Review of "The Shining Mountain"

 It isn't often that I will read or listen to a book from the 1970's.  But as I was searching for a mountain climbing book on a peak I had not heard of before, I saw this one in the Audible library.  I decided to pick it up and I am glad I did.  This is my review of Peter Boardman's account of a two-man expedition on Changabang in 1976.

Title/Author:

“The Shining Mountain” by Peter Boardman, narrated by Stuart Crank

Rating: 

4 of 5 stars (Very Good)

Review: 

In 1976, two climbers from England, Peter Boardman and Joe Tasker, set out to achieve a first in mountaineering history.  They set out to be the first climbers to summit Changabang’s West Wall.  They would not be the first to reach the summit of this mountain in the Indian Himalayas but they would be first to do so on this more treacherous path. This book is Boardman’s account of that expedition, published in 1978. 

The audio version is narrated well by Stuart Crank.  His voice inflections allow the listener to easily distinguish between Boardman and Tasker, something that would not be easy to do if one has not met the men.  The writing is good as well.  Boardman does come off at times as bit of an elitist with his less-than-flattering remarks about people such as porters, but when it comes to his description of the climb, it feels like a gripping novel of survival.  This is especially true as the two of them reach the summit.

Some of the other features I did like was there wasn’t a long, drawn out description of the history of the mountain like some other books on mountaineering have.  There is some that will help the reader who is not familiar with the mountain have a little background, but it’s not a major part of the book.  I also felt that the description of the actual climb, the conversations between the two men and their feelings both during and after were excellent.  Especially that latter part.  While yes, Boardman may have made the remarks mentioned above, those are at least honest.  Keeping in mind when this took place and when the book was written, it was not uncommon for those types of thoughts to be prevalent at the time. 

I live my vicarious mountain climbing life through these types of books and this one gave me another mountain for which I have enjoyed hearing about a summit reach.  I am also glad I chose the audio version for this as an excellent narrator can enhance a story like this and Crank does so marvelously.

Link:  Amazon.com: The Shining Mountain (Audible Audio Edition): Peter Boardman, Stewart Crank, Vertebrate Publishing: Books

 

Review of “Certified Beauties”

Having spent a good chunk of the last three days on the road, it gave me time to listen to a audiobook. Having been on a hockey kick lately between attending an ECHL playoff game and watching a lot of the NHL playoffs, it’s only logical that I listened to a collection of hockey stories.

Title/Author: “Certified Beauties: More of Hockey’s Greatest Untold Stories” written and narrated by James Duthie

Rating:  5 of 5 stars (excellent)

Review: Every sport has stories that are amusing, shocking, inspiring and heart-tugging. Hockey is no exception and James Duthie has compiled an excellent collection of them for this book. He also narrates the audio version, which was a great listen.

There is no one theme for these stories and that makes this collection even better. If there is a common thread between any of them, it would be that a few of them involve players either missing a bus from the hotel for a morning skate. There are also some that involve a player who has just been called up to the NHL and has to catch a plane or arrange ground transportation to get to the arena. Many of these stories are during the time when hockey teams flew commercial and there were no cell phones . They all were fun to listen to. 

There’s also stories about former hockey personalities battling disease, some stories only made possible by the world situation during the COVID pandemic and even a couple of comebacks. That was the final act in my favorite story in the book, the one about Terry Ryan. A former first round draft choice, Ryan suffered several setbacks both in hockey and in his personal life. To flash forward to the best part, he made a comeback to the game in a minor league game at the age of 47. Hearing Duthie read this helped me imagine Ryan telling it, which made listening to this as an audiobook a good choice. This book is one that every hockey fan will enjoy whether reading or listening. 

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Certified-Beauties-Hockeys-Greatest-Stories/dp/B0DV69DM76/ref=tmm_aud_swatch_0 

Review of "Mickey & Billy"

Ending February with a slew of books - this one being an audio book.  Was surprised that on NetGalley it was only offered as an audiobook after publication, but no matter - I enjoyed listening to this one.  Here is my review of "Mickey & Billy". 

