The Hungry Bookworm

TBR Mix 'n' Mingle - What I'm Reading in August

August 1, 2018 by Megan 4 Comments

Today, I’m excited to be participating a new monthly TBR linkup, hosted by Rachel at Never Enough Novels, Allison at My Novel Life and the wonderful bloggers at Literary Quicksand. For those of you who don’t know, in the bookish community, TBR stands for “To Be Read.” It can mean different things to different people; in fact, Book Riot has a wonderful post exploring all the possible definitions. To me, it just means a book I haven’t read but want to read eventually.

I have a TBR list on Goodreads that I add to regularly, and it currently stands at just over 400 books. I probably need to cull it down a bit, but I never want to miss a potentially good book! I don’t know if you know this, guys, but I’m a planner. When I go to sleep at night, I like knowing what my tomorrow is going to look like. I like knowing what my next meal (and the meal after that...and the one after that...) is going to be. When I finish a good book, I also don’t like to be left hanging without something lined up to read next. I think this list will help me stay on top of that, and so when Rachel sent me a note about their new linkup, it was all too easy to say yes!

Top Ten Tuesday - Books That Lived Up to the Hype

July 31, 2018 by Megan 12 Comments

Happy Tuesday, everyone! It’s time for another edition of Top Ten Tuesday, a literary list with a new bookish topic every week. Nothing is more disappointing than a book that you’re really looking forward to, you’ve heard amazing things about it, everyone loves it, and then you finally get your hands on it, and blah. This week’s topic celebrates when all of that praise is well-deserved and your anticipation is rewarded with an amazing reading experience: Books That Lived Up to the Hype. Let’s dive in!

Fierce Kingdom + Cheese Crackers

July 28, 2018 by Megan 1 Comment

I was unexpectedly captivated by Gin Phillips’ novel Fierce Kingdom, which I read as part of the Book Challenge by Erin earlier this month. Joan and her four-year-old son are ending an otherwise ordinary day at the zoo, when suddenly, just before they reach the exit, something goes very wrong. Joan hurries to hide with her son Lincoln, and for the rest of the novel - a period of just four hours - she must keep them out of danger.

For the most part, the novel follows Joan, but on occasion it dips into other points-of-view, including that of the mass shooter who is terrorizing the zoo’s guests and animals without remorse. As you can guess, Phillips weaves a harrowing tale. Unfortunately, it’s one that is all too realistic today. I was deeply invested in the well-being of Joan and her son, and though there were times I felt as though I could’ve used a mental break, I didn’t want to stop reading until it was over.

Then We Came to the End + Bagels

July 24, 2018 by Megan 2 Comments

When I’m not reading, cooking or writing about it, I’m often at work. And, for those of you who don’t know, I work at an advertising agency. I’m an account person, which in a nutshell, means that most of my job is in service to our clients, doing whatever it is I need to do to make them happy. Like any job, there are a lot of things to like about advertising and there are a lot of things to dislike about it. Luckily, for me, the good far outweighs the bad.

I recently picked up Joshua Ferris’ novel Then We Came to the End as part of the Book Challenge by Erin, for the category requiring you to read a book featuring a character who shares your profession. I don’t know why, but I expected to have a hard time finding a piece of fiction about advertising. I couldn’t have been more wrong; I found this one with a simple search. Obviously, the characters in Then We Came to the End work in an ad agency - in fact, almost all of them do.

Castle of Water + Banana Fritters

July 21, 2018 by Megan 3 Comments

I have never before had to request that my library purchase I book I wanted to read, but for Dane Huckelbridge’s Castle of Water, I’m SO glad I took the extra step to do so. I had selected this novel as part of the Book Challenge by Erin not only because it fit perfectly into the category “book with a water-related word in the title” but because I had heard amazing things about it. Its impressive 4.24 rating on Goodreads also promised an amazing read.

The majority of the story takes place on an island in the middle of the South Pacific, near where a small plane was was downed in the ocean, leaving two passengers stranded. Sophie is a newlywed French architect, and Barry is a former investment banker from New York who has decided to turn his attention to painting. They must learn to survive together with the limited resources they have on the island -- for food, they have some fish, coconuts and an abundance of bananas. It’s a castaway story, yes. But it’s also much more than that. It’s about what it means to truly need someone else. Ultimately, they find that a home is what you make it.

Homegoing + African Yam and Peanut Soup

July 19, 2018 by Megan 1 Comment

My book club recently selected Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi, a book that was selected in one of my other book clubs last year. It’s a book that’s gotten a lot of attention and praise since its release, and though it has an appealing premise, I’ve not felt compelled to read it -- until now. I didn’t read it last time, but I knew I couldn’t neglect it again. I dove right in and didn’t look back.

Gyasi’s sweeping novel is about two half-sisters separated at birth and their descendants. Effia and Esi are born in different villages in eighteenth century Ghana. They share the same mother but have different fathers and very different upbringings. Effia marries an Englishman and lives her life in a castle on the African country’s coast. Esi, however, is sold into slavery, passing through the castle’s dungeons on her way to America. Each chapter following their own focuses on an immediate descendent for generation after generation.