Grisham

Are you one of those individuals who always loves to have a good book in front of them?  If so, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.  I tend to believe that our love for reading is passed down through the generations.  My grandfather loved to read – whether it was a magazine or a book, he was often found reading something.  My Dad also loves to read – he used to read a book a day.  Our third bedroom has been converted into a library for him, which is overflowing with books. He has so many books that they now flow in to other rooms and various storage barns. 

When I was a child, my parents used to take me to one of the local public libraries, and my Mom has often said that I would likely have the children’s books all read before we ever got back home.  However, enduring all the reading that comes along with high school and then college courses, it caused me to want to take a break from reading, as I felt my brain had been “read-out” from all those years of studying.  But, as I’ve gotten older, I’ve come back to grabbing a book or two and reading to relax and ease my mind.  My favorite place to read is sitting in the wooden swing on our back deck in the sunlight.  It is so relaxing to swing slowly, listen to the sounds of nature and read any type of book. 

Reading, there is nothing wrong with it. It opens our minds to a whole new realm of the world, it offers us the ability to imagine and become creative ourselves.  It allows us to transport ourselves from what is going on in our hectic daily lives in to an entirely alternate universe and get so encapsulated there that we can momentarily escape the present day madness.

As readers, we tend to navigate ourselves to certain types of books.  Some people prefer fiction while others may prefer more biographical or historical books.  As with music or other forms of entertainment where we have our favorites, readers often align themselves with a particular favorite author or two (or more!).  Just as with my taste of music, I tend to dip myself in to a variety of types of books as I feel it allows me to better acquaint myself with reality.  For instance, late last year, I read Jeanine Pirro’s non-fiction entitled He Killed Them All.  More recently, I just read the amazing Kate Mulgrew’s absolutely incredible autobiography, Born with Teeth, (which will likely have a blog of its own forthcoming).  I am currently reading a science fiction book, Protectors by Kirsten Beyer, with upcoming on the reading list A.J. Tata’s Besieged.  As you can tell, I try to cover all the bases!

I say all that to say with so many varieties of subjects that I cover, do I have a particular favorite author?  The simple answer to that is maybe (ha!).  If there’s one author that I have more books of in my collection, it would be John Grisham.  I have always enjoyed reading his legal thrillers, and have a rather extensive collection of his books in my miniature library. 

Legal thrillers have always been fascinating to me, as there are many days, I wish I had gone on to law school and become the next Reggie Love from The Client.  Grisham has a way to captivate the readers by incorporating a variety of topics within a single story.  They aren’t all legal based (although they do typically swing that way), but if you read in to them, you will see the hidden stories of the lives of those individuals within their communities or their personal lives outside of their law firms or the lives of those family members or friends that are affected by the central characters within the story.  So many of Grisham’s novels have been turned in to movies with A Time to Kill and The Client being my all-time favorites.

In all honesty, it’s very hard for me to choose an ultimate favorite Grisham novel because so many of the aspects of their storyline I enjoy and it is hard to pinpoint one favorite.  But, I will admit that the first book that I ever cried while reading was The Testament.  Why?  I really haven’t figured out.  But ultimately, without giving too much away, I think the simplistic lifestyle of Rachel Lane, her innocence and humility coinciding with the impact that she had on attorney Nate O’Riley really opened my eyes and maybe even tugged at my heart strings.  (And yes, for what it’s worth, there have been many other books since The Testament by many varying authors that have caused me to cry while reading, as well.)

Being that I always aspired to be an attorney, I think one of the reasons I’ve always liked reading Grisham’s novels is that it allows me to transport myself and feel as if I’m walking in the courtrooms beside of Reggie Love (The Client) or Jake Brigance (A Time to Kill), helping Darby Shaw write a legal brief (The Pelican Brief), or risking my career like Adam Hall to save a client (The Chamber).  It’s fascinating to place yourselves in these characters shoes and try to imagine you facing the same harrowing decisions that they must ultimately make and deciding for your own self what you would do in that type of predicament.

If you enjoy reading, in particular Grisham, what are some of your favorite books and or stories?

We all have to have something that we’ve enjoyed reading over our lives, even if it’s been nothing more than a short article in a magazine or newspaper.  I challenge you to pick up a new book and allow yourself to explore a new realm.  Find you a nice wooden swing and a glass of tea (or a cup of coffee, if that’s your preference) and drift off in to the imaginative universe and distract your mind from the nagging thoughts that surround us.  Trust me, it really does help to find that escape, and who knows, you may learn a thing or two or even be blessed.