Reading

I read a lot and in many genres and absolutely love visiting the library for my next fix. My current page turner is John Grisham's The Last Juror.

If you haven't read any Grisham, why not? He's a master storyteller. He has an incredible ability to set the scene with a few descriptions and deft characterisations. The Last Juror is written in first person which I like-- both to read and to write-- and this gives a very personal intensity to the events which is sometimes missing in third person narrative.

The story reminds me vaguely of to Kill A Mockingbird which I also reread fairly recently. Maybe it's the southern USA small town setting of last century with it's racism and corruption, and the legal drama at the heart of the story.

It's more than that though. Both stories have at their core a deep sense of what's morally right as seen through the eyes of a young person. In this case the young newspaper man Willie Traynor (24) and in To Kill A Mocking Bird. the little girl, Scout.

If you haven't read To Kill A Mockingbird, it's a classic. Read it. Then you can watch the movie with Gregory Peck as the lawyer, Scout's father.