 

Title/Author:

“Mickey & Billy: The Glory and Tragedy of a Yankee Friendship” by Tony Castro, narrated by Matt Godfrey

Rating: 

4 of 5 stars (very good)

Review:

Mickey Mantle and Billy Martin were teammates on the New York Yankees during the team’s great run of success in the 1950’s.  They played hard together both on and off the field. While some of their stories have been known for year, this book by Tony Castro does bring some fresh material to their stories, especially that of Mantle.

Mr. Castro is a noted historian of Mantle’s career, having previously published several books on the Yankee legend and at the beginning of this one, he acknowledges his personal relationship with Mantle as well. Given that, it isn’t surprising that the bulk of the book is about Mantle, but there’s good information on Martin as well, especially about his upbringing with his mother.

Without going into too much detail on the stories, as many of them are either well known or as Mr. Castro noted, they are gained from his personal relationship with Mantle. I did appreciate some of the stories from Holly Brooke, a woman with whom Mantle had a relationship even while he was married to his high school sweetheart Merlyn.  I also did enjoy the description of how much Mickey wanted to please his father and how his father’s death in 1951 soon after Mickey’s rookie season was completed affected Mickey so greatly.  Even to the point of marrying Merlyn because he felt his father would not approve of not doing so.

The narration by Mr. Godfrey is also very good and kept me engaged in the book, even if I had found the information elsewhere.  Whether that was from previous books by Mr. Castro or other books I have read on both ballplayers, I found this one to be very enjoyable to listen to and recommend it for any Yankee fan.

I wish to thank Dreamscape Media for providing a copy of the book via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own.

Link: Amazon.com: Mickey & Billy: The Glory and Tragedy of a Yankee Friendship (Audible Audio Edition): Tony Castro, Matt Godfrey, Dreamscape Media: Books

Merry Christmas! Review of “Seniors to Juniors”

Merry Christmas to those who are celebrating today! 🎄As those who do celebrate know, it gets very busy to prepare for the season and that was certainly the case for me, so I haven’t posted here lately. But finally, with a little downtime before the guests arrive at my place, I wanted to post this review of an audiobook I recently finished on a hockey team I did not know was still around - the Waterloo Black Hawks. Here is my review:

                                 

Title/Author: “Seniors to Juniors: A Collection of Waterloo Hockey Stories” written and narrated by Tim Harwood

Rating:  4 of 5 stars (very good)

Review: The United States Hockey League (USHL) is a junior hockey league for players age 16-20 and has been around for several decades. The most successful franchise through its history is the Waterloo (Iowa) Black Hawks with 9 championships. This audio book written by Tim Harwood (who also is the narrator) provides a good look at the team and several of its players over the years.

Using various sources such as the team’s website and its magazine, Harwood puts together a good collection of various stories. Like any collection, there are some clunkers as well as the good ones, but overall, this was quite interesting. I was hooked at the beginning with the story of one of the best alumni of the Black Hawks, Joe Pavelski, who was a member of the 2020 Stars team that reached the Stanley Cup Finals and enjoyed an 18 year NHL career with the Stars and San Jose Sharks. Stories like that one and those of the Black Hawks history, such as when they got a new arena, were the best of this collection. 

One aspect of non-fiction audiobooks I always appreciate is that when the author is also the narrator, it lends an aura of authenticity to the book. That certainly was the case here as the narration was not only crisp and easy to listen to, but it also gave off a vibe of certainty. Meaning to me, the author was very knowledgeable on the subject and it could be told in his voice. It was a quick, enjoyable listen as I drove to see college hockey games.

I wish to thank Mr. Harwood for providing a copy of the book.  The opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own.

Link: https://www.audible.com/pd/Seniors-to-Juniors-Audiobook/B0G365YNTN?eac_link=MgFQqqlqU2Gs&ref=web_search_eac_asin_1&eac_selected_type=asin&eac_selected=B0G365YNTN&qid=mUDs49qXXC&eac_id=133-8902370-9982300_mUDs49qXXC&sr=1-1 

Review of “J.D.

As I have noted before, when I am riding on a bus or train to a sporting event, I like to have a book with me about that sport. I listened to the audio version of this book on the bus to the NASCAR Cup Series race at Pocono this past Sunday and I learned a lot about a driver in which the only thing I knew about him is that he was killed in a race in 1991.  Here’s my review of “J.D.”

