Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Clue Meets the British Baking Show

The Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxwell

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I’ll be side-eyeing Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood from now on. Not Prue though, I have complete faith that she’s probably already gotten away with murder several times. For the past ten summers six bakers have traveled to a remote estate in Vermont to participate in ‘Bake Week’, one of America’s most popular cooking shows. Grafton is also the childhood home of host and esteemed celebrity baker Betsy Martin. This year something just isn’t right. An unexpected co-host is added. As the competition begins acts […]

CBR15 Bingo: Edibles

Arsenic and Adobo by Mia P. Manansala

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CBR15 Bingo: Edibles (this book features both a lot of food and quite a few drugs) Lila Macapagal used to live in Chicago and dreamed of opening her own restaurant, but both her business and relationship failed miserably. She’s back in her hometown, helping to run her tita (aunt) Rosie run the family restaurant, where they serve Philipino food. Unfortunately, Lila’s ex-boyfriend is a food critic and seems determined to come back, again and again, to sample the food and write scathing things about the […]

I like to eat, read books, and read books about eating

Bring Back the Babka! by Marilyn Wolpin

Rising by Sidura Ludwig

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I am always hungry. I was hungry when I read these books and writing reviews for them made me hungry.  And while you may or may not be able to devour good food, soon you will be able to devour Bring Back the Babka! (I was able to read a special finished copy provided to me by my lovely Barefoot Books deal!) And 2024 will show us my other read of food, glorious food! When brothers search for their mother’s missing babka in Bring Back […]

“There is more history in a bowl of pasta than in the Colosseum”

Dinner in Rome: A History of the World in One Meal by Andreas Viestad

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I love Italian food (well, I am Italian).  I love history. I loved visiting Rome. Put that all together and you get Dinner in Rome – A history of the world in one meal by Andreas Vestad. This book was originally published in Vestad’s native language, Norwegian, but I am glad somebody thought it worthy of releasing in English in the US. The premise is very simple. Vestad sits down to a meal at his favorite restaurant in Rome. As he eats, he explores the […]

Fake dating and heart-shaped cakes

Not Your Valentine by Jackie Lau

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This was an ARC from the author. My views are my own. Helen Tsang has sworn off love as a lost cause after her boyfriend dumped her last Valentine’s Day and someone filmed it, making her a very involuntary viral sensation. However, as Valentine’s Day is approaching once more, she feels like she is getting excessive sympathy and pity from friends, family, and even the staff of her regular bubble tea shop. She doesn’t really want to field any more questions and decides to ask […]

You Say Tomato, I Say Tomato

Ten Tomatoes that Changed the World by William Alexander

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Do you ever read a book’s marketing summary after finishing a book and wonder what in the world they’re going on about? The teaser for “Ten Tomatoes that Changed the World” by William Alexander starts off like this: “The tomato gets no respect. Never has. Stored in the dustbin of history for centuries, accused of being vile and poisonous, appropriated as wartime propaganda, subjected to being picked hard-green and gassed, even used as a projectile, the poor tomato is the Rodney Dangerfield of foods. Yet, […]



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