Tag: john grisham

Time Travel Thursday | April 4

Posted April 4, 2024 by Haze in Time Travel Thursday, Weekly Book Memes / 2 Comments

It’s Time Travel Thursday! Hosted by Emily @ Budget Tales Book Blog, this is where you get to take a look back at what you were reading this time last year (or the year before or the year before that…) and get to relive those bookish memories!

This time last year I was reading:

Sooley by John Grisham

New York Times bestselling author John Grisham takes you to a different kind of court in his first basketball novel. Samuel “Sooley” Sooleymon is a raw, young talent with big hoop dreams…and even bigger challenges off the court.

In the summer of his seventeenth year, Sam­uel Sooleymon gets the chance of a lifetime: a trip to the United States with his South Sudanese teammates to play in a showcase basket­ball tournament. He has never been away from home, nor has he ever been on an airplane. The opportunity to be scouted by dozens of college coaches is a dream come true.

Samuel is an amazing athlete, with speed, quick­ness, and an astonishing vertical leap. The rest of his game, though, needs work, and the American coaches are less than impressed.

During the tournament, Samuel receives dev­astating news from home: A civil war is raging across South Sudan, and rebel troops have ran­sacked his village. His father is dead, his sister is missing, and his mother and two younger brothers are in a refugee camp.

Samuel desperately wants to go home, but it’s just not possible. Partly out of sympathy, the coach of North Carolina Central offers him a scholar­ship. Samuel moves to Durham, enrolls in classes, joins the team, and prepares to sit out his freshman season. There is plenty of more mature talent and he isn’t immediately needed.

But Samuel has something no other player has: a fierce determination to succeed so he can bring his family to America. He works tirelessly on his game, shooting baskets every morning at dawn by himself in the gym, and soon he’s dominating everyone in practice. With the Central team los­ing and suffering injury after injury, Sooley, as he is nicknamed, is called off the bench. And the legend begins.

But how far can Sooley take his team? And will success allow him to save his family?

Gripping and moving, Sooley showcases John Grisham’s unparalleled storytelling powers in a whole new light. This is Grisham at the top of his game.

My thoughts:
I’m a huge fan of Grisham’s legal thrillers, not really a big sports fan but I am a fan of sports stories. I came across this book while browsing for audiobooks from my library. I wasn’t initially interested in reading it because I was in a thriller mood, not a sports story mood, but saw all the great reviews here and was intrigued.

I’m both glad and sad that I read it. I’m glad because it’s a really great story. I love the characters, and it was such a privilege to go on this journey with Sooley and see him grow (both literally and figuratively). He’s one of the most compelling characters I’ve ever read about. There were so many ups and downs, and not just ordinary ups and downs, but extreme ones! He went through both the worst things and the best things that could happen to anyone. And through it all, he was still just an ordinary person who happened to have extraordinary skills and determination. I really felt for him and all the people who loved him.

A lot of the book is really sad too, but they are part of what makes this book great. They are really sticking to me and my heart is still breaking. A tiny part of me wishes that I didn’t pick up this book because I didn’t need this heartbreak, but a bigger part of me is glad I did.

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Have you read this book? What did you think of it? What were you reading this time last year?

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Time Travel Thursday | March 21

Posted March 21, 2024 by Haze in Time Travel Thursday, Weekly Book Memes / 2 Comments

It’s Time Travel Thursday! Hosted by Emily @ Budget Tales Book Blog, this is where you get to take a look back at what you were reading this time last year (or the year before or the year before that…) and get to relive those bookish memories!

This time last year I was reading:

The Rooster Bar by John Grisham

Mark, Todd, and Zola came to law school to change the world, to make it a better place. But now, as third-year students, these close friends realize they have been duped. They all borrowed heavily to attend a third-tier, for-profit law school so mediocre that its graduates rarely pass the bar exam, let alone get good jobs. And when they learn that their school is one of a chain owned by a shady New York hedge-fund operator who also happens to own a bank specializing in student loans, the three know they have been caught up in The Great Law School Scam.

But maybe there’s a way out. Maybe there’s a way to escape their crushing debt, expose the bank and the scam, and make a few bucks in the process. But to do so, they would first have to quit school. And leaving law school a few short months before graduation would be completely crazy, right? Well, yes and no . . .

Pull up a stool, grab a cold one, and get ready to spend some time at The Rooster Bar.

My thoughts:
It was okay. Great storytelling, but not so great story – I like the depth of the characters, but the story and the circumstances were kinda far-fetched and irreverent, and I don’t like the moralities on either side. I can’t root for anyone, and the MCs made a lot of stupid decisions. Just because it worked out for them (unrealistically), doesn’t make it smart. They could’ve played it so many different ways. Or maybe just have a different story to bring down the bad guys.

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐/5

Have you read this book? What did you think of it? What were you reading this time last year?

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