough cake - but maybe you could look at them ... then look at some cake?
Oh, I see. You've already eaten it.
#1 ~ CHOCOLATE CAKE
a dark book that you absolutely love
Not only is Deidre Sullivan's Needlework one of the most unapologetically fearless books I've read in my entire life, but it's properly dark. Beautifully dark. There are so many gritty YA books that seem like they're being gritty for the sake of it. They feel like some poor misguided person has decided all they need to do for the teens to like them is be "edgy". But this was dark because it needed to make a statement. And I adored it.
On a slight side note, I GOT TO MEET THE AUTHOR AT YALC TODAY, and she is genuinely one of the nicest people ever. I will treasure that signed copy for ever.
#2 ~ VANILLA CAKE
a light read
Oh gosh I think The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli might have caused me to lose an eye thanks to excessive squeeing. It was cute and fresh and cute and self-discovering and cute and diverse and cute and did I mention how cute it was yet?
There's also an awful lot of lovely food descriptions going on, so I'm pretty sure its characters would be very happy to be in a vanilla cake category. Preferably one with mini eggs on the top? And lots of super-special cookie dough that's made specifically to be eaten raw? (Actually, I'm now imagining Molly baking a cake like that for Reid and now I'm dying of the feels AGAIN.)
#3 ~ RED VELVET
The full review I was planning to write on the blog at the time never materialised, but you can get an idea just how torn up I was feeling after reading this book by reading my Goodreads review. On the one hand, I guess I was kind of glad that disability was being represented to the masses? And, unlike an awful lot of people, I felt that the ending was at least in character, despite it being a little bit problematic.
But I'm also of the opinion that any portrayal of pretty much anything that ends up being this patronising has not been researched or thought out properly. Lou's absolute inability to think anything through when it came to what might be difficult for Will was properly frustrating (it's possible to do an awful lot of things in an electric wheelchair, but not through sheer optimism. You need a PLAN. And almost everyone else in the book would have told her that, if she'd bothered to ask.); the author's constant assumptions that a disabled person definitely wouldn't be reading the book left me furious, and the general feeling that lives with physical disabilities are inherently tragic was just utterly heartbreaking.
Is that mixed enough for you?
#4 ~ CHEESECAKE
a book you'd recommend to anyone
Oh WOW so so many. I hate to be prescriptive about what people read, because of course there's no book that everyone's going to love equally. (The original draft of this post contained a very elaborate metaphor attempting to explain how stupid it would be to expect everyone to love one book, but ... it was a fashion metaphor and I know exactly nothing about fashion.)
My point is, there's no book that everyone's going to love. But there are books that have subject matters so important that I think everyone should at least try to read them.
What springs to mind right this instant is The Hate U Give by Angie Stanton, because, to quote the slightly all-over-the-place notes I wrote immediately after reading: "As a white person, I'm sure I probably won't ever fully understand how important this book is, but I will spend my entire life trying."
You heard me. Go read it!
#5 ~ COFFEE CAKE
a book you started but never finished
I really wish that this wasn't the case, but I never got to the end of The Handmaid's Tale by Margret Atwood. I KNOW. I'm TERRIBLE. It really makes me sad - I absolutely definitely wanted to finish it before the TV show started so I could watch it and be well informed.
But then it was long and there were other books on my TBR that just seemed more interesting and apparently I'm terrible at making excuses.
#6 ~ CARROT CAKE
a book with great writing
Since the astronomically late Wrap-Up that I posted on Wednesday, I have actually finished The List by Sioban Vivian, and while it wasn't one of my favourite books of the year (mostly because it ended about four chapters before I think it should have - much growling), I can't deny that I have absolutely no clue how the author managed to keep all the different characters and their viewpoints separate, to the point where I could tell who was narrating each chapter within sentences, without reading their name headings and despite long breaks between readings.
I thought it was very well written, anyway. But it appears that Goodreads disagrees with me.
#7 ~ TIRAMISU
book that left you wanting more
First of all, I have a serious problem with this prompt. Tiramisu does not leave me wanting more, it leaves me wanting something very sweet to wash it down with and preferably a time machine to prevent my past self from naively biting into what I can only describe as a bitter, coffee flavoured hell.
Anyway.
I have been waiting for Obsidio, the final book in Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff's Illuminae Files, for almost six months now and there are still another nine to go. I am absolutely dying. So I guess you could say that the amazing Gemina left me wanting more.
*quietly explodes*
#8 ~ CUPCAKES
a series with 4+ books
Uhhhhh ... brain coming up completely blank ... somebody please help.
Harry Potter?
*cowers under weight of own unoriginality*
#9 ~ FRUIT CAKE
book that wasn't what you expected
Oh, The Sellout by Paul Beatty, absolutely without a doubt. I decided to join my Mum's proper-grown-ups book club last year, which was possibly a mistake since the books they read are, like, intellectual and that. Me with my immature nature and my stack of teen books didn't know what I was getting into. But when I heard that this book was a satirical look at racism within America and its judicial system, I was interested. I like challenging racism. I'm interested in law within America.
But what I got was a horrible confusing mess that SOUNDED LIKE it might have been trying to condone slavery. I know it's satire, so clearly that wasn't what it was actually doing, but the sarcasm was just too advanced for poor safe-minded me.
I expected interesting. I got confusing.
How sad.
#10 ~ LAMINGTON
favourite Australian books
I was going to change this one into Victoria Sponge, because being British I actually haven't read that many Australian books. (Utterly heartbreaking, I know, but if you're Australian please don't hate on me. Just ... send me recs to help rectify the situation?)
Luckily, I then remembered about the existence of The First Third by Will Kostakis, which is possibly my favourite book portraying Cerebral Palsy (which is my disability, in case anyone wasn't paying attention) of, well - ever.
There's a full review and interview with the author over on the Disability Diaries section of the blog, but in short: disabled person existing in a book. Disabled person being ridiculously realistic in a book. Disabled person having thoughts and feelings independent of their disability in a book.
Disabled person (!) who is also gay (!!) having romance (!!!) IN A BOOK (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
I was going to tag every blogger I knew who liked cake, but then I realised that if I did that I'd literally be tagging everyone. Feel free to steal it if you fancy!
Kate @ The Magic Violinist - because those cupcakes she made for her Tony's party were absolutely extraordinary.
Ely @ Tea & Titles - because she obviously needs tea with her cake.
Marie @ Lots of Livres - because we have a newbie to the community! HUZZAH!
***
