Add New
Videos

1 comment

3 comments

John Grisham

Author profile

born

February 08, 1955 in Jonesboro, Arkansas, The United States

gender

male

website

http://www.jgrisham.com/

genre

Mystery & Thrillers, Nonfiction, Young Adult

influences

William Faulkner, John Steinbeck

About this author

edit data

"Long before his name became synonymous with the modern legal thriller, he was working 60-70 hours a week at a small Southaven, Mississippi law practice, squeezing in time before going to the office and during courtroom recesses to work on his hobby—writing his first novel.

Born on February 8, 1955 in Jonesboro, Arkansas, to a construction worker and a homemaker, John Grisham as a child dreamed of being a professional baseball player. Realizing he didn't have the right stuff for a pro career, he shifted gears and majored in accounting at Mississippi State University. After graduating from law school at Ole Miss in 1981, he went on to practice law for nearly a decade in Southaven, specializing in criminal defense and personal...more"Long before his name became synonymous with the modern legal thriller, he was working 60-70 hours a week at a small Southaven, Mississippi law practice, squeezing in time before going to the office and during courtroom recesses to work on his hobby—writing his first novel.

Born on February 8, 1955 in Jonesboro, Arkansas, to a construction worker and a homemaker, John Grisham as a child dreamed of being a professional baseball player. Realizing he didn't have the right stuff for a pro career, he shifted gears and majored in accounting at Mississippi State University. After graduating from law school at Ole Miss in 1981, he went on to practice law for nearly a decade in Southaven, specializing in criminal defense and personal injury litigation. In 1983, he was elected to the state House of Representatives and served until 1990.

One day at the DeSoto County courthouse, Grisham overheard the harrowing testimony of a twelve-year-old rape victim and was inspired to start a novel exploring what would have happened if the girl's father had murdered her assailants. Getting up at 5 a.m. every day to get in several hours of writing time before heading off to work, Grisham spent three years on A Time to Kill and finished it in 1987. Initially rejected by many publishers, it was eventually bought by Wynwood Press, who gave it a modest 5,000 copy printing and published it in June 1988.

That might have put an end to Grisham's hobby. However, he had already begun his next book, and it would quickly turn that hobby into a new full-time career—and spark one of publishing's greatest success stories. The day after Grisham completed A Time to Kill, he began work on another novel, the story of a hotshot young attorney lured to an apparently perfect law firm that was not what it appeared. When he sold the film rights to The Firm to Paramount Pictures for $600,000, Grisham suddenly became a hot property among publishers, and book rights were bought by Doubleday. Spending 47 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list, The Firm became the bestselling novel of 1991.

The successes of The Pelican Brief, which hit number one on the New York Times bestseller list, and The Client, which debuted at number one, confirmed Grisham's reputation as the master of the legal thriller. Grisham's success even renewed interest in A Time to Kill, which was republished in hardcover by Doubleday and then in paperback by Dell. This time around, it was a bestseller.

Since first publishing A Time to Kill in 1988, Grisham has written one novel a year (his other books are The Firm, The Pelican Brief, The Client, The Chamber, The Rainmaker, The Runaway Jury, The Partner, The Street Lawyer, The Testament, The Brethren, A Painted House, Skipping Christmas, The Summons, The King of Torts, Bleachers, The Last Juror, and The Broker) and all of them have become international bestsellers. There are currently over 225 million John Grisham books in print worldwide, which have been translated into 29 languages. Nine of his novels have been turned into films (The Firm, The Pelican Brief, The Client, A Time to Kill, The Rainmaker, The Chamber, A Painted House, The Runaway Jury, and Skipping Christmas), as was an original screenplay, The Gingerbread Man. The Innocent Man (October 2006) marks his first foray into non-fiction.

Grisham lives with his wife Renee and their two children Ty and Shea. The family splits their time between their Victorian home on a farm in Mississippi and a plantation near Charlottesville, VA.

Grisham took time off from writing for several months in 1996 to return, after a five-year hiatus, to the courtroom. He was honoring a commitment made before he had retired from the law to become a full-time writer: representing the family of a railroad brakeman killed when he was pinned between two cars. Preparing his case with the same passion and dedication as his books' protagonists, Grisham successfully argued his clients' case, earning them a jur(less)

See if your friends have read any of John Grisham's books.

19 posts
John Grisham's Blog

John Grisham isn't a Goodreads Author (yet), but he does have a blog, so here are some recent posts imported from his feed.

