Friday, July 4, 2025

First Line Friday #37: James by Percival Everett

Thanks to Carrie at
Reading is My Superpower
for the Link-up
  


Title:  James
Author:  Percival Everett
Genre:  Historical Fiction
Category:  Recommended Reads

    〰First Line

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Those little bastards were hiding out there in the tall grass.  The moon was not quite full, but bright and it was behind him, so I could see them as plain as day though it was deep night.

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Synopsis:  (From Amazon) 

[James is a retelling of the Mark Twain classic Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.]

When Jim overhears 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/listeners 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. 

Brimming with the electrifying humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a literary icon, this brilliant and tender novel radically illuminates Jim’s agency, intelligence, and compassion as never before. James is destined to be a major publishing event and a cornerstone of twenty-first century American literature.

 〰First Thoughts

A friend of mine from church told me about this book.  One of the books on my summer reading list is the original story by Mark Twain, which I haven't read since the early 90s.  My intention is to read both; Twain's for the refresher and as part of my "Summer of Virtuous Literature," and Everett's to see how he handles the story.

I've heard lots of good things about the book, so this should be fun. 

 So, what's the first line of the book you're currently reading?



Friday, June 27, 2025

First Line Friday #36: Pligrim's Progress in Today's English by John Bunyan & James Thomas

Thanks to Carrie at
Reading is My Superpower
for the Link-up
  


Title:  Pilgrim's Progress in Today's English
Author:  John Bunyan (Retold by James Thomas)
Genre:  Christian classics, allegory

    〰First Line

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As I walked through the wilderness of the world, I came to a place where there was a den.  There I lay down to sleep; and as I slept, I dreamed a dream.

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Synopsis:  (From Goodreads) 

The best allegory ever written is rewritten in modern English , making it clearer and more forceful to the modern reader. With more than 100,000 in print, this retelling by James H. Thomas follows Christian as he leaves his home in the City of Destruction and begins a long journey to the Celestial City. His adventure is full of encounters with interesting people, such as Faithful, Hopeful, and Ignorance. Traveling through places such as Vanity Fair and the Valley of the Shadow of Death, he reaches his heavenly home but learns rich lessons during the journey. The story has immediate application to everyday life.

Later on, Christian's wife, Christiana, decides to join her husband in the Celestial City. As she travels, Christiana comes upon a different set of people, such as Greatheart, Mercy, and Honesty. Her story illustrates how Christians follow different paths but with the same eternity with Jesus. 
of God.

 〰First Thoughts

This famous allegory is the third of three books that are part of our undergraduate level Spiritual Formation Class at the university that I'll be teaching later this summer and again in the fall.  The First Line Friday posts for the other two books are here and here.

Year ago (I'm not sure how many) I read this book in its original 17th century English.  Because I struggled with allegorical literature even worse than I do now, I do not remember the story or the symbolism at all. I'm looking forward to rereading it in hopes that it will jog my memory.  

While I'm a proponent of making old English more understandable to the masses within reason, I fear that this updated edition won't do justice to the original.  Will it simply update the language to the modern equivalent of the wording, or will it dumb down the story to the point it loses its impact?

We'll see. 

 So, what's the first line of the book you're currently reading?