This week’s selection of books features a legal drama, detective mysteries, and a history of why Britain never recognized the Confederacy.
Fiction The Ultimate Legal Thriller
‘The Firm’
By John Grisham
When Mitch McDeere graduates from Harvard Law School, he has the opportunity to join any law firm he likes. He prefers a small, but prominent one. His dream job becomes a nightmare as he finds himself pinned between the Mafia, the FBI, and colleague loyalty.
Island Books, 1992, 432 pages
Humor Bumbling Down a River
‘Three Men in a Boat’
By Jerome K. Jerome
Jerome intended his book (1889) as a travel guide, but it developed into a grand comedy as three young men from London who were “all feeling seedy” set off on a two-week boating excursion down the River Thames. Along with a dog, Montmorency, the bachelors battle inclement weather, fumble with meal preparations, and meet with other disasters, but it’s Jerome’s deadpan prose that provides most of the hilarity. Regarded by critics and general readers alike as one of the funniest novels in the English language….