5 comments about Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend.

1. To fans of baseball (I plead guilty) no name is more associated with the beauty of the sport than that of Willie Mays. For more than two decades, he made the unplayable plays and hit the unhittable pitch. He bridged the period between the great Negro leagues and the modern game. Throughout, he has been unknowable.
   
   James Hirsch--in the first real biography of the man--makes a convincing case that there's a lot more than meets the eye. Willie Mays was a kid from smalltown Alabama, the heart of unreconstructed Dixie. Raised in an extended family of solid values, he never lost those values. Possessed of enormous physical gifts, baseball was his ticket out of poverty. He was unprepared for life on the national stage, but found a family within the game. There were many different ways for African-Americans to become truly part of this country. The outspokenness of Jackie Robinson was one way. The quiet deeds of Willie Mays were another. While often accused of being too accommodating, the fact remains that thousands of white kids grew up wanting to BE Willie Mays. That counts for more than a little.
   
   Mays cooperated with the author--a first for him. For many, this would have been the chance to right the wrongs, hit back at the insults. However Mays feels about those things, it is clear he will never say them. What comes through above all else is the dignity of the man. He is complicated: both accessible and remote, and a lot smarter than people thought. Mays appears to be unflinching in his self-assessment. He is aware that few players had his abilities, but he's also willing to point out the many ways in which he failed.
   
   Hirsch is a good baseball writer. A number of Mays' greatest plays are described with a clarity and sense of motion that is often missing from the writing of day-to-day sportswriters. He makes the last days of the Negro leagues come alive. I would love to be transported back to see the Black Barons play the game. It's a style of head-up aggressive baseball that is missing now. The book is a hefty read--somewhere north of 500 pages--not the typical baseball book. But the subject is more than worth the effort.
   
   There is a certain nostalgia that goes with being a baseball fan. In a few cases, there's a real reason for it.



2. Having lived in the San Francisco Bay Area and grown up during May's glory years and watching him at his best sent me back to the glory days of baseball in the 50's and 60's. The author did an excellant job in exploring of what was taking place in society through May's travels through that time. Even in liberal San Francisco May's had a difficult time in purchasing a house in a "white" neighborhood. However, there are a couple of points of contension that I have about the book. May's felt that he was never, "originally" the Giants number one player in the fans hearts. Maybe he was not the number one player as far as the adults were concerned but for kids my age during that time he was the number one player. I tried many times after games to get his autograph, (never succeeded) because there were more kids surrounding his pink cadillac than any other player in the player's parking lot. It wasn't even close, you could have counted the kids around Cepeda, McCovey, Sanford, Davenport, etc and they would not totaled the kids surrounding May's car.
   
   I feel pretty sure had Mays played in any other ballpark besides Candlestick he would have had the home run record. I spent a large part of my childhood going to games at that dump and that was not a home run hitters park, at least not for right handed hitters.
   
   My only other area of concern is that I wish the author would have decided to have the picture in the FRONT of the book with a San Francisco Giants hat rather than the New York Giants since that franchise is no longer in existence.



3. The best ballplayer I ever saw play in person was Willie Mays. Not only was he a consummate athlete and center fielder, but he also took the time before the game to sign autographs for almost two hours.
   
   This biography suggests something of that person's essence and character.
   
   It is an enjoyable read and worth the time to read and savor, and to reread when the mood strikes.
   
   I enjoy books on Kindle (on my iPod Touch) but the reviews with 1-3 stars slamming the book because the publisher has opted to delay its availability on Kindle are a shame because they do nothing but lower the overall review average. When you take the time to read the comments made by people who actually READ the book, you'll find it worth your time and effort.



4. I've been saying for years that a decent Biography about "Baseball's Greatest Living Player" (even when Dimaggio was alive),needed to be written.
   We finally have it, factual and well written as well.
   This is the man that my idol Mickey Mantle said was the best he ever saw.
   I recommend this to any seriously objective baseball fan.



5. I am about half way through this book about Willie Mays, and so far, I have found it an enjoyable read. While it has a lot of stats, both Willie's and other players in the Giant organization at the time, it isn't boring. Since, I only knew about him as a baseball player, (I was a teenager back then) I am enjoying finding out more about his personality. This book is long overdue!

