The latest book that I have read was The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. I thought it was good, and would probably recommend it to someone around my age, maybe a little older. It took was written in letter form, which I know some people don't like to read, but it didn't bother me. The letters were from a quiet freshman, Charlie. He wasn't writing to anyone, but was writing just to someone who could listen. He was lost in high school in the beginning, and learned how to manage his feelings etc. with the help of his two new friends, Sam and Patrick. In the beginning, you learn that Charlie's only other friend committed suicide a year before. Charlie has had a lot of emotional issues, and his parents keep sending him to doctors. Sam and Patrick help Charlie out a lot, and soon enough he has a small group of friends. The story has a lot of life changing experiences for Charlie, and I won't name all of them so the novel still has something new to it if you read it. It basically just goes through his challenges of family and high school, and how it changes him. It's fairly short, although it took me a week to read because it's kind of slow moving. (I also didn't have a lot of reading time!) Anyway, I'll have more books up soon!
Now for a dessert....
A few weeks ago my brother graduated from high school. At the graduation party/lunch that we had with a few other families in our neighborhood, there was a graduation cake. The cake was....awesome. It tasted great, and it was really cool to see. I have attached a picture of it, hope you enjoy it!
~ Elizabeth
Sorry about the almost two month break between posts, I have been quite busy with school and exams coming up. Although I have been busy, I've also been reading constantly! Here's a review on a book that I read recently; as well as some dessert pictures from my spring break in Aruba!
The book that I am going to talk about is Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. I have seen the movie, (and yes, I read the book first), and I was quite surprised at how closely the movie followed the book. Although they cut out a few parts (which was probably necessary) and made it over a shorter time span, it was a pretty good movie. Anyway, the story of the book goes like this. Jacob Jancowski is a 90 year old man in a nursing home. He used to work on a circus in the 1930's, and he starts to tell his circus tales to a few people in the nursing home. He started the circus in his early 20's, after his parents died in a car accident. It was the day that he was taking his final exams at Cornell for vet school when his parents died, and he left the school and headed for the train tracks, looking for somewhere to go. He hopped on the circus train, and started a new life for himself. He was appealing to keep on the circus, because he was a vet, and they could use someone to take care of the animals. Shortly after joining the team, he met August and Marlena, a couple who were the lead act of the circus performance. Jacob becomes mesmerized by Marlena, and slowly, they fall in love. August has a hot temper, and after a night when he hits Marlena and Jacob, Jacob knows its time for him to leave that circus with Marlena. He is reluctant to leave because he is hiding his friend Camel, who's sick, from being red-lighted. He also doesn't feel comfortable leaving Marlena's elephant, Rosie, with August, who beats her when anything goes wrong. In the end, he and Marlena leave for a few days and come back to the circus to take Rosie, and join Ringling Circus after they get her. In stead, when they go back, the menagerie escapes during a performance, and it causes a tragic event for the circus. Marlena and Jacob lose each other during the chaos, but August finds Marlena and starts attacking her. Rosie, Marlena's elephant, was standing with them while this fight is happening, and with the swift slap in the head with a pole for August from Rosie, he is dead, and Marlena is saved. Jacob quickly finds Marlena, and they leave that circus forever. They get married and have 5 children after they're done working with Ringling. Jacob outlives Marlena, and tells his story only sometimes in his nursing home. In the end of the book, Jacob joins a recent circus, only to tell stories to the crew. The circus was his home, and he was glad to be there. I enjoyed reading this novel, as it is one of my few adult novels that I've read. I couldn't put it down, and finished it in a weekend! I would recommend it, but only for more mature readers.
Now, onto desserts! For spring break, I went to Aruba, and I have a few pictures of desserts that I had there. My favorite dessert that I had while we were there was probably the traditional tres leches cake that I had at a small, local cake shop. It was quite delicious, and the picture is below! We also had the traditional cashew cake, or bolo. It was also delicious...and I can't decide which I liked better!
The first cake is the tres leches, and the second is the cashew cake.
Hello, again!
Sorry about the long break in between posts, I've been busy with school, sports, music, etc. But here is the my update!
I recently just finished the book Matched by Ally Condle. It's a fiction/fantasy type book, and even though I don't usually like fantasy, I did enjoy reading this. The story line is about a future society, where the officials decide what you do, who you love, when you die, where you live, etc. The story begins when a teenage girl, Cassia, has her match banquet, which is when you find out who the officials have chosen for you to marry. Cassia ends up being matched with her childhood best friend, Xander. Cassia and Xander are quite happy with their match, but when Cassia gets home and looks in her match box, there is a second person that is matched with her too. This other kid is Ky, another person Cassia knows from school, and from her neighborhood. Ky has always been the mysterious one, and when he pops up in the box with Xander, Cassia is confused, and doesn't know what to do. Luckily, an officer comes to her the next day and tells her that it was all a misunderstanding and an accident, and that she is really just matched with Xander. Cassia still seems to be intrigued by Ky, and when they do the same summer hiking activity, she starts to fall in love with him. Soon, together they are writing and reading poetry, two things that they aren't allowed to do in their "society". Cassia feels like she has to be with Ky, even though she isn't permitted to. One day, the officials come to get Ky, and move him to an outer province to work. Everyone knows that really in the outer provinces, there is a war, and that they are taking Ky to start to fight in it. Cassia is extremely upset, and causes a scene while running down the street when he's leaving. the whole street of people are upset about where Ky is going, and the officials make them take a pill to erase their memory about Ky being harshly ushered away. Cassia and Xander are the only two who remember it. In the end, Xander approaches Cassia and tells her to go after Ky, but come back for him when/if it doesn't work out. The end doesn't really tell you if she finds Ky, or if she ends up with Xander. I enjoyed it, although some of the chapters seemed a little predictable. I would suggest it if you like fantasy, but also if you like just regular fiction.
Now, onto desserts!
Recently, my brother and dad went on a trip to Loyola University in New Orleans. They sent me some pictures of the two desserts that they had while they were out eating dinner, and they looked great! If only I had gone too! One of the pictures is of a chocolate cheesecake, and the other is of an "oooy-gooy chocolate cake"! Hope you enjoy the pictures!
Hi! Welcome to Sweet Reader!
I am Elizabeth, a 13 year old girl, and I have been taking pictures of desserts from everywhere for a few years. Over the time, I have collected quite the amount of pictures, but never really knew what to do with them. Over this past Christmas,while with my mom and some close family friends, The Prices, we came to the idea of starting a blog with my dessert pictures. I also am an avid reader, and have been reading books for Mrs. Price, a librarian at a local private school, for forever. So together we brainstormed and created the idea of Sweet Reader, a book/dessert blog. My first few posts are going to be from past desserts, and some books that I have recently read.
So to start the blog, I have a collection of some pictures from my first time going to Blackberry Farm, in Tennessee. I had some of the best desserts there, including a welcome sugar cookie shaped like a bear! These pictures are of the bear sugar cookie, a chocolate raspberry cake, and a raspberry pastry with vanilla ice cream.
So here's to the beginning of Sweet Reader, for anyone out there reading. I should be posting maybe every week, or whenever I can. Hope you enjoy!
- Elizabeth
