My decision to become a lawyer was irrevocably sealed when I realized my father hated the legal profession.

I don't even know what a serious literary critic is.

Reading is by far the most successful pursuit of happiness.

I didn't dare think of the future; the past was still happening.

The worst letters come from retired high school English teachers. They will literally take a book and pick it to pieces and send me 14 pages of notes.

Nobody wants to read about the honest lawyer down the street who does real estate loans and wills. If you want to sell books, you have to write about the interesting lawyers - the guys who steal all the money and take off. That's the fun stuff.

Quite often I can be in a bookshop, standing beneath a great big picture of myself and paying for a book with a credit card clearly marked John Grisham, yet no one recognises me. I often say I'm a famous author in a country where no one reads.