5 comments about Same Kind of Different As Me: A Modern-Day Slave, an International Art Dealer, and the Unlikely Woman Who Bound Them Together.

1. It's a bit jarring to have two different narrators telling their stories, and Denver Moore's story is especially painful at first (when he's treated virtually as a slave in modern America), but this is a poignant book with strong and positive themes. I recommend it to anyone. Stories like this really give flesh to the Christian message of faith and charity.



2. This book was the selection for book club - probably wouldn't have picked to myself. It makes a great dicussion (even has thought-provoking questions as the end) It is a true story - very inspiring and rather sad in parts. It is a story of forgiveness and faith.



3. On the surface, it is the old South meeting the modern North, the Rich meeting the Poor, but ultimately it is God's creation meeting Him at the Throne of Grace.
   You will not have a dry eye by the end of the book and it will change your life.



4. This book was one of the best I have ever read. It answers many of life's burning questions such as, "Why do bad things happen to good people?", "What's my purpose?" etc. The fact that this is a true story (and a good story) can also deepen your faith, make you feel restored, and oh so hopeful and joyous about life. An absolute must read - and I never ever ever review books. So trust me, this was a good one.



5. I first purchased this book at a warehouse store in paperback. Someone recommended it to me in passing. I loved the story so much I decided to purchase it in hardback for my permanent library. It was delivered as advertised and in a timely manner.

5 comments about Strength in What Remains.

1. The beginning of this book pulled me in quickly, and then it lost me. And the more Tracy Kidder pulled himself into the story, the faster it lost me. Some of his explanations of the political situation in Rwanda & Burundi were confusing, and hard to wade through. I was most interested in following Deo and his personal account. To me that's the most poignant way to learn about the struggles and situations in other countries and cultures is to truly see it through the eyes of the people who've been there.
   
   It's tough to compare stories of Africa when I know there is tremendous suffering and struggle in so many countries. Each story and each struggle is unique, and to compare one to the other seems like it could minimize the horror. That's not my intention, but I've read other true accounts of struggles in Africa that made me feel more, made me care more. Kidder's book lacks solid direction and wanders terribly. I wanted to care more, and instead I had a very difficult time even finishing it.



2. A book like "Strength in What Remains" forces you to question your faith in the human race and helps restore it at the same time. Tracy Kidder brings us the indelible Deo, a Burundian medical student who survives the Burundian genocide in the mid-90s. He "escapes" to New York City with virtually no money and no friends or family to turn to for help and support and eventually returns to Burundi to set up a medical clinic for the poor. His survival and success causes anyone who anyone reading this book to ask themselves whether they could have not only survived such circumstances, but prospered after what he had been through. We view Deo with a sense of awe and respect for what he went through, how he overcame those nearly insurmountable obstacles and where he is now. If this book can't lift your spirits, you may not have a heart that is beating.
   
   A few things make this book stand out above others of this genre. First, Kidder's use of flashback to alternate between the "present" and Deo's life in Burundi, escape to NY and eventual return to Burundi is far more effective and engaging than a linear approach to storytelling. The second thing Kidder does well is bring us closer to secondary characters that intersect and are instrumental in Deo's resurrection -- from the ex-nun who first befriends Deo in NY, to the Wolf's, the couple that take Deo in to live with them, to Dr. Paul Farmer. In other books, these secondary characters often remain nameless and faceless with little credit or importance placed on their role in helping the main protagonist overcome their obstacles. Kidder brings us close to these characters and reinforces their contributions in helping Deo overcome his past and becoming his new, extended family in his adopted homeland of America.
   
   "Strength in What Remains" has a palpable undercurrent of "fear" throughout the book. This tone is set early with the stark horror as Deo hides from the ethnic killers and narrowly avoids the same fate. However, this fear remains with us through Deo's journey --- from the degrading and denigrating employer/boss Deo has at the grocery store to his first visit to Burundi during the reconciliation where tension and fear still lurks underneath the surface.
   
