Good Reads
Latest Grisham novel harkens back to a familiar character
Revisit Whistle Stop with a book that’s needed today
he third book in John Grisham’s series that began with “A Time to Kill,” then “Sycamore Row,” “A Time for Mercy” brings us back to Clanton, Miss. It’s 1990, and Jake Brigance and his young family are struggling to get by with the money he makes at his law practice in a rural The responsibilities were town drawing up wills and dealing with the left to him, the oldest. occasional incarcerated With their mother gone, drunk driver who will be he had no choice but to unable to pay his fee. step up and become a When the local judge man. He and he alone places the fate of a timid had to save them from a 16-year-old boy accused of the murder of a local prolonged nightmare. deputy in Jake’s capable hands, all heck breaks loose in Clanton. The town demands a quick trial and a speedy trip to the gas chamber. But, as with most cases –all Grisham books – there’s a lot more to the story. As Jake’s finances wither and costs of litigating a potentially very large payout with a long-standing civil case looms on the horizon, Jake has to decide whether to put his energies and the time of his small staff into a murder trial for which the state will begrudgingly pay him $1,000, or continue with the civil case and a “sure thing.” Grisham surely does know how to tell a story. Lots of twists and turns and a familiar cast of characters that are now a part of my family. You will enjoy every page. – Deb Laslie
very once in a while, I come across a book that has it all: truth, humor, pathos and just plain great writing. Fannie Flagg’s “The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop” is one such book. And what a needed book it is in these times. Ms. Flagg takes us back to the town of From now on, no matter Whistle Stop, just outside Birmingham, and revives how hard the doom-andher marvelous characters gloomers try, they’ll never from “Fried Green convince me the world is a Tomatoes” – Idgy, Ruthie terrible place and people and, of course, Buddie are just no good. I know Threadgoode (who lost there are some rotten his arm to that horrible train accident). Their lives apples out there, but take continue, and we’re along it from me, this old world for the ride. of ours, flawed as it may Dot still writes her be, is a much better place missives in the Weems than you have been told. Weekly, keeping us up-todate on all the happenings of Whistle Stop and its inhabitants. There are some new characters, but many happy remembrances of our dear old friends. And friends they are. I laugh with them and cry with them as they work their way through this thing called “life.” I miss them already and I just finished the book a hour ago. You will too. Do yourself a favor and get a copy of “The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop.” Don’t loan your copy to a friend; buy them their own (you’ll want to keep yours). – Deb Laslie
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FEBRUARY | MARCH | APRIL 2021
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