Love Makes Everything Possible: Reading James McBride
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We’ve been fans of James McBride’s work since we first read his memoir, The Color of Water, ages and ages ago. (And if you’ve read McBride’s debut, you might also see the inspiration he pulls from his own mother’s story for his Barnes & Noble 2023 Book of the Year winner, The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store.) We love reading McBride because of the love he holds for his characters and their stories — and how clearly that runs through all of his books. And as McBride himself said when he was told that our booksellers tapped his latest novel for our Book of the Year, “Love makes everything possible.”
{{ product: 9780593422946 }}From the author of Deacon King Kong and National Book Award winner The Good Lord Bird comes a gorgeous novel about a small town and the bonds of community that are formed between marginalized groups in order to survive.
McBride joins us to discuss the research he does, his personal connections to the book, telling stories that need to be told and more on our Poured Over podcast.
A brilliant work that mixes the historical with the fictional, this is James McBride at his perpetual best. It’s the story of a young slave swept up on the perilous journey of a lifetime and it reads well for adults and young readers alike.
Deacon King Kong boasts the trifecta of a fully realized and enthralling plot, setting and character cast. It’s a slice of life, a love story, a ghost story and so much more, all wrapped up in the immaculate narrative voice of James McBride.
James McBride’s endearing voice has already won over a generation of readers and here that voice translates into a profoundly moving personal narrative ripe with real-world implications that resonate across audiences.
A gorgeous and sweeping historical narrative that sees four Buffalo Soldiers discovering humanity and empathy behind enemy lines. This novel is deeply human, woven with real-world implications and impeccably told.
Deeply moving and pulled straight from history, this is the story of an escaped slave and the harrowing search for humanity. Rich with suspense and a plot that’s always one step ahead, this is the kind of read you won’t want to put down.
James McBride’s literary prowess is beyond question and here he takes it in a new direction with a collection of short stories that engage with all the themes he explores in his other works. Masterfully delivered and classically told, these are quintessential McBride in all the best ways.