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writesdave's reviews
360 reviews
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The Practice of Groundedness: A Transformative Path to Success That Feeds--Not Crushes--Your Soul
adventurous
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Excellent compilation of data-based, actionable pieces of advice to live more intentionally in a hyper-connected world—without killing your TV and disconnecting the internet (which I've done anyway because... uh... reasons. Nonetheless, Stulberg is a must-follow on social media and a lot of the book looks familiar, but consider the book a worthwhile deep dive on his simple advice.
emotional
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I hated the main character, one of those (being put-on accent) so-SIGH-ett-ee ladiees who is take care of and has a string of suitors in her wake after her husbands dies, leaving her enough to live on. She also gripes about her daughter and... sorry, I guess I experienced familial love differently and Aurora grated on me. I generally liked the book though because it's McMurtry and few people write as lovingly about a place and people as he does.
Anyway, I read it, never saw the movie, and I wonder why a goddamned retired general played by Jack Nicholson trails her like a puppy.
Anyway, I read it, never saw the movie, and I wonder why a goddamned retired general played by Jack Nicholson trails her like a puppy.
emotional
informative
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Fun read about an oft-neglected aspect of baseball—the summer wood-bat collegiate league. In the wake of "Moneyball" and "Summer Catch," Jim Collins spends a season with the Chatham A's of the Cape Cod League. He chronicles the ups and downs of one of the venerable league's charter teams, how the focus shifts from winning games to player development when the results go south.
The big reveal for me involved the scouts bird-dogging the players. We hear from scouts about what they look for in various players, such as the transition from college aluminum-bat ball to the wooden bats, how a pitcher in a run of getting lit up doesn't lose any of his luster in the eyes of the scouts if he keeps his head on straight and doesn't screw up his mechanics, and how, contrary to what Billy Beane insisted, defense does matter. Also, Collins addresses how the game has changed for scouts, from 75-year-old area scouts in food-stained Hawaiian shirts insisting on "intangibles" and "thighs" to 30-year-old crosscheckers in slacks and polos with millions of dollars at stake looking for a statistical edge.
The peeks into the Cape Cod culture add some interest, from one player's affinity for fishing to others' affinity for the, uh, social life. You also learn about the longtime coach of the A's, practically the honorary mayor of Chatham for all the summers he and his wife have spent there. Fun read to start the season, though perhaps I should have waited until the summer.
The big reveal for me involved the scouts bird-dogging the players. We hear from scouts about what they look for in various players, such as the transition from college aluminum-bat ball to the wooden bats, how a pitcher in a run of getting lit up doesn't lose any of his luster in the eyes of the scouts if he keeps his head on straight and doesn't screw up his mechanics, and how, contrary to what Billy Beane insisted, defense does matter. Also, Collins addresses how the game has changed for scouts, from 75-year-old area scouts in food-stained Hawaiian shirts insisting on "intangibles" and "thighs" to 30-year-old crosscheckers in slacks and polos with millions of dollars at stake looking for a statistical edge.
The peeks into the Cape Cod culture add some interest, from one player's affinity for fishing to others' affinity for the, uh, social life. You also learn about the longtime coach of the A's, practically the honorary mayor of Chatham for all the summers he and his wife have spent there. Fun read to start the season, though perhaps I should have waited until the summer.
challenging
dark
funny
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
informative
relaxing
medium-paced
The massive undertaking of reading a book from every country in the world fell to Ann Morgan, who went on one literary trip and ended up taking a different journey. I think some reviewers expected a different book and held the end product to that standard. In acknowledgement of the change in direction, I’ll give Morgan credit for realizing she had a new task. Instead of holding on to 196+1 reviews (which she did on her blog, ahem), she went deep on the arduous task of sourcing books, the publishing scene in some countries that don’t crank out a zillion books a week, and what constitutes a country in the first place. The writing is a little dry in spots, but I’ll give Ann five stars here because I respect the change in plans, as well as the new insights. Way to go!
adventurous
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced