Books and Breads Blog

June 10, 2024

Essex Dogs by Dan Jones **** (of 4)

In July of 1346, King Edward crossed the English Channel to reclaim territory taken by his independently-minded cousin, King Phillipe. Thousands of troops land on...

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June 10, 2024

Murder in Old Bombay by Nev March *** (of 4)

It is 1892. India is a British colony and Indians, at least upper class Indians, aspire to move up the British hierarchy. Two young women...

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May 18, 2024

The Island at the Center of the World by Russell Shorto *** (of 4)

Shorto’s hypothesis is concise and convincing. His book is long and detailed. As the ages of Enlightenment and Exploration dawned on Europe, Holland was the...

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May 18, 2024

The Secret Hours by Mick Herron *** (of 4)

This is Herron’s prequel to his successful Slow Horses series, which is one of those rare compilations that is better on screen (Apple +) than...

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April 25, 2024

The Kingdom, The Power, and The Glory by Tim Alberta **** (of 4)

Tim Alberta is a Christian evangelical and an accomplished journalist describing what he sees as a growing division inside America’s evangelical churches. He visits and...

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April 25, 2024

Red Queen by Juan Gomez-Jurado ** (of 4)

Antonia Scott is a genius at penetrating the minds of dastardly criminals. She is also a morbid recluse with no sense of smell (is this...

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April 4, 2024

Two Yellow Breads with Recipes

Sourdough lemon poppyseed cake. Rebecca Firsker published this recipe for a sourdough discard cake in a recent posting to The Perfect Loaf. My version of...

Sourdoughs and SCOBYs

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March 26, 2024

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell *** (of 4)

The story’s most famous character, William Shakespeare, is never mentioned by name. History tells us that Hamnet, the son of William and Agnes (Anne Hatheway)...

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March 25, 2024

Rough Crossings by Simon Schama *** (of 4)

How did we not know this? In the 1760s, a court case in England suggested that any person of African descent living in Great Britain...

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March 25, 2024

Bottoms Up and the Devil Laughs by Kerry Howley (*** of 4)

Kerry Howley digs deep into the lives of American whistleblowers: John Walker Lindh, Chelsea Manning, Reality Winner, and Edward Snowden. Each was charged with violating...

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