I used to think that I had some sort of psychic power, be it the power to read minds or even to predict the future would be somewhat helpful. But what if those powers can do something like help other humans from dying? Would you take the risk and use your powers for good or for yourself?
Simone and Her Books
books, reviews, and recommendations
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Welcome to April! Like every month, there’s so many exciting new books coming out that I need a place to keep track of them all. I hope some of these are also on your list!
Here’s what I’m most excited about coming in April 2018!
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If you were born a first-generation child of an immigrant, then this story will resonate so much in your heart that it might break.
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When it comes to reading, it’s always important to have the essentials by your side. You’ll need some water for hydration and tea or coffee for the hygge effect. Pillows and blankets for warmth (or comfort if you’re me) and candles because why not?
But one thing I always also remember to include is a snack. I’m a huge fan of snacking while reading. I feel like my hands need to shovel my feelings into my mouth while I’m reading through a particularly difficult passage.
However, not all snacks are created equal and if you’re reading a book the one thing you don’t want to do is stain or crumb up your pages with your chocolate mousse or Oreo cookies.
So here’s some of the snacks I prefer to eat (with a lot of photos I found while digging through my photo gallery):
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When I first started reading this book, I honestly thought this was going to be one of those super YA stories about a young woman who is on the brink of growing up and falls in love. Yes, it is all those things, but there is so much more to this than just vapid annoyance.
Trigger warning. Please note that this book has themes of:
- Grief/loss
- Mental health issues
- Eating disorders
- Suicide
- Drug abuse
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Nothing goes better together than a big book to read and a warm cup of tea. That’s why I’ve partnered with Sips By to share with you my great new tea subscription.
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This is an incredible story about how a young teenager sets out to find the truth behind her mother’s passing. What she finds is something way more than she imagined.
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“Good Lord, why have you never taken me to that place before?” Alexa asked him. “I’ve never had pancakes that good.”
I don’t know about you, but I’m a huge fan of reading and eating. Whether it’s a small snack or a full on meal, I can always be found with a book in hand and a fork in the other.
So I wanted to share some of the culinary foods I love to make for my reads. Have you ever wanted to eat what your character was eating? Does the thought of something scrumptious in your book stir your cravings? Well, this is exactly what I want to do in this series.
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Little Reads is a weekly blog post dedicated to short stories or essays I find interesting online. They may be older posts or they may have published recently, but you will always find a link to those posts and my opinions here.
First off, while this isn’t a short story or an essay, I did want to share this amazing obituary written about the late Stephen Hawking. I’m not a physicist or have an interest in learning physics, but I admire this man. Despite the lengths his body endured through his sickness he continued to study and create many new theories. His contributions to science and physics help to bring more answers to what the meaning of the universe is. I even learned a little bit about the Hawking radiation, which is aptly named after him.
Now that he’s even more a part of the fabric of the universe, I read this amazing obituary from the New York Times about what he was able to accomplish in his life with Lou Gehrig’s disease. It’s a pretty lengthy article highlighting many accomplishments of his life and some of it was a bit difficult to grasp because of the science, but still I would strongly recommend skimming.
The main thing they talk about here is his work with black holes. According to this and his theory, he believed that black holes not only sucked in a lot of materials, but it also radiated some materials back. I’ve read a lot of Science Fiction to know that a black hole is nothing but destruction. If I’m correct in this (and I’m probably not because I’m not a physicist), Stephen Hawking’s theory means that what we believed to be this swirling death hole not only destroys but creates. I mean, if you’re a scientist, that’s something big right?
Image from Lit Hub website: https://lithub.com/esme-weijun-wang-finds-her-way-back-to-a-beloved-childhood-dish/ The second article I found was this beautiful one written by Esme Weijun Wang and her struggle with her chronic illness. She talks about her fight with Lyme disease and how that’s essentially made her gluten-sensitive. She then goes into discussing the joys of enjoying a bowl of noodles from Taiwan and how that made her feel terrible and the adaptations we all have to make when trying to survive.
I resonate so much with this article. Ever since finding out that I have chronic Hashimoto’s and hypothyroidism, I try my best to stay gluten and dairy free. I mean, I do have my weak moments where I get a cheeseburger or whip up a batch of my homemade mac and cheese, but I can never eat gluten and dairy regularly to keep my thyroid and body as healthy as I can.
But there’s so many things I miss from my childhood and a lot of that includes food from Asian countries. While my symptoms when eating these foods aren’t as bad (I get a slight headache), I still feel the sacrifices you have to make in order to stay alive. I have to sacrifice a little bit of my own heritage so that I can continue to maintain my body without ups and downs of thyroid issues.
And it kills me sometimes. I would do anything for a giant bowl of noodles but I also know that I’m better off with some meat, veg, and a bowl of rice.
We all have to make sacrifices and you can meet those sacrifices with a positive attitude and you can have that bowl of noodles. It can taste exactly like home despite the minor changes you had to make.
If you have any little reads to suggest, contact me and let me know! I would love to read your little reads.
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Well, if you follow me on Instagram then you know that I’m obsessed with the new trailer for Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. Check out the new trailer above.
Simone and Her Books 