Hi. How are your late summer days going? These past couple weeks I’ve had a nice visit with my Dad in Southern California and tomorrow I head back home. He lives inland, but we also spent two lovely Sundays at the beach. There were hardly any waves, but it was enjoyable for swimming, and my brother and a friend joined us too. Summer wouldn’t be complete without some time at the beach, right?
It’s crazy that Labor Day weekend is coming up and that it’s almost September, holy smokes. I guess I will do my preview post next week on what’s new releasing. Till then I’m looking over my summer reading list to see what’s left that I want to finish. I’ve read nine out of 15 and it’d be nice if I finish at least one or two more before putting an end to my summer list. What about you — have you finished your list yet? How are you doing with your goal?
And now I’ll leave you with a couple reviews of two that were on mine.
James by Percival Everett / Doubleday / 320 pages / 2024
4.5+ stars. Whoa this retelling of the Mark Twain classic Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is darker and more scary than the original, but it’s quite a worthy take on the Twain classic.
Enslaved Jim, who secretly can read and write, tells the story this time and I was captivated to hear what he says and thinks. The beginning and first half seem to follow the original fairly closely. Thinking he’s going to be sold, Jim runs to Jackson Island to hide, there he later is joined by young Huck who’s faked his own death to get away from his abusive father. The two make to escape on a raft on the river looking for freedom, but Jim also hopes to earn money to buy freedom for his family who are left behind.
Along the river they have various adventures and close encounters where they’re almost apprehended and killed. Interestingly Jim employs slave dialect when he’s around whites who like to think they’re superior, but he uses regular language when he’s alone talking with other slaves or blacks who also speak normally. There’s a few secrets like this that you learn along the way — the biggest of all comes towards the end — that’ll make you sit up and spin your head around.
It is a dark and suspenseful journey as Jim becomes a wanted runaway slave accused of theft and murder. The con men the Duke and King, who I didn’t like in the original, are apart of this one too. They are bad news … as is a ministerial troupe — that Jim comes along — in a different kind of way. Huck and Jim get separated a couple times for a good long while, and you wonder if they will get back together … and find a way to escape and be free.
I liked how this telling puts you right into the shoes of Jim and makes you feel his scary predicament and what slavery means and is like in all its violence, inhumanity, and ugliness. It’s gruesome. Jim makes for a perceptive hero and you cling to him along the way. Percival Everett is able to do a lot in this retelling of the classic tale while paying tribute to it too.
The House of Doors by Tan Twan Eng / Bloomsbury / 320 pages / 2023
4.5 stars. There’s some beautiful storytelling in this and the audio is wonderful. The novel has a bit of a longing, haunting quality to it … and is atmospheric about a time where things collided in Penang, Malaysia for a white colonialist couple Lesley and her ailing husband Robert Hamlin who have guests come stay with them in 1921. The guests are famous British author Somerset “Willie” Maugham and his young secretary and love interest Gerald. Willie’s just learned that he’s lost everything in a bad investment, but he doesn’t want to go back to England to his wife and debt, so he’s looking for more to write about quickly to earn money.
Lesley’s marriage too she learns is on the fritz, and she becomes involved with a Chinese revolutionary in 1910 … as well as a murder trial in Kuala Lumpur when she hears her good friend Ethel Proudlock has been charged with a man’s death. Ethel says he was trying to rape her. Lesley tries to help Ethel and advises her to tell the truth about how she knows the man, but you have to wait to near the end to see how it all plays out.
The story is abuzz with infidelities, relationship triangles, expat feelings of place, and a good portion is spent over the murder trial. It seems like a Somerset Maugham story — indeed Willie is writing about the secrets among them and the trial for a book that comes out at the end. The plot winds on in its own good time, alternating between Lesley’s perspective and Willie’s during a time and place with people close to them who they can’t hold onto nor forget. It’s an intricate story. This is my first novel by Tan Twan Eng and makes me want to read his two others. The House of Doors kept me intrigued.
That’s all for now. What about you — have you read these and what did you think? Enjoy your long weekend ahead.
Great pics. I’m glad you enjoyed the whole trip, beach included. 🙂 As you know, I’ve read both books. You liked them more than I did. The House of Doors substantially more so. Great reviews! You captured these two novels’ essence perfectly. What are you planning to read next? I started Daniel Silva’s latest, gave up, took up Orbital, gave up, and started Silva’s yet again. In two days I made it to 44%. Let’s hope I can make it to the end this time around (fingers crossed!)
Hi Carmen, thanks, like how the pics came out and glad you thought the reviews were all right. I don’t always know, and I feel I ramble at times to try to explain what the books are like … but not to say too much. It’s not easy eh? I also want to remind myself with the reviews years from now what the books were about & like. Hmm.
