John Grisham

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Aloisius12
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Re: John Grisham

Post by Aloisius12 »

I've read The Rainmaker. It's absolutely dazzling! And I can understan baconpatroller here who reread it 15 times! The legal theme and endless courtroom scenes does not make it by any means dull or something. JG architects his sories marvellously. And the language is classy. And there's no usual happy end, there's an open end instead. Among numerous juristic authors he is extraordinarily deft. I became his absolute fan.
I also saw the screenversion of "The Pelican Brief" with Juila Roberts and Denzel Washington (I am fond of both!) and was equally carried away by the plot.
I started The Firm but my work distracted me though Im sure I will go on. And I've got all his other books in store for me! They are carefully downloaded and waiting to be read :D Though maybe I will exclude Time to Kill, looks a bit too straightforward to me. And I do not know how his non-legal books are like at the moment.
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Carrie R
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Post by Carrie R »

I always enjoy his books. He writes a great plot-driven story with enough characterization to keep you caring what happens. My favorite is probably The Last Juror.
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Athena
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Post by Athena »

I've read some of his books (in Dutch) when I was a lot younger, they were quite interesting. I might read them again or buy them in English, sometime.
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Carrie R
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Post by Carrie R »

Just started his new book "The Racketeer." The reviews have been good, and so far, I'm really liking it.
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book_life
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Post by book_life »

Last Grisham I read was The Confession. Excellent read.
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Post by brad786 »

I read few of his books, among them my favorites are the innocent man, The Broker, The Firm. Once you start reading his book, its really hard to give a break.
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jbels
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Post by jbels »

I like Grisham too. Normally I'll read two of his books in a row every couple of months. I liked the short story collection he had too, Ford County.
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Post by Mazza WA »

I've read all his early work, not so much of his more recent efforts. My favourite is "The Street Lawyer", perhaps because if was the first book of his I ever read, and it encouraged me to read more. I also loved "The Partner" and "The Testament". None of these are about specific courtroom battles, but very enjoyable nevertheless.
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lady_charlie
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Post by lady_charlie »

the Rainmaker, A Time to Kill, The Client, yes, I have read these and more and really enjoyed them
The Runaway Jury, the best ones are the ones I can still tell you the story of, I guess, but...

Who has read Playing for Pizza?

Ah, I was so inspired to make Italian food!!! I made a big Italian meal for my family with all the food in the book that sounded good,
It is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. J.R.R. Tolkien
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A24
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Post by A24 »

lady_charlie wrote: Who has read Playing for Pizza?

Ah, I was so inspired to make Italian food!!! I made a big Italian meal for my family with all the food in the book that sounded good,
Playing for Pizza was probably the last John Grisham book I've read and I didn't like it at all. When I read it I thought "wow, Grisham is now just putting out anything to sell!". I think I thought he was just another author putting them out so fast that the quality was going downhill fast. If you can recommend anything worthwhile that he has written lately, maybe I'll be able to change my mind. The Firm was probably my favorite of his.
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FNAWrite
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Post by FNAWrite »

Maybe you folks who read a lot of grisham have noticed this - he seemed to me to reuse stock situations or sentences a lot. I stopped reading him after about the fourth book in a row had a scene where he explicitily said 'He rested his rump on the edge of the desk and...' . Rump, behind something. Never just 'He sat on the edge of the desk' or in a chair maybe, but each time he noted the placement of buttocks on the sitting surface (which was usually edge of desk). Hey, I know what sitting means, I don't need the author to explain it in every book.

Look for it, you'll find it.
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Carrie R
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Post by Carrie R »

FNAWrite wrote:Maybe you folks who read a lot of grisham have noticed this - he seemed to me to reuse stock situations or sentences a lot.
Look for it, you'll find it.
I've noticed this with some authors, though not specifically with Grisham. (Bet I will now though!) Robin Cook does the same, but I usually get drawn in enough to his stories to ignore it. It's an easy writing trap to fall into, and I struggle to avoid it myself.
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lady_charlie
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Post by lady_charlie »

well, no, Playing for Pizza does not compare with The Client or A Time to Kill, but it was a fun fast summer beach sort of novel and the thing I really liked was the food. I haven't traveled a lot or had a lot of experience cooking different things.
So I got inspired by this book to eat!

Has anyone read the Theodore Boone books? My daughter really likes Sherlock Holmes and PD James and Agatha Christie and the librarian told us to try Theodore Boone, so

I read one of those, too, it wasn't awful, but it wasn't Agatha Christie (or John Grisham, really, either)

it was a little bit like Encyclopedia Brown meets Doogie Howser

my daughter is thinking about reading an actual John Grisham book, because I told her I liked some of them.

-- 20 Mar 2013, 16:12 --

Well, and here is another thought...I usually figure most people have one really good book in them; often (if secretly) autobiographical, or a story they got from an event or a relative.

But I think John Grisham has crafted several good books, includind The Pelican Brief, I had forgotten the name of but I remember
liking it a lot.

Even people like Isabel Allende and Amy Tan, who manage to write more than one pretty good book, certainly have their masterpiece and it isn't hard to pick your fav.

John Grisham is probably starting to churn out the same old thing and I sometimes wonder if some of these people don't have someone else doing a lot of the work for them after so many books, but everyone on here seems to agree that he has three or four fairly equally interesting works, which is a lot for an author to be able to say, in my humble opinion.

Plus I figure I know what to expect, if I want a funny book, or a fluffy book, or a courtroom drama, I have people I can count on to give me that. And I admit, sometimes I pick a book to match my mood - or the mood I would like to be in!
It is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. J.R.R. Tolkien
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Post by Maud Fitch »

lady_charlie wrote:.....John Grisham is probably starting to churn out the same old thing and I sometimes wonder if some of these people don't have someone else doing a lot of the work for them after so many books, but everyone on here seems to agree that he has three or four fairly equally interesting works, which is a lot for an author to be able to say, in my humble opinion.....
I think James Patterson falls into this category.
"Every story has three sides to it - yours, mine and the facts" Foster Meharny Russell
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Post by moonstruck »

Grisham's narration is fine, but IMHO his stories are almost like painting different people against the same old background. You know you're in for a lot of courtroom jargon, and a lawyer "unexpectedly" bringing justice to someone, when you pick a John Grisham up.
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