The Hungry Bookworm

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Beartown + Bear Claws

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How often do you give books a second chance? Until Fredrik Backman’s Beartown, I would’ve said never. And, if I’m being honest, I’m not sure it’s a practice I will repeat often, but I’m so glad I did decide to give this novel another try. 

Beartown by Fredrik Backman

The first time I read Beartown (about 3 years ago) I was less than impressed. I went into it expecting "classic" Backman — the Backman of charming, somewhat whimsical stories/characters as in A Man Called Ove and My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She’s Sorry, both books I absolutely loved — and what I got was not that. Beartown is a much darker narrative (though both of the above-mentioned books certainly have their dark spots), and I just wasn’t ready for it. I wasn’t expecting it, and so I was disappointed. 

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Kids Edition: Dr. Seuss's ABC + Chocolate Doughnuts

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Welcome to another Kids Edition post on The Hungry Bookworm. Today we will be talking about Dr. Seuss’s ABC: An Amazing Alphabet Book! And the recipe is brought to you by the letter D...d...D (more on that later).

Dr Seuss's ABC

In his ABC book, Dr. Seuss talks about each letter of the alphabet with fun rhymes and silly characters. At our house, we read the board book version. All of the content is there but the pages are condensed. We often get the rhymes stuck in our heads. 

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The Lions of Fifth Avenue + Black and White Cookies

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I’m not sure where I first heard of Fiona Davis’ latest historical novel, but I was immediately grabbed by the description. The Lions of Fifth Avenue is about a woman, Laura Lyons, who lives in the main branch of the New York Public Library with her family in 1913, and about her granddaughter who works in the same library 80 years later.

The Lions of Fifth Avenue by Fiona Davis

Like most other bookworms, I’m always interested in stories about books, bookstores, and libraries. The idea of living in a library, though? I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the story, and I was definitely a bit jealous of the Lyons family throughout. Because her husband is the superintendent of the library, they’re able to live in the apartment within the grand building. Though the Lyons family — Laura, her husband and their two children — live a happy life, Laura wants more. She enrolls at Columbia University’s journalism school, and her whole life changes. 

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Show Us Your Books Reading Recap — What I Read in August

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Wow, the long weekend really threw me off. I thought last night was Sunday and today was Monday, but here we are — already Tuesday, and why this post is just a little bit late this time! But Tuesday means it’s time for Show Us Your Books, where I do a quick recap of everything I read over the last month. Get excited because I have some really awesome reads to share, including my first 5-star read of 2020! 

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The House in the Cerulean Sea + Blackberry Ice Cream

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I recently read and adored The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune. I haven’t been this excited to talk about a book in a very long time. 

The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

TJ Klune’s novel is a fantasy about a group of magical beings on a secluded island. For those of you who may be skeptical about fantasy, I want to clarify that on the whole, it’s quite realistic — apart from the magical beings. Our main character, Linus, works for a government agency providing recommendations as to whether or not orphanages should remain open or be shut down. The orphanages happen to be home to children with special abilities.

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Kids Edition: Curious George Makes Pancakes

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Welcome to the first Kids Edition post on The Hungry Bookworm! Today we will be talking about a charming little monkey and his culinary adventures in Curious George Makes Pancakes. 

Curious George Makes Pancakes

George is a good little monkey. He is also very curious. This curiosity makes for a lot of antics that we love reading about with my son Henry. 

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