Title/Author: “J.D.: The Life and Death of a Forgotten NASCAR Legend” written and narrated by Brock Beard

Rating: 4 of 5 stars (very good)

Review: 

J.D. McDuffie was a NASCAR driver/owner who certainly loved what he was doing in the sport.  He was a dying breed - a single car team owner who was also the driver.  Because of this, he often had less sponsorships, funds for parts and employees and other luxuries that well-financed motorsports teams have (for current teams like that, think Hendrick Motorsports or Joe Gibbs Racing).  This book by Brock Beard tells a great story about the man, his love for racing and his tragic death on the road course at Watkins Glen.

 

Beard, who also narrates the audio version (I listened to this version), had access through interviews with family members, former drivers and crew members and even the small-time sponsors who gave McDuffie at least a little extra money and some decals on his no. 70 blue car.  This gave the book some very interesting stories on McDuffie, both as a person and as a determined racer.

While McDuffie never did win a race on NASCAR’s highest level, then called the Winston Cup Series), he nonetheless won much respect from nearly everyone involved in the sport and that comes through in the writing as well. No matter how poorly McDuffie did in qualifying or in a race, one could be assured he’d try again the next week. He did qualify for the pole position once and was running well when he had that crash in Watkins Glen that ended his life.

But that life was fulfilling, doing what he loved to do and with a loving and supporting family. Because of this, it isn’t a stretch to call him a “legend” as the book’s subtitle does, because there are way to be a legend outside of just winning races, and McDuffie showed us how that can be done. 

Link: https://www.amazon.com/J-D-Second-Brock-Beard-ebook/dp/B099QJKSXD/ref=sr_1_3?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.sDQ2l7eqy4Dkif1HWJ2p5fYnvv9Z3RumcxaEUgqiWJKGM_zk7RBgEHEXHYa_LOlmIr5fQP0mZYHxFqgOimkuoN96DEvfnZu0-d02NWsS3inCjuRCWSzhkJ4Yg-h4xLBKTSx-wfPUL7Qx5NOxI2fAu0Kk2zK8LmEGRPcpiva3QC1t5PA7IWNkpcnQMmNmWTweszDqE30l0X2694QikYbdgfc0h73xJc_cbV1xfOlIRa0.jYD2id5cCWy-ZVfZ_SpiLJIQFWQ7DD3dQoPdYDDS47w&dib_tag=se&keywords=J.d&qid=1750760379&sr=8-3 

Review of “Clouds Over the Goalpost”

Three books finished in three days - not bad considering that the bulk of this audiobook was heard on one trip to and from a baseball game.  Here is my latest review.

Title/Author: “Clouds Over the Goalpost: Gambling, Asassanation and the NFL in 1963” by Lew Freedman, narrated by Noah Michael Levine

Rating: 3 of 5 stars (okay)

Review: In 1963, professional football was just starting to enjoy its ascent into the minds and television sets of American sports fans. There were two professional leagues and two of the more stories franchises, the Chicago Bears and New York Giants, faced each other in the NFL championship game. But two other events really shaped that season and they covered as well as the action on the field in this book by Lew Freedman.

While I listened to the audiobook and liked the story of the 1963 season, my one issue with the audio version is the mispronunciation by the narrator of well-known players, including Paul Hornung.  This is crucial because he and Alex Karras are the central figures of one the aforementioned events - they were suspended in 1963 for gambling. This was the most repeated mispronunciation but not the only one.

Putting that aside, the rest of the book was fine - it was the typical book about a particular sports season in which the championship team (here, the Bears) and a few other teams make up the bulk of the discussion. Along with the Bears and their coach-owner George Halas, the Green Bay Packers ger a good amount of text in the book as well, even more than the runner-up Giants.

The upstart American Football League also gets some love in the book, including a full chapter on their championship game. That wasn’t too exciting as the Los Angeles Chargers defeated the Boston Patriots 51-10. Other stories about the AFL, thanks to Freedman’s writing, were more exciting than this game.  Overall, the book is fine if you like books on season recaps - just pick up the physical or e-book version. 

