The Next Good Book
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 so i like to read- 

friends often ask for book suggestions so i created this site in 2014 to help me think about what i read and pass it on.  

I hope you find many good books here!

e-mail-thenextgoodbook5@gmail.com

those who leave and those who stay by elena ferrante

8/30/2016

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Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay by Elena Ferrante
418 pages

What’s it about?
This is the third book in Elena Ferrante's Neopoloitan series and it continues telling the life of Elena Greco. In this book Elena marries and we see Lina continue to struggle with the lack of possibilities in her life. 

What did it make me think about?
This book is as much about Italy, and the role of women in this country through the last fifty years, as it is about female friendships. Both are complicated subjects and Ferrante dissects them like a surgeon.  She has such razor sharp insights and uses her plot and characters to tell you a larger story. 

Should I read it?
Yes- but start at the beginning with Book 1. 

Quote-
"They worked hard, that was obvious. And at least Enzo in front of him, in the factory, women worn out by work, by humiliations, by domestic obligations no less than Lila was. Yet now they were both angry because of the conditions she worked in; they couldn't tolerate it. You had to hide everything from men. They preferred not to know, they preferred to pretend that what happened at the hands of the boss miraculously didn't happen to the women important to them and that- this was the idea they had grown up with- they had to protect her even at the risk of being killed."

If you like this try-
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson
Lila by Marilynne Robinson

9 stars
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let the great world spin by colum mccann

8/28/2016

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Let The Great World Spin by Colum McCann
349 pages

What’s it about?
Colum McCann writes a novel of beautifully interwoven stories. The first story begins in 1974 with the sighting of a tightrope walker balancing on a wire between the two twin towers. All the stories weave together to show a world that is both harsh and achingly beautiful.

What did it make me think about?
This is truly a well crafted book. The writing is great, but the plots of each individual story were equally engaging.  

Should I read it?
Yes! Be warned though- this is a book that may seem disjointed at first. Patience pays off. The book just keeps getting better and better. The last few stories are the reward for your patience.

Quote-
"Corrigan told me once that Christ was quite easy to understand. He went where He was supposed to go. He stayed where He was needed. He took little or nothing along, a pair of sandals, a bit of a shirt, a few odds and ends to stave off the loneliness. He never rejected the world. If He had rejected it, He would have been rejecting mystery. And if He rejected mystery, He would of been rejecting faith.

What Corrigan wanted was a fully believable God, one you could find in the grime of the everyday. The comfort he got from the hard, cold truth- the filth, the war, the poverty, was that life could be capable of small beauties. He wasn't interested in the glorious tales of the afterlife or the notions of a honey-soaked heaven. To him that was a dressing room for hell. Rather he consoled himself with the fact that, in the real world, when he looked closely into the darkness he might find the presence of a light, damaged and bruised, but a little light all the same. He wanted, quite simply, for the world to be a better place, and he was in the habit of hoping for it. Out of that came some sort of triumph that went beyond theological proof, a cause for optimism against all evidence."
   
If you like this try-
The Tsar of Love and Techno by Anthony Marra
Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf
Levels of Life by Julian Barnes
On Canaan's Side by Sebastian Barry

           
9 1/2 stars
                    
​
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    “Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.”
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     ratings

    1 to 2- I did not enjoy this book.
    3 to 4- I found some aspect of this book redeeming but would not recommend it.
    5 to 6- I really enjoyed something about this book (characters, plot, meaning etc.) but it was uneven. Some aspects were stronger than others.
    7 to 8- It was a good book.  I liked lots of aspects of this book.  I would recommend it.
    9 to 10- I was sorry to turn the last page.  I highly recommend this book!
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