   This is a book not to be missed. This is a book about survival and redemption that will leave a lasting imprint on anyone fortunate to get to know Deo's story.



3. "Strength of What Remains" was a reading selection for my book club and I was the discussion leader. I read the book twice - once in print and the second time in audio. Because of the geography of Brundi, the audio version does not work well. This is the 5th Kidder book that I have read and my least favorite. It seems that Tracy Kidder got bored with the subject and wanted to fill the last pages with words. The book really needs a map of Brundi and a time line for Tutsi/Hutu issues. I urge readers to research Brundi and Rwanda on the Internet and search on "Strength of What Remains" on You Tube. It will make reading a better experience. I good map of Brundi is hard to find on the Internet, but a map should be close at hand when you reed the book. BBC has an adequate time line on the Internet that will be a help.



4. The subject of Tracy Kidder's book has experienced horrors those of us lucky enough to have been born in the first world probably can't begin to comprehend. Deogratias Niyizonkia, known as Deo, grew up in the central African mountains of Burundi, one of the poorest countries in the world. He overcame what might have seemed to be difficult odds--isolation and poverty--to enter medical school. He was nearing graduation when his world was shattered by a genocide that erupted in Burundi and neighboring Rwanda in 1993.
   
   Kidder's narrative begins with Deo's arrival at JFK Airport in New York the following year. For the first half of the book, Kidder does a remarkable job of putting us in Deo's shoes. We see and hear what he sees and hears, without the benefit of understanding much of what is going on around him as he struggles to master a new language and life in a strange new land. Deo endured indignities great and small, but finally found a path to a home, stability, and eventual entry into medical school in the United States.
   
   In the second half of the book, Kidder enters the narrative, as he meets Deo and gradually wins his trust and persuades him to tell his story. The two travel back to Burundi and retrace Deo's steps to freedom. It's a remarkable tale of survival and a remarkable story of the human will to transcend the worst horrors. Deo's ordeal could have killed him, or left him a walking shell, devoid of purpose. Instead, the world gained a man of great strength and compassion. Thanks to Kidder's gifts as a storyteller, we are privileged to get to know him.--William C. Hall



5. "Strength in What Remains is the story of Deogratias," as the author writes (more succinctly than I could) in his post on Amazon.com, "a young man from the central African nation of Burundi. In 1993, through no fault of his own, he was forced onto a terrifying journey, a journey that split his life in two. First he made a six-months-long escape, on foot, from ethnic violence in Burundi and from genocide in Rwanda. Then, in a strange twist of fate, he was, as it were, transported to New York City, where it sometimes seemed that his travails had only just begun."
   
   Deo, as he is called, was a medical student in Burundi when the genocidal campaign was launched. He fled on foot for hundreds of miles through the bloodcurdling upheaval of both Burundi and Rwanda and eventually arrived in New York, penniless, friendless, and hungry. Kidder relates Deo's story both before and after his escape from the violence in East Africa, through an Ivy League education at university and medical school to his current work building a medical clinic in his homeland, a disciple of the famed Dr. Paul Farmer (the subject of Kidder's next book).
   
   Tracy Kidder is one of America's most accomplished nonfiction writers. He has won most of the major awards that writers can receive. I was first attracted to his work two decades ago through The Soul of a New Machine, his now-classic look at the fast-changing computer industry, which was an extraordinary experience for me. Kidder seems to write where his instincts take him, covering such diverse topics as his home town and building a house to the exotic stories of Deo and Paul Farmer. Everything of Kidder's that I've read has been rewarding. I recommend Strength in What Remains for the sheer humanity of its subject -- and its author.
   
   (From Mal Warwick's Blog on Books)

5 comments about The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope.

1. Wow. William Kamkwamba has restored my faith in humanity. What a beautiful story, a brutal tale of poverty, and a wonderful glimpse in to the mind of an incredibly bright man. I will recommend it to everyone that I know. Thank you, William!



