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

silver sparrow by tayari jones

8/21/2019

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 What’s it about?
The novel begins with the line, "My father, James Witherspoon, is a bigamist."  So the story had me from the first line.  Tayari Jones is most well-known as the author of An American Marriage, but I enjoyed this earlier book as well.   The story is told from two different points of view. James Witherspoon's has two daughters from different marriages and they each serve as narrators. Both stories are compelling.  

What did it make me think about?
 Secret lives...

Should I read it?
Tayari Jones can tell a story!  This novel takes place in Atlanta in the 1990's and portrays a world I didn't know much about.  That is always appealing to me.

Quote-
"And this is how it started.  Just with coffee and the exchange of their long stories.  Love can be incremental.  Predicaments,too.  Coffee can start a life just as it can start a day.  This was the meeting of tow people destined to love from before they were born, from before they made choices that would complicate their lives.  This love just rolled toward my mother as though she were standing at the bottom of a steep hill.  Mother had no hand in this, only heart."

If you liked this try-
​Stay With Me by Ayobami Adebayo
​The  Turner House by Angela Flournoy
​The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley by Hannah Tinit
Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward

8 1/2 stars

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home fire by kamila shamsie

8/17/2019

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ABOUT HOME FIRE“Ingenious… Builds to one of the most memorable final scenes I’ve read in a novel this century.” --The New York Times

WINNER OF THE 2018 WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION


FINALIST FOR THE 2019 INTERNATIONAL DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD

LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE

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What’s it about?
 Isma has been living in London and caring for her younger brother and sister since her mother died years ago.   Isma and her siblings are British citizens of Pakistani descent. They have grown up in a city that increasingly wants the Muslim community to become more assimilated.  Now that the twins have reached adulthood it is finally time for Isma to follow her dreams and go study in America.  After arriving in America Isma meets a fellow traveler from London in a coffee shop.  Eammon is the son of a member of Parliament and also of Pakistani descent.  When Eammon returns to London he will meet Isma's sister and the story will begin in earnest.

What did it make me think about?
 So with all the talk of nationalism and immigration it is good to remember that life is not that simple.  Problems are often complicated and do not have an easy answer. What happens when you are 19 and make a mistake...  a big mistake.

Should I read it?
 YES!  This was an amazing book and a page turner as well.  It will be one of my favorites this year. 

Quote-
" 'I'm driving at the fact that habits of secrecy are damaging things', Hira said in her most professorial voice.  'And they underestimate other people's willingness to accept the complicated truths of your life.' "

If you liked this try-
How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Moshin Hamid
Prayers for the Stolen by Jennifer Clement
​A Place For Us by Fatima Farheer Mirza
*The Map of Salt and Stars bt Jennifer Zeynab Joukhadar

9 1/2 stars
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conversations with friends by sally rooney

8/12/2019

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WINNER OF THE SUNDAY TIMES (UK) YOUNG WRITER OF THE YEAR AWARD • NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY VOGUE AND SLATE AND ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY BUZZFEED AND ELLE
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What’s it about?
Frances is a 21 year-old university student who writes poetry and then performs her poems with her charismatic ex-girlfriend, Bobbi in Dublin.  Bobbi and Frances are pulled into an older crowd when Melissa, a well-known photographer, decides to do an article about them.  The novel centers around the relationship between Frances and Nick.  Nick is Melissa's 32 year-old husband....
 
What did it make me think about?
I wrote the following about "Normal People" also written by Sally Rooney.   I would write much the same about "Conversations With Friends".  "So this novel explores some fascinating questions.  One of my favorite sayings over the last several years is, "We are the stories we tell ourselves."  No novel captures the essence of this phrase as well as Normal People.    Marianne and Connell both make up narratives to explain the behavior of the people around them.  Often these narratives are wrong. We also see how isolated individuals can feel- even when they are in relationships. The book also explores how relationships in our formative years can influence our future choices.  Fascinating stuff!"

Should I read it?
 This was a book that moved a little slowly, but what an interesting concept.  I am eternally fascinated by how we all perceive the world so differently.   

Quote-
"At the beginning I thought it was playful, maybe kind of sarcastic, like she wasn't his real wife at all. Now I saws it differently.  He didn't mind me knowing that he loved someone else, he wanted me to know, but he was horrified by the idea that Melissa would find out about our relationship.  It was something he was ashamed of, something he wanted to protect her from.  I was sealed up in a certain part of his life that he didn't like to look at or think about when he was with other people."

If you liked this try-
​*Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
*Life Drawing by Robin Black
Normal People by Sally Rooney
​The Heart's invisible Furies by John Boyne

8 stars
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washington black by esi eougyan

8/9/2019

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One of the TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR New York Times Book Review

One of the Best Books of the Year
The Boston Globe ● The Washington Post ● Time ● Entertainment Weekly ● San Francisco Chronicle ● Financial Times ● Minneapolis Star Tribune ● NPR ● The Economist ● Bustle ● The Dallas Morning News ● Slate ● Kirkus Reviews
One of Barack Obama’s Favorite Books of the Year
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What’s it about?
 Washington Black is an eleven year-old field slave living on a sugar plantation in Barbados when he is summoned to help serve guests for dinner at the big house.  He is subsequently loaned out to the master's brother to help with a science experiment he is undertaking.  Washington Black and Christopher Wilde's paths become intertwined and this relationship changes Washington Black's life.

