The 100 Sporting Events You Must See Live

The 100 Sporting Events You Must See Live by Robert Tuchman

Robert Tuchman runs a company that specializes in sports event travel. Who better than to compile a list of the top 100 events to see live?

What a daunting task! Of course, he admits, there will be omissions, and people will wonder why a particular event did or didn't make the list and why it was ranked as it did.

Yes, Tuchman not only culled 100 must-see events, but he also ranked them.

OK, I know you're all dying to know: #1--The Masters.

Already I have a disagreement!

I would have put the Iron Bowl at #1, which Tuchman only ranks as #41. But at least he suggests seeing it in Tuscaloosa.

Check back in with me Monday, and I'll have an interview(!) with Tuchman about the book and his process.

Meanwhile, if you're a sports fan, this is a must-read.

Traveling to a sporting event makes the intangible tangible. People long for an interactive experience.

And Tuchman describes that whole experience in the book, listing quotes about the events, their significance, history, and, of course, travel and tourist suggestions for the cities themselves.

The list is about the entire experience and not just the sporting event itself.

What else is on the list? No-brainers such as the Super Bowl, World Series and Final Four. But you'll also find non-mainstream entertainment like Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, the Westminster Dog Show and the X Games (although that was an honorable mention) and plenty of international options as well.

Again...sports fans? Read it. You'll love scouring it to find if your favorite event is included and, if so, what is said about it. And don't forget--the interview is coming Monday.

Cowboy Revelations

Cowboy Revelations by Kelly Palmer

Cowboy Revelations is a collection of brief chapters devoted to what Kelly Palmer thinks about issues ranging from salvation to evolution to raising children. His writing is forthright and clear, leaving no doubt about where he stands on these issues. He is often unapologetically harsh, but there is, too, a dose of humility that enables you to keep reading even when you disagree.

I suspect that my religious background is similar to Palmer's current one, so I felt as if I understood a bit more of where he's coming from in the book and even could empathize with his frustrations. He asks important questions--difficult ones--but his answers and conclusions, judging from my experience, could use some work.

One of the things I had to address when I really took Christianity for myself and didn't just accept what I'd always been taught was the idea of a hermeneutic--basically, the way you interpret the Bible. The bigger picture, if you will, of what you take away from what you read. Questions such as "Which parts are instructional, and which are more informational?" and "Which parts are literal, and which are more figurative?" Palmer does not seem to have a consistent hermeneutic, especially when it comes to the Old Testament, citing various verses as instructional, but I would suspect he does not look at the entire Old Testament as an instruction manual, or he would have a somewhat strange diet and participate in stonings. I don't have this all figured out either, but I have to say it helps to be aware of how you're interpreting the Bible when you read it.

Meanwhile, I wonder if Palmer accepts the whole Bible as of equal worth and non-contradictory. It troubled me when he cited two verses as contradictory--one from the Gospels and one from Paul's Epistles. He reconciled the issue by saying "Jesus trumps Paul." I am of the opinion that the Bible does not contradict itself, even though some verses, taken out of context, can appear to do just that. However, if you approach it with the presupposition (big word I know thanks to an awesome Basic Christian Doctrine class I took a few semesters back) that God basically wrote the Bible (via various authors) and does not contradict Himself, you can hopefully interpret these confusing passages more correctly--instead of just using scripture to back up your own opinion on the issue.

My final pet peeve was the connection of Christianity to the Republican party. It's over-simplifying many complex issues to ask "If you're a Christian, does it show in who you voted for?" Jesus was not a Republican or a Democrat and, truthfully, didn't seem to care much about politics at all. I could really get on my soapbox about this one, but I'll stop there because that's not the purpose of this review.

Speaking of that...Normally, I try not to address the content of the books I review as much as the style--especially when it comes to non-fiction and especially when it comes to non-fiction that I'm not in agreement with. However, as I said, I felt as if I had more of a personal stake in this one somehow. My ultimate conclusion is that Kelly Palmer could use a blog.