2. THE BOY WHO HARNESSED THE WIND is definitely one of the most incredibly inspiring memoirs I have ever read. It tells the fascinating story of William Kamkwamba, a poor farmer's son in Malawi, Africa, a country struggling with widespread poverty. During a deadly 2002 drought and subsequent famine, life became a daily struggle to simply survive starvation. After discovering a diagram of a windmill in an old library textbook, 14-year-old William armed with a vision and admirable determination, builds his own windmill using discarded scraps. William's ingenious invention generates electricity for his home, which makes a profound difference in the lives of his family and the entire village. Repeatedly, I was impressed by his ability to persevere in spite of overwhelming obstacles. Eventually, his remarkable achievement receives worldwide acclamation.
   
   William (with co-writer Bryan Mealer) provides a compelling glimpse of the difficulties of his life that gave me a true sense of the harsh reality of poverty. He enlightened me with his knowledge of Malawi's culture and politics. As a science lover, I was enthralled by the steps William took in constructing his windmill! I thoroughly enjoyed this awe-inspiring book. It demonstrates how a dream, hope and dedication can change lives forever. I strongly recommend it for everyone!



3. This book reminds me of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance", in that there are technical descriptions interspersed with a compelling story. The story is heartbreaking and takes the reader into the home of a rural Malawian family as they suffer through famine and not being able to send their children to school. It's real and very recent.
   
   If you're interested in the developing world and grassroots-style projects, this book is very worthwhile.



4. A gripping book that really makes you appreciate what you have. Many of us grew up trying to avoid school whenever possible, while young William is so desperate for education his family cannot afford that he tries to sneak into school. Eventually, he turns items others have thrown away into a working windmill.
   
   Inspiring as it is, what I took away from it is how dependent our achievements are on global connections and global supply lines. How many Williams are there, who might be just as brilliant and determined, but have not caught the attention of reporters, or who may not have had even the limited access to books and materials that William had? And while some people have pointed to this book as a solution to peak oil or the way to energy independence, I can't help thinking that if everyone was building windmills, parts would be in short supply. And if the supply lines were cut off somehow, it would not be possible to maintain and build such windmills forever.
   
   It's not a very long book, and still feels a bit padded with things that are unrelated to the main story. Still...well worth a read.



5. This is a truly inspirational book and also one of amazement. Thankfully this 14 yo boy was discovered.
   
   The book provides a glimpse into farm life that has seen little change for generations. The view into this life is truly extraordinary, especially for city folk like myself. It makes you want to live a more simple life, but certainly not in the same existence as this boy and his family. It's truly a harsh environment. Anyway, from there you learn the hardships of the boy and his family. The amazing part is how this boy creates a windmill from scraps and uses it to power various devices within his home and village. From there, he is discovered and things really begin to take off.
   
   It's an amazing story and peeks into the life seldom seen or appreciated/respected. The book is an easy read. Highly recommended.

5 comments about You Say Tomato, I Say Shut Up: A Love Story.

1. I found the book funny and interesting and finished it pretty quickly. I definitely was rooting for them since they've been through a lot with their son and finances and trying to make it in Hollywood. They're very candid.
   
   Book is organized into "his" and "hers" sections and unfortunately, by the middle of the book, I was dreading his sections. His sections are either sex-obsessed or full of rationalizations for his bad behavior or unkind/hostile to his wife (but he still loves her for her sex object status??) or some combination of the above.
   
   I enjoyed her sections though as she is funny and honest. Her sections have relevant historical facts in footnotes -- I got the feeling maybe she took the project more seriously than he did.
   Quotes and facts at the beginning of each chapter are cute and thought-provoking.



2. This is one of the funniest, yet touching, books on marriage that I have ever read and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to read an honest book about marriage.
   
   The book is set up so each chapter is loosely organized by theme, such as pets, dating, childbirth, in-laws, etc. Either Annabelle or Jeff presents their view first (in short essay format), and then the other one follows. I really enjoyed the "getting both sides to the story" aspect of the book. It is also mostly in chronological order, so it is pretty easy to tell where they are in their relationship when they are discussing each theme. They deal with most things that any married couple would deal with, yet you also receive some interesting insights into the Hollywood/LA/creative profession culture that they both reside in.
   
   Many of the essays are incredibly funny, and there are some that are also very touching when discussing a serious subject, such as the birth defects of their son. The book doesn't pretend that marriage is easy, but at the same time, you can tell that they really care about each other.
   
