Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Not as good as I hoped

To Drink and to Eat, Volume 2 by Guillaume Long

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When I request a book from NetGalley, I have high hopes that I will enjoy it. I have loved graphic novels that are cookbooks or food centric memoirs. I think communicating about food lends itself to illustration. Cartoonist Guillaume Long writes a culinary comic for Le Monde, “To Drink and To Eat.” While I wasn’t familiar with him, he is apparently well loved. Unfortunately, Long got on the wrong foot with me by writing a jokey little story with recipe about Paul Gauguin moving to […]

She apes Julia Child in her title, but this is a memoir, not a cookbook. #CBRBingo – How To

Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking by Anya von Bremzen

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I feel bad about only giving this one three stars, but I think it accurately reflects my reading experience. I had to read this by e-book, and that just isn’t a format that works perfectly for me, except for when I’m reading romance or fanfic. I had a hard time focusing on it. When I was able to focus, it was clear that von Bremzen was a good writer, with things to say. She writes about food, and her experiences around, so very well. This […]

Kitchen Staple/Bingo Blackout

I’m Just Here for the Food by Alton Brown

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Cbr12bingo How To, BINGO BLACKOUT I’ve had this book on the shelf for nearly 2 decades. It was published in 2002 (with a version 2 published in 2006), and I’m sure I got it soon after it came out. My husband and I were (and are) great fans of Alton Brown and loved “Good Eats” when it aired. We learned so much from Alton Brown, notably how to make the best chocolate chip cookies and how to make gravy from roux. Brown is an engaging […]

Finally Giving Credit Where It Is Due in the US Cooking Scene

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

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CBR Bingo Review #I’ve lost track: UnCannon I was thinking about using N.K. Jemisin’s Fifth Element here, but then I figured that was actually somewhat in my wheelhouse as it’s fantasy and queer. Not so much my standard wheelhouse is American History non-fiction. To make it palatable, I found what’s basically history via thing I do like: cookbooks. Scholar and cookbook collector Toni Tipton-Martin is not old (she’s later middle aged, about 60), not white (African American), and not a man. When I was checking […]

“‘You never forget a beautiful thing that you have made,’ he said. ‘Even after you eat it, it stays with you – always.”

My Life in France by Julia Child

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This was such a lovely reading experience, for lots of reasons. I felt refreshed while reading it, and afterwards. I’ve since made a little hobby of revisiting old episodes of The French Chef on YouTube because they are calming and delightful (and I can make a French omelet now!). I spent a lot of time in my childhood watching PBS because my dad was cheap and wouldn’t pay for cable, so that meant lots of Julia Child. I remember not caring so much about the […]

The Role of Money in Fairy Tales, but with a sort of Feminist twist

Kakuriyo, vols. 1-2 by Waco Ioca, Midori Yuma, Laruha

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Bingo Review 16: Money! Basically, this is a fairy tale about an impossible debt, and how to pay it without having to get married to some random rich or important guy. Here’s the set up: Aoi Tsubaki is a Japanese college student who has recently lost the grandfather who raised her. The key thing they shared was an ability to see and interact with the spirit world. One day, Aoi stops to help a hungry ayakashi (catch-all term for folkloric monster-creature) and he drags her […]



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