Grisham’s The Litigators

It’s been a while since my mentioning books read, for example, Grisham’s The Litigators. This is another great legal thriller that will make a hit movie, as did The Firm and Pelican Brief. Primarily, the cast consists of three white lawyers (two bad ones and one good one) and a black woman who works for them and enlivens the place. Near her desk lives a dog which seems never to go outside except for one occasion, I recall. Rochelle, the secretary, will be a movie role some actresses might fight for. Here’s hoping it goes to a fresh face, for the caliber of the role befits an Oscar and could make a newcomer a star.

As I’ve said before, Grisham is a great storyteller, perhaps the best we have today, but he is not a great writer. Too many times, at the end of a line of print, I knew what the next word or phrase would be, nothing exciting, as one might wish for, as by the pen of John Le Carré, but expressions bordering on cliché. But the story is indeed worthwhile and the reader can learn something about the world of law.

Currently I am reading Das Krieg Eis Fertig (The War Is Over) by Tom Young, a bomber pilot during World War II, who was shot down over Germany and taken prisoner by the Nazis. This is in manuscript form, for Young never had it published. He is an excellent writer, but his aim was not to travel around, signing books. He writes for writing’s sake, the very reason I write. [A note about the German title: “Eis,” here, is the first time I’ve seen “is” spelled this way. This must be Low German, for in High German it would be “Ist.”]

A popular author around here is James Patterson. Yesterday, a woman at my dinner table (noon) brought up his name and I asked her if she had read Richard North Patterson. She had not heard of him. Today I will take one of his books to lunch and show it to her. It’s No Safe Place, which I’ve yet to read, not a new book, but a 1998 publication. This Patterson seems to be a bit more challenging to read than is James Patterson. If a book is good, it does not matter if it is new or old. ♥