Good Reads 18 | Good Reads

Good Reads

Latest Grisham novel harkens back to a familiar character

The 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 town drawing up wills The responsibilities were From now on, no matter and dealing with the left to him, the oldest. how hard the doom-andoccasional incarcerated With their mother gone, gloomers try, they’ll never drunk driver who will be he had no choice but to convince me the world is a unable to pay his fee. When the local judge step up and become a terrible place and people places the fate of a timid man. He and he alone are just no good. I know 16-year-old boy accused had to save them from a there are some rotten of the murder of a local prolonged nightmare. apples out there, but take deputy in Jake’s capable it from me, this old world hands, all heck breaks of ours, flawed as it may loose in Clanton. The town demands a quick trial and a speedy trip to the be, is a much better place gas chamber. But, as with most cases –all Grisham books – than you have been told. 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.

Revisit Whistle Stop with a book that’s needed today

Every 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 Whistle Stop, just outside Birmingham, and revives her marvelous characters from “Fried Green Tomatoes” – Idgy, Ruthie and, of course, Buddie Threadgoode (who lost his arm to that horrible train accident). Their lives continue, and we’re along for the ride.

Dot still writes her missives in the Weems 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).

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