   Additionally, I found this to be a fast-moving, easy read and perfect for those days when you only have time to read a few pages, because of the divided-eassay format.



3. This book is a clear reflection of the ups and downs two truly creative people have in marriage. It is a book for everyone to laugh along with, reflect and rediscover the good things that all too often get buried in the routine of day to day minutia. "You Say Tomato I Say Shut Up" is a universal book that crosses generations and borders.



4. I applaud Gurwitch and Kahn for their honesty about their marriage, enjoyed the format and found the facts about marriage snd divorce rates...interesting. However, while some parts of the book are hysterical that I laughed out-loud other parts drone on and on that it can be painstakingly boring.



5. This is one of the most laser-precise books on marriage, sex, kids, LIFE that I have ever read. I laughed my ass off, then would suddenly get caught off-guard and find tears welling in my eyes. The laugh lines are abundant and so are the moving moments, especially with their son's diagnosis with VACTERL. iIt's a true honor that Annabelle Gurwitch and Jeff Kahn would open their hearts up to us readers. A wonderful wonderful book. Highly recommend.

3 comments about Princess Noire: The Tumultuous Reign of Nina Simone.

1. I became a fan of Nina Simone when she first song "I love you Porgy" and later became a friend of hers and grew to truly love her. She was truly the "High Priestess of Soul" and there will never be another like her.



2. A middlingly written account of the life of the great Nina Simone, not an unkind book, but not, for all its details about Nina's personal descent, an exceptionally engaged portrait. Cohodas fails to establish a tone with her writing, so that what might have been a warm sparkling telling instead trundles along, an account of moods and events. Prevented, of course, is a genuine reckoning with the interior legacy of one of music's modern masters. It's a disappointment ameliorated by spending time with Nina, pure and simple. But I would add that I saw Simone live probably fifty times in various performance settings, and though that's fifty times less what I'd have been happy to have seen and heard this woman, and her ineffacable art, I yet know her better and deeper by that than this book gives me. Still, it's good once again to trace in the mind and memory Nina Simone, a gift of the gods to us that will never die.



3. 
   Nina Simone has often been an enigmatic figure. A tremendously talented singer/musician and a recognized figure in the Civil Rights Movement, she often showed a troubling personality. Nadine Cohodas has done a wonderful job giving us a biography of this prominent lady. Born Eunice Waymon in North Carolina, when she was very young she started showing great musical talent. Usually she is classified as a jazz singer but Simone hated classifications. Her failure to be selected in to a prestigious musical school for being black set a feeling that would follower in her live. Now singing as Nina Simone in New York she became a huge performer and would enter into the world of the black intelligentsia. Soon her passion was the Civil rights Movement. But this book shouts out at the problems she had in life. Often she was perceived as having bad behavior with her audiences, and even friends. Turns out she was suffering from bipolar disorders and these were hidden from almost everyone until after her death. Cohodas does a good job writing about her life and giving us background on her mental issues.

5 comments about Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance.

1. So, we've been told by 99.99% of the American Media that:
   
   Obama is not a Socialist!
   Obama is not a Marxist!
   No no, Obama is indeed a Centrist Democrat!
   
   Yet before he decided to campaign for President, or Senator, or US Rep (what exactly did he actually do outside of that before we handed him the most critically important job in the world?), he candidly exposed his core ideals by idealizing a boozing, marxist, polygamist failure of a dead beat dad, his father, Barack Obama Sr.
   
   Now, one year into his utter disaster of a presidency, one in which he has only begun to dismantle the very framework of the greatest Republic the world has ever known, it is INARGUABLE that the apple has not fallen too far from the repugnant Obama family tree. His destruction of our wealth, his complete disregard for our Constitutional protections (ones he openly refers to as 'fundamentally flawed'), his embrace of criminals around the world bent on our annihilation, and his thinly veiled hatred for the non-black races all stem from the mad hallucinations of his drug and alcohol adled vermin of a father. A father whose anti-human ideals were further imprinted in our president's head by his even more vitriolic minister, Jeremiah Wright, and the ideological founder of their race hatred, James Cone.
   
