Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

More H-Mart, Less Crying

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

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Bingo 6: Libations I’m reasonably sure I heard about Crying in H-Mart during an NPR interview with the author. It sounded pretty interesting and food-focused. Then after picking it up, with the red cover with a picture of noodles between chopsticks, I read the first essay, and then actually went to the nearest H-Mart (about an hour away as it turned out). The author’s H-Mart is quite different. I’m not complaining about that, but it does get to the incredibly personal nature of the book; […]

Our Boys’ Own Wine Adventures. Also, I Know How to Say Château d’Yquem Now

Stalin's Wine Celler by John Baker, Nick Place

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…for which I am very proud. I’ve said often enough that I find the book recommendations from Audible (My main source of audiobooks) a little bit rubbish. But occasionally it comes through for me — like, I never knew I needed to read a biography of the HMS Erebus, but that turned out to be a fantastic read that readily started spruiking to everyone. I also didn’t know that a book about potential wine-crime might also pique my interest, but here we are: I cut […]

Food and socially conscious history together; I wish I would have liked it more.

The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South by Michael W. Twitty

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**30 Books in 30 Days** Book 11/30 I’m feeling like a dick on this one, but I didn’t have the reading experience I was hoping for with such glowing reviews. I didn’t hate it, or even dislike it, but I didn’t really like it all that much either. I had two main problems here. The first may or may not have been exacerbated by the second, but as of right now, I have no way of knowing. Before I get to my issues, this book […]

“It sounds like your dream broke, and you’ve been picking up shattered pieces and blaming yourself when your hands bleed.”

Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert

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Eve is the youngest and seemingly flightiest of the three privileged Brown sisters. She’s always felt like the odd duck in the family, neither as focused nor as intelligent as her two older sisters and completely unable to settle on anything for very long. When she abruptly closes down her wedding planning business after one single event (a generally very successful wedding, that nevertheless descended into some chaos after Eve took it upon herself to liberate all the doves that the bride had wanted, and […]

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 […]



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