Snacks & Paperbacks

Ambitious New York City teenager Craig Gilner is determined to succeed at life - which means getting into the right high school to get into the right job. But once Craig aces his way into Manhattan's Executive Pre-Professional High School, the pressure becomes unbearable. He stops eating and sleeping until, one night, he nearly kills himself. Craig's suicidal episode gets him checked into a mental hospital, where his new neighbors include a transsexual sex addict, a girl who has scarred her own face with scissors, and the self-elected President Armelio. There, Craig is finally able to confront the sources of his anxiety. Ned Vizzini, who himself spent time in a psychiatric hospital, has created a remarkably moving tale about the sometimes unexpected road to happiness. This book, compared to my other reads so far this year, is old. It was first published in 2006, so that makes it about 12 years old. The first time I read this was in 2011 and my goodness, I LOVED ...

For the first time ever, Lily shares her life and her own deepest secrets, underlining that every single one of us experiences pain and heartbreak. We all understand what it’s like to live in the light and in the dark. For Lily, it’s about making it through to the other side, where you love what you see in the mirror and where you embrace yourself just as you are. She's learned that all it takes is one person standing up and saying something for everyone else to realize they’re not alone. By turns hilarious and heartbreaking, Lily’s honest voice will inspire you to be who you are and say what you feel. It’s time to claim your voice! It’s time to live your life unfiltered. The first chapter explains exactly what I know her from. She came to my attention when I was in a stage of my life where I was very insecure. Then one time, I read all this criticism about her eyebrows: how they were too big and too bushy. I never agreed, I though her eyebrows look good. Then I read...

A contemporary novel about three adopted siblings who find each other at just the right moment. Being the middle child has its ups and downs. But for Grace, an only child who was adopted at birth, discovering that she is a middle child is a different ride altogether. After putting her own baby up for adoption, she goes looking for her biological family, including— Maya, her loudmouthed younger bio sister, who has a lot to say about their newfound family ties. Having grown up the snarky brunette in a house full of chipper redheads, she’s quick to search for traces of herself among these not-quite-strangers. And when her adopted family’s long-buried problems begin to explode to the surface, Maya can’t help but wonder where exactly it is that she belongs. And Joaquin, their stoic older bio brother, who has no interest in bonding over their shared biological mother. After seventeen years in the foster care system, he’s learned that there are no heroes, and secrets and fears ar...

Eight-year-old Wavonna (Wavy) Quinn is the daugther of a meth-dealer knows not to trust anybody, not even her parents. S truggling to raise her little brother, Wavy is the only responsible "adult" around. She finds peace in the starry Midwestern night sky above the fields behind her house. One night everything changes when she witnesses one of her father's thugs, Kellen, a tattooed ex-con with a heart of gold, wreck his motorcycle. What follows is a powerful and shocking love story between two unlikely people that asks tough questions, reminding us of all the ugly and wonderful things that life has to offer. Well, the blurb was right: a shocking love story. The subject makes it quite hard to review, because I don't want to give anybody the wrong idea. So, to all of you reading this: I do not support these kind of relationships. "Odd couple that they were, they had a real connection." So, the subject made this a very ambigiuous story, as it ...

"What better gift can you give someone than making them feel more beautiful inside?" I decided to start the year of by trying to get inspired to work on and improve myself. I don't really have any resolutions for the new year, because I know I have trouble sticking to them, but I thought that starting the year with trying to get an even more positive outlook on life couldn't hurt. Then, last December, Lindy Tsang (Bubzbeauty on YouTube) had her first book coming out! When I heard about the news, I dreaded it was going to be 'just another book', but she started telling about what she was going to be writing about and she got me really excited for this one. I've followed Lindy on YouTube for quite some years now and always found myself awestruck by her positive outlook on life and her knowledge of who she was. She, to me, is a rolemodel on how I would love myself to be: honest, real, kind and loving. When the release date (December 12th) was announced,...

Every year I like to set a few reading goals for myself, because the feeling you get when you accomplish a goal is amazing and rewarding. Whenever I accomplish a goal, I feel invincible! It makes me feel super confident and ready to take on the world. How many? So, I set myself the goal of reading (at least) 40 books this year. Last year, my goal was 24 (2 books each month) and I finished with 33 books, which was totally unexpected! If you want to know which 33 books I read, check out my 2017 bookshelve on Goodreads, which you can find here ! Because of my unexpected succes, I decided to aim a little higher this year. I did some calculations about this: 365 days in the year devided by 40 books: this leaves me 9 days per book I read, which I feel comfortable with. Share! Another goal I've set myself is to review all the books I read. This is something I hope (and expect) my blog to help me with. I love talking about books, but I've found when I'm putting my thoughts t...

Hello to all of you reading this! My name is Demy and this is my blog, Snacks & Paperbacks. As I tried my best to make clear with naming my blog, this is a place where I am going to write about two of the things I love most: food and books. So, this blog is going to be filled with things that have to do with those two subjects. There's going to be bookreviews, reccomendations, all things bookrelated. But also, recipes I tried and love, things that inspire me to cook and everythings else that has to do with my love for food. So it's going to be fun! I am excited for this journey to start. So, ready, set... Go!