What did it make me think about?
 Is the good we do about ourselves more than about those we choose to help?

Should I read it?
 This book was so beautifully written.  Edugyan managed to write this novel in a style that evoked the time and place she was writing of.    So the novel is beautifully written, the characters are interesting, and the plot is part historical fiction and part adventure novel. So Why didn't I love it?  The first half was so promising, and then it just kind of never fulfilled that promise for me.  It was a good book- but not one I would label as a great book...
 
Quote-
"It had happened so gradually, but these months with Titch had schooled me to believe I could leave all misery behind, I could cast off all violence, outrun a vicious death.  I had even begun thinking I'd been born with a higher purpose, to draw the earth's bounty, and to invent; I had imagined my existence a true and rightful part of the natural order.  How wrong-headed it had all been.  I was a black boy, only- I had no future before me, and little grace or mercy behind me.  I was nothing, I would die nothing, hunted hastily down and slaughtered."

If you liked this try-
Land of Love and Drowning by Tiphanie Yanique
​Exit West by Moshin Hamid
LaRose by Louise Erdrich
​To
 Keep the Sun Alive by Rabeah Ghaffari

8 1/2 stars
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eleanor oliphant is completley fine by gail honeyman

8/5/2019

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Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
325 pages

What’s it about?

 Elanor Oliphant is a thirty year-old office worker living a very small life in Scotland.  She goes to the office each day and avoids any social interaction.  On the weekends she looks forward to a Tesco pizza and a couple bottles of vodka.    People find her odd and they are often disdainful of her- as she is puzzled by them.  This all changes one day when she sees a random man and decides he is the one for her- he will change her life.  This starts her on a path towards making some changes.  At about the same time she is thrown into a relationship with the IT specialist at the office, Raymond.  She and Raymond are walking out of the office together when they happen upon a gentleman in need of medical attention in the road.  Sammy is his name and he is a big-hearted man who is grateful for their help. Eleanor, Raymond and Sammy soon become friends and these friendships will change Eleanor's life.

What did it make me think about?
 Loneliness.

Should I read it?
 I must admit that I was expecting a funny, light book.  I was mistaken.  Gail Honeyman has written a character in Eleanor Oliphant that makes laugh out loud observations- but this book is so much more.  I loved this book!  This novel tackles some really hard subjects. I would say it is every bit as sad as it is funny.  Somehow, the author has managed a fine balance and given us a novel that makes you both laugh and cry.   I will miss Eleanor and Raymond!

Quote-
"These days, loneliness is the new cancer- a shameful, embarrassing thing, brought upon yourself in some obscure way.  A fearful, incurable thing, so horrifying that you dare not mention it; other people don't want to hear the word spoken aloud for fear that they might too be afflicted, or that it might tempt fate into visiting a similar horror upon them."

If you liked this try-
​Standard Deviation by Katherine Heiny
The Good Luck of Right Now by Matthew Quick
​Ginny Moon by Benjamin Ludwig
A Man Called Ove by Frederik Backman

​9 1/2 stars
​
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asymmetry by lisa halliday

8/3/2019

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A TIME and NEW YORK TIMES TOP 10 BOOK of the YEAR * New York Times Notable Book and Times Critic’s Top Book of 2018

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF 2018 BY * Elle * Bustle * Kirkus Reviews * Lit Hub* NPR * O, The Oprah Magazine * Shelf Awareness
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Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday 271 pages

What’s it about?
This book is divided into three distinct sections.  In “Folly” we meet Alice and Ezra.  Alice is a young assistant editor living in New York City.  She meets the much older Ezra at the park one afternoon and immediately recognizes him as a well known award-winning writer. This section of the book is about their relationship.  The next section “Madness” is narrated by Amar.  Amar is an Iraqi born American who is on his way to visit his brother in Kurdistan in 2008.   When he arrives in London for a 48 hour stopover he is detained at Heathrow for the weekend.  The last section is an interview with Ezra a few years after his relationship with Alice has ended.  Some loose ends are tied up and the connection between the stories makes more sense after reading the interview.

What did it make me think about?
Can we ever see past our own particular perspective?

Should I read it?
The structure of this book is really different than most novels.  I liked the way Lisa Halliday wrote her characters and I found the stories easy to read.  What takes some thought is what the collection means as a whole.  I would put this book down as thought provoking. Probably not a book for those looking for easy entertainment, but for literature fans this one is a treat. 

Quote-
“ The more you learn, thought Alice, the more you realize how little you know.”

“There’s an old saying, he said, about how the foreign journalist who travels to the Middle East and stays a week goes home to write a book in which he presents a pat solution to all of its problems. If he stays a month, he writes a magazine or newspaper article filled with ‘ifs’, ‘buts’, and ‘on the other hands’. If he stays a year, he writes nothing at all.”

If you liked this try-
The Sound of Things Falling by Juan Gabriel Vasquez
Transatlantic by Colum McCann
​Rooftops of Tehran by Mahbod Seraji
A Constellation of Vital Phenomenon by Anthony Marra

8  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.”
    ― Charles William Eliot
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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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