Book Club: The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store

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Hello All,

Here is our next book. To make sure you all see this, I’m tagging : @Makelikeanapeman @hitchedandhiking @Landbiscuit @Tgo53 @Mmasters1111 @andrealovesanimals @CanadianLynda @Catgoddess_99 @SoloTraveler @luckycat @FluffyFriends @geoff.hom @Cuttlefish @MaggieUU @laura358 @PVGemini @sledgejoyce @Sam_F @Southernsitter @Purdie @Sitandsat The book club is open to the entire TH forum membership as well as non-member friends and relatives.

Please join us for a discussion of this book. I’m thinking the week of 22 April or 29 April will give us six to seven weeks to read it. We can meet at
10AM PDT/ 12 PM CDT/1 PM EDT/6 PM GMT/9 PM UTC+3 or we can move it a little earlier or later if that works better.

Please let me know your preferences:
Tues., 23 Apr; Wed., 24 Apr; Thurs., 25 Apr
or
Wed., 1 May; Thurs., 2 May

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY NPR/FRESH AIR**,** WASHINGTON POST**,** THE NEW YORKER**, AND** TIME MAGAZINE
“A murder mystery locked inside a Great American Novel . . . Charming, smart, heart-blistering, and heart-healing.” —Danez Smith, The New York Times Book Review

“I keep thinking every time I read one of his books, ‘That’s his best book.’ No. THIS is his best book.” —Ann Patchett

“The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store is one of the best novels I’ve read this year. It pulls off the singular magic trick of being simultaneously flattening and uplifting.” —NPR

“[A] tour de force . . . [a] mesmerizing, moving, almost magical tale . . . [McBride] writes sentences and paragraphs that swing like jazz melodies.” —The Associated Press

“Classic McBride: He doesn’t shy away from bold statements about the national catastrophes of race and xenophobia, and he always gives us a spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down. The sugar is McBride’s spitfire dialogue and murder-mystery-worthy plot machinations; his characters’ big personalities and bigger storylines; his wisecracking, fast-talking humor; and prose so agile and exuberant that reading him is like being at a jazz jam session. . . . Reading McBride just feels good—we are comforted and entertained, and braced for the hard lessons he also delivers.” —The Atlantic

About the Author:
Me (Maeve): I read James McBride’s memoir, The Color of Water, years ago. At that time it had been chosen by the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as the city-wide book club selection. It’s a remarkable story. The book stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for two years. For more info, click here: NYTimes

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Tuesday, April 23 is best for me. The 24th can work too. We are finishing up a housesit on the 25th and hopefully moving to another one, so for me, the 25th is out. I have no idea where we are going to be in May.

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I can make any day work. I am in the earliest zone PDT and would not mind the meeting being at 9 am PDT if others want a bit earlier.

I found the audio book on Spotify. 12.5 hours of listening.

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I am good with any of the days listed.

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Morning Maeve,
Thanks for sorting this out and suggesting dates/times. I don’t have a preference out of the dates suggested so I’ll go along with the majority. I’ll order the book now!
Thanks again
Jess

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Ditto to this. 23 or 24 April or we are on the move sitting again :raised_hands:t3::rofl::partying_face: Thanks @Maeve - think it will be 9pm Turkish :tr: time

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Excellent! We’ll meet on Tues or Wed, 23 or 24 April at
10AM PDT/ 12 PM CDT/1 PM EDT/6 PM GMT/7 PM CET/9 PM Turkish time. Let’s give it a few more days to see if we hear from anyone else before deciding which day.

So far the book is an easy read. If you know his background, the author draws on it in this story.

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Hello @Maeve
We will be traveling/exploring the Balkans late April/early May so probably won’t be able to do the book club chat unless we have take a night off. Please do include me on the invite, just in case.

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Have a wonderful trip @Landbiscuit! I will certainly include you on the invite!

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Hello All!

We will meet on Wednesday, 24 April at 10AM PDT/ 12 PM CDT/1 PM EDT/6 PM GMT/7 PM CET/9 PM Turkish time to discuss The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store.

Please DM me or post to this topic if you would like to join us. The discussion is open to everyone, including friends and relatives. If you have not finished the book by that time, come anyway.

I will send a Google Meet link when we get closer. Looking forward to seeing everyone! :grinning: :wave:

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Hello Everyone,

This is a meeting reminder. We’ll meet this Wednesday, 24 April at 10AM PDT/ 12 PM CDT/1 PM EDT/6 PM GMT/7 PM CET/9 PM Turkish time to discuss The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride.

I’m tagging @hitchedandhiking @Landbiscuit @Tgo53 @Mmasters1111 @Makelikeanapeman @andrealovesanimals @CanadianLynda @Catgoddess_99 @SoloTraveler @luckycat @FluffyFriends @geoff.hom @Cuttlefish @MaggieUU @laura358 @PVGemini @sledgejoyce @Sam_F @Southernsitter @Purdie @Sitandsat @Ellen1
I’ll send all of you the Google Meet link via DM.

If you are not on the list but would like to attend, please DM me and I’ll send you the link.

If you want to be taken off this list in the future, please let me know.

I’m looking forward to seeing everyone, meeting some of you for the first time and to a stimulating, enjoyable discussion!

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