Book cover of Happy Neighborhood: Essays and Poems

Book description

Happy Neighborhood explores through poetry and prose the cultivation of contented place. How must men in particular sift through the rewards, and belabored grudges, of their own childhoods in order to move productively forward? These thoughtful, carefully crafted meditations seek to define happiness at home. The poems begin with daily…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked Happy Neighborhood as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I’m an English teacher, so in addition to reading lots of literature, I read lots of books about literature. These are frequently brilliant and important – but they’re also, for the most part, deathly dull. Academic prose is engineered for analysis, not artistry; it often strikes deep, but it seldom catches fire.

In the case of Happy Neighborhood, it does both. That’s because, in this 2023 book of essays, stories, and poems about American literature, living in Florida, and adopting a son, Hallock combines the academic with the personal in surprising and moving ways.

I’ll be honest: some chapters…

If you love Happy Neighborhood...

Ad

Book cover of Aggressor

Aggressor by FX Holden,

It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.

The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…

Want books like Happy Neighborhood?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 53 books like Happy Neighborhood.

Browse books like Happy Neighborhood

Book cover of Skink: No Surrender
Book cover of Ditch of Dreams: The Cross Florida Barge Canal and the Struggle for Florida's Future
Book cover of The Last Kilo

Share your top 3 reads of 2025!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,210

readers submitted
so far, will you?

Ad

📚 If you like Happy Neighborhood, you might also like...

Book cover of Old Man Country

Old Man Country by Thomas R. Cole,

This book follows the journey of a writer in search of wisdom as he narrates encounters with 12 distinguished American men over 80, including Paul Volcker, the former head of the Federal Reserve, and Denton Cooley, the world’s most famous heart surgeon.

In these and other intimate conversations, the book…

Book cover of Lane and the Inventor

Lane and the Inventor by Amy Q. Barker,

A grumpy-sunshine, slow-burn, sweet-and-steamy romance set in wild and beautiful small-town Colorado. Lane Gravers is a wanderer, adventurer, yoga instructor, and social butterfly when she meets reserved, quiet, pensive Logan Hickory, a loner inventor with a painful past.

Dive into this small-town, steamy romance between two opposites who find love…

5 book lists we think you will like!