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

another brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson

11/29/2016

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Another Brooklyn by Jacqueline Woodson
170 pages


What’s it about?
This novel looks back in time to Brooklyn in the 1970's.  August is a young girl living with her father and her brother and slowly figuring out that her mother may not be coming back.  August is one of four friends and they mean everything to each other.  As they grow up and move apart we see a story of two Brooklyn’s.
 
What did it make me think about?
I was amazed at the beautiful prose in this book.  The writing is incredible.  I gather that Ms. Woodson has written for the young adult audience for a number of years.  I am so glad she is writing for the rest of us as well.


Should I read it?
This book is more like a long short story.  It is so fast and so beautifully written that I highly recommend it.  Just find a couple of hours and you will finish this book in one sitting.


Quote-
“Maybe this is how it happened first for everyone- adults promising us their own failed futures.  I was bright enough to teach, my father said, even as my dream of stepping into Sylvia’s skin included one day being a lawyer.  Angela’s mom had draped the dream of dancing over her.  And Gigi, above to imitate every one of us, could step inside anyone she wanted to be, close her eyes, and be gone.  Close her eyes and be anywhere.”


If you like this try-
Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
We the Animals by Justin Torres

9 stars
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last bus to wisdom by ivan doig

11/27/2016

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Last Bus to Wisdom by Ivan Doig
450 pages

What’s it about?
 Donal is 11- years- old and lives on a ranch in Montana with his grandmother.  When she needs major surgery, necessity dictates that Donny head to Wisconsin on the Greyhound bus and stay with his great Aunt Kate and Uncle Herman- people that he has never met and his grandmother is none to fond of.  The adventures of Donny’s summer make up this sweet story.

What did it make me think about?
This book was charming and sweet.  It really made me think about a West that I am not as familiar with.  This is a character driven story.  The plot is slow but steady.

Should I read it?
This is a book for those who like the West and are patient enough to keep turning the pages.  It is not a hard read- but it is not a book for those who are interested in suspense novels.  It is slow, sweet, and very charming.
 
Quote-
“All of which is a way of saying, what an emotion came over me in that precious space of time at Crow Fair.  For the first time that unhinged summer, I felt like I was where I belonged.  Around horses and cattle and men of the ranches and reservations. and the smell of the hay in the fields and the ripple of willowed creek where magpies chattered.  Most of all, I suppose , because he was the author of this turnaround of our lives, in the company of halfway wizardly Herman, the pair of us blest with freedom of the road wherever the dog bus ran, enjoying ourselves to the limit at this peaceable grown-up game of cowboys and Indians.  This is not the prettiest description of a perfect moment, but it was a king hell bastard of a feeing, filling me almost to bursting.”

If you like this try-
​​Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger
Lila by Marilynne Robinson
The Orchardist by Amanda Copeland
Out Stealing Horses by Per Peterson

7 1/2  stars

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the nix by nathan hill

11/21/2016

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The Nix by Nathan Hill
620 pages


What's it about?

Samuel is abandoned in childhood by his mother, Faye, and never quite gets over it.  This story flashes from the present day, back to 1968 Chicago where we learn more about what may have prompted Faye's decision to leave her family.
 
What did it make me think about?
This novel is deeply ambitious.  I can see why it was so well reviewed.  The writing is thoughtful and the book explores the many ways our world is changing and how these changes are affecting the millennial generation.  A subject I find fascinating.  However I just didn't really love this book.  I did not find the characters that compelling.  Maybe it was my mood.  

Should I read it?
 This book seems like a Man-Booker award winner.  I assume it will win lots of awards- and deservedly should.  It is also really timely- with it's look back at the disenchanted generation of the 60's.   It is absolutely worth reading (see the beautiful quote below), but somehow it still wasn't a favorite of mine.   I felt like it touched my mind, but left my heart a little cold.

