Friday, April 30, 2010

I GET PAID TO BE SUSPICIOUS WHEN I'VE GOT NOTHING TO BE SUSPICIOUS ABOUT: The much-anticipated release of Scott Turow's Innocent, his sequel to Presumed Innocent, gives me an easy hook for the sort of book-related catch-all post we haven't done in a while: name your favorite works of law-related fiction. [Surprisingly, perhaps, I'm not that well-read in the genre, so I'm using this for suggestions for my own reading as well.]

Bonus: Turow sings Del Shannon's "Runaway" at a recent Rock Bottom Remainders concert, though not the one at which Jen performed.

17 comments:

  1. Joseph J. Finn10:56 AM

    To Kill A Mockingbird.  Sure, it's the easy choice, but it's the right one for me.

    (Ancillary movie choice: 12 Angry Men.)

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  2. Does crime reporter/cop/P.I. fiction fall into law-related fiction, or are we sticking with lawyer/courtroom fiction specifically? If we are moving outside of the courtroom, I'll go with Michael Connelly's THE POET, although i'm a fan of all of Connelly's work, or my favorite among Robert Crais' books, L.A. REQUIEM.

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  3. Marsha12:07 PM

    Anatomy of a Murder, both the book and the movie.

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  4. a hearty second on connelly and crais (and harlan coben) but i would put these more in detective fiction more than lawyer.  however, there are some, like 'the woods' by coben, where the protaganist is a lawyer.

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  5. A couple of weeks ago, I reread Presumed Innocent in preparation for Innocent. It's truly a masterful book.  It accomplishes everything one wants from literary fiction, with the added bonus of a great mystery and terrific courtroom drama.  Also, it reminded me that, next to Atticus Finch, Sandy Stern is my legal hero.

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  6. I'm going on a one-night business trip Weds. to Thurs.  I was talking with my colleagues about the dinner plans with a client.  They then turned to what we might do afterwards.  I strongly suggested that I might just hole up in my room with my Kindle and Innocent...

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  7. Joseph J. Finn12:33 PM

    Also, I'll note that last summer I read Paper Chase and One-L back to back, and it was interesting to see the little differences in Harvard Law between the time of PC's author and Turow's being there. (And I'm not going to go political here on my feelings on the issue, but Turow's book on serving on Illinoi's commmision on capital punishment, Ultimate Punishment, is a fascinating balanced look at the issue even if you don't agree with him.)

    All in all, it seems like Turow sometimes slips through the cracks when people talk modern novelists; he's a fine stylist who really knows how to drag a reader in.

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  8. bill.1:18 PM

    <span>The Court Martial of General George Armstrong Custer, Lawrence Frost.</span>

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  9. Thank You for Smoking, albeit more lobbyist- than law-related.

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  10. Alex Gordon3:35 PM

    It's been a long while, but how bout Snow Falling on the Cedars?

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  11. Nancy4:04 PM

    If you like Grisham et al, the works of Greg iles are very much in the same vein.

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  12. Elaine Pan6:44 PM

    My Cousin Vinny. Witness for the Prosecution. To Kill a Mockingbird. Night Court (does that count?). 

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  13. Actually, most of Coben's books have a lawyer as a protagonist.  Myron Bolitar is a Harvard Law alum, though he's really not practicing.

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  14. calliekl9:18 PM

    Did you read Scarecrow? Fantastic. It was actually my first Connelly, and I'm definitely going to try more- Poet looks like a good start!

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  15. calliekl9:30 PM

    Another set of courtroom books I always enjoy (with some embarassment) are Jodi Picoult's. I recognize that I totally lost any "cool" points I may have had, but her stuff is very entertaining IMO. I just recently read "Keeping Faith" and loved it. And the courtroom scenes are always a huge chunk of any of her books.

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  16. If you want a movie recommendation, Breaker Morant is great.

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  17. Michele10:43 PM

    I'll second the nod to Greg Iles. Law-related fiction about a lawyer turned fiction writer.

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