Tag Archives: John Grisham

Top Ten Tuesday! — Audiobooks

28 Jun

It’s Freebie Day at Top Ten Tuesday! Thanks to the gals at The Broke And The Bookish who host every week. To find out what other bloggers are sharing today, click HERE.

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I love audiobooks! I started listening about 6 years ago when I traveled 4+ hours to my daughter’s college soccer games. They filled the tedious hours of driving alone. I got my husband hooked on audiobooks when we would go on road trips for football games. With Summer in full swing now, I thought it would be good to share my favorites. Audiobooks are perfect for car or plane trips or when you just want to relax and have someone read to you. 🙂 I also listen while exercising and doing chores, basically anytime when it is too cumbersome to hold a book! I went a bit over the top with my list — 20+ books! But I really liked them and just had to share.

 

TOP 10 20+ FAVORITE AUDIOBOOKS

While it is important to have a good story, a good reader/narrator is also important for a quality audiobook — timing and voices/accents are key. My husband and I got hooked on Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot mysteries. But just any old narrator will not do; we have to have Hugh Fraser! Lucky for us, a ton of Poirot audiobooks featuring Fraser are available. He does an excellent job in making Poirot come to life. Here are a few of our favorites.

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The Christie audiobooks run about 6+ hours, making them a perfect choice for listening with others.

Along with the Christie mysteries, I have listened to some other excellent books. They vary in length, but have a two things in common: excellent stories and excellent narrators. The following have something for everyone — suspense, mystery, history. There is even a classic! Check them out!

The Advocate by Randy Singer, narrated by David Cochran Heath

All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, narrated by Zach Appleman

Center of Gravity by Laura McNeill, narrated by Lisa Larsen

A Cry from The Dust by Carrie Stuart Parks, narrated by Teri Clark Linden

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The Curse of Crow Hollow by Billy Coffey, narrated by Gabe Wicks

Cuts Like A Knife by M.K. Gilroy, narrated by Coleen Marlo

Dead Lawyers Tell No Tales by Randy Singer, narrated by Joey Collins

Dubiosity by Christy Barritt, narrated by Joyce Bean

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Fear Has A Name by Creston Mapes, narrated by Paul Michael

Longbourn by Jo Baker, narrated by Emma Fielding

Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline, narrated by Jessica Almasy/Suzanne Toren

The Outcast by Jolina Petersheim, narrated by Tavia Gilbert

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The Price of Privilege by Jessica Dotta, narrated by Amanda McKnight

The Racketeer by John Grisham, narrated by J.D. Jackson

Sycamore Row by John Grisham, narrated by Michael Beck

Though Waters Roar by Lynn Austin, narrated by Alyssa Bresnahan

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To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, narrated by Sissy Spacek

The Traitor’s Wife by Allison Pataki, narrated by Madeleine Maby

Vanished by Irene Hannon, narrated by Celeste Ciulla

Water from My Heart by Charles Martin, narrated by Kevin Stilwell

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What about you?

Do you listen to audiobooks?

 

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Audiobook Review: Sycamore Row

16 Jun

51QUB-bTyFL._SX326_BO1,204,203,200_John Grisham takes you back to where it all began. One of the most popular novels of our time, A Time to Kill established John Grisham as the master of the legal thriller. Now we return to Ford County as Jake Brigance finds himself embroiled in a fiercely controversial trial that exposes a tortured history of racial tension.

Seth Hubbard is a wealthy man dying of lung cancer. He trusts no one. Before he hangs himself from a sycamore tree, Hubbard leaves a new, handwritten will. It is an act that drags his adult children, his black maid, and Jake into a conflict as riveting and dramatic as the murder trial that made Brigance one of Ford County’s most notorious citizens, just three years earlier. The second will raises many more questions than it answers. Why would Hubbard leave nearly all of his fortune to his maid? Had chemotherapy and painkillers affected his ability to think clearly? And what does it all have to do with a piece of land once known as Sycamore Row?

71JrhQGPrOL._UX250_John Grisham is an American bestselling writer, attorney, politician, and activist best known for his popular legal thrillers. His books have been translated into 42 languages and published worldwide.

 

My Impressions:

John Grisham’s novels never cease to provide hours of reading enjoyment. His plots keep me riveted and his characters become friends. Choosing one of his novels is always a safe bet. But in Sycamore Row, a return to Clanton, MS and Jake Brigance, Grisham has outdone himself. This novel is one of my all time favorites.

It’s been three years since the controversial case that put Jake Brigance in the spotlight. Still recovering from the trauma of a difficult trial and threats to his family, Jake needs another case to challenge him and make a little cash. When a handwritten will arrives in his mailbox, Jake knows this civil case will be like no other.

