James   McBride

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James McBride

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Born
in Red Hook, Brooklyn, New York, The United States
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May 2014

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James McBride is a native New Yorker and a graduate of  New York City public schools. He studied composition at The Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio and received his Masters in Journalism from Columbia University in New York at age 22. He holds several honorary doctorates and is currently a Distinguished Writer in Residence at New York University.  He is married with three children. He lives in Pennsylvania and New York.  

James McBride is a former staff writer for The Washington Post, People Magazine, and The Boston Globe. His work has also appeared in Essence, Rolling Stone, and The New York Times. His April, 2007 National Geographic story entitled “Hip Hop Planet” is considered a respected treatise on African American music and cultu
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James McBride There is no missing piece. It wasn’t a book about “beatings” It was a book about a mother’s love. We got spanked. Sometimes that works, sometimes that…moreThere is no missing piece. It wasn’t a book about “beatings” It was a book about a mother’s love. We got spanked. Sometimes that works, sometimes that doesn’t. Usually, it’s not necessary y. But if a mother loves her children, and knows how to mother them, and she believes in spankings, why not? Some of the language that is used with regard to parenting is fraught with nonsense and political implications that are misleading and used wrongly. I’m glad she spanked me. I deserved em all. (less)
James McBride Music teaches you to fail. Failure teaches success. Music teaches you structure, and where you must play the ink on the page, and where you can solo a…moreMusic teaches you to fail. Failure teaches success. Music teaches you structure, and where you must play the ink on the page, and where you can solo and burst into your own song. Music, the theory of it, the analytical part of it, helps a lot.(less)
Average rating: 4.01 · 572,341 ratings · 57,069 reviews · 22 distinct worksSimilar authors
The Heaven & Earth Grocery ...

3.92 avg rating — 304,481 ratings — published 2023 — 35 editions
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The Color of Water

4.15 avg rating — 132,408 ratings — published 1996 — 3 editions
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Deacon King Kong

4.16 avg rating — 79,032 ratings — published 2020 — 43 editions
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The Good Lord Bird

3.95 avg rating — 37,594 ratings — published 2013 — 53 editions
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Song Yet Sung

4.05 avg rating — 6,067 ratings — published 2008 — 28 editions
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Five-Carat Soul

4.01 avg rating — 5,208 ratings — published 2017 — 15 editions
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Miracle at St. Anna

3.95 avg rating — 4,801 ratings — published 2001 — 7 editions
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Kill 'Em and Leave: Searchi...

3.90 avg rating — 2,916 ratings — published 2016 — 26 editions
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Goat

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4.07 avg rating — 167 ratings
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Buck Boy

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4.43 avg rating — 30 ratings
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Quotes by James McBride  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“God is the color of water. Water doesn't have a color.”
James McBride, The Color of Water

“I asked her if I was black or white. She replied "You are a human being. Educate yourself or you'll be a nobody!”
James McBride, The Color of Water

“It was always so hot, and everyone was so polite, and everything was all surface but underneath it was like a bomb waiting to go off. I always felt that way about the South, that beneath the smiles and southern hospitality and politeness were a lot of guns and liquor and secrets.”
James McBride, The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother

Polls

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Vote For One Book For The February 2015 BB Group Read

I Am Pilgrim I Am Pilgrim (Pilgrim, #1) by Terry Hayes Terry HayesPilgrim is the codename for a man who doesn't exist. The adopted son of a wealthy American family, he once headed up a secret espionage unit for US intelligence. Before he disappeared into anonymous retirement, he wrote the definitive book on forensic criminal investigation.
 
  3 votes 23.1%

Hunting and Gathering Hunting and Gathering by Anna Gavalda Anna Gavalda|26826Prize-winning author Anna Gavalda has galvanized the literary world with an exquisite genius for storytelling. Here, in her epic new novel of intimate lives-and filled with the "humanity and wit" (Marie Claire) that has made it a bestselling sensation in France-Gavalda explores the twists of fate that connect four people in Paris. Comprised of a starving artist, her shy, aristocratic neighbor, his obnoxious but talented roommate, and a neglected grandmother, this curious, damaged quartet may be hopeless apart, but together, they may just be able to face the world.
 
  2 votes 15.4%

Saving Grace Saving Grace by Jane Green Jane GreenGrace and Ted Chapman are widely regarded as the perfect literary power couple. Ted is a successful novelist and Grace, his wife of twenty years, is beautiful, stylish, carefree, and a wonderful homemaker. But what no one sees, what is churning under the surface, is Ted’s rages.Powerful and riveting, Jane Green's Saving Grace will have you on the edge of your seat as you follow Grace on her harrowing journey to rock bottom and back.
 