Cowboy Revelations is more of a proclamation of his opinion. Fine. However, if he really wanted to persuade others to listen or accept his viewpoints and if he wanted to learn to really support (or {gasp} possibly adjust) some of his own beliefs, a dialogue with others would be amazingly helpful. It might also help him realize that, as Christians, our enemy is Satan and Satan alone--not those in the world who do not agree with your religious or political beliefs.

To learn more about Palmer or the book, visit Cowboy Revelations.

Painting the Invisible Man

Painting the Invisible Man by Rita Schiano

Anna Matteo is a writer who is struggling to find her voice and "write for her," as her muse Amy Tan appears to keep telling her. But Anna has a hard time writing for herself because she lacks closure over her father's murder and is fighting writer's block.

Her father was a Rhode Island mob guy who loved Anna but kept her at a distance, leaving her to struggle to define her role in life. Painting the Invisible Man is the story of how Anna learns to "write for her" and learns more about who she is in the process.

I love books that talk about writing and reading, and this one delves into the writing process and how a writer deals with writer's block. Even a library and librarian factor into the plot! Not to mention a fair amount of coffee. This book and I became fast friends.

Painting the Invisible Man is part Godfather, part Kitchen God's Wife. But it's all authentically Anna and absolutely excellent.

Favorite quotes...

Ah, cellular technology! If I were the ad agency for Verizon's competitor, I'd spoof their "Can you hear me now?" commercial with a guy on the other end screaming, "No! Dammit! I can't! Try moving a few steps!"

Had I been born a boy, a son of Paulie Matteo, I have no doubt that I would have charted a far different course. There was no place for a girl in my father's world other than that of mother, wife, daughter, comare.

Never calculate the number of juvenile poultry until the process of incubation has been completed.

One Fine Season

One Fine Season by Michael Sheehan

Danny and Pete are the best of friends, sharing a love of baseball and the promise of a professional career in the sport. They also share a love for Haven, Pete's fiancee, and the three friends are inseparable. But when Pete and Haven are killed in a drunk driving accident right after college and only months before their wedding, Danny's world falls apart.

He remembers his pact with Pete, though, and presses on in pursuing a professional baseball career. While playing, Danny and others soon realize that he has some seemingly supernatural strength on his side, throwing 100+mph fastballs that no one can hit. He is quickly bumped up to the majors, has incredible success and even meets the girl of his dreams.

Danny Grace seems to have it all.

But he still struggles with the questions of life. Will he be able to maintain his record-setting performance? Will he ever find closure in the deaths of Pete and Haven? And what is his purpose in life?

Honestly, I liked the game descriptions and baseball action better than the characters and plot. Sheehan writes like a philosophical sports reporter, which is not entirely a bad thing.

He describes the games well, and the analytical discussions between the players will surprise and amuse you. But the characters somehow lack depth, as if you're only reading about them in a news story. I had trouble feeling as if I really got to know them.

But it is an enjoyable book, especially if you're a baseball fan. So if you still want more baseball even though the season is over, you'll likely enjoy One Fine Season, the story of pitcher Danny Grace's meteoric rise from tragedy to the proverbial triumph.

Twenty Boy Summer

Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler

Just when I thought I was more than ready for fall and its chilly temperatures, pumpkin spice lattes and sweaters-and-tights, Twenty Boy Summer has made me just a bit nostalgic for summer.

Anna and Frankie are best friends who share almost everything. Everything except one secret about Matt, Frankie's brother. Matt and Anna have fallen for each other, and he wants to be the one to break the news to Frankie. However, Matt unexpectedly dies before he can do that--leaving his family in emotional turmoil and Anna facing the question of whether to share her feelings for him with Frankie.

Fast forward one year. Anna still hasn't filled in her best friend as the girls head to the beach with Frankie's slightly dysfunctional family. Frankie's mission: Interact with at least 20 boys in the hopes of helping Anna shed her "albatross" {virginity}. Anna's mission: Help Frankie and her family grieve while hiding her own grief.

