From the Bookshelf of Constant Reader…

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store

James McBride

Start date: June 15, 2024

Finish date: July 15, 2024

Discussion: Reading List

Discussion leader: Gina Whitlock

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Showing 2 of 428 topics — 16,892 comments total

Reading List

* The Schedule for July through Dec. 2025
By Lynn · 1 post · 41 views

last updated Jun 20, 2025 08:37AM

Circe - discussion with spoilers
By Jane · 17 posts · 23 views

last updated Sep 06, 2025 04:48PM

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What Members Thought

Jun 07, 2024 spoko rated it liked it

Shelves: fiction, book-club

A weak ★★★★☆ for me. The setting & stories are interesting, but in the end the whole thing felt needlessly complicated. Not only did I feel like there were ends left untied, but truthfully, I wasn’t even sure what all the ends were at that point. I’m OK with an open, unresolved ending, but this was just a mess. Overall, as I expect from McBride, there were some well-drawn characters and a lot of quirky, interesting texture to the insular society of Chicken Hill (and its environs). And if it were ...more

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Feb 11, 2024 Joyce rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, 100-nyt-books, audible

I listen to a lot of books on Audible. It allows me to read while I'm driving or doing mundane tasks and listening to books helps me fall asleep. When I find a book I've listened to that I really love, I buy it in hard cover for my visual library. This is one of those books that I have added to my physical shelf. It is great fun even as it addresses very serious topics. Set in the 1930s around Philadelphia, it tells the story of how a mixed neighborhood comes together to save a person in an unju ...more

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Mar 19, 2025 Jennifer rated it it was amazing

This is beautiful. A slice of humanity, a story told at the cross-sections of immigrant community life in 1930s Pennsylvania. James McBride is a beautifully brilliant writer.

1 like · Like · see review