Time & Perspective Quote by Danielle Steel

A blockbuster novelist praising a rival blockbuster novelist is never just a casual reading update; its politeness is strategic. Danielle Steel saying she is "enjoying John Grisham quite a bit" is disarmingly modest on the surface, almost filler-small talk. Underneath, it functions like an industry handshake: a public signal that commercial fiction has its own canon, its own standards, its own mutual respect system that doesn’t need permission from the prestige gatekeepers.

The line works because of its understatement. Steel doesn’t say Grisham is brilliant or important; she says she’s "enjoying" him, as if pleasure is the only metric that matters. That’s a quiet rebuke to the idea that serious readers must justify themselves with difficulty, experimentation, or literary pedigree. Enjoyment becomes a sufficient defense, especially coming from an author who has been routinely dismissed as "popular" in a way that often means "feminized" or "easy."

There’s also a canny bit of brand alignment. Grisham’s legal thrillers carry a whiff of civic seriousness - courts, justice, institutions - while remaining relentlessly readable. Steel, associated with romance and domestic stakes, borrows that aura by association without changing lanes. The phrase "at the moment" does extra work too: it frames taste as seasonal, flexible, human, not an identity badge. In a culture where reading choices get weaponized as status, Steel offers a softer, more consumer-real truth: even the most prolific professionals read for momentum, comfort, and craft.