Quote-
    "For Alice, the small true part of her was that she wanted something that deserved her faith and devotion.  When she was young, she saw families retreat into their homes and ignore the greater problems of the world and she hated them: bourgeois cogs in the machine, unthinking sheeplike  masses, selfish bastards who couldn't see beyond their own property lines. Their souls, she thought, must have been small and shrunken things.
       But then she grew up and bought a house and found a lover and got some dogs and stewarded her land and tried to fill her home with love and light and she realized her earlier error:  that these things did not make you small. In fact, these things seem to enlarge her. That by choosing a few very private concerns and pouring herself into them, she had never felt so expanded. That, paradoxically, narrowing her concerns had made her more capable of love and generosity and empathy and, yes, even peace and justice. It was the difference between loving something out of duty–because the movement required it of you–and loving something you actually loved.  Love – real, genuine,  unasked- for love– made room for more of itself, it turned out. Love, when freely given, your duplicates and multiplies."

If you like this try-
Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
Here I am by Jonathan Safron Foer
A Little Life by Tanya Yanagihara
Fourth of July Creek by Smith Henderson

 7 stars



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the wangs vs. the world by Jade chang

11/11/2016

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The Wangs vs. The World by Jade Chang
351 pages
 
What’s it about?
It is 2008 and Charles Wang, an immigrant from China, loses his vast fortune in the economic meltdown.  He gathers his wife and starts to drive across the country- gathering his children as he goes.   His goal is to get them all together and then go claim his ancestral lands in China.  This is part road trip story, part an economic crisis story, and part an immigrant story.  One thing is for certain- Charles Wang makes for an interesting story!
 
What did I think?
I thoroughly enjoyed this romp through America with the Wang family.  They were a hoot!
 
Should you read it?
This story was fun, interesting, and the author had a point of view. I recommend it!
 
Quote-
“All across the country, one by one, foreclosed house by shuttered business, in cold bedroom and empty boardrooms, and cars turned into homes, people had the same thoughts. 
                  I couldn’t rescue myself.
                  I will never win.
                  My failure will always be epic and my sorrow will always be great.
                  I alone among all people am most uniquely cursed.

In the intervening weeks, as they slowly began to poke their heads out of their private failures, each would come to find that the curse was, in fact, not theirs alone.  Instead, it was spread across the country: a club, a collective, a movement, a great populist uprising of failure in the face of years of shared national success.”
 
If you like this try-
The Improbability of Love by Hannah Rothschild
Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal
How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia by Mohsin Ahmid
The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson

​
9 stars

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commonwealth by ann patchett

11/3/2016

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Commonwealth by Ann Patchett
322 pages
 
What’s it about?
In the early 1960’s Bert Cousins shows up at Franny Keating’s christening party with a large bottle of gin.  By the end of the party Burt Cousens and Beverly Keating cross a line they choose not to back away from.  Their actions that afternoon will have repercussions for both families in ways they can not foresee. This novel explores the next five decades in the Cousins’ and Keatings’ lives. In this novel Ann Patchett takes an unflinching look at a blended family.  
 
What did it make me think about?
 Ann Patchett does not back away from a difficult subjects.  In "Commonwealth" she explores the pain, and bonds of a blended family.  In particular-  I found the relationships between siblings over time really interesting.  

Should I read it?
Ann Patchett never disappoints.  I found the first third of the novel slightly disjointed, but I enjoyed this book anyway.  If anything I wish the book had explored some of the characters in more depth. Albie was so interesting and I never really got to know him well enough.  This book is easy to read, and as always Ann Patchett has something to say.
 
Quote-
“ These days he worked for company out in Walnut Creek that made bicycles. He liked that.  Christmas he sent his mother a plane ticket so that she could come and sit around a tree with him and his daughter and his wife. Sometimes the popcorn and the fireplace and the endless hands of Go Fish would overwhelm her and she will have to excuse herself and go to the bathroom just to stand beside the sink for a minute and cry.  Afterwards she'd rinse her face and dry off again, coming back to the living room h=good as new.  It what she had hoped for but never for a minute what she'd expected."

If you liked this try-
A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler
The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson
Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger
Our Souls at Night by Kent Haruf

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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