By
Grisham's latest, The Racketeer, will be published next week. The story of a murdered judge, an empty safe, and an imprisoned former attorney, it was one of Amazon's mystery/thriller Best Books of the Month picks
for October. (Watch the Hollywood-slick book trailer here.)
Describe The Racketeer
in one sentence.
A federal judge is murdered, and our hero in prison knows
who did it, and why.
What's on your
nightstand/bedside table/Kindle?
Ian McEwan's latest novel, Sweet Tooth; a friend's manuscript; and a Kindle Fire
loaded with daily newspapers, magazines, and about three dozen books.
Top 3-5 favorite books
of all time?
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; A Confederacy of Dunces; The Grapes of Wrath; Little Drummer Girl
Important book you
never read?
There are so many.
Atlas Shrugged, though I've been told for the past 30 years that it's
unreadable.
Book that changed your
life (or book that made you want to become a writer)?
To Kill a Mockingbird made me question race for the first
time in my young, insulated, white life. It also inspired me to try and write something great.
Memorable author
moment?
I received a note from Harper Lee, along with an autographed
first edition of To Kill A Mockingbird.
What's your most
prized/treasured possession?
A first edition of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, signed by
the author.
Pen envy - book you
wish you'd written?
Harry Potter "“ he's the only dude I can't outsell.
Author crush - who's
your current author crush?
I'm 57 years old.
Crushes are for sophomores.
What's favorite method
of procrastination? Temptation? Vice?
Don't get me started. I can waste enormous amounts of time, and with no guilt whatsoever. Currently, I'm doing so on the golf course,
playing a game that I took up only four years ago and is driving me nuts.
What do you collect?
First editions, primarily Faulkner, Hemingway, and
Steinbeck.
Best piece of fan mail
you ever got?
The letter began: "As
the newly elected President of the Arkansas Bar Association, it is incumbent
upon me to suggest various topics for your future novels"¦"¦" I don't think I finished reading the letter.
What's next for you?
I'm hard at work on Theo 4 -
"Theodore Boone, The Activist."
>See all of John Grisham's books.
(author photo by Bob Krasner)