Like you I have been bouncing around in books — I tried Hisham Matar’s novel My Friends but don’t think I can handle that right now. It’s too much. Funny you should mention Silva, I listened to an hour of A Death in Cornwall yesterday driving back from the beach. But not sure I’ll stick with it. I’ll leave it to you. I don’t have the books with me I need to read or my kindle, so I might start The God of the Woods. But I’ll get back later today and sort things. Good luck with Silva. Enjoy your week.
Congratulations on reading so many of your summer books and that is a great idea to map out ahead of time the books we intend to read at the start of each season. I’m going to try that for Autumn.
I did read House of Doors which I was very impressed with. I went on from there to read Somerset Maugham’s The Painted Veil which was okay but I liked the movie version better. Another book about expats I want to read that involves a murder is White Mischief by James Fox. It’s non-fiction and I will put it on my list for Autumn. I must give Huckleberry Finn another try and then James
Hi Kathy, thanks. I guess I’m pleased I read 9 out of 15 on my summer list. If I can get one more – 10 would be a nice number to finish with. Next summer I should keep it to 10. It’s a bit hard to follow a list. lol.
It’s great you followed The House of Doors with The Painted Veil. I think I got an e-copy of that on a $1.99 sale, so I need to read it. I will try to find the movie too. The only Maugham novel I’ve read is The Razor’s Edge long ago. I recall liking it. Enjoy the James Fox book – I don’t know that one. I will look it up.
Have a great week.
It really does seem that the summer just started, but it’s nice that you can end it this way with a home visit. I am happy to see that you rated both the books so highly, and I totally agree with you. They are both almost definitely going to end up on my Top 15 Fiction list for this year at this point. I’ll be surprised if something knocks either of them farther down than number 15…but I almost hope it happens because that means that something really special has yet to come around to me this year.
Hi Sam, summer has gone by too quickly this year. I don’t know where the time went. I was pleased that I finished these books back-to-back … they were the best I’ve read in a long while. I enjoyed both. The James book has quite a bit of action towards the end. It’s quite dark but Jim made for a good protagonist. And I was intrigued by The House of Doors and was particularly caught up in Lesley Hamil’s narration. Various infidelities with that one.
Hope your extreme heat ends soon. Enjoy the week.
I’m glad to see your rating of “James.” I’ve been looking forward to reading it and I think it will be next on my list.
Hi Dorothy, see what you think of James. I found it quite accessible and an interesting look at another angle of the classic tale. It feels darker and scary for Jim. Everett seemed to capture it well. I look forward to seeing what you think. Enjoy your week.
Love that beach pic! Wish I was there right now. I sadly didn’t get a beach trip this summer. But hopefully next year. And James is a book I’d really like to read. It sounds like such an interesting and thought-provoking retelling of Huck Finn.
Hi Lark, thanks. The beach was so great those days and the water felt perfect. We lucked out. You’ll have to go next year. The James novel is a roller coaster … I think you’d like it … it’s quite a scary journey for Jim and the book is suspenseful. It’s more accessible than I thought it’d be & moves quickly. See what you think.
Have a great week.
I agree that James if very well done. In a couple weeks I’ll discuss it with my in-person book group and I am eager to see what they thought of it.
Hi Helen, it seems James would be a good discussion book … there’s a lot to talk about in it. Though unfortunately my book group recently disbanded after a decade or more, a bit of a bummer.
I was glad you liked James as well and hope you have a good talk about it. Enjoy your week.
Going to the beach is a required summer activity. I try to stop by the water every time I go to Galveston and stick my toes in. Glad you got to have a good visit with your dad!
James was a fantastic read. Now I want to read some of this author’s backlist. I think one of his other books was on the New York Times list of best books that recently was published.
Hi Deb, thanks we had fun at the beach. Such a nice day there! And my dad & I had a great visit. Now I’m back home and feeling amiss at where I am.
It’s nice that you take a dip when in Galveston. I hope you don’t run into the jelly fish there! And I’m glad you liked James too. It was a bit scary but he perseveres. I too want to read more of Percival Everett’s novels. In fact I sort of want to read his wife’s new book too … Danzy Senna’s Colored Television.
Hope you have a fun Labor Day weekend. Enjoy.
I did not realize that Danzy Senna was Percival Everett’s wife. Colored Television is suggested fall reading everywhere right now.
I always keep watch for jellyfish. I never venture out far. I like the sound of the surf, especially after all the tourists are gone.
Hi Deb, yeah I only heard Danzy was his wife recently. Two successful authors in one family, wow. I’m curious to read her new novel.
