Reader’s Choice: James
October 27, 2025 @ 6:30 pm - 7:30 pm
Reader’s Choice: Katherine Page
James by Percival Everett
MILS catalog record
“When Jim hears 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. This brilliant and tender novel radically illuminates Jim’s agency, intelligence, and compassion as never before.” – From cover jacket
About Katherine
Hometown: Livingston, New Jersey (Essex County, north Jersey about an hour from NYC).
Current residence: Lincoln, Massachusetts and Deer Isle, Maine.
Connection to the island: We came to the island in 1958 to Goose Cove Lodge. I had my 11th birthday there that July. It was a very rustic place in a breath-taking location with three delicious squares a day from the island women working there and nature walks and excursions, including ones on his large sloop, provided by the owner, botanist Dr. Ralph Waldron. My parents, Alice and William Page, bought 2 acres of shorefront on Southeast Harbor in 1964 and built a small cottage in 1969. My husband and I bought a small house next door in 1998. I haven’t missed a year and this July marked my husband’s 50th, our son’s 40th. My parents rest in Mt. Adams cemetery, so we’ll be here a while longer.
Why do you read? All of the above [listed in the original question to readers: information, escape, relaxation, commitment to a specific topic]. I don’t really know why I read except for the fact that I can’t remember not being able to read, (I wasn’t an infant prodigy, but growing up in a house filled with books, probably teethed on some). Reading is an everyday activity like waking up, eating, moving around, talking, sleeping and breathing.
What genre do you hate to read? Horror.
Last book you LOVED: North Woods by Daniel Mason.
Currently reading: Girls in Trucks by Katie Crouch, The Black Box by Henry Louis Gates Jr., The Village of Eight Graves by Seishi Yokomizo, and Something Lost, Something Gained by Hillary Rodham Clinton (I usually have a few going at a time).
Why did you choose James? I have read other books by Percival Everett and admire his writing very much. When I read about James: A Novel before it came out, I was intrigued. I put a hold at the library and when I picked it up, read it straight through. Aside from the link to Twain, it works as a stand alone book. However, what made it special for me as a former teacher was the correction it offered on the racism in Huckleberry Finn. That was always a problem teaching it. I think the group will have much to say about James and, if possible, reading Huckleberry Finn afterwards would add to our discussion (but not mandatory!!). Stephen Spielberg has acquired the rights. The film will be out in 2026, so more to talk about then!