Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

A passionate author can make all the difference

Check, Please! Book 1 #Hockey by Ngozi Ukazu

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I had seen this floating around, but it wasn’t until I saw Ngozi Ukazu speak at the NYPL professional day at New York Comic Con this year that I really wanted to read it.  I had seen the cover and thought, “Oh, hockey, not really for me,” and passed it by. But seeing Ukazu speak so passionately about her work inspired me to seek it out. (Fun fact – my public library where I work did not have it, but the high school where I […]

It’s OK, But There Are Probably Better Cookbooks for New Cooks

Hack Your Cupboard: Make Great Food with What You've Got by Alyssa Wiegand and Carla Carreon

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To start, I have to say that I hate the title. As a curmudgeon, I think that using trendy buzzwords in your title is off-putting and will age both badly and quickly. In addition, I think it’s misleading. A hack is creating a shortcut or workaround. That covers about half the book, but the book is really about developing and building on kitchen skills. The book takes the reader from still living in their family home through dorm room cooking, the first shared kitchen, to […]

I Wondered. “Where Are All the Black Cooks?”

The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks by Toni Tipton-Martin

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It’s one thing to know intellectually that a system of oppression requires erasure of the oppressed, and another thing to try to understand how that erasure happens and glimpse the truth being hidden. When I read Michael Twitty’s The Cooking Gene, he referenced Toni Tipton-Martin’s The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks. It immediately went on my tbr. A few weeks ago I was browsing around on NetGalley and saw it there, though it was published in 2015. I snapped it up and […]

Her big Filipino Christian Egyptian Muslim Life: And isn’t it grand?

I Was Their American Dream: A Graphic Memoir by Malaka Gharib

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I Was Their American Dream: A Graphic Memoir is a humorous look at when cultures clash and you are the result. Malaka Gharib’s coming of age story shows how life is a balancing of yourself. And, finally finding your place where you have all your pieces comfortable. And love can happen anyplace. Even to an Egyptian Muslim and a Filipino Catholic. And a year after marrying they can have their American Dream: a girl named Malaka (like Monica with an L). Yet, clashes happen. Divorces […]

An Update Worth Investing In, With Caveat

Tartine: A Classic Revisited: 68 All-New Recipes + 55 Updated Favorites by Elizabeth M. Prueitt, Chad Robertson

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I almost died from joy when I saw Tartine: A Classic Revisited on NetGalley, and then I was granted my request to review it (this is an honest review). I have the original Tartine (thank you Mrs. Julien). It is the cookbook I pull out when I need baking inspiration or life inspiration. Prueitt and Robertson put some thought into this update and added in some variations and many new recipes which makes it worth owning. Tartine is a baker’s cookbook. It is not for beginners. […]

You are invited to a Tea Party for Mr. Pumpkin and his friends

Mr. Pumpkin’s Tea Party by Erin Barker

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I am sorry to say I was disappointed in the story of Mr. Pumpkin’s Tea Party. A child will probably enjoy the counting aspect and enjoy seeing all the goodies and people that are coming to the tea party, but this story has been done before. This is not to say Erin Barker’s book is bad. Far from it. It is a delightful Autumn story. It is great for Halloween without being SPOOKY. But not really spooky-spooky, you know? It is a cozy book. It […]



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