I’m glad you watch out for jellyfish. I was at the beach in Galveston once and there were a lot. But the water is nice and warm.
I never have liked the beach much, not in Florida or in California. But I am glad you had a good time there with your father and your brother. That is a lovely photo of the rose.
I am reading the last two books on my 20 Books of Summer list: The White Lioness by Henning Mankell and The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. Two very different books. I don’t think I will finish either in August but that is fine. No rush. Liking them both, but things got seriously in the way of my daytime reading Wind in the Willows in the last week.
I am more and more curious about James by Everett but I still haven’t read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and I don’t think either will happen soon. I haven’t read anything by Tan Twan Eng but would love to read something by him.
Hi Tracy, thanks. We had a fun visit. You have lived near the beach much of your life right? But I know a day at the beach is a bit different. I could use an umbrella these days … but on a hot day I really like taking a dip in the ocean. In my youth we lived in Hawaii and California so it seems I was at the beach a lot.
I’m impressed you’re about finished with your 20 Summer Book list. Wow great job. I had a few other books & life derail my focus a bit. But I’m glad I read the ones I did.
I thought James was quite accessible, but parts of Huck Finn weren’t easy to get through. Tom Sawyer is easier. But still an interesting comparison to read all three. And I will also continue to follow Tan Twan Eng and what he writes next.
Have a nice Labor Day weekend!
I love to have an hour lying on the beach and not thinking about anything else. Luckily on our trip to the Galapagos we did have one hour without organized things to look at! I love all the guided hikes and searching for exotic birds and stuff, but I cherished that one hour too. You sound like you are on the same page with that.
best, mae at maefood.blogspot.com
Hi Mae, thanks. Yes I agree. I love the relaxation of an hour or two on the beach, where it feels warm & perfect. Sometimes I read, other times I look out to sea or watch the people in the surf. It’s just like chillin’. I’m glad you got a bit of that on your recent trip. It seemed so necessary with your full itinerary. I don’t think I will get to the beach this year again … but it was nice while it lasted. Have a great Labor Day weekend.
Sounds like you’ve been having a nice time in Southern California. Can’t believe the summer is almost over! Happy to hear you enjoyed James so much. It does sound like a re-telling with some depth.
Hi Rachel, yep James is good retelling and I found it pretty easy to get into.
I had a good visit in Calif. and I’m back home in Canada now. It took me a few days to get my bearings with the change. I hope we have a few more weeks left of summer … even though Labor Day is about over. Enjoy your week!
I am trying to remember the last time I went to the beach. It’s been awhile. We’re more mountain people, I think, but I like looking out at the ocean in person. Just not the sand. I hate the sand. Haha. I’m so glad you liked James. I look forward to reading it this month. The House of Doors sounds really good as well. I hope you have a wonderful September, Susan!
Thanks Wendy, September is usually my favorite month. I’m back home now but Calif was a nice time. I didn’t realize you weren’t a beach person … lol. The water feels good on those really hot days. But the sand can get into everything – I know what you mean.
See what you think of the James novel. I hope you find it compelling. Happy reading.
There’s nothing like a day at the beach. Glad you were able to fit in a couple of days. I’m sure James will end up on my list of favorites this year… wow, that ending! The House of Doors is still on my list. Happy to see your high rating! Welcome home!
Hi JoAnn, thanks. It took me a few days to get back into the swing of things once I got home. I’m still thinking about those beach days … it was so nice on a hot day. Perfect.
The action towards the end of James really picked up. Explosive. I really liked how it went. I’ll be curious to hear what you think of the House of Doors. I liked the audio version, which is well told. Have a great week.
You did great on your summer list. I only finished ten but am happy with the books I had. Looking forward to making a fall list of books now.
Glad you had some good times in California.
Hi Tina, thanks. I really only finished 9 of 15 of my summer books but next year I’ll aim for 10 instead. You were wiser to choose 10. And you made it!
The books were all pretty good though. I hope you liked doing it.
Happy September.
Boy am I behind reading your blog! Yikes. I’m glad you had a good visit with your dad. That photo of the ocean brings back so many memories of my years in Del Mar. I was such a beach bum! And the water temps are always so lovely this time of year. Nothing like the Oregon Coast, that’s for certain.
I’m looking forward to listening to James later this year. Glad it was such a winner with you.
Hi Lesley, sorry for the delay in replying. It was a great visit back in SoCal and I do still miss it sometimes … along with my Dad. The beach & ocean were like perfect then and that photo is taken pretty close to Corona Del Mar in Balboa / Newport area. I could actually jump into the water without freezing!
I’m not sure what you’ll think of James … I read it instead of listening b/c I was worried about the dialect. But it’s not all dialect. See what you think.
Cheers!