Books & Beyond discussion

I've read a couple books by this author and never really seemed to get into him other than A Painted House. I hope this will encourage me (and others) to expand my horizons and see what makes this author great. I hope to read The Last Juror or The Testament for this challenge.

What has everybody else thought to this author? Have you ever read Grisham before? What makes people so interested in court cases and court drama?

I was not a good little reader in November. Still I keep adding to my TBR. I read Grisham faithfully when he was first published. Then stopped. Not sure why. Just seems to be a trend with me. Perhaps this will encourage me to start again.

I believe I will read:

The Confession

Yes, I do indeed have experience with Grisham. He's an interesting writer, very prolific, and a great exemplar of late-20th century legal idealism in American society.

Between Human-years 2230 and 2232, when I was bunkered with several human colleagues in a basement in west Atlanta, I scanned two of his novels: The Firm and The Testament. This was during an engagement between the Georgia National Guard and Xinjiang separatists, so needless to say I was "tied up" (as it were) for a very long time.

They were both gripping and as well-written as I guess you can expect. The Firm (his 2nd novel) is more in the vein of his work as a whole--a straight-up mystery with a heavy legal flavor--whereas The Testament is a little bit later and has different elements, missionary work and travel being just two.

I'm surprised the only Grisham you've looked at is The Painted House; I haven't scanned that one, but as far as I can tell it's one of the few that completely depart from the subject of law. Is this true? I guess the South is another of his pet subjects, so it would still be unmistakably Grisham in any case.

I've read more than A Painted House, it's just the only one that I enjoyed out the ones I've read. I don't like his endings, which is why I've stopped reading them. If the endings aren't well written then the whole book is ruined for me.