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It’s raining! Yay! I love it when it rains. It’s the only time that I can really hang around the house and relax. If the sun is out, then so are my kids and we end up wasting the weekend running back and forth between stuff. I really need to relax too as the week was a busy one and next week will be just as busy.

First off, an update on the play. Both, the Boy and Girl got parts in the show! Not the parts they tried out for but comparable parts. They are both happy and so am I. They just had a costume fitting and it’s all very exciting. If you are familiar with Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat the Boy is one of the brothers and will be singing One More Angel in Heaven (video from the film with Donny Osmond). The Girl is in a dance number. She is the Sun!

This past week, we attended Open House at the high school. They had an orientation for incoming students and when they said, “Please welcome the class of 2016” I just about passed out. Good lord! Where has the time gone! The Boy is going out for basketball and ASB (associated student body) so he plans to be busy. Of course, basketball camp conflicts with the show he is in PLUS any hopes of us taking a summer vacation so we won’t be going anywhere this summer. I am very excited for him. High school was such a fun time for me. I hope it is for him too. Somehow, we will work around the camp conflicts.

I am slowly catching up with my review writing, but I continue to be a reading fool so pretty soon, I am going to be behind again. I’m not sure how I got so far ahead of myself but I like it. I am finishing three more books today. After the three, I will be picking up We Need to Talk About Kevin and Arcadia.

Last night, the Girl and I had a movie night and watched Hugo. What a great movie! I haven’t read the book but she is doing that today. The movie was lovely. Just lovely and gorgeously rendered. I am going to make The Hub watch it today if I can tear him away from sports for a couple of hours. Speaking of movies, I haven’t seen The Hunger Games yet. I am going to wait until the hype dies down a bit.

Well, the rain is coming down outside, the house is clean and I’ve got nothing to do but read my books. A perfect afternoon if I do say so myself! Next week, open houses at both schools (on the same night!), and more rehearsals. Happy Sunday!

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake
By Aimee Bender
(Anchor, Paperback, 9780385720960, April 2011, 304pp.)

The Short of It:

A mix of sad and sweet but overall a very compelling read.

The Rest of It:

One day, as Rose Edelstein takes a bite of her mother’s lemon cake, she is overcome with feelings so powerful, that at first, she’s not sure what to make of them. Somehow, that one bite conveys sadness and an emptiness that leaves her chilled and confused. Her mother is… sad? Unhappy? How can this be?

Rose’s family is your typical family. At least, they appear to be. They are supportive of one another, loving and although quirky, on the outside they appear to be happily living the California dream. But there are problems, as evidenced by Rose’s ability to taste emotions and the fact that her mother is having an affair that only Rose knows about (she sensed it from her mother’s cooking). Having this “talent” is not like having a superpower. It’s a burden for Rose to feel these things so she tries her best not to feel them, by carefully choosing the foods she eats. By avoiding reality, really.

The first half of this book was wonderful. It was surreal and sweet and I found myself lost in Rose’s story, but the second half took a turn that I didn’t expect it to take and then I was in this weird place where (without giving anything away) I was like, “What the hell just happened here?” I remember putting the book down and thinking that these folks have issues! Issues, I say! Bender manages to reel you in, and then push you away, only to reel you in again because by the end of the book, I was liking it but not quite sure how to interpret what took place within it. It’s a book that I had to think about for a really long time before I could write anything about it.

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake is an incredibly sad book but one that was enjoyable to read. I think for the most part, me feeling that way is due to its quirky cast of supporting characters, who lighten things up and help put things in perspective. There is also a vulnerability to Rose that you can’t ignore. The message here is that everyone has their own gifts, what you choose to do with them, can often define who you are. Good or bad. I enjoy reading books like this because they are weighty, without being dense and give you plenty to think about.

Overall, a good read.

Note from Ti: Do people really put chocolate frosting on lemon cake? I think I must be missing out.

Source: Borrowed
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