Authors Beginning with G...

Trying really hard to get more reading done this year - and getting books from the library which are on 'short loan only - return within one week' concentrates the mind wonderfully!

I usually like John Grisham - but this one didn't really do much for me. It was slightly better than his last offering "Playing for Pizza" which I read on holiday and did not enjoy at all - but I wasn't too thrilled with "The Appeal". Still, few authors can please all their readership with all their books. One of my favourite Grisham's is "Skipping Christmas" [filmed as "Christmas with the Kranks"- if you saw the film, you really should read the book too] and that has nothing to do with the courtroom.

I admire JG not just as a writer, but more as a Christian who works out his faith in his life -since 1993, he has made almost yearly mission trips with his church to Brazil. "We went down there for the purpose of constructing a church in this little town sort of in the outback, and it was such a rewarding experience that I've done it several times since." Although intensively private about his charity work, Grisham and his wife, Renee, have set up a charitable foundation that supports mostly Christian efforts, and raised $8.8 million in grants for victims of Hurricane Katrina.

The other book I have just finished is the latest Sue Grafton. I discovered her Alphabet series just after Steph was born in 1984, when they were first published over here.They feature Kinsey Milhone, a Private Investigator - and I have read every one since!

Kinsey seems to be aging much more slowly than I am, though! Perhaps that is because she goes jogging regularly, in her Saucony trainers.[Bob was really pleased to buy a pair of these shoes for himself when we were in the States!]

Both of SGs grandparents were ministers, and her husband is also a writer. She was inspired to write her Alphabet series after reading Edward Gorey's Gashlycrumb Tinies. These are a set of cautionary verses with wonderful illustrations. Liz is very fond of this ABC -

Y is for Yorick whose head was knocked in...

and Z is for Zillah who drank too much gin!

But back to Sue Grafton and Kinsey - I did enjoy this one. It was fairly predictable stuff, but a pleasing read nonetheless. Its main theme is what the professionals refer to as "elder abuse". Unlike the Grisham, it has a satisfactory conclusion. The book ends

"There will always be someone poised to take advantage of the vulnerable: the very young, the very old, and the innocent of any age. Though I know this from long experience, I refuse to feel discouraged. In my own unassuming way, I know I can make a difference. You can as well."