Jake Brigance is a character to love. A tenacious and principled lawyer and a confirmed family man, Jake is just a likable guy. His good looks, easy Southern charm and everyman attitude make him a favorite with townspeople and juries. Colorful characters from A Time to Kill are back in Sycamore Row, along with new characters all vying to get a piece of Seth Hubbard’s pie — lawyers, Seth’s family and the unlikely beneficiary, Letty Lang. There are plenty of villains to boo and likable, yet flawed, characters to cheer for. Race is again the emphasis in a novel set in the late 1980s, but with roots in the early years of the 20th century. Both the book and the case have twists and turns that Grisham lets the reader in on even before the main characters. And while the reader may have some doubt as to how it will all turn out, Grisham comes through. The reader will be shocked, saddened and heartened by the unfolding events.

I listened to the audiobook and was overall pleased with the reader. Being from the South, I found some of the accents a bit over the top, but that’s fairly normal for portrayals of the Southern voice. Although to be fair, I am acquainted with some real small town lawyers who do lay it on a bit thick. (Michael Beck, the reader, is from Memphis so I defer to his expertise.)

Overall, Sycamore Row is a great novel. Please note: it was published for the general market, so there are a few instances of profanity.

Highly recommended.

Audience: adults.

To purchase this book, click HERE.

(I purchased the audiobook from Audible. All opinions expressed are mine alone.)

 

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Book Review: Skipping Christmas

19 Dec

521019Imagine a year without Christmas. No crowded malls, no corny office parties, no fruitcakes, no unwanted presents. That’s just what Luther and Nora Krank have in mind when they decide that, just this once, they’ll skip the holiday altogether. Theirs will be the only house on Hemlock Street without a rooftop Frosty; they won’t be hosting their annual Christmas Eve bash; they aren’t even going to have a tree. They won’t need one, because come December 25 they’re setting sail on a Caribbean cruise. But, as this weary couple is about to discover, skipping Christmas brings enormous consequences–and isn’t half as easy as they’d imagined.

A classic tale for modern times, Skipping Christmas offers a hilarious look at the chaos and frenzy that have become part of our holiday tradition.

grisham_bio_picA graduate of Mississippi State University and Ole Miss Law School, John Grisham obtained his law degree in 1981 and practiced law for about 10 years, specializing in criminal defense and personal injury litigation. He was elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives in 1983 and served until 1990. He gave up his law practice to write full-time. He began writing in 1984, and three years later finished his first novel, A Time To Kill, published by Wynwood Press in June 1988. He is the best-selling author of A Time to Kill, The Firm, The Pelican Brief and The Client.

 

My Impressions:

Skipping Christmas was my church book club’s December selection. It was also a book that we shared with the ladies at the transitional center where I volunteer. We met last Thursday for food, fellowship, and a time of discussing what really matters at Christmas. Grisham’s book is a light-hearted look at a couple who decide to skip the holiday chaos for a 10 day Caribbean cruise. While their neighbors, co-workers and friends are in the middle of the holiday craziness, they congratulate themselves on avoiding all the nonsense. That is, until their daughter informs them that she will be home for Christmas. Then they embark on a decorating, shopping and party-making frenzy.

While most of us enjoyed the funny portrayal of Luther’s attempt to skip Christmas, we were disappointed that Grisham did not use the book to focus a little more on the true meaning of Christmas. And though we realized that the targeted audience was secular, it would have been nice to have a bit more mention of Jesus’ birth. We also were disappointed that Luther failed to give to charities, something he and his wife agreed would not be missing from the year’s skipped celebration. But the book did spark a lot of discussion — what needs to be skipped, what just can’t be left out and our families’ traditions – past and present. Many of the ladies at the center won’t be with family this year. It was great to have a time to talk about what Christmas is really all about.

So while Skipping Christmas is fluffy, it did lead to deep discussions. So I would recommend this book for book clubs looking for a quick read for their December discussions.

Recommended.

Audience: adults.

(I purchased the hardcover copy of this book years ago. The opinions expressed are mine alone.)

To purchase this book, click on the image below.

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Page Turners’ December Selection

27 Nov

Page Turners will be reading Skipping Christmas by John Grisham in December. Have you read it? What did you think, especially how the book fares against the movie Christmas with The Kranks?

220px-SkippingChristmasImagine a year without Christmas. No crowded malls, no corny office parties, no fruitcakes, no unwanted presents. That’s just what Luther and Nora Krank have in mind when they decide that, just this once, they’ll skip the holiday altogether. Theirs will be the only house on Hemlock Street without a rooftop Frosty, they won’t be hosting their annual Christmas Eve bash, they aren’t even going to have a tree. They won’t need one, because come December 25 they’re setting sail on a Caribbean cruise. But as this weary couple is about to discover, skipping Christmas brings enormous consequences—and isn’t half as easy as they’d imagined.