Twenty Boy Summer is somewhat typical young adult chick lit with fashion, boys, clueless parents and pop culture references. Ockler does a great job of showing how the characters deal (and don't deal) with grief, but there was potential to go deeper and further explore this side of the story. I wondered if that would lessen the appeal for young adults, though.

Meanwhile, I was a bit surprised by the careless attitude Frankie and Anna had toward sex in general and their virginity in particular. Both girls treated it as if it was no big deal and as if whatever decision they made would have little, if any, emotional impact. I'm not trying to sound preachy, but they were only 16--huge decisions for 16 year-olds to be making. I just didn't get the sense that they recognized that, and that seemed unrealistic to me.

Otherwise, though, the book was excellent. Ockler tackles issues like grief and family relationships that so many young adults face without making the overall tone of the novel too heavy. You'll find well-written characters and an engaging story that might leave you nostalgic for summer as well.

Favorite quotes...

Weeping is different from crying. It takes your whole body to weep, and when it's over, you feel like you don't have any bones left to hold you up.

Since Matt's death, the earth has made more than one full trip around the sun--plenty of time to be Over It, according to the official books and therapists and school counselors that tried to talk to me about my "caretaker" role in Frankie's life. But Frankie isn't over it. I'm not over it.

When someone you love dies, people ask you how you're doing, but they don't really want to know. They seek affirmation that you're OK, that you appreciate their concern, that life goes on and so can they. Secretly they wonder when the statute of limitations on asking expires (it's three months, by the way. Written or unwritten, that's about all the time it takes for people to forget the one thing that you never will).

It happened and it was impossible and beautiful and then it ended before it even really began, leaving nothing behind but secrets and broken hearts.

When I almost topple the board, he gently grabs my arm to balance me, and I have to look away, pretending he's my overweight, middle-aged, female gym teacher giving me a swimming lesson.

I certainly can't endure the kind of impossible embarrassment required during the ditching of one's albatross with someone I might actually like.

The whole idea of losing one's virginity is kind of ridiculous. To lose something implies carelessness. A mistake that you can fix simply by recovering the lost object, like your cell phone or your glasses. Virginity is more like shedding something than losing it.

Why does it have to be so special? Frankie says the first time isn't special. It's a minor inconvenience, an act no more significant than going to the dentist...The next time--and all subsequent next times--can be special, but not the first.

Roastbeef's Promise

Roastbeef's Promise by David Jerome

Roastbeef (so nicknamed for the amount of that dish he could put away as a kid) hits the road to fulfill his dad's dying wish of having his ashes sprinkled in each state (well, each of the 48 contiguous states). Sound too dark to be funny? Don't let the premise scare you.

This novel is laugh-out-loud, side-hurting, bladder-squeezing funny. Roastbeef runs into car trouble, money trouble and family trouble during his 18 months or so on the road and is forced to "depend on the kindness of strangers." Of course, along the way, he learns many lessons about the good and bad sides of states and of humanity as well. (And I might've picked up a thrifty tip or two.)

The stories he relates are so bizarrely interesting that I had trouble believing David Jerome just invented them (who could make up some of this stuff?), so I was somewhat relieved to see that the novel is loosely based on Jerome's own travel experiences.

I did find myself wishing he had included a soundtrack where a different song would accompany each chapter. If you want to build your own playlist to listen to while you read, I suggest No Particular Place to Go, A Good Run of Bad Luck and, of course, quintessential traveling songs like Truckin' and Ramblin' Man.

That's the only thing that could make this tale of honoring a father's quirky last wish any better. The characters are all over the place but great fun--from frat boys to cowboys, from a crazed temp boss to an undercover lesbian, many, many hitchhikers and even a few bikers. Each "drop site" is highly anticipated and well-described, and you'll be itching to see what he says about your state.

I'll get you started on his observation about mine:

I noticed that Texans seize every opportunity to show their fierce independence, even decorating their sewer caps with the Lone Star symbol.

