If you know Jim Lee, if you’ve seen the way his eyes
twinkle as he speaks, you know to expect the punch line at the end of his every
sentence. You’re already smiling in anticipation because though you know the
joke’s coming, there’s no telling what he’ll say—you just know it’ll be
hilarious.
The same can be expected from Jim’s latest collection of
short stories, A Texas Jubilee. Set in the fictional northeast Texas town of
Bodark Springs, Lee introduces us to characters we all have met somewhere
before—the grumpy old war veterans, the nagging women, the troubled young men.
In the style of Sherwood Anderson, author of Winesburg, Ohio, all these
small-town characters’ lives are deeply (and at times, annoyingly) intertwined.
“It’s the Law” is my favorite story in the collection. To
avoid giving too much away, I’ll just say that this is a story of revenge and
patience—lots of patience. Lee’s characters grate on each other’s nerves and
you can’t help but sympathize with them. The stories about these folks had me
laughing from cover to cover.
To experience Jim’s quick wit and endless stories just
like these, join us on Thursday night, February 7 at 7:00 p.m. at the Dee J.
Kelly Alumni Center at TCU for Jeff Guinn’s “An Evening with James Ward Lee.”
Books will be available for purchase (at a discount!) and signing.
We hope we see you there!
