Barnes & Noble has named Percival Everett’s James its book of the year, an honor voted on by the retailer’s booksellers.
Everett’s novel, published in March by Doubleday, is a retelling of Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the point of view of Jim, the enslaved man who travels with the title character down the Mississippi River.
In a starred review, a critic for Kirkus wrote of Everett’s novel, “One of the noblest characters in American literature gets a novel worthy of him.” The book was the winner of the Kirkus Prize and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the National Book Award.
“Of all of the books we booksellers have read this year, this is the one that we have not been able to stop talking about,” said Shannon DeVito, Barnes & Noble’s senior director of books. “Thank you to the booksellers who started this ball rolling. I echo their sentiments: If you read one novel this year, let it be this one.”
Everett reacted to the honor in a statement, saying, “As my teenagers would say, ‘Cool.’ This honor is unexpected and quite amazing. B&N has already done a remarkable job selling my novel and now this. To have the novel in front of so many readers is what all of us want. Thank you.”
Barnes & Noble also introduced two new honors, naming Impossible Creatures, written by Katherine Rundell and illustrated by Ashley Mackenzie,as its children’s book of the year, and The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan as its gift book of the year.
Rundell reacted to her book’s selection, calling it “the most colossal joy and honor,” and Tan said she was “floating between giddy disbelief and heart-soaring gratitude.”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