   What is happening to the United States today will be lamented about for centuries. And one day far from now, future generations will study this book, and ask in wonder, "how did they (us) not see what was coming?"



2. Barack Obama hasn't disappointed me as a writer. His story of race and inheritance is excellent and is a book that all Americans should read to understand what makes Obama tick.The Journal of an Unknown Knight



3. I never knew that President Barack Obama was a writer before he entered the political world. So I decided to pick this one up last year and read more about my new Commander-in-Chief, the first African-American President of the United States! I'm so glad I did. He has a beautiful way with words. He came from so many different worlds and he tried to understand them all...his white mother and Kenyan father. He lived in Indonesia for a few years as well. He tried to understand who he was and where he came from. He only met his father once...
   
   He eventually went to Chicago to be a political organizer, to help get things turned around in neighborhoods that didn't have too much. And he eventually makes it to his father's native land of Kenya where he meets all of his family. Where he learns that "if everyone's your family then no one is."
   
   This book was so insightful not only on race and life, but on the man himself, how he thinks and feels about the stuff of life. He's a down-to-earth guy who's trying to make life better for those around him. And in the end I like who he is what he thinks.
   
   Some wonderful quotes: "That's what the leadership was teaching me, day by day: that the self-interest I was supposed to be looking for extended well beyond the immediacy of issues, that beneath the small talk and sketchy biographies and received opinions, people carried with them some central explanation of themselves. Stories full of terror and wonder, studded with events that still haunted or inspired them. Sacred stories. "
   
   "It was as if he had come to mistrust words somehow. Words, and the sentiments words carried."



4. Written by now-President Obama when he was a recent law school grad, Dreams from My Father outlines a young man's search for a sense of purpose and place. It begins with news of his father's death, and then fills in the back story: Obama's life in Hawaii, then Indonesia, then Hawaii again with his grandparents. He describes his time as a community organizer in South Chicago, focusing on the people he worked with and the challenges he faced. Through this, Obama reflects on race, community, family, and his difficulty in coming to terms with who his father was. The book's third and finally section sees him joining his half-sister for a trip to Kenya, where he meets relatives and begins to resolve some of his issues.
   
   The stories are interesting. The writing is good: it flows like a novel. I appreciate the reflection, though some of it comes across clumsily because its more meaningful to him than to us.



5. If you want to know what makes Barack Obama tick, this is the place to find it. In this autobiography, he recounts his rich, broad family history--ultimately taking us to four continents--to offer an honest, intimate glimpse into the influences that shaped him. Lucky for readers, he happens to be a great storyteller, sharing anecdotes and conversations that truly bring the "characters" to life.

No comments about Oprah: A Biography.

5 comments about Angela's Ashes: A Memoir.

