Playing for Pizza, John Grisham
Playing for Pizza, John Grisham
72 Rating(s)
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Playing for Pizza

Author: John Grisham

Narrator: Christopher Evan Welch

Unabridged: 6 hr 53 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/24/2007

Synopsis

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Fans of John Grisham live for his legal thrillers, but now and then he serves up something unexpected. That’s exactly what he does, with great success, in Playing for Pizza.”—USA Today

After providing what is arguably the worst single performance in the history of the NFL, third-string quarterback Rick Dockery becomes a national laughingstock. Cut by the Cleveland Browns, and shunned by every other team, Rick insists that his agent find a team that does need him.

Against enormous odds, Rick lands a job—as the starting quarterback for the Mighty Panthers . . . of Parma, Italy.

The Parma Panthers desperately want a former NFL player—any former NFL player—at their helm. And now they’ve got Rick, who knows nothing about Parma (not even where it is) and doesn’t speak a word of Italian. To say that Italy—the land of fine wines, extremely small cars, and football americano—holds a few surprises for Rick Dockery would be something of an understatement.

About John Grisham

John Ray Grisham, Jr. was born in Jonesboro, Arkansas on February 8, 1955. Grisham graduated from Mississippi State University and later from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1981. He was a practicing criminal attorney for over ten years and then served in the House of Representatives from 1984 to 1990. He published his first novel in 1989 after working on it for five years. ‘A Time to Kill’, his first novel, launched his new career and was later made into a major motion picture. His first bestseller, ‘The Firm’, released in 1991, sold over seven million copies and was made into a box office hit starring Tom Cruise two years later. Almost twenty years later in 2012, a TV series was launched and picks up the life of Mitch McDeere and his family ten years after the events of the novel.

John Grisham has had his novels translated into more than forty languages and has sold nearly 300 million copies worldwide. He is a winner of the prestigious Galaxy British Book Award and is one of only three authors (the other two being Tom Clancy and J.K. Rowling) to ever sell two million copies of a first published novel. Nine of his novels (including ‘The Firm and ‘A Time to Kill’ have been made into major motion pictures.

Reviews

AudiobooksNow review by Lisa on 2010-06-03 17:52:34

I kept waiting for someone to get killed or some courtroom drama - but this book is not your typical Grisham. However, being an avid football fan myself, I absolutely loved it. I hope it gets made into a movie. You can tell that Grisham loves and understands the game. The Italian setting didn't hurt either. If you love football and well written sports stories, this should be right up your alley.

Goodreads review by Ted on January 02, 2008

I started reading John Grisham books when I was the nerdiest sixth grader of all time and thought I'd grow up to be a lawyer. And though I found none of them particularly memorable, I did enjoy his huge slew of legal thrillers back in the day. Out of pure curiosity I now occasionally pick up one of h......more

Goodreads review by Mark on February 21, 2009

I liked this story more than a little. I'm no big sports fan, but I enjoyed hearing about the physical aspects of football as described in this book. I'm also a big food nut, and liked how that was the second focus of this book. There was plenty of good humor. So, if you want a happy feel good book......more

Goodreads review by Sara on July 27, 2008

This is another gem from Grisham in which he gives us a glimpse of his tale-spinning away from the courtroom dramas. This time he whisks us away to Italy. The vivid descriptions of ingredients, foods, and full course meals will make you hungry - reminded me of reading Part 1 of Eat, Pray, Love. This......more

Goodreads review by Michael on April 14, 2019

What a fun book to read. This is not a typical Grisham book. It takes place mostly in Parma, Italy. Rick or "Reek" as he is called in Italy, is the laughing stock of the NFL and reluctantly takes the only job he can get as a quarterback for the Parma Panthers for a very low salary, a room and, a car......more

Goodreads review by Louie the Mustache on June 06, 2022

Over the course of my life (I am in my 50s), I have read a lot of Grisham, all legal thrillers. It is so striking to me that in the past three years in Puerto Rico, I have read none. So I intentionally picked up this book at the used book store to fill that supposed gap, but how strange that this bo......more

Quotes

“Enthralling.”—People

“This is a fish-out-of-water tale that perfectly suits Grisham’s strengths as a storyteller. . . . A feel-good story, a tale of maturing and finding your way in the world.”—USA Today

“Grisham at his best . . . a page-turner of a story.”—Richmond Times-Dispatch

“Football in Italy? Who knew? Grisham means to have a sweet time with this story of a fallen NFL quarterback. And he does.”—New York Daily News

“A delightfully comic tale of redemption . . . deeply satisfying.”—The Boston Globe

“A winsome football fable, replete with team bonding and character-building . . . the result is a charming fish-out-of-water story.”—Publishers Weekly

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