Books and Breads Blog

October 26, 2017

Secondhand Time by Svetlana Alexievich *** (of 4)

Alexievich won the Nobel Prize for her oral histories of Russia and the Soviet Union. Secondhand Time includes exquisitely curated accounts of members of the Former...

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September 28, 2017

March: Book Three by Andrew Aydin, John Lewis, and John Noel Claude Lewis **** (of 4)

This is the final installment of the biography of Congressman John Lewis’s youthful campaign for civil rights for America’s black population. Books One and Two cover...

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September 28, 2017

In the Woods by Tana French *** (of 4)

An Irish murder squad is called upon to investigate the cult-like death of a child in the village of Knocknaree. Bob Ryan and Cassie Maddox...

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September 7, 2017

The Golem and the Jinni *** (of 4) by Helene Wecker

In the year 1899, in New York City, a golem and a jinni chance upon one another. A golem is a a mythical Jewish monster...

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September 7, 2017

The Cooking Gene by Michael Twitty ** (of 4)

It is a great idea for research that is long overdue. Michael Twitty explores the role of enslaved Africans in shaping American foodways. Think about...

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August 20, 2017

In the Kingdom of Ice by Hamptom Sides **** (of 4)

At the end of the nineteenth century, because no one had ever been there, the virtual consensus among geographers was that the North Pole resided...

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August 17, 2017

Rye

One of the best souvenirs I brought back from the United Kingdom was a rye sourdough starter. I got it from Andrew Whitley in Scotland...

Sourdoughs and SCOBYs

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August 17, 2017

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead **** (of 4)

Before Colson Whitehead ever gets to the story of Cora’s attempted escape from enslavement, he sets the stage in Africa. Cora’s grandmother and mother are...

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July 28, 2017

News of the World by Paulette Jiles **** (of 4)

The year is 1870. Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, veteran of three wars, now age 72, is more or less handed a ten-year-old girl to return...

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July 17, 2017

Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance **** (of 4)

The simple description is on the cover. J.D. Vance, a self-denominated hillbilly from Kentucky, describes what it took to grow up in a family devoid...

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