Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Maybe 2024 will be the year I finally learn to like beets and-or fennel

Green Kitchen Smoothies by David Frenkiel, Luise Vindahl

by Leave a Comment

For the past several years, I’ve started the new year with a new (at least to me) cookbook to work my way through in as much of its entirety as possible. This coming year, I’ll be starting with two. One of them is Green Kitchen Smoothies. The title makes it pretty obvious what the main focus of the book is. One of the first interesting things is that the first few pages are actually useful, and not just generic ingredient or equipment reviews. The ingredient […]

Zooni is a plucky, friendly pup

Zooni Tales: Keep It Up, Plucky Pup by Vikram Madan

Zooni Tales: A Friend Till the End by Vikram Madan

by Leave a Comment

I ended 2023 with two sequels read in the young adult category (a thriller/mystery/romance and a humorous/romance/fantasy graphic novel) and a young early reader that is part of a series but it sounds like you can read in any order. Each one showed a part of my personality.  And my very little kid came out when I read Zooni Tales: Keep It Up, Plucky Pup by Vikram Madan. And while I can take or leave Zooni, they have some interesting elements that could really make […]

I ended 2023 reading Part 2

Moonstruck Volume 2: Some Enchanted Evening by Grace Ellis

by Leave a Comment

I ended 2023 with two sequels read in the young adult category and a young early reader that is part of a series but it sounds like you can read in any order. Each one showed a part of my personality.  After I read about Teen Killers/Assassins who are now in love and going on a Bonnie and Clyde-like spree (only, you know they are the “good guys””) I needed a little humor and read book two of the Moonstruck graphic novels. Moonstruck Volume 2: […]

Food and family

Rainbow Shopping by Qing Zhuang

by Leave a Comment

The publisher’s description of Rainbow Shopping by Qing Zhuang says “Shopping for and preparing a delicious meal helps a young Chinese American girl feel connected to her family.” But it is more than that. It is a way of her having a connection with her past and the present. And it shows a piece of her old home and her new home. We are able to see that while she cannot find everything she and her mother wanted for their special dinners (the whole family […]

An Approachable GBBO book just in time for the holidays

Cheeky Treats: Brilliant Bakes and Cakes by Liam Charles

by Leave a Comment

Every year I do a bit of shelf clearing, gathering things I’ve bought and probably read, that I am not likely to read again. I sell them, and use the funds for holiday travel to visit family, while trying to not buy too many replacements too quickly. I only got two books from the shop I sold an entire bin to, so that’s a win. Especially if one of them is a baking book by a Great British Bake Off participant who has become a […]

Cults, Sex, and Vegetarian Recipes

Holy Food: How Cults, Communes, and Religious Movements Influenced What We Eat ― An American History by Christina Ward

by Leave a Comment

I loved this book, which is an odd thing to say because it took me weeks to finish it. It is dense. And the crazy stuff that people called “religion” required more than a few re-reads. On Rosicrucianism Paschal Beverly Randolph saw sex as a powerful energy that could be controlled and sublimated into magical works. As he explored sex magic and the power of the Will, he came to odds with Madame Blavatsky who, as others have testified, tried to kill him with her […]



Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo