Straying From Grisham

Last night we watched The Pelican Brief starring Denzel Washington and Julia Roberts. I'd already seen it several times, but we purchased the DVD at Wal-Mart last Christmas for $3 and had not yet watched "our" copy. It's kind of a bizarre DVD - no menus, no special features. You just put the disc in and it starts playing. And halfway through you have to turn it over to the other side - weird. Anyways, good movie.

I realized that I've fallen behind on John Grisham novels, though. I started reading them in high school and read six of his first seven books. I still haven't read his first book, A Time To Kill (probably because it doesn't start with The), and I haven't read any of his books that have come out in the last 10 years. For someone that is always looking for something to read but never finding it, this is a bit odd. I don't have an explanation. I guess I was looking to branch out or I knew if I started one I'd just read it straight through.

I've heard some critics say he's not a good writer. I don't know. I probably don't read enough to know the difference. He's a fairly easy read - I could never figure out what Tom Clancy was talking about in his books, although Patriot Games was fairly readable. The only Grisham book I didn't like that much was The Chamber.

I've only seen four of the movie adaptations (the word adaptation might be a bit of a stretch, however - he sold the rights to The Pelican Brief before he wrote the book) and both The Client and The Pelican Brief are outstanding. I didn't like The Firm or The Rainmaker that much. But both of those might have been a case of watching the movie too soon after reading the book.

So the next time I'm at the library I guess I'll have to pick one of his titles up.