The Breaks of the Game - David Halberstam

The Breaks of the Game by David Halberstam
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Halberstam's The Breaks of the Game chronicles the turbulent season of the Portland Trailblazers two years removed from their Championship season.

The book doesn't tell the story of the cohesive team as much as the individual stories that make for a tediously long NBA season.

Incredible insight into the responsibility these grown men feel being paid a princely sum to play a child's game. From the coaches to the general manager to the lead scout the player personnel feel the pressure of the surmounting television money that is ever increasingly surrounding the game.

A great, and I think timeless look, at how mentally strong a human being must be to perform as a professional athlete at the highest level.

Highly recommended.

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What the Dog Saw - Malcolm Gladwell

What the Dog Saw and Other Adventures by Malcolm Gladwell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

What can I say about Malcolm Gladwell except everything he has written has been an absolute joy to read.

This unlike his other books I have loved, Outliers, Tipping Point, is merely a collection of essays that have appeared in the New Yorker.

At over 400 pages the book is no quick read but the essays are so damn enjoyable that I finished quickly enough.

Again, this is only receiving four stars in comparison to two of his other works which were worthy of the fabled five star praise.

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The Million Dollar Portfolio - Who Cares?

The Motley Fool Million Dollar Portfolio: The Complete Investment Strategy that Beats the Market by David Gardner
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Inspiring but only quasi informative book about beginning in the stock market.

Definitely dedicated to those long term investors with plans of buying Dividend stocks.

Overall worth the read but not something I will be revisiting in the future.

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The Bayou Trilogy - Daniel Woodrell

The Bayou Trilogy: Under the Bright Lights, Muscle for the Wing, and The Ones You Do by Daniel Woodrell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The book as a trilogy far exceeded the books inside the binding.

The Rene Shade story was great during the first two chapters prior to The Ones You Do chapter. The third series of the book stole my attention for two weeks. Entirely too long for the story itself to hold my interest. It came down to the fact that the first two stories, regardless of their shortcomings, were intimately readable. The third book in the story was a fabrication of what Woodrell thought made the first two books good.

We are finally introduced to Rene, Tip, and Francois Shade's father only he is much less interesting than the three brothers and their mother. He is actually not interesting at all and the only salvageable character in the novel is Rene, Tip, and Francois's new half sister Etta.

The book is a less interesting version of the first two thirds of the book which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Here is to Daniel Woodrell who is able to tell a story through character alone when everything else is screaming THIS IS UNREADABLE.

Good dialogue and good characterization can escape the rest.



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The Ones You Do - Daniel Woodrell

The Ones You Do by Daniel Woodrell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The finale of Daniel Woodrell's finale is both better than expected and decidedly lackluster. Coming into the story anticipating another Chandleresque Rene Shade tale we are left wanting.

If you are fortunate to find 'The Ones You Do' alone you might find it a little more amicable.

But this book at the end of the "Bayou Trilogy" is definitely lacking in character observation. The people we have come to love in his earlier books are few and far between, making the book hard to get through.

Definitely not a McCarthy or Thompson or Chandleresque story.

Just a decent crime story told by a great author.


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