Discover Yahoo! With Your Friends

Explore news, videos, and much more based on what your friends are reading and watching. Publish your own activity and retain full control.

To get started, first

YOUR FRIENDS' ACTIVITY

    Best Books by John Grisham

    By Jack Oceano | Yahoo! Contributor Network – Mon, Oct 25, 2010
    This story comes from the Yahoo! Contributor Network, where individuals publish their unique perspectives on some of the world’s most popular websites.
    Do you have a story to tell? Become a Yahoo! contributor

    John Grisham, the all-time best-selling author of the nineties, has written eighteen novels and one work of non-fiction. His newest novel, Playing for Pizza, is due to hit bookstores this fall. Here are the best books by John Grisham.

    The Rainmaker was John Grisham's sixth novel and arguably his best to date. It is the story of young lawyer, still wet behind the ears, who takes on a big, bad insurance company, that allowed the son of a poor southern couple to die by repeatedly denying their legitimate claims. Grisham's only attempt at writing in first person is handled exceptionally well, and the main character Rudy Baylor easily draws both the reader's respect and sympathy. It is a classic David versus Goliath story, with just the right amount of cynicism and contempt for the law. The Rainmaker was also made into a magnificent feature film starring Matt Damon, Claire Danes, Jon Voight, Danny Glover, and Danny DeVito. It was directed by Francis Ford Coppola, and is easily the best movie adapted from a John Grisham novel.

    Of course, The Firm, John Grisham's second novel, is the book credited for making John Grisham the celebrity he is today. And The Firm remains one of Grisham's best works to date. Purely plot-driven, this novel is about a young lawyer named Mitch McDeere, who thinks he and his beautiful wife are about to rise from poverty after he receives a ginormous (officially a word now) offer from a law firm right out of law school. Only everything is not as it seems. Lawyers tend to stay with the firm or die. And soon, the FBI has questions for Mitch McDeere concerning his new employer. It is no revelation sixteen years after its release - the firm is actually a cover for La Cosa Nostra. The mafia. The Firm was also turned into a blockbuster film starring Tom Cruise and Gene Hackman.

    A Painted House is perhaps the biggest surprise readers ever received from John Grisham. Inspired by Grisham's own childhood in Arkansas, A Painted House is the story of a young boy named Luke Chandler, whose family is struggling to maintain their modest farm. A Painted House is Grisham's first major work outside the legal thriller genre, and is surprisingly one of his best. A Painted House was adapted into a television movie by CBS for its Hallmark Hall of Fame. It starred Scott Glenn and was directed by Alfonso Arau.

     

