The Nature of Things

  I had heard a lot of good comments about John Grisham's latest book, his third featuring attorney Jake Brigance, and I decided that I would like to read it. But first, I thought I should probably read Sycamore Row , the second in the series. The events of this novel take place in 1988, three years after the trial that made Jake famous as depicted in A Time to Kill . I never actually read that book but I saw the excellent movie based on the book so I was very familiar with the story. Jake had lost just about everything except his wife and daughter as a result of the earlier trial, but he had hoped that the notoriety that it brought might help him to build his practice and bring in some more lucrative cases. That has not really happened and so three years later we find him and his family living in a rented house and struggling financially. In October of that year, something happens that seems as though it might provide Jake with an economic boost. Seth Hubbard is a wealthy Ford Cou...

Rogue Lawyer by John Grisham My rating: 4 of 5 stars I don't often find myself reading best-sellers while they are still on the New York Times top ten list. I'm usually late to the party. Years late, in most cases. But I read a review of John Grisham's latest, Rogue Lawyer, and I was intrigued and decided to get on the bandwagon and read it right away. Grisham's narrative takes off with the power and speed of a locomotive and just continues to gather steam over the next 300 or so pages until he delivers us safely into the station once again. He has stolen the germ of an idea from Michael Connelly's The Lincoln Lawyer (all writers steal; they just need to make sure the take from the best as Grisham has), but Grisham's Sebastian Rudd is definitely not a "Lincoln." He is a Ford van lawyer. His base of operations is a customized bulletproof (and it needs to be!) van with Wi-Fi, fine leather chairs, a bar, a small fridge, as well as a hidden gun compart...

This short novel is a model of storytelling by a very accomplished writer. John Grisham is, of course, best known for his lawyer-mysteries/thrillers, but I've actually never read any of them. I have read  The Painted House  which I thought was wonderful and now I can add  Calico Joe  to my Grisham list. It's a fine story. The action of  Calico Joe  switches back and forth between the summer of 1973 and the close-to-present-day. The big story of the summer of 1973 was a baseball phenom for the hapless Chicago Cubs named Joe Castle. He was the most amazing rookie anyone had ever seen, in a sport that is known for some amazing rookies, most of whom quickly flame out. But Joe Castle was the real deal. In his first at bat in Philadelphia, he hit a home run. And he kept hitting them. He hit home run after home run, but even when he didn't hit home runs, he got hits. Baseball fans, especially young boys, all over the country idolized him, and Cubs fans were ecstat...