JAMES rating: five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐. My favorite book of 2024 so far is JAMES by Percival Everett (Doubleday/Penguin Random House, March 19, 2024), a retelling of Mark Twain‘s classic THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN from the point of view of Jim, Huckleberry Finn’s companion on that legendary raft trip down the Mississippi River. I can’t […]
THE MADSTONE rating: 4 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐. I’ve fallen for another western: THE MADSTONE by Elizabeth Crook (Little, Brown and Company/Hachette, November 7, 2023). The madstone of the novel’s title is not just a talisman with reputed healing power: it is a symbol of found family, a mother’s determination to protect her children at all costs,
THE HEAVEN & EARTH GROCERY STORE rating: five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐. The setting for THE HEAVEN & EARTH GROCERY STORE by James McBride (Penguin Random House, August 8, 2023) is the outskirts of a Pennsylvania steel town in the 1930s—a place called Chicken Hill. It is home to a mix of Jewish, Black, and Italian households.
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S.A. Cosby, I mean. ALL THE SINNERS BLEED rating: 4 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐. While I think RAZORBLADE TEARS is a superior novel, I enjoyed ALL THE SINNERS BLEED (Macmillan, June 2023) more. I could easily see it becoming adapted into an Oscar-contender film or popular TV miniseries. Phenomenal pacing is Cosby’s forte, and he settles into
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