By Scandinavia Public Library
The Scandinavia Public Library’s Book Group will meet on Tuesday, Jan. 27, to discuss the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning novel “James” by Percival Everett.
Fika (beverages and treats) begins at 3:40 p.m., with the discussion following at 4 p.m.
Copies of “James” are available to pick up at the Scandinavia Library, or you can place a hold through Infosoup: https://infosoup.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S181C928610
Optional bonus read: Copies of Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” are also available at the library for anyone wishing to read this American classic along with “James.”
From Percival Everett — a recipient of the NBCC Lifetime Achievement Award and finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, Booker Prize, and numerous PEN awards — comes “James,” a retelling of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” both harrowing and ferociously funny, told from the enslaved Jim’s point of view.
When Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he runs away until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck has faked his own death to escape his violent father. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.
Brimming with the electrifying humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a literary icon, this brilliant and tender novel radically illuminates Jim’s agency, intelligence, and compassion as never before. James is destined to be a major publishing event and a cornerstone of twenty-first century American literature.
“A masterpiece that will help redefine one of the classics of American literature, while also being a major achievement on its own.” — Chicago Tribune
“A provocative, enlightening literary work of art.” — The Boston Globe
About the group
Book Group meets on the fourth Tuesday of each month from January through November. We do not meet in December. Watch our website calendar or our Facebook page for the most recent updates!
We read books across most genres as well as some non-fiction. Anyone is welcome to attend who has read, or is interested in, the current month’s book and would like to participate in a friendly discussion. Members are welcome to attend one meeting or all of them as their interests and schedules permit.
