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With his fast-paced novels The Rainmaker and The Partner, full of well-rounded, dynamic characters, compelling use of dialogue, and his southern roots shown in the dialect and setting, John Grisham has become the epitome of a legal drama author. The Rainmaker and The Partner are very different in their story plots, but they both show off the talent and skill of lawyers. John Grisham’s background in the law field provides him with the experience needed to write thrilling, realistic, and accurate novels that show the lawyers side of the story. John Grisham was born in Jonesboro, Arkansas on February 8, 1955. He was born and raised in the south, living in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. “Whenever his family moved to a new town, his mother saw that the children received library cards as soon as possible, because…his mother encouraged reading over watching television” (Harris 1418). In an interview Grisham stated: There were a couple of things that were very important in my childhood. Number one, my mother did not believe in television. We just didn't watch much of it. She just thought it was bad, and that was 30 years ago…And we spent our time reading, reading to each other. And my mother spent a lot of time reading to us. I've always had a love for books and a love for literature and a love for reading. Oddly, I never thought about writing until late in life” (Academy of Achievement). Grisham thinks his writing ability grew from his family who was full of readers and storytellers. His family settled down while he attended high school in Southaven, Mississippi outside of Memphis (Harris 1418). Grisham’s favorite writer while he was in high school was John Steinbeck (Academy of Achievement). While growing up, Grisham dreamed of becoming a professional baseball player. After deciding that he was not good enough, he decided to major in accounting at Mississippi State University (John Grisham | The Official Web Site). Grisham attended three different colleges during his first two years to find where he wanted to stay. He started at Northwest Junior College in Senatobia, Mississippi, then transferred to Delta State. When he finally decided to go to Mississippi State University, he started out in Forestry. Again, Grisham made another change to Economics and then to Accounting. If things had not worked out at Mississippi State he had already planned to attend Appalachian State (Hosie). He finally graduated from Mississippi State in 1977 with a bachelor’s degree. He then went on to graduate from law school at the University of Mississippi in 1981 (Harris 1418). He then decided to study tax law and become a tax lawyer. During law school his interest changed again from tax law to criminal law and litigation, which was the type of law that he ended up practicing professionally (Academy of Achievement).
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