America's Favorite Storyteller takes on America's Favorite Pastime

A surprising and moving novel of fathers and sons, forgiveness and redemption, set in the world of Major League Baseball…

Whatever happened to Calico Joe?

In the summer of 1973 Joe Castle was the boy wonder of baseball, the greatest rookie anyone had ever seen. The kid from Calico Rock, Arkansas dazzled Cub fans as he hit home run after home run, politely tipping his hat to the crowd...

View more on John Grisham's website »

4 comments

•

like 1 like

•

Published on January 17, 2012 06:00 • 198 views

View all 19 posts »

combine editions
Books by John Grisham

Average rating: 3.65 · 865,637 ratings · 32,239 reviews · 120 distinct works

	A Time to Kill 3.76 avg rating — 226,778 ratings — published 1989 — 89 editions	My rating:
	The Firm 3.74 avg rating — 88,662 ratings — published 1991 — 91 editions	My rating:
	The Pelican Brief 3.71 avg rating — 61,256 ratings — published 1992 — 81 editions	My rating:
	The Client 3.71 avg rating — 59,155 ratings — published 1993 — 89 editions	My rating:
	The Runaway Jury 3.73 avg rating — 45,977 ratings — 67 editions	My rating:
	The Rainmaker 3.67 avg rating — 35,982 ratings — published 1995 — 64 editions	My rating:
	The Chamber 3.51 avg rating — 30,585 ratings — published 1994 — 65 editions	My rating:
	The Street Lawyer 3.62 avg rating — 27,337 ratings — published 1998 — 66 editions	My rating:
	The Testament 3.65 avg rating — 26,719 ratings — published 1999 — 54 editions	My rating:
	A Painted House 3.49 avg rating — 24,596 ratings — published 2001 — 48 editions	My rating:

More books by John Grisham…

Series by John Grisham

Theodore Boone (2 books)
by John Grisham

3.48 avg rating — 4,423 ratings

Upcoming Events

No scheduled events. Add an event.

Quotes by John Grisham

“Don't compromise yourself - you're all you have.”
― John Grisham, The Rainmaker

tags: courtroom-drama , crime

227 people liked it

“You live your life today,
Not tommorow,
and certainly not yesterday.”
― John Grisham

107 people liked it

“Some people have more guts than brains.”
― John Grisham, The Rainmaker

tags: courage

82 people liked it

See all John Grisham's quotes »

Polls

Which of the following would you like to have as the August Ladies' Choice Group Read?

Darkness, My Old Friend: A Novel by Lisa Unger

5 votes, 22.7%

The Ridge by Michael Koryta

5 votes, 22.7%

A Painted House by John Grisham

4 votes, 18.2%

Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann

2 votes, 9.1%

Unravelled by Robyn Harding

2 votes, 9.1%

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

2 votes, 9.1%

The House of Tomorrow by Peter Bognanni

1 vote, 4.5%

The Abduction by Mark Gimenez

1 vote, 4.5%

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

0 votes, 0.0%

Just Jane by Nancy Moser

0 votes, 0.0%

22 total votes

comments and details

More...

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
Glens Falls (NY) ...: Arctic Drift by Clive Cussler & Dirk Cussler	9	59	Dec 02, 2008 05:36pm
Glens Falls (NY) ...: Sci-fi and Fantasy - Recommendations for the newbie in this genre?	11	47	Jan 02, 2009 08:40am
Pick-a-Shelf: 12 Books of Christmas - the Official Game Room	257	294	Jan 11, 2009 10:24pm
The Next Best Boo...: Adam's 2009 Reading Goal	23	232	Jun 14, 2009 07:15am
100+ Books in 2012: Laura's 2009 Books	27	343	Aug 15, 2009 02:27am
Challenge: 50 Books: Mandy's 50 in 2009	34	182	Aug 21, 2009 09:01pm
The Mystery, Crim...: Introduction Folder	289	222	Aug 23, 2009 05:41pm
The Next Best Boo...: OFFICIAL SUMMER CHALLENGE 2009	6757	10071	Aug 31, 2009 10:23pm
Novel Ladies: Athira's 2010 Reading Log	24	25	Sep 10, 2009 08:24pm

More…

Is this you? Let us know. If not, help out and invite John to Goodreads.

Add NewVideos

John's Fans (2630)

John Grisham

Author profile

19 postsJohn Grisham's Blog

combine editionsBooks by John Grisham

Series by John Grisham

Upcoming Events

Quotes by John Grisham

Polls

Topics Mentioning This Author

Add New
Videos

19 posts
John Grisham's Blog

combine editions
Books by John Grisham