Books and Breads Blog

October 24, 2022

Homeland Elegies by Ayad Akhtar **** (of 4)

The title says the book is a novel, but the voice is the author’s and the story is about his life. News events, timelines, and...

Book Reviews

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October 24, 2022

Aloo Paratha – Sourdough

When I get together with other sourdough bakers I always try to get them to try something new and challenging that we can tackle together....

Sourdoughs and SCOBYs

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September 30, 2022

The Last Slave Ship by Ben Raines *** (of 4)

On the face of it, the story of 100 enslaved Africans smuggled into Mobile, Alabama does not feel that significant among the 12.5 million Africans...

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September 16, 2022

How the Word is Passed by Clint Smith *** (of 4)

Clint Smith educates white Americans who likely never learned the true extent and depth of slavery in the foundation and enduring legacy of the country....

Book Reviews

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September 16, 2022

Thief of Souls by Brian Klingborg *** (of 4)

It would be a cozy murder mystery from which a lot could be learned about the culture of modern day China, if not for the...

Book Reviews

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September 4, 2022

Rogues by Patrick Radden Keefe ** (of 4)

Keefe is the author of a couple of other books I thought were terrific (Empire of Pain, Say Nothing), but not this one. A staff...

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September 4, 2022

Black Cloud Rising by David Wright Falade *** (of 4)

As the Civil War dragged on and Union troops made advances across the south, formerly enslaved people fled bondage to take up refuge behind northern...

Book Reviews

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August 19, 2022

River of the Gods by Candace Millard **** (of 4)

By the 1860s California had absorbed an influx of hundreds of thousands of gold miners, the southern states of the U.S. had seceded, and North...

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August 19, 2022

The Neon Rain by James Lee Burke *** (of 4)

Dave Robicheaux is a Cajun detective, poet, and philosopher with no patience for corruption or injustice. When a young Black woman floats to the surface,...

Book Reviews

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August 19, 2022

Squeeze Me by Carl Hiassen *** (of 4)

Escapist fiction about an outbreak of Burmese pythons from their confines in the Everglades to the poshest of all Florida communities, Palm Beach. The book...

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