pickI've been meaning to read James for a while now (esp. since it was my #bookspin for May), but I thought I should reread Huck Finn first. Turns out, it wasn't a reread since my bookmark from high school was still in it. Much like my experience reading Jane Eyre a couple years ago, high school me was right! Meanwhile, James was fantastic. I loved the characters so much and Everett left out most of the parts from the original that I didn't like.
pickJames is Huckleberry Finn told from the perspective of Jim, a runaway slave. This book is a wonderful, adventurous and sometimes humorous story. It is fast-paced and hard to put down. It illustrates the god-awful suffering of slavery, the abuses of an alcoholic parent and deep prejudices that still reside in this country. It is also a plucky story of courage and friendship. 5 stars
pickA reimagining of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn told from Jim‘s point of view, it brings to the forefront how enslaved people were treated in the pre-Civil War era south.
When Jim finds out he‘s to be sold, he runs away. After a series of encounters with strangers (some good, most bad), he returns home just to find out his family had been sold. This changes his mission from escape to rescue.
Everybody should read it at least once.
pickI read this in two days. It‘s that good. I‘m a huge Twain fan, and I loved this imaginative retelling. It deserves all the hype. Letter J for #LitsyAtoZ @Texreader (It didn‘t get picked @Graywacke but I read it anyway. 😂 )
pickThis was a GOOD book. I'm not going to lie, I was supposed to read The Adventures of Huck Finn when I was a junior in HS, but I hated my English teacher so much that I just...didn't ever do it. Percival Everett's writing and acknowledgment to Twain makes me want to go back and read it now.
This may easily be a read-in-one-sitting kind of book
Library haul! I wasn't planning on leaving the house today, but THREE of my holds came available all at once. I brought back Water Moon, picked up the three books on the right, and then Lucas said we should check the book nook. I ended up buying everything you see in the pile on the left for less than $20. 😅 I f*cking love libraries so much it's not even funny. Go visit your library this weekend. 🤍
May is pretty much wrapped - this year is flying!
The tagged was my fave read of the month. Home Is Where The Bodies Are was my least liked. 🤷🏻♀️ Overall a pretty solid month.
Still on course for 100 books by years end! 🤞🏻
pickWow. I read this in two sittings.Percival kept true to Twain‘s masterpiece and really showed the perspective of James throughout. I loved the ending.This book deserves every award it has received. There is a masterful approach not just to the story but to the morality and ethics of the time. It‘s not glossed over and although certain things are stretched, the story flows nicely. Love this book.
pickMy goodness! Fantastic! I completely understand accolades, awards, and astonishment that this book has received. I agree with others who have suggested this be taught alongside Huck Finn. Everett deftly managed to honor Twain‘s work while pointing out its flaws and shortcomings with care and love. #AAM #authoramonth @Soubhiville
pickThis book was fantastic - moving, funny, emotional, and heartbreaking. I‘d argue it should be taught alongside Huckleberry Finn - if not in high school than in college.
Photo is of this past Friday‘s Girls Night outing - my first whiskey sour and it was delicious. #JumpstartSummer, am I right?
#AuthorAMonth
…but I knew I could run. I could always run. But running and escaping were not the same thing. I had to ask myself and answer honestly, How much do I want to be free? And I couldn‘t lose sight of my goal of freeing my family. What would freedom be without them? 🛶
pick#Bibliophile Day 14: #PulitzerWinner this year - with all the accompanying drama. My thoughts on the book framed alongside our #CampLitsy24 questions. Maybe one of our selected books for #CampLitsy25 will again make it to the Pulitzer! Who knows?
pickGreat timing for me to be reading the audiobook of James just as it won the Pullitzer!
I wanted to give a shout out to the narrator Dominic Hoffman. He really is fantastic. I listened to him narrate Homegoing years ago and that book is now burned in my brain. (Please listen to it if you havent read it yet!) He has a gorgeous voice and made the differences in James‘s use of two languages have such an impact on me. This book is thought provoking ⬇️
I think a lot of people will be interested in how James was picked this year.
Clip from NY Times IG full context here:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DJWvbzqRQEn/?igsh=c2o2aGdhcGxveWFs
Percival Everett won the Pulitzer for fiction. 🧡🧡🧡
In perhaps the least surprising book news of all time: James by Percival Everett has received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction! https://bookriot.com/here-are-the-winners-of-the-2025-pulitzer-prize/?fbclid=IwY...
Totally deserved! But so unsurprising that when I saw the article, I honestly thought, "Didn't it already win?"
May #Bookspin looking good! Left pretty broad but I‘ve got picks for #Roll100 , #AAM , and #netgalleygrou‘s go!!!!
pickOkay this book is officially everywhere this year because my husband heard about it somewhere and downloaded it for our drive home today. I liked it the first time I read it for #CampLitsy last year and liked it more this time. I think knowing what it was going to be about helped.
pickOne of my favorite books this year! I couldn‘t put this book down and had to force myself to stop so I could stretch it out. It‘s an important story and I‘m glad Everett was the one to tell it.
pickReally enjoyed this retelling of Tom Sawyer, through the eyes of Jim.
pickLate to the party, but glad I finally made it.
