Review of "Ty Cobb" by Charles C. Alexander

I think Ty Cobb by Charles Alexander is a must read for any fan of baseball. I've read other books about Cobb, but none compare to this one. Alexander presents us with a very balanced, fair view of Ty Cobb that I found quite interesting and well written.

This book is mostly recording Cobb's on the field accomplishments. It does talk about his personal life a bit, but it sticks mostly to baseball while he was still playing. I found some of Cobb's off the field antics quite interesting. I think there were some stories in this books that I hadn't read about in other Cobb biographies. Once Cobb is finally out of baseball, the last part of the books deals with his personal life in a more in-depth fashion. It also gets into his business life a bit. All of it is informative and interesting.

I enjoyed this book a lot. Ty Cobb was a fascinating character. He was an extremely complex person psychologically. This book is a must read for anyone that calls themselves a fan of baseball.

"SAT & BAF!" won Second Place!!

I'm happy to announce that "SAT & BAF! Memories of a Tower Rat" got second place in Reader Views Literary Awards (History/Science Category) for 2011!!

I haven't stopped smiling for days. Here's the complete list of winners for this year's contest.
Reader Views Literary Awards 2011 Winners

It's entered in several other contests that should be announcing finalists and winners over the next couple months. If nothing else, "SAT & BAF! Memories of a Tower Rat" won in this one. Thanks to everybody for your support. It's been a great week.
Doug

Reader's View Literary Awards

I just got word that my book "SAT & BAF! Memories of a Tower Rat" has made it as a finalist in the 2011 Reader's Views Literary Awards!! It made it under History/Science. The winners should be announced in the next few days. I'm so excited. I entered several contests, but this is the first one where I've done anything. This is exciting!! Wish me luck.
Reader's Views Literary Awards 2011 List of Finalists

Review of "Jack the Ripper: The Simple Truth" by Bruce Paley

Bruce Paley has written a great piece of Ripper literature. "Jack the Ripper: The Simple Truth" is meticulously researched, well written, and quite entertaining. It paints a picture of Whitechapel and East London that made it quite real to me. He lays out a convincing case against Joe Barnett. Paley's thesis was quite original when he first introduced it. There is very little actual evidence against Barnett, but Paley uses modern methodology to point right at the person who would be one of the first suspects today. The boyfriend of one of the victims.

The Kindle version does have some formatting problems, but I didn't find any that interfered with the flow of the book. I'm reviewing the book, and I found it very well done. It's well worth a read to anyone interested in Ripperology, Victorian London, true crime, or serial killers. I liked this book very much and could barely put it down. I can't say if this is the best Ripper book out there, but I can say that I enjoyed it a lot.

I also found the meticulous endnotes and research very useful for further study.
Jack the Ripper: The Simple Truth

Review of " American Terrorist: Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City Bombing" by Lou Michel

I think "American Terrorist: Timothy McVeigh & the Oklahoma City Bombing" by Lou Michel and Dan Herbeck is an important book for Americans to read. It is very unbiased and straight-forward, and it helps explain just what happened to lead to the greatest domestic terrorism incident in our history. I think it will help the nation heal. As others have stated, it won't leave you with a feeling that McVeigh was a psychopath. That's the most disturbing part of the the entire book. He wasn't.

The book follows McVeigh's life all the way from his birth and innocuous childhood, through his military career, and to the fateful day when he placed a truck bomb outside the Oklahoma City Federal Building and murdered hundreds of people. It's an interesting journey. Following a regular guy who went way off the tracks and did such a horrible thing from beginning to finish is...sobering. I found the information about how he planned the bomb with Nichols the most interesting. It's hard to believe a regular guy could sit in his friend's house and plan it that way, but it makes sense.

I've recommended this book to friends, and they often recoil. "I don't want to read about that freak." I think people should read about that "freak" because there's no other way to begin the healing. Knowing what happened is the first step.

This book was constructed through interviews with McVeigh on death row and interviews with many other people involved who knew McVeigh. It's probably as close as we'll ever get to understanding what caused him to do what he did. It is well written. Although it will make you cringe and recoil at points because of the drastic nature of the events, I think it's an important book.

Review of: "Pride: The Charley Pride Story" by Charley Pride with Jim Henderson

I love country music and music in general. Charley Pride's story moved me deeply. This memoir follows him from a sharecropper's son in the Mississippi Delta to the life of a professional baseball player to the Army to the mines of Montana to country-music superstardom. It's a great overview of a life that's been purely American. Through it all, he stayed the same, old Charley Pride. He tells his story with an honesty and humility that is refreshing. He tells it like it is.

This book touches on many elements of Pride's story that I hadn't heard much about. His life in minor-league and negro league baseball was quite interesting to me as a fan of the game. It discusses the racial tensions he faced as the first, black man to break into country music. It covers his struggles with alcohol and depression. It tells of his family and the difficult relationship with his father. I found this book to be deeply touching. It's a story that deserves to be read. Charley Pride sings country music because Charley Pride is country music. If ever there was a person that was meant to sing country music, it was Charley Pride. This memoir will go on my shelf right next to Charlie's old friends, Waylon and George Jones.         
Pride: The Charley Pride Story

Review of "Enemies and Playmates" by Darcia Helle

I've read two or three of Darcia Helle's other novels and also several short stories by her. I've enjoyed every one. "Enemies and Playmates" is no exception. The characters are very well crafted. I was particularly impressed with the way the writer uses such things as clothing and snippets of lyrics to give more depth. I identified with one of the lead characters, Jesse, very much. Nearly every character has depth, and I enjoyed getting to know them. The mental struggles of nearly every major character are quite evident, and there were a several interesting twists.

This is an interesting story with a fast-moving plot. It is a dark story, but I felt resolution with the ending. It's a very well written book, and I recommend it a lot. I'd also recommend reading beyond the end of the story to a short explanation of how song lyrics helped craft of of the characters. I found it to be an interesting glimpse into the writing process. This one is worth reading!Enemies and Playmates