Posted on June 17, 2020 at 2:36 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek
Oprah Winfrey unveiled her latest book club pick yesterday: Deacon King Kong by James McBride.
The novel, set in 1969 Brooklyn, begins with a church deacon shooting a housing project’s well-known drug dealer, and it explores how this act affects not just the shooter and victim, but also the housing project’s residents, the cops who investigate, the church where the shooter served, and the various white neighbors, both law-abiding and otherwise.
Deacon King Kong is McBride’s first book since the National Book Award-winning The Good Lord Bird and hit the New York Times bestseller list.
In announcing the selection, Winfrey said, “In a moment when our country roils with righteous anger and grief, Deacon King Kong reminds us that when we come together as a community in compassion and empathy, our love triumphs.”
Previously, Jenna Bush Hager picked A Burning by Megha Majumdar as the June Read With Jenna book; Good Morning America picked The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett; and Reese Witherspoon picked I’m Still Here by Austin Channing Brown and The Guest List by Lucy Foley as the June and July Hello Sunshine books.
Categories: Today in Books