2005

• The Broker, by John Grisham (Doubleday).

Aug. 29: Hurricane Katrina hit landfall along the Gulf Coast near Waveland, Miss., killing thousands of people and causing billions of dollars in property damage in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. In response to the storm, author John Grisham announced he and his wife were setting up a relief fund and personally donating $5 million to aid in rebuilding the devastated areas along the Mississippi coast.

June 27: Novelist and historian Shelby Foote died in Memphis at the age of 88.