John Grisham….A Runaway Author

It was the summer after my last year in high school. I was staying at home and getting bored by the minute. I was just laying on my bed. Thinking of what to do to ease the boredom. There were no PlayStations yet, so there really was nothing to do. I can’t bear watching “Eat Bulaga” and there was nothing good on T.V. I have never heard of Cable T.V. yet (I didn’t even if it exist at that time). Out of sheer boredom I decided to clean out my closet. It’s been awhile since I did it, so I was quite apprehensive; I’m afraid I might find something alive inside. Anyway, since I don’t have anything to do. I stiffened my back and plowed ahead with gusto! After a few minutes I saw a John Grisham Novel “The Firm“. My mom was the only person in our house during that time that has the fortitude to read thick novels written by authors that I have never heard of back then. I read the summary at the back and I was instantly hook. I only used to read Hardy Boys Novels back then, so I was surprised at myself for reading it, It was a story of a top Harvard law student who lured into working for a firm owned by the Mafia. I enjoyed it so much that I read it in just 2 days (not bad for a novice novel reader, huh.) After reading it, I find myself going to my mom’s collection and looked for all of her John Grisham novels at that time. There was only one more left it was “A Time to Kill” A story about the trial of an African – American father who murdered his daughter’s rapist. I literally cried a tear during the rape scene and I felt the anguish that the guy felt. I jumped for joy when the guys was acquitted. Ever since that faithful day, I find myself gong to the bookstore and buy a new Grisham novel. I love courtroom dramas and Mr. Grisham gave me that. I learn how the law works in America, I learned a lot form his novels and I can’t wait for the latest one to come out. With his books I was able to tour the Southern part of the U.S. See Memphis, Tennessee in my imagination. Even go to a high school football game whenever I feel like it. After that first experience I never look at a book the same way again. I never thought that by reading books you can go back in time, play a sport on flying broomsticks even meet interesting people like Mitch McDeere, Sam Cayhall, Patrick Lanigan and many others, it even opened my eyes to other authors like Harold Robbins, J.K. Rowling and Dan Brown. I owe it all to Mr. John Grisham, Because of his imagination I learned that nothing is impossible. I also read “non-fiction” now. All because of I was bored during the summer of ‘92.