The Testament

by John Grisham

{ 1999 | Doubleday | 465 pgs }

What to do on the train when Jarom and June are napping, and Evan is playing (nearby) with other kids? Of course, pull out the Kindle and download a John Grisham novel. Since Jarom has been interested in wills and estates as a field of law, The Testament seemed like a good choice.

Troy Phelan is an old billionaire who hates his 3 ex-wives and 6 children. He agrees to an exam to determine his testamentary capacity – whether or not he’s in sound mind to make his will. Immediately after he completes the exam and the family members and psychiatrists leave, he presents a handwritten (holographic) will to his lawyer, in which he leaves his entire fortune to an illegitimate daughter, and then he jumps out the window. From the 14th floor.

But really, the book is about trying to find the daughter, and about the lawyers for the rest of the family trying to get their “fair share.” It was interesting, if a little preachy, and I actually might have preferred if the family ended up suffering more. They were perfectly detestable.

All in all, not bad, but nothing compared to The Client. Which I read when I was about 10. (Which has inspired me to keep LOTS of young adult literature in the house for when our book-hungry children go looking for something to read, having exhausted all the bookshelves in their rooms.)

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Waiting for Godot

by Samuel Beckett

{ premiered 1953 }

Absurdist theater. I think I’d enjoy it in person, but probably won’t ever go see it.

That is all.

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Secrets of the Crown

by Adam Jay Epstein & Andrew Jacobson

{ 2011 | HarperCollins | 384 pgs }

I read The Familiars at the end of last year, and it turned out to be much better than I expected. I found it purely by chance: I was trying to read one book per letter of the alphabet, by author’s last name, and was searching the Kindle store for an E author. I also needed J – so a book coauthored by Epstein and Jacobson was too hard to pass up.

Secrets of the Crown is book 2 in the Familiars series. (I don’t know if it will be a trilogy or continue past three books.) Since it’s been over a year since I read The Familiars, I had a little trouble remembering where the story left off. I suppose it’s a challenge for an author – how to catch readers up without spending too much time revisiting the previous parts of the story. I started reading Secrets of the Crown a few months ago, but it didn’t hold my attention for very long and I left it after a few chapters. On a long train ride, though, I was more than happy to pick it up again.

Overall, the story seemed less original than The Familiars. It was still enjoyable, but I don’t feel any urgency for the next book. I definitely recommend reading The Familiars – and, once the series is complete, I think you should read them all.

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