I must admit--this is totally true.

For further delight, check out these two sites:

www.myspace.com/roastbeefspromise

www.smackbooks.com/roastbeef

Other Favorite quotes...

I knew the news was coming, but there's something different between knowing that death is imminent and the cold, hard, smack-in-the-face reality of it.

I tossed and turned all night in the noisy sweatbox, all the time thinking that a smelly, naked foreigner was sleeping on top of me.

He had a...laugh...that sounded exactly like Dad's...Every time he laughed, I had this strange feeling of simultaneous joy and sorrow. I took a seat on the couch behind the man and closed my eyes and tried to imagine I was home watching television with Dad. I never said a word to the man or even looked him in the face, but for a tear-filled half hour in a travel center in North Dakota, I had my dad back.

The bus took us south on Highway 71 through towns called Butler, Lamar and Jasper. All three names sounded to me like characters on the TV show Fat Albert.

I was greeted at the stadium's entrance by a large bronze statue of Bear Bryant, a man who could have run for Governor of Alabama against God and won in a landslide.

I liked the recycling spirit of these Carolina folk. Why throw your tree leaves away when you can make a hat out of them? Why throw away a perfectly good car hood when the town needs a speed-limit sign?

Just because there's some snow on the roof don't be thinkin' there's no fire in the fireplace.

The Simple Life of List-Making

I just finished two lovely books that I'm not going to review but that I will recommend:

Simplify Your Life by Elaine St. James and

The Man Who Made Lists by Joshua Kendall

The Man Who Made Lists takes a look at Peter Mark Roget. Roget as in the Thesaurus. Fascinating man! Not only did he obsessively make lists of words (and categorize and organize them), he was also a brilliant doctor, scientist and intelligent design proponent. He persevered through several family tragedies and, ultimately, produced one of the all-time great Reference books.

I still remember opening the giant Roget's Thesaurus in my tiny Mars Hill Bible School library in second grade. I was bored and, thus, antsy in class (imagine that), so my teacher sent me to the library and told me to "research" something that interested me. Well, words interested me, and I pored over the thesaurus every chance I got. Good times. :)

Simplify Your Life was interesting because I have already adopted many of the 100 practices she recommends. Thanks to my husband going to grad school and us becoming seminarians, we have been forced to downsize. We now drive one car, live in a smaller place, have given up cable and magazine subscriptions--all suggestions St. James advocates. We also consciously have made the decision to eat healthier--sticking with lots of fruits and veggies, not much meat, lots of water, that sort of thing. And our life is, surprisingly, better in a lot of ways! (And I just thought this picture was simply beautiful.)

A few things I haven't gotten behind yet that she encourages: journaling (my blogs have apparently taken the place of my journals), totally giving up tv-watching (we still rent and watch shows online), giving up high heels (what?!?!) and buying in bulk. I make one trip/week to my Kroger, which is about a block from where we live, and when I say we downsized to a smaller place, I'm not exaggerating--our apartment is teensy. So I just can't convince myself that saving 10 cents on toilet paper is worth the effort of going to another store and making room for storage. Anyone got any thoughts or tips on this practice?

How have you simplified your life? Or is that even a goal for you?

Job Searching With Your Helpful Librarians

I am about halfway done with two very good books--The Man Who Made Lists by Joshua Kendall and Roastbeef's Promise by David Jerome. I'll be reviewing Roastbeef's Promise soon. Preview: A son takes his father's ashes on a cross-country tour. Surprisingly funny.

Until then...

Dallas librarians are helping many in the job search. {Well of course they are; don't be ridiculous.} ;)

And so is the brilliant Rachel Singer Gordon

If you're still looking, here's an online career fair

And a well-recommended site to help you librarians with programming

On the ironic side of life, it looks as if the American Psychological Association forgot to consult its editor when publishing its style manual. Oops.

Hope your weekly reading is off to a good start! I'll have that review soon. Let's say by Saturday. :)