Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

It’s OK, But There Are Probably Better Cookbooks for New Cooks

Hack Your Cupboard: Make Great Food with What You've Got by Alyssa Wiegand and Carla Carreon

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To start, I have to say that I hate the title. As a curmudgeon, I think that using trendy buzzwords in your title is off-putting and will age both badly and quickly. In addition, I think it’s misleading. A hack is creating a shortcut or workaround. That covers about half the book, but the book is really about developing and building on kitchen skills. The book takes the reader from still living in their family home through dorm room cooking, the first shared kitchen, to […]

I Wondered. “Where Are All the Black Cooks?”

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

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It’s one thing to know intellectually that a system of oppression requires erasure of the oppressed, and another thing to try to understand how that erasure happens and glimpse the truth being hidden. When I read Michael Twitty’s The Cooking Gene, he referenced Toni Tipton-Martin’s The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African American Cookbooks. It immediately went on my tbr. A few weeks ago I was browsing around on NetGalley and saw it there, though it was published in 2015. I snapped it up and […]

An Update Worth Investing In, With Caveat

Tartine: A Classic Revisited: 68 All-New Recipes + 55 Updated Favorites by Elizabeth M. Prueitt, Chad Robertson

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I almost died from joy when I saw Tartine: A Classic Revisited on NetGalley, and then I was granted my request to review it (this is an honest review). I have the original Tartine (thank you Mrs. Julien). It is the cookbook I pull out when I need baking inspiration or life inspiration. Prueitt and Robertson put some thought into this update and added in some variations and many new recipes which makes it worth owning. Tartine is a baker’s cookbook. It is not for beginners. […]

All the Best People Are Dead

Lord of the Last Heartbeat by May Peterson

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May Peterson’s debut novel, Lord of the Last Heartbeat is a queer, gothic, dark, fairytale fantasy m/m romance. I’m not going to try to summarize the plot, because you were either in at “queer, gothic, dark, fairytale fantasy m/m romance” or you were not. If you are so inclined, this would be a great October read. One of the things Peterson does really well in this story is balance fantasy, romance and a ghost story. She drops you immediately into the fantasy world, doles out […]

She was going to have to kick a bunch of aunties out of their [redacted] fairy-tale meadow.

Open House by Ruby Lang

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Ruby Lang is one of my favorite author finds this year. I like the way she writes and the worlds and characters she creates. Her writing has a wry wit and a spare, natural style. Her characters interact like normal human beings. Side note: Lang’s story follows a Millennial man and woman, of Asian American and Afro-Latina descent. I, as a Gen X white woman, am absolutely unqualified to judge the quality of representation, I can only say that to me, they are relatable characters. […]

Such Promise, So Disappointing

Modern Sourdough: Sweet and Savoury Recipes from Margot Bakery by Michelle Eshkeri, Patricia Niven

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I spent many years yearning to bake bread and feeling intimidated by yeast. I went to work at a bakery, I thought to make cake, but no, I made bread. Trial by fire. I am no longer intimidated by yeast and have now been baking bread professionally and at home for 15 years. Sourdough, though, remains intimidating. I have never successfully kept a starter going long enough to actually bake a loaf of bread. When I saw Michelle Eshkeri’s Modern Sourdough on NetGalley, I knew […]



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