Playing for Pizza
John Grisham, 2007
★ 3.54 from 59k ratings on Goodreads
Travel & nature Literary fiction
A battered third-string quarterback gets an unlikely second chance in Italy, where American football is smaller, stranger, and played for pride and pizza. A breezy, good-humored ride through small-town Italy, with a plain-spoken voice and a pace that lingers over meals and minor-league football.
Feels like wonder, joy and humor. About adventure, society and ambition.
Who it’s for
You may enjoy this if you like light travelogues with sports and food, especially stories about Americans abroad in Italy. Be aware that many readers found the plot thin and the quarterback hard to warm to, so it suits a relaxed read more than a deep character study.
Why read it
It offers a cheerful escape into Italian food and amateur football, and a reminder that starting over can be messy and funny.
A page from the book
A room where no one is impressed by a professional athlete.
Perhaps you should, the doctor thought, and not just because of your bruised brain. Three interceptions in eleven minutes should be a clear sign that football is not your calling. Two nurses appeared quietly and helped with the tests and paperwork. Neither said a word to the patient, though he was an unmarried professional athlete with notable good looks and a hard body. And at that moment, when he needed them, they could not have cared less. What readers say
Readers frequently enjoyed the book as a light, humorous adventure centered on Italian culture and cuisine. However, a significant portion of readers found the plot underdeveloped, the protagonist unlikable, or the overall execution disappointing.
John Grisham.Grisham wrote his first novel, A Time to Kill, by arriving at his law office at 5 a.m. and writing for an hour before work.
Books that feel like this
More by John Grisham
The Rainmaker
John Grisham, 1995
A broke law student sues an insurance company for a family it refused to help, and finds out what a lawsuit really costs.
The Pelican Brief
John Grisham, 1992
A law student's hunch about two murdered Supreme Court justices makes her the target of a hunt she never asked for.
The Street Lawyer
John Grisham, 1985
A young associate witnesses a terrifying heist in a high-stakes law firm, forcing him to confront the true power structures that lie beneath the veneer of corporate justice.
Where to get it
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Questions readers ask
- Is Playing for Pizza for me?
- You may enjoy this if you like light travelogues with sports and food, especially stories about Americans abroad in Italy. Be aware that many readers found the plot thin and the quarterback hard to warm to, so it suits a relaxed read more than a deep character study.
- What is Playing for Pizza like?
- A breezy, good-humored ride through small-town Italy, with a plain-spoken voice and a pace that lingers over meals and minor-league football. Feels like wonder, joy and humor. About adventure, society and ambition.
- What should I read after Playing for Pizza?
- If you liked Playing for Pizza, try Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (J. K. Rowling), The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown) and The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien).
A taste of the feed
Why a blank diary can feel like a friend you've half-forgotten.
Harry couldn’t explain, even to himself, why he didn’t just throw Riddle’s diary away. The fact was that even though he knew the diary was blank, he kept absent-mindedly picking it up and turning the pages, as though it was a story he wanted to finish. And while Harry was sure he had never heard the name T. M. Riddle before, it still seemed to mean something to him, almost as though Riddle was a friend he’d had when he was very small, and half-forgotten. But this was absurd. He’d never had friends before Hogwarts, Dudley had made sure of that.
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets · J. K. Rowling
The mirror is honest even when your colleagues are kind.
Langdon had little doubt. His books on religious paintings and cult symbology had made him a reluctant celebrity in the art world, and last year Langdon’s visibility had increased a hundred-fold after his involvement in a widely publicized incident at the Vatican. Since then, the stream of self-important historians and art buffs arriving at his door had seemed never-ending.
The Da Vinci Code · Dan Brown
A creature speaks in magnificent, terrible grandeur, asserting a dominion that defies all reason.
“The King under the Mountain is dead, and where are his kin that dare seek revenge? Girion Lord of Dale is dead, and I have eaten his people like a wolf among sheep, and where are his sons’ sons that dare approach me? I kill where I wish, and none dare resist. I laid low the warriors of old and their like is not in the world today. Then I was but young and tender. Now I am old and strong, strong, strong, Thief in the Shadows!” he gloated. “My armour is like tenfold shields, my teeth are swords, my claws spears, the shock of my tail a thunderbolt, my wings a hurricane, and my breath death!”
The Hobbit · J.R.R. Tolkien
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