• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • Reviews
    • Book Index
    • Fiction
    • Non-Fiction
    • Top Ten Tuesdays
The Hungry Bookworm

The Hungry Bookworm

reading + eating

  • Recipes
    • Drinks
    • Snacks, Sides & Apps
    • Main Dishes
    • Desserts
    • 5 Ingredients or Less
  • About
    • Meet Megan
    • How I Rate
    • Review Policy
    • Contact

historical fiction

The Pull of the Stars + Irish Barmbrack

January 26, 2021 by Megan Leave a Comment

Emma Donoghue’s latest novel, The Pull of the Stars, includes a couple of elements that would normally turn me off of a novel — and, in many cases, DNF one: no quotation marks and extremely long chapters. Luckily, it also is made of things I often look for in a new read: a female-centric story, a strong sense of place, and an utterly gripping storyline. In the end, the good far outweighed the bad. I loved it.

The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donaghue
Available on Bookshop.org and Amazon

The story takes place over just a few days in an Irish maternity/flu ward during the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918. Nurse Julia Power is tasked with taking care of flu-ridden laboring mothers and their babies until they're able to go home. The ward is really nothing more than a room, three beds cramped together without much support aside from Nurse Julia and an inexperienced volunteer. As you would expect with early 20th century childbirth on top of a devastating pandemic, the story is emotional. In it, Donoghue touches on such timely (or, in some ways, timeless) themes as healthcare, pregnancy/motherhood, societal expectations and abuses of power.  

[Read more...] about The Pull of the Stars + Irish Barmbrack

Filed Under: book review, recipe Tagged With: baking, bread, favorites, historical fiction, quick read

Big Lies in a Small Town + Collard Greens

January 14, 2021 by Megan 5 Comments

I’m excited to be a part of the paperback release party for Big Lies in a Small Town today! When I was asked to join by the Book Club Cookbook, I didn’t hesitate — I absolutely adored my previous Diane Chamberlain read, The Dream Daughter. Her latest novel centers around a post office mural painted in 1940, with a dual timeline that goes back and forth between the artist who painted it and the artist who later restores it nearly 80 years later.

Big Lies in a Small Town by Diane Chamberlain

Chamberlain does an excellent job weaving both stories together and keeping the reader interested throughout. I didn’t necessarily like one timeline better than the other, which is so often the case in books like this; I found something worthwhile in both stories. I loved the strong women she created. 

[Read more...] about Big Lies in a Small Town + Collard Greens

Filed Under: book review, recipe Tagged With: easy prep, historical fiction, side dish, veggies

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

January 12, 2021 by Megan 8 Comments

I had a really good reading month, one of my best in a long time! Most of my reads were shorter or easy or unputdownable (or some combination of all three!), which definitely helped.

[Read more...] about Show Us Your Books Reading Recap — What I Read in December

Filed Under: book review, of interest Tagged With: book club, book list, fiction, historical fiction, mini review, nonfiction, short story, show us your books

A Gentleman in Moscow + Dill Bread

December 15, 2020 by Megan Leave a Comment

Jump to Recipe

I have had A Gentleman in Moscow sitting on my shelf for what feels like forever. I recognized it at a used book sale and scooped it up for a dollar. But then it sat there. The size really intimidated me. When I was presented with an opportunity to partner with the Book Club Cookbook for their Book Blends Bash, I knew now was the time to push myself to read it!

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

Well, I’m mostly just disappointed I waited so long to pick Amor Towles’ novel up! It was really quite lovely — almost a 5-star read. In it, we follow Count Alexander Rostov, who is sentenced to house arrest by the Bolsheviks in the early 1920s. The rest of the story takes place in the Metropol, where the Count will be staying; to step out onto the street would mean being shot dead on the spot. 

[Read more...] about A Gentleman in Moscow + Dill Bread

Filed Under: book review, recipe Tagged With: baking, bread, favorites, historical fiction

Magic Lessons + Courage Tea Cookies

November 24, 2020 by Megan 3 Comments

Jump to Recipe

Have you had a piece of technology totally crap out on you lately? It makes you feel so helpless. My laptop completely lost its mind yesterday. First of all, it took forever to finally get it to come on in the morning, and then, it wouldn’t hold a charge. Despite being plugged in constantly (I was afraid to unplug it), it remained at a 1% charge. Oh, and the fan wouldn’t stop blowing — it blew the entire day. Yikes.

All that is to say, sorry this post is late. I had the best intentions of getting it up according to my normal schedule. And now onto the book!

When I found out yet another Practical Magic prequel was on the way, I didn’t hesitate to get my hands on it. Obviously I loved The Rules of Magic when I read and reviewed that a few years ago. (It remains my most popular post… probably because of the recipe, but regardless.) Thankfully, Magic Lessons lived up to my expectations — it was exactly the story I wanted.

Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman
[Read more...] about Magic Lessons + Courage Tea Cookies

Filed Under: book review, recipe Tagged With: baking, cookies, favorites, historical fiction, magical realism

Hamnet + British Apple Pie

October 17, 2020 by Megan Leave a Comment

I first heard about Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet on my favorite book recommendation podcast, All the Books, when Liberty Hardy raved about it. The concept sounded intriguing, but I didn’t add it to my TBR. I started seeing it more and more on bookstagram and decided to request a copy from the library, but by then the waitlist was quite long. Then, it won the Women’s Prize for Fiction. Someone I’d been following closely on Instagram had read it and was beyond excited that it won. This someone also happened to live less than a mile from my house. I knew I needed to read it. 

Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

So I reached out, asked if I could borrow her copy, and she generously said yes! I dropped by and picked it up off her porch, we chatted out the window for a few minutes, and off I went. If it weren’t for her, I may still be waiting on the library waitlist. 

[Read more...] about Hamnet + British Apple Pie

Filed Under: book review, recipe Tagged With: baking, book club, favorites, fiction, fruit, historical fiction

  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to page 3
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Go to page 7
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

About

The Hungry Bookworm brings together literature and food. Megan has an insatiable appetite for both.

As C.S. Lewis said, “Eating and reading are two pleasures that combine admirably.” Enjoy!

  • Bloglovin
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

Subscribe

Don't miss out on bookish content, exclusive giveaways, and of course, book club-friendly recipes. Get notified of new posts via email.

Join 2879 subscribers.

Search for Ingredients, Recipes, or Books

Recent Posts

  • The Pull of the Stars + Irish Barmbrack
  • Kids Edition: Hey! Wake Up! + Broccoli Stew
  • Devolution + Blueberry Lavender Lemonade Popsicles
  • Big Lies in a Small Town + Collard Greens
  • Show Us Your Books Reading Recap — What I Read in December

Goodreads

Tags

5 ingredients or less appetizer baking book club book list book of the month books about food bread breakfast brunch chicken contemporary cookies cultural dessert dinner dinner party dystopia easy prep favorites fiction fruit historical fiction ice cream linkup lunch magical realism meat memoir mini review nonfiction pasta quick read reading challenge science fiction seafood show us your books side dish snack soup TBR list thriller top ten tuesday vegetarian veggies

Archives

Other Great Book Blogs

Literary Quicksand
Never Enough Novels
Death by Tsundoku
Professional Reader 25 Book Reviews
Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy

Footer Widget Header

Megan’s Instagram

  • I was inspired by The Pull of the Stars to make a traditional Irish barmbrack, which the main character Nurse
  • Hey! Wake Up! It’s the weekend — and time for another Hungry Bookworm Kids Edition. . This board book by
  • Happy Friday! We’re right in the middle of a cold and sometimes snowy winter here in Michigan. Sometime during quarantine,
  • This book was an interesting choice in quarantine. It’s about a town entirely cut off from the rest of the
  • Happy Publication Day to At the Edge of the Haight by @kr.seligman! This award-winning and timely novel follows Maddy, a
  • My current library stack (with more on the way!). On one hand, I’m not doing great on my “read my
  • I’ve read two @diane.chamberlain.author novels and have enjoyed them both. Big Lies in a Small Town is the story of
  • Three of my current book club reads. All of my book clubs are different — one is “traditional,” where we
  • @franzencomesalive was right when she said this novel was delightful and heart-squeezing! I loved living vicariously through Lila as she
  • My favorite buddy reader @deewltn and I are tackling this ginormous nonfiction book in the first half of 2021. One
  • I finished my first read of 2020 over the weekend! This should’ve been a novel I didn’t like — it
  • New year, old books! Let’s talk reading goals. One of mine this year is to read my shelves. Some of
  • As 2020 comes to an end, so does The Office on Netflix... my husband and I have racing through the
  • Trying to squeeze in this last book in before the end of the year to make it number 72 of
  • What a fun bookish gift! I put them on basically right away. (Thank you @lyndsey_dalton!) Other bookish gifts included a
  • The Snowy Day is a children’s classic and a lovely celebration of the first snowfall. And snowball cookies, or Russian
  • This year is technically my son’s second Christmas but it feels like his first. It’s fun to see him be
  • A Gentleman in Moscow is not a book I expected to love, but it’s definitely a new favorite — and
  • My current read with the newest member of my plant family. Meet Clement, named after a character in one of
  • Today is my office’s “holiday party.” For me, it’s the beginning of a holiday season that will look very different.

Copyright © 2021 · Hungry Bookworm