A classic tale for modern times, Skipping Christmas offers a hilarious look at the chaos and frenzy that have become part of our holiday tradition.

To purchase this book, click on the image below.

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Audiobook Review: The Racketeer

12 Mar

13573236In the history of the United States, only four active federal judges have been murdered. Judge Raymond Fawcett has just become number five. His body is found in his remote lakeside cabin. There is no sign of forced entry or struggle. Just two dead bodies: Judge Fawcett and his young secretary. And one large, state-of-the-art, extremely secure safe, opened and emptied.
 
One man, a former attorney, knows who killed Judge Fawcett, and why. But that man, Malcolm Bannister, is currently residing in the Federal Prison Camp near Frostburg, Maryland. Though serving time, Malcolm has an ace up his sleeve. He has information the FBI would love to know. Malcolm would love to tell them. But everything has a price—and the man known as the Racketeer wasn’t born yesterday.

721Long before his name became synonymous with the modern legal thriller, John Grisham was working 60-70 hours a week at a small Southaven, Mississippi law practice, squeezing in time before going to the office and during courtroom recesses to work on his hobby–writing his first novel. Born on February 8, 1955 in Jonesboro, Arkansas, to a construction worker and a homemaker, John Grisham as a child dreamed of being a professional baseball player. Realizing he didn’t have the right stuff for a pro career, he shifted gears and majored in accounting at Mississippi State University. After graduating from law school at Ole Miss in 1981, he went on to practice law for nearly a decade in Southaven, specializing in criminal defense and personal injury litigation. One day at the DeSoto County courthouse, Grisham overheard the harrowing testimony of a twelve-year-old rape victim and was inspired to start a novel exploring what would have happened if the girl’s father had murdered her assailants. Getting up at 5 a.m. every day to get in several hours of writing time before heading off to work, Grisham spent three years on A Time to Kill and finished it in 1987. Initially rejected by many publishers, it was eventually bought by Wynwood Press, who gave it a modest 5,000 copy printing and published it in June 1988.That might have put an end to Grishams hobby. However, he had already begun his next book, and it would quickly turn that hobby into a new full-time career. When he sold the film rights to The Firm to Paramount Pictures for $600,000, Grisham suddenly became a hot property among publishers, and book rights were bought by Doubleday. Spending 47 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list, The Firm became the bestselling novel of 1991.The successes of The Pelican Brief, which hit number one on the New York Times bestseller list, and The Client, which debuted at number one, confirmed Grisham’s reputation as the master of the legal thriller. Grisham’s success even renewed interest in A Time to Kill, which was republished in hardcover by Doubleday and then in paperback by Dell. This time around, it was a bestseller. Since first publishing A Time to Kill in 1988, Grisham has written one novel a year and all of them have become international bestsellers. There are currently over 225 million John Grisham books in print worldwide, which have been translated into 29 languages. Nine of his novels have been turned into films (The Firm, The Pelican Brief, The Client, A Time to Kill, The Rainmaker, The Chamber, A Painted House, The Runaway Jury, and Skipping Christmas), as was an original screenplay, The Gingerbread Man.

My Impressions:

The Racketeer is classic John Grisham. Featuring a main character who plans a long shot scheme while putting his thumb in the eye of the Federal government, it provides twists, turns and surprises galore. If you are a fan of John Grisham, you are going to love this one.

Malcolm Bannister is serving time in a federal camp for a crime he didn’t commit. A one time small town lawyer, he spends his time taking long walks, working in the camp’s library and dreaming of the day he will walk out a free man. One day he discovers the news of a murdered federal judge and his dreams start to come true. Freed under an agreement with the Attorney General, Malcolm, now Max Baldwin, begins a life in witness protection. Always looking over his shoulder, he plots and plans to truly become a free man.

The Racketeer is a puzzle. The main character, Malcolm Bannister, may or may not be a reliable narrator. There also seems to be plenty of shady characters all asserting their innocence, but in this novel there are few who can be characterized as not guilty. I listened to the audiobook version and am glad. There were so many surprises, I would have been tempted to skip to the end to find out just what was going on! The narration is also excellent, probably the best I have encountered so far in listening to audiobooks.

While there are instances of profanity and adult situations and a loose moral code (this is NOT a Christian book), I enjoyed The Racketeer. If you like legal suspense, puzzling mysteries or any John Grisham novel, I recommend The Racketeer.

(I purchased the audiobook version. All opinions are mine alone.)

To purchase this book, click on the image below.

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Audiobook Review: The Litigators

23 Jul

The partners at Finley & Figg—all two of them—often refer to themselves as “a boutique law firm.” Boutique, as in chic, selective, and prosperous. They are, of course, none of these things. What they are is a two-bit operation always in search of their big break, ambulance chasers who’ve been in the trenches much too long making way too little. Their specialties, so to speak, are quickie divorces and DUIs, with the occasional jackpot of an actual car wreck thrown in. After twenty plus years together, Oscar Finley and Wally Figg bicker like an old married couple but somehow continue to scratch out a half-decent living from their seedy bungalow offices in southwest Chicago.

And then change comes their way. More accurately, it stumbles in. David Zinc, a young but already burned-out attorney, walks away from his fast-track career at a fancy downtown firm, goes on a serious bender, and finds himself literally at the doorstep of our boutique firm. Once David sobers up and comes to grips with the fact that he’s suddenly unemployed, any job—even one with Finley & Figg—looks okay to him.

With their new associate on board, F&F is ready to tackle a really big case, a case that could make the partners rich without requiring them to actually practice much law. An extremely popular drug, Krayoxx, the number one cholesterol reducer for the dangerously overweight, produced by Varrick Labs, a giant pharmaceutical company with annual sales of $25 billion, has recently come under fire after several patients taking it have suffered heart attacks. Wally smells money.

A little online research confirms Wally’s suspicions—a huge plaintiffs’ firm in Florida is putting together a class action suit against Varrick. All Finley & Figg has to do is find a handful of people who have had heart attacks while taking Krayoxx, convince them to become clients, join the class action, and ride along to fame and fortune. With any luck, they won’t even have to enter a courtroom!

It almost seems too good to be true.

And it is.

 

John Grisham was born on February 8, 1955 in Jonesboro, Arkansas, to a construction worker and a homemaker. He received an undergraduate degree in accounting from Mississippi State University in 1977 and then attended law school at the University of Mississippi, where he earned a law degree in 1981. In the same year as he graduated from law school he married Renee Jones who was to become Renee Grisham.  That same year, he married Renee Jones. He established a law practice in Southaven, where he practiced both criminal and civil law. In 1983, he was elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives, and in 1989 he published his first novel, A Time to Kill.

Since first publishing A TIME TO KILL in 1988, Grisham has written one novel a year (his other books are THE CHAMBER, THE RAINMAKER, THE RUNAWAY JURY, THE PARTNER, and THE STREET LAWYER), and all of them have become bestsellers, leading Publishers Weekly to declare him “the bestselling novelist of the 90s” in a January 1998 profile. There are currently over 60 million John Grisham books in print worldwide, which have been translated into 29 languages. Six of his novels have been turned into films (The Firm, The Pelican Brief, The Client, A Time to Kill, The Rainmaker, and The Chamber), as was an original screenplay, The Gingerbread Man.

Now Grisham has gone on to be recognized as one of the world’s bestselling novelists. In addition to A Time to Kill and The Firm, his titles include The Pelican Brief, The Client, The Chamber, and The Rainmaker, each of which has been scripted into immensely successful film versions. His most recent novels are The Partner (1997), The Street Lawyer (1998), and The Testament (1999).

When he’s not writing, Grisham devotes time to charitable causes, including taking mission trips with his church group. He also keeps up with his greatest passion: baseball. The man who dreamed of being a professional baseball player now serves as the local Little League commissioner. The six ballfields he built on his property have played host to over 350 kids on 26 Little League teams.

Grisham lives with his wife of 16 years, Renee, and their two children, Ty, 13, and Shea, 11. The family splits their time between their Victorian home on a 67 acre farm in Mississippi and a 204 acre plantation near Charlottesville, VA.

My Impressions:

The last Grisham I read/listened to (The Associate) left me feeling eh.  I have always loved Grisham and was really let down.  So when faced with a long solo car trip last week, I had mixed feelings about listening to the audiobook version of The Litigators.   What I got was a very enjoyable experience!  Boy am I glad I picked it up.  The Litigators is page-turner or in this case a disc flipper!  I became immersed in the firm of Finley and Figg and their new associate, the former 80 hour work horse from a big firm downtown, David Zinc.  David is a good guy and good lawyer who literally stumbles into his new firm.  Wally Figg is always looking for that one big personal injury case to break into the big time. Senior partner Oscar Finley is beaten down by his marriage and the 40 years he has spent on the fringes of good lawyering.  None of the lawyers have any litigation experience, but that doesn’t keep them from going after the surefire case that will bring them riches untold.  Grisham displays an irreverent humor in The Litigators that had me laughing out loud.  It also gave this reader something to think about in its portrayal of the tort Bar.  The audiobook is read by Dennis Boutsikaris who did a great job portraying all the voices in the book.  I was thoroughly entertained and the miles and time flew by.  I think this would be a great book to read as well.

So if you are looking for a great audiobook to pass the time on your commute, trip, or treadmill, pick up The Litigators.

Recommended.

Please note:  This is not a Christian book.  There is profanity and some adult situations that may be offensive.

(I rented this audiobook from my local Cracker Barrel.  The opinions expressed are mine alone.)

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