1. Great novel. Makes you realize things about your own life, while giving you a fun read.



2. The memoir Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt takes place in Brooklyn, New York and in Limerick, Ireland in the 1930's and 40's. The protagonist, Frank McCourt, is the oldest of eight children. His parents are Malachaly, who is described as "shiftless, loquacious, and alcoholic," and his mother, Angela, whom McCourt calls, "pious, big-hearted, and overwhelmed." The big Irish family soon has to leave their home in Brooklyn and moves to Limerick after the tragic death of their beloved daughter, Margaret, just as the Great Depression takes hold in America. Their home in Ireland isn't ideal to the family; their rented flat is a complete rat's nest and they share one bathroom with all their neighbors. For years, the family only eats bread and tea because that is all they can afford on their welfare money, when Mr. McCourt doesn't take it all and use it to get drunk. Eventually, the kids have to steal food just to get through one more day; they even become beggars on the streets at times. Life in Ireland for the family is very brutal and harsh as the Great Depression and their own father's self-destructiveness swallows up their hopes as well on the other side of the Atlantic.
   Though the storyline is sad and heartbreaking, Frank McCourt does an amazing job brightening up the memoir at times. "Mam turns toward the dead ashes in the fire and sucks at the last bit of goodness in the Woodbine butt caught between the brown thumb and the burnt middle finger. Michael . . . wants to know if we're having fish and chips tonight because he's hungry. Mam says, Next week, love, and he goes back out to play in the lane." This is an example of McCourt taking a deep and dark moment and using humor to lighten it up. This moment is very symbolic to Angela's dreams and shows how the family struggles for food on a daily basis. As I was reading this passage (insert a comma here) I tried figure out why the title is Angela's Ashes, I think I've figured it out but I won't ruin it for you. While reading Mr. McCourt's remembrance, it was clear money was always an issue for the family, but after finishing the book, I realized that money wasn't the real conflict. Family, loving one another, and being together are the true conflicts that the family endures the entire book. The father is unable to find a job in Ireland and travels far away to work, he promises to send money but he is never heard from and trying to feed eight hungry children is difficult for Angela. This broken family sticks together and battles their miserable lives in multiple homes that they stay at throughout the town of Limerick.
   At first, this book was both depressing and sad, but as I read through it, I saw more than that and discovered that it has more of a deep and a more underlying meaning than I thought it would. From reading this compelling memoir, I got a better understanding of how life can be so cruel but yet the McCourt family managed to carry on with little food and thin clothing during harsh winters. At one point, I got sucked into the book and I felt like I was one of the eight kids searching through dumpsters trying to find any scraps of food, and yet I managed to laugh at the funny and naïve things the younger kids say. I don't think I've read a tome that has ever made me feel so many different emotions. As one reviewer wrote when McCourt's book came out, "It brings tears and smiles together as close as they can ever be."



3. This is absolute heaven, to hear Frank McCourt read his own life story with that glorious accent! My favorite nonfiction book of all time, and favorite audiobook.
   
   However, BUYER BEWARE; I ordered the unabridged version, and was sent the abridged version. When I returned it to Amazon, I only received $1.99 out of my $10.00 purchase price. So, absolutely have this in your collection; just make sure you get every delicious word in the unabridged format.



4. What can I say that hasn't been said countless times about Angela's Ashes. I see now why it has all the fans that it does. I wish McCourt were a Chicano so I could claim him. Or maybe say I too am Irish. That's what I would say, that he made me feel Irish. If not for the "brogue," his story is not that different than what many of us go through growing up poor, and that includes many of us who are born and raised here.



5. I read this book many years ago, and I still find myself thinking about it from time to time. This was a wonderful, yet morose, novel. This story lays out a compelling story of how Frank (barely) survived childhood in the hands of poverty and alcoholism. Frank's story just gets more and more depressing as you read, but his need to survive is unquenchable.
   
   Truly, a wonderful book!

5 comments about Quiet Strength: The Principles, Practices, and Priorities of a Winning Life.

1. Dungy provides excellent insight into living a life of character. He is a man's man and is able to relate his football experience to the every day living in a world with many heartaches and brokenness. He gives encouragement through his personal faith in God.



2. I was a little skeptical when this book was referred to me, but I'm glad I purchased it. The main precept of the book can be applied to almost any challenges we face in life; whether they be personal or professional. A truly inspirational read based on Christian teachings and values.



3. It reads like a calm, confident conversation with Coach Dungy. I wish that all young men could be tutored by people like this man.



4. I truly enjoyed listening to this book on audio. It was very inspirational. I think it should be required reading for all high school or college aged men. I have shared this with many members of my family already. Don't pass up this book.



5. There's one piece during practice when a player asks Coach why he doesn't yell--Dungy replies that "I'm not a yeller, but watch out if I whisper at you." Dunge has proven that he's more than a football coach; he is a Man of God. His character, persistence, faith, and dedication to the Word and Faith is evident on each page of this book. He definitely has the shield of faith, breastplate of righteousness, helmet of salvation, and sword of the spirit (from Ephesians 6:6-18). This is truly an inspirational book that tells you more about the Coach than the NFL. Dunge's non-profit "All Pro Dads" born in Tampa during his tenure with the Bucs continues to this day and is a testament to his belief that the Christian's husband responsibility is to his wife and children. Most poignant was his "homegoing" homage to his deceased 18-year old son to be a participant on the ultimate eternal playing field.