I liked it, but I didn't love it. Jim's surprise revelation diminished it somewhat for me 🤷🏻♀️
25/80
Late to the party, but glad to finally be reading this
March reading! My top pick was James, but I have to give serious honorable mentions to both nonfiction books I read this month, The Barn and I'm Glad My Mom Died, both outstanding. Project Hail Mary would come in last if I was mean like that, but honestly it reminded me why science fiction just generally isn't for me.
pickI listened to Huck Finn before reading this, just to be able to enjoy the context and draw contrasts and such. But honest to god y'all I almost wish I hadn't. I mean, it's fine read Twain or don't read Twain, this book stands alone. Absolutely engrossing and the story so compelling that I almost immediately forgot that this book had anything to do with Twain. Inspired by Twain, not Twain retelling, I loved it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
#ToB25 and #LitsyToB25 have taken very different roads this year (which makes it so fun!) but in the end we all agree (at least a majority does 😉) on James as the winner of both tournaments. Percival Everett finally takes away the 🐓!
Thank you all for participating in this year‘s LitsyToB and I hope to see you next year. But before that, it won‘t be long until we‘ll be back with #CampLitsy25! Meg, Helen and I hope you‘ll join us there!
We have our first #LitsyToB25 finalist. The History of Sound didn‘t really stand a chance against James.
I personally am disappointed, I rooted so hard for THoS 🤷🏻♀️
In the #ToB25 we‘ll see tomorrow if James there too advances to the finals. Today Martyr! beat Margo in the first ToB Zombie round.
Tomorrow we‘ll have the second Zombie match: The Book Censor‘s Library vs The Wedding People.
In the #ToB25 it's James against Martyr!, in the #LitsyTOB25 it's James against Beautyland.
That turned out to be one of the hardest choices for many of us but in the end James won, while in the real tournament Martyr! has grown into a serious contender for the Rooster!
We‘re sorry to see Beautyland go. The question is: can Percival Everett be stopped?! Tomorrow we'll know which Zombie he'll be up against!
Our first #LitsyToB25 quarter final is James against The Book of Love. A nobrainer. Even though not everyone has voted yet: it is 17 votes for James against 0 for TBoL.
In the #ToB25 James was up to Headschot and there too, it came out as a winner loud and clear.
Tomorrow will be more exciting I suppose. In both tournaments it is Martyr! against Beautyland. If you haven't voted yet please do so: https://forms.gle/wLZ3vkQuYwU77wom6
At that moment the power of reading made itself clear and real to me. If I could see the words, then no one could control them or what I got from them. They couldn‘t even know if I was merely seeing them or reading them, sounding them out or comprehending them. It was a completely private affair and completely free and, therefore, completely subversive.
pickLoved this, but wonder if I would have loved it more if I‘d read Huckleberry Finn? Percival is now a must read author for me.
Story‘s like this are so important!
“Reading is an exercise in empathy; an exercise in walking in someone else‘s shoes for a while”.
Let‘s see if this book ends up being banned in America as part of its plan of action to ignore and erase its unpleasant black history. I just can‘t understand this way of thinking! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
pickThis was a great read! It brought back so much of Huck Finn that I‘d forgotten and loved. This is so well done. A retelling from Jim‘s perspective. It would be a great text for teachers to teach alongside Huck Finn. I hope somewhere in the world someone is still teaching Huck Finn. Both of these books are such important pieces of literature and a snapshot of an era that shouldn‘t be forgotten. Still very relevant today.
pickBrilliant in style, content and importance.
James is wise and clever yet forced into submission of slavery. His account of fleeing is full of terror, absolute uncertainty and fear in everything yet bravery and courage shine through.
pickGreat read! I got into this quite quickly and was reading several chapters at a time. EDITED TO ADD: what I enjoyed about this book was the retelling of a classic (The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn) from a different perspective. I confess I've never read the original but my mom used to teach it to her classes, so I heard a lot about the original book. "James" makes me eager to give that one a try!
pickI think everyone knows this a retelling of Huckelberry Finn, from the perspective of James/Jim who was a slave. Instantly engrossing and engaging. It‘s a hard story to handle but there‘s also much to appreciate. The intelligence, and nuance of James who was such a well depicted character, I felt like I knew him and I enjoyed his company very much. A must read for everyone
#james #percivaleverett #abolition
Checking in to report on my current read and my upcoming reading plans. I'm really enjoying James so far (about halfway through). I decided to reinstate an old project of mine that has been abandoned for a while - Operation Tidy-Up-My-Bookcase. My plan is going to be to try and weed out some books and gift them to little free libraries. Pictured here is my #tbr pile - some new but mostly old books to revisit as part of the operation!
Another unsurprising win in the first real bracket. In the #ToB as well as our #LitsyToB25. James it is.
The Book Censor was voted for by Meg, Holly, Jill & Kristy. Holly has been a big promotor of it on Litsy, she and Kristy even think it should win the tournament!
For now chances seem small, although the zombies can be surprising. James is this year‘s favorite for 5 of us: Shawna, Tammy, Katherine, Leslie and Cari. They‘re having a good day!
pickThat Percival Everett was able to craft a novel which honors the good in Twain‘s original masterpiece, while also rectifying many of its flaws, is no small feat.
But it‘s that this novel can also stand entirely, remarkably, on its own, that takes things to a whole other level.
5 stars.
New stack after a rare trip to a book shop. I usually pick up books from the street library or get them as gifts. As a result I often find it impossible to choose. I started James, only about 10 pages in but it‘s immediately engaging #percivaleverett #mirandajuly #charlottewood
I am really crushing the books this year - this will be my sixth! Found this one suggested through an alumni newsletter. #BookSixOf2025
James: A Novel | 