    There are no comments yet

    [ [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 2]], 'http://yhoo.it/KeQd0p', '[Slideshow: See photos taken on the way down]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['Connery is an experienced stuntman', 7]], ' http://yhoo.it/KpUoHO', '[Slideshow: Death-defying daredevils]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['know that we have confidence in', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/LqYjAX ', '[Related: The Secret Service guide to Cartagena]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['We picked up this other dog and', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JUSxvi', '[Related: 8 common dog fears, how to calm them]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 5]], 'http://bit.ly/JnoJYN', '[Related: Did WH share raid details with filmmakers?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['accused of running a fake hepatitis B', 3]], 'http://bit.ly/KoKiqJ', '[Factbox: AQAP, al-Qaeda in Yemen]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have my contacts on or glasses', 3]], 'http://abcn.ws/KTE5AZ', '[Related: Should the murder charge be dropped?]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 5]], 'http://yhoo.it/JD7nlD', '[Related: Bristol Palin reality show debuts June 19]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['have made this nation great as Sarah Palin', 1]], 'http://bit.ly/JRPFRO', '[Related: McCain adviser who vetted Palin weighs in on VP race]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['A JetBlue flight from New York to Las Vegas', 3]], 'http://yhoo.it/GV9zpj', '[Related: View photos of the JetBlue plane in Amarillo]', ' ', '630', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 15]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/white-house-stays-out-of-teen-s-killing-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120411/martinzimmermen.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['Titanic', 7]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/titanic-anniversary/', ' ', 'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/b/4e/b4e5ad9f00b5dfeeec2226d53e173569.jpeg', '550', ' ', ' ', ], [ [['He was in shock and still strapped to his seat', 6]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/navy-jet-crashes-in-virginia-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/cv/ip/ap/default/120406/jet_ap.jpg', '630', ' ', 'AP', ], [ [['xxxxxxxxxxxx', 11]], 'http://news.yahoo.com/photos/russian-grannies-win-bid-to-sing-at-eurovision-1331223625-slideshow/', 'Click image to see more photos', 'http://l.yimg.com/a/p/us/news/editorial/1/56/156d92f2760dcd3e75bcd649a8b85fcf.jpeg', '500', ' ', 'AP', ] ]
    [ [ [['did not go as far his colleague', 8]], '29438204', '0' ], [ [[' the 28-year-old neighborhood watchman who shot and killed', 4]], '28924649', '0' ], [ [['because I know God protects me', 14], ['Brian Snow was at a nearby credit union', 5]], '28811216', '0' ], [ [['The state news agency RIA-Novosti quoted Rosaviatsiya', 6]], '28805461', '0' ], [ [['measure all but certain to fail in the face of bipartisan', 4]], '28771014', '0' ], [ [['matter what you do in this case', 5]], '28759848', '0' ], [ [['presume laws are constitutional', 7]], '28747556', '0' ], [ [['has destroyed 15 to 25 houses', 7]], '28744868', '0' ], [ [['short answer is yes', 7]], '28746030', '0' ], [ [['opportunity to tell the real story', 7]], '28731764', '0' ], [ [['entirely respectable way to put off the searing constitutional controversy', 7]], '28723797', '0' ], [ [['point of my campaign is that big ideas matter', 9]], '28712293', '0' ], [ [['As the standoff dragged into a second day', 7]], '28687424', '0' ], [ [['French police stepped up the search', 17]], '28667224', '0' ], [ [['Seeking to elevate his candidacy back to a general', 8]], '28660934', '0' ], [ [['The tragic story of Trayvon Martin', 4]], '28647343', '0' ], [ [['Karzai will get a chance soon to express', 8]], '28630306', '0' ], [ [['powerful storms stretching', 8]], '28493546', '0' ], [ [['basic norm that death is private', 6]], '28413590', '0' ], [ [['songwriter also saw a surge in sales for her debut album', 6]], '28413590', '1', 'Watch music videos from Whitney Houston ', 'on Yahoo! Music', 'http://music.yahoo.com' ], [ [['keyword', 99999999999999999999999]], 'videoID', '1', 'overwrite-pre-description', 'overwrite-link-string', 'overwrite-link-url' ] ]

    News For You

    Loading...

    US News »

    • Jury deliberates sixth day in John Edwards' trial Colleen Jenkins
      Former U.S. Senator Edwards and daughter Cate leave for lunch during the jury deliberations at the federal courthouse in Greensboro

      GREENSBORO, North Carolina (Reuters) - Jurors began their sixth day of deliberations on Friday in former Senator John Edwards' federal campaign finance case, with hundreds of trial exhibits at their disposal to help decide the ex-presidential candidate's fate. The 12 members of the panel in recent days requested closer …

    • Analysis: Property taxes give NY Westchester edge over peers Joan Gralla

      NEW YORK (Reuters) - Westchester County has the lowest median household income of the four wealthy New York counties near New York City, but it alone has bragging rights to something that would be the envy of any municipality in these times of fiscal trouble: a top AAA credit rating. One secret lies in Westchester's higher …

    • SEC shuts down $11-million Ponzi scheme

      NEW YORK (Reuters) - Regulators have charged a New York fund manager who was running an $11-million Ponzi scheme, federal court filings showed. The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Jason Konior with defrauding investors by promising to match their investments in his fund many times over. In reality, he used $2 …

    • Murder arraignment 33 years after New York boy vanished Joseph Ax
      New York Police Department Commissioner Kelly announces the arrest of Hernandez in relation to the case of Patz in New York

      NEW YORK (Reuters) - A man who confessed to strangling Etan Patz faced arraignment for murder on Friday, exactly 33 years after the 6-year-old boy vanished from his New York neighborhood and soon changed the way the nation responds to missing children. Pedro Hernandez, 51, who worked as a stock boy in a small food store …

    • Hurricane Bud churns towards Mexico's Pacific coast David Alire Garcia
      Hurricane Bud appoaches landfall in Mexico

      MANZANILLO, Mexico (Reuters) - Hurricane Bud churned closer to Mexico's coast on Friday, shuttering a major Pacific port and schools as local officials expecting heavy rains and floods prepared emergency shelters. The first hurricane of the 2012 season, Bud will hit the coast between the port city of Manzanillo and the …

     
    One money saving tip you probably haven't tried
    Add your ideas and help make it happen. Join the conversation.
    Episode 11: Hard times for Hometown Hardware
    Should Bill and Donna take on more risk to boost their business?
    One small business owner surprises Bill and Donna
    How Josh's comment on a Remake America video laid the groundwork for something bigger.
    Learn more about Remake America »