Pages from the Past

September's Book: James

When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he decides to hide on nearby Jackson Island until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death to escape his violent father, recently returned to town. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and too-often-unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond. While many narrative set pieces of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn remain in place (floods and storms, stumbling across both unexpected death and unexpected treasure in the myriad stopping points along the rivers banks, encountering the scam artists posing as the Duke and Dauphin...), Jims agency, intelligence and compassion are shown in a radically new light.

Pick up your book at the Circulation desk.

This book club will meet monthly, usually on the fourth Monday of each month. We will be reading mostly historical fiction books and the occasional popular non-fiction title.