In an article from a local magazine I found an interesting comparison between two of the new authors to hit the novel writing scene and it is a comparison that I’ve always been interested in. Billie Eilish and John Grisham.
So, let’s talk about Grisham first. He recently published his seventh book, “The Family Stone” which I am very much looking forward to. I never think I will read an entire novel that wasn’t written by someone who knows what they are doing.
On the opposite end of the spectrum we have Jean Driscoll. She is a fairly unknown author to me but I love her stories and I read them all. The thing about her novels is the “cabin in the woods” thing. Sometimes you get so caught up in them that you forget that they are written by a woman.
Her first book is called “New York to Las Vegas, Part 1”. It is a fictional account of her journey from New York to Las Vegas with her husband and son. This book had me laughing out loud many times because of all the different things that we all have to do in our lives that can make you throw up your hands and say, “It just doesn’t seem possible”.
After “New York to Las Vegas, Part 1” (which is probably my favorite Grisham novel), came “Young Bucks”, another book that I bought on the recommendation of a friend. You could almost say this was a sequel to “New York to Las Vegas” but it isn’t. I don’t like to give the author too much credit because as I stated before, her novels are different than most. I like this novel because I liked the characters and the atmosphere that she created for us to enjoy.
When I mentioned to my friend that I liked Grisham’s novels more than hers, she told me that she thought Grisham’s books were the funniest. “I could care less who the authors are,” she said.
I have to agree with her because I can’t think of a single John Grisham novel that I wouldn’t enjoy reading. Of course if I had to choose I would probably go with “The Perfect Storm” because of the world building and because of the timing that Michael Douglas does when he plays that role in his life.
I guess the point I’m trying to get across in this article is that no matter what your favorite author is, they all write novels that are the same in that they are driven by characters that are individuals and they are driven by circumstances that push them toward their destiny. What they have in common is that the way that they express that is through the characters they create and that they use the settings that they create to create the landscape for their stories. So enjoy them all!
