Like weekly TV series that I can’t miss, I have certain currently publishing authors that I must read asap when a new book comes out. That list currently includes Lilian Jackson Braun, Sue Grafton, Michael Crichton, James Patterson, Rita Mae & Sneaky Pie Brown, and the author of book number five: John Grisham.
In his latest novel, The Broker, Grisham once again has a lawyer as his protaganist. However, this book is not about lawyers or court rooms as much as it is about Italy. It is the story of a once-powerful Washington D.C. lobbyist who was jailed for white collar crimes who finds himself unexpectedly pardoned by an outgoing president and “disappeared” by the CIA in Italy. There is spying and assassins and a lot of Italy. It was a little like The Bourne Identity if Jason Bourne knew who he was but didn’t have his crazy assassin skills. It had moments of excitement that reminded me of The Firm, of the good exciting non-lawyer stuff that Grisham used to write so well at the beginning of his writing career. A good deal of the story takes place in Italy, especially Bologna. It really flared my wanderlust. Captured the city in a nice way, the way I’d love to be able to explore and become familiar with a new place if I ever had the time. I liked it.
I’ve been reading more than I have been posting. Time to catch up.
Book number four was State of Fear by Michael Crichton. I am a big fan of Crichton and have been ever since I read Jurassic Park when I was in high school. The movie versions never do the books justice. (Don’t get me started on Timeline, which is my favorite Crichton book and one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen.) Which I can never figure out because his writing style is such that I feel like I’m watching a movie when I read the book. What I love about his books are that they are based on a lot of fact and the author does so much research on the subjects he’s writing about that while the story is fiction, you learn some things along the way and see how it could be true.
This particular book, State of Fear tackles the subject of global warming and the impact of the human race on the planet. It spins an exciting action-adventure genre tale while raising the question of whether we are really destroying the planet or if earth is just in so much flux at all times that warming and cooling on a global scale would happen regardless of our presence and industrialization. It raised some interesting questions and once again I cross my fingers that someone in Hollywood might be able to get a Crichton adaptation right.
I’m aware that my blog is still default and archive links don’t work and its kind of crappy looking these days. I thought I would just ignore it until I figured out exactly what I wanted to do with the site. But I’ve got things to say, or at least jot down, so I’m just going to keep posting. I’m tweaking Lisa’s blog for the time being because she had some ideas about what she’d like and so I’m going to fiddle with her look while I try and figure out what I want.
