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All the Books!

A Modern Masterpiece: JAMES by Percival Everett

All the Books!

Book Riot

Fiction, Arts, Society & Culture, Books

4.61.2K Ratings

🗓️ 28 April 2026

⏱️ 109 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This week, we're sharing a recent episode of Zero to Well-Read that dives deep into James by Percival Everett. This award-winning modern classic reimagines Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the point of view of Jim, the escaped enslaved man who accompanies Huck down the river in the original tale. James is out now in paperback after a two-year hardcover run, and is absolutely worth the read. Subscribe to Zero to Well-Read on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or get early, ad-free episodes and bonus content on Patreon. Subscribe to All the Books! using RSS, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify and never miss a beat book. Sign up for the weekly New Books! newsletter for even more new book news. Keep track of new releases with Book Riot's New Release Index, now included with an All Access membership. Click here to get started today! Head to cozyearth.com and use my code ALLTHEBOOKS for an exclusive 20% off. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

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0:31.5

Hello, readers, it's Liberty.

0:36.9

This week, we're sharing a recent episode of Zero to Well Red that dives deep into James by Percibel Everett. This award-winning

0:39.1

modern classic reimagines Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the point of view of

0:43.8

Jim, the escaped enslaved man who accompanies Huck down the river in the original tale. This was one of

0:49.3

only eight novels that has gone on to win both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.

0:55.1

And it's exciting because today, James is now out in paperback after a two-year hardcover run.

1:01.1

So you can pick it up now, read it, listen to the episode, and all the books will be back next week.

1:06.3

And I've always wanted to say this. In the meantime, eat your cereal with a fork and do your homework in the dark. And happy reading.

1:17.8

Welcome to Zero to Well Read, a podcast about everything you need to know about the books you wish you read. I'm Jeff O'Neill.

1:23.7

And I'm Rebecca Schinsky. Today Today we are discussing a modern masterpiece.

1:29.0

We're really excited about this.

1:33.7

It is Percival Everett's James, which is finally coming out in paperback this week.

1:41.9

This is maybe it was the easiest call when we heard the book was coming out.

1:42.6

We knew Everett.

1:43.8

We heard the subject matter. Even the Bookdale, which maybe we'll get into a little bit here. There's some, you know, publishing imprint stuff that's interesting in personal Everett's career and this book in particular. But this was the book of 2024. I think it's clearly one of the books of the decade, maybe the century. We'll get into all that stuff here. And also gives us a chance early in the life of the show to talk about Perci of Leverett

2:04.7

himself and his body of work.

2:08.0

And I think for our office hours today, it would be interesting to talk about him in the context

...

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