Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Chocolate used to be considered a health food. Where did we go wrong?

Great Moments in Chocolate History by Howard-Yana Shapiro

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Cbr15bingo edibles (bingo) Back at the beginning of May, my younger son asked me what I would like for Mothers Day. I told him that anything related to books, coffee or chocolate would be nice. He hit two out of three with this book, Great Moments in Chocolate History, published by National Geographic (2015). Howard-Yana Shapiro is a plant scientist and chief agricultural officer for Mars, Inc. This is a guy who knows chocolate science and provides a lot of interesting facts in relating the […]

A mystery complete with recipes!

Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala

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Lila Macapagal has had to move back to her hometown and work at her Aunt’s restaurant. As if that wasn’t bad enough, she has to serve food to her douchebag ex-boyfriend, who thinks of himself as a food critic. He writes terrible reviews of the family restaurant, yet insists on constantly eating there. One day, after Lila serves him some special desserts she made, he drops dead. The police immediately make Lila their only suspect. To make matters worse, the ex’s stepfather is the restaurant’s […]

“Big Pancake doesn’t want you to know this, but making pancakes is easier than you think.”

The Sad Bastard Cookbook: Food You Can Make So You Don’t Die by Zilla Novikov, Rachel A. Rosen, Marten Norr (Illustrator)

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When my brain is cooperating, I enjoy cooking. But as a neurodivergent person who lives by herself and absolutely has no idea what is presently in my refrigerator at any time (yes, even immediately after going to the grocery store) keeping myself fed has always been an interesting challenge that I attempt to hide from the world around me. I also tend to get stuck in eating the same thing over and over as many autistic folks do. Add to that the problem that meal […]

Family connections

I'll See You in Ijebu by Bunmi Emenanjo

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I usually am a fan of the books from Barefoot Books. And with I’ll See You in Ijebu I think I found my new favorite book this year (or for sure in the Top 15).  This is a delightful story of one young girl and the rich culture and family she comes from. We see how she celebrates both her mother’s family and their Muslim faith, and her immediate family and their Christian (specifically Catholic) faith as well. The two worlds are not separate, but can be […]

Doom Thorax has the Power (of reading)

Doom's Day Camp by Joshua Hauke

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I honestly was surprised at how much I liked the graphic novel, Doom’s Day Camp by Joshua Hauke. At first, I felt it was just going to be “dumb humor” or “not for everyone offbeat and off color humor” but most of it turned out to be pretty classy. (Okay! Okay! There is one earth shattering f**t, but it did save the day! And frankly, f**ts are funny if they happen to someone else.) The ideas, of course, have been done before (a nerd/uncool kid […]

I have questions about the pumpkin dip

Spectacular Spreads by Maegan Brown

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Bingo 24: Getaway from South America I’m swapping my free space for South America mostly because I don’t really have the time to go find something that fits, since I haven’t got anything immediately in mind.  What I have instead is a cookbook, which I like to read both for fun and for use, by one of two board book writers I actually liked enough to try recipes from. It turns out that TheBakerMama Maegan Brown has at least two books out beyond Beautiful Boards, […]



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