James by Percival Everett, winner of the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, March 19, 2024; Knopf, library
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Jim's story of escaping with Huckleberry Finn on a raft heading for freedom is an amazing novel of an adventure that shows almost all aspects of slavery and the south before the beginning of the Civil War - the lives of slaves, their imprisonment and harsh treatment, while being hunted if they tried to escape, subject to being sold and separated from their families at any moment, or punished at the whim of their masters.
Jim runs for personal freedom, and Huck runs from an abusive father whom he fears will kill him. Their relationship of help, trust, and humanity is an amazing part of this story, set mostly on the Mississippi River and on its banks.
The novel departs in some aspects from the original story written by Mark Twain, as it is described as a reimagining of Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Jim's story of escaping with Huckleberry Finn on a raft heading for freedom is an amazing novel of an adventure that shows almost all aspects of slavery and the south before the beginning of the Civil War - the lives of slaves, their imprisonment and harsh treatment, while being hunted if they tried to escape, subject to being sold and separated from their families at any moment, or punished at the whim of their masters.
Jim runs for personal freedom, and Huck runs from an abusive father whom he fears will kill him. Their relationship of help, trust, and humanity is an amazing part of this story, set mostly on the Mississippi River and on its banks.
The novel departs in some aspects from the original story written by Mark Twain, as it is described as a reimagining of Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
Published Jan. 1, 2025.
Genre: Mystery thriller, cozy mystery set on a luxury yacht in the mid-Atlantic Ocean
My rating: 4 stars
When a passenger is found dead and her valuable necklace missing, the detective on board as a guest must find the killer while he himself tries to stay alive.
Ingtriguing mystery. I never expected the culprits to be who they were, although I had wished for a more unusual motive.
Aug. 19, 2025; Vintage, library
Genre: literary fiction, adult fiction set in Sweden
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Bo is too old to take care of himself at home, so he has caretakers who come four times a day to his house. But Bo gets upset when his son wants to take away his pet elkhound, saying that he could injure himself walking the dog in all kinds of weather and in the woods.
This is a moving story of an aging man who has lost his wife to dementia and has to live with his own infirmities, while trying to keep what he loves - his way of life and his dog, close to him.
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