  2 votes 15.4%

The Great Abraham Lincoln Pocket Watch Conspiracy The Great Abraham Lincoln Pocket Watch Conspiracy by Jacopo della Quercia Jacopo della QuerciaBased on real life conspiracy theories, The Great Abraham Lincoln Pocket Watch Conspiracy follows a globetrotting President William Howard Taft and Robert Todd Lincoln as they try to unravel a mystery circa the era of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination.
 
  2 votes 15.4%

A Simple Plan A Simple Plan by Scott B. Smith [author:Scott B. Smith|12505Two brothers and their friend stumble upon the wreckage of a plane–the pilot is dead and his duffle bag contains four million dollars in cash. In order to hide, keep, and share the fortune, these ordinary men all agree to a simple plan.
 
  1 vote 7.7%

Innocence Innocence by Dean Koontz Dean KoontzHe lives in solitude beneath the city, an exile from society, which will destroy him if he is ever seen. She dwells in seclusion, a fugitive from enemies who will do her harm if she is ever found. But the bond between them runs deeper than the tragedies that have scarred their lives. Something more than chance—and nothing less than destiny—has brought them together in a world whose hour of reckoning is fast approaching.
 
  1 vote 7.7%

Song Yet Sung Song Yet Sung by James McBride James McBrideFilled with rich, true details—much of the story is drawn from historical events—and told in McBride’s signature lyrical style, Song Yet Sung is a story of tragic triumph, violent decisions, and unexpected kindness.
 
  1 vote 7.7%

Swan Song Swan Song by Robert McCammon Robert McCammon In a wasteland born of rage and fear, populated by monstrous creatures and marauding armies, earth's last survivors have been drawn into the final battle between good and evil, that will decide the fate of humanity: Sister, who discovers a strange and transformative glass artifact in the destroyed Manhattan streets; Joshua Hutchins, the pro wrestler who takes refuge from the nuclear fallout at a Nebraska gas station; and Swan, a young girl possessing special powers, who travels alongside Josh to a Missouri town where healing and recovery can begin with Swan's gifts. But the ancient force behind earth's devastation is scouring the walking wounded for recruits for its relentless army, beginning with Swan herself.
 
  1 vote 7.7%

Left Drowning Left Drowning by Jessica Park Jessica Park
Weighted down by the loss of her parents, Blythe McGuire struggles to keep her head above water as she trudges through her last year at Matthews College. Then a chance meeting sends Blythe crashing into something she doesn’t expect—an undeniable attraction to a dark-haired senior named Chris Shepherd, whose past may be even more complicated than her own. As their relationship deepens, Chris pulls Blythe out of the stupor she’s been in since the night a fire took half her family. She begins to heal, and even, haltingly, to love this guy who helps her find new paths to pleasure and self-discovery. But as Blythe moves into calmer waters, she realizes Chris is the one still strangled by his family’s traumatic history. As dark currents threaten to pull him under, Blythe may be the only person who can keep him from drowning.
 
  0 votes 0.0%

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday Paul TordayWhat does it take to make us believe in the impossible?
For Dr. Alfred Jones, life is a quiet mixture of civil service at the National Centre for Fisheries Excellence and marriage to Mary—an ambitious, no-nonsense financier. But a strange turn of fate from an unexpected direction forces Jones to upend his existence and spend all of his time in pursuit of another man’s ludicrous dream. Can there be salmon in the Yemen? Science says no. But if resources are limitless and the visionary is inspired, maybe salmon fishing in the Yemen isn’t impossible. Then again, maybe nothing is.
 
  0 votes 0.0%

Someone Like You Someone Like You by Sarah Dessen Sarah DessenHalley has always followed in the wake of her best friend, Scarlett. But when Scarlett learns that her boyfriend has been killed in a motorcycle accident, and that she's carrying his baby, she was devastated. For the first time ever, Scarlett really needs Halley. Their friendship may bend under the weight, but it'll never break--because a true friendship is a promise you keep forever.
 
  0 votes 0.0%

13 total votes
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“God I am looking for the one thing I have never felt but once, and I would walk through heaven and earth to find it, if he would but let me find him, so that I could feel it; and if I were to feel it again I would never leave that feeling, or him that gave it to me." - The Dreamer”
James McBride, Song Yet Sung

“The greatest gift that anyone can give anyone is LIFE. And the greatest sin a person can do is to take away that life. NEXT to that, all rules and religions in the worldare secondary, mere words and beliefs that people CHOOSE to believe and KILL and HATE by.”
James McBride, The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother




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