Link:  https://www.amazon.com/Clouds-over-Goalpost-Gambling-Assassination-ebook/dp/B00E257XJA/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&dib_tag=se&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.kH6GKvsz2myq0BOpCEJwEw.D3pvaHA5VEIJ-7XO37FOx3QWk1Gnp77fkolD59a202Y&qid=1747876689&sr=8-1 

Review of "The Dark Side of the Diamond"

While the weather was better on Mother's Day (belated Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers or those who perform the duties of mothers) there was still enough wet weather to keep me inside and reading or listening to multiple books.  Finished two in two days - here's the first one, an audiobook that would probably be better read in the physical or e-book format. 

Title/Author:

“The Dark Side of the Diamond” by Charlie Bradford, narrated by Virtual Voice

Rating: 

3 of 5 stars (okay)

Review:

Baseball has been rife with scandals and controversies throughout its history. This book by Charlie Bradford sheds light on these events. They are not only told through an objective lens, which is the biggest strength of the book, but the fallout from the controversy is also well documented.  This goes for the players involved, teams involved, the game itself and even the fans.

Just about any issue that made headlines, usually bad ones, is discussed in the book.  Segregation, the unionization of players and the subsequent labor issues that interrupted the 1972, 1981 and 1994-95 seasons, performance enhancing drugs (PED’s) and gambling are just a few of the topics covered.  Also, it should be noted that not just the big headlines are mentioned.  One example: when discussing gambling in the game and its effects, Bradford went beyond just the Black Sox of 1919 and Pete Rose. He talked about when Bowie Kuhn banned Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays for taking jobs with casinos as ambassadors. By working for companies that invested in gambling, they were banned but later were reinstated by Peter Ueberroth, the commissioner who succeeded Kuhn. Covering issues like that was a strength of this book.

While overall this book is very good, if a reader is interested in it, I highly recommend avoiding the audio version and picking either the physical or electronic copy.  The biggest reason is that the virtual voice narration reads the player statistics in a manner that is not done by baseball fans and broadcasters, among several other issues.  For example, the steroids discussion always says PED’s as “peds” (rhymes with meds). There are several player mispronunciations. These all distract from the main points of the book. But because I finished the book and overall, it does give some information that I did not know before listening, it gets a passing grade.

Link: The Dark Side of the Diamond: Inside the Shocking Scandals that Changed Baseball Forever: Bradford, Charlie: 9798338785546: Amazon.com: Books

Review of "After Jackie"

It's not often that I complete books on two consecutive days, but with rainy weather in my area and re-discovering audio books, it's possible to get more books completed now.  This book caught my interest when it was a special on Audible, so I picked it up.  Here is my review of "After Jackie." 

Title/Author:

“After Jackie: Fifteen Pioneers Who Helped Change the Face of Baseball” by Jeffrey S. Copeland, narrated by Virtual Voice

Rating: 

4 of 5 stars (very good)

Review:

While the story of Jackie Robinson is well-known, even by people who are not baseball fans, he was not the only Black baseball player who faced challenges in the early days of the integration of the sport. Many fans, managers, fellow players and even teams were resistant to the inevitable change, but by 1959, all 16 major league teams had at least one Black player. Aside from Robinson, this book by Jeffrey S. Copeland introduces the reader to the first Black player for each of the other 15 teams.

The format for each chapter, one for each player, is the same and explained in the preface. The chapter starts with the name of the player and the team with which he entered the major leagues.  Then a description of him in a team picture or with teammates, an interesting story about him, a brief summary of his career, and his major league stats.  It starts with Larry Doby, who signed with the Cleveland Indians later in the 1947 season and ends with Pumpsie Green, who signed with the Boston Red Sox in 1959 to become the final club to integrate.

What made the book enjoyable as a leisurely read was that the stories were not strictly about baseball, social justice or even about the player’s life.  While there was some of these types of stories, they were mostly one snippet of either their time on the field with the major league team or interactions in places like the team hotel or at meals.  One of the better stories was actually one that was well-known.  The story on Sam Jethroe, the first Black player signed by the then-Boston Braves in 1950, was mostly about his tryout with the Red Sox in 1945 – a story well known because Jackie Robinson was also in that tryout.  As it is known, the Red Sox had no intention of signing those players.  It was their loss and the gains for the Dodgers and Braves.

While overall this book is very good, if a reader is interested in it, I highly recommend avoiding the audio version and picking either the physical or electronic copy.  The biggest reason is so that the captions of the pictures make sense since the reader can see those photos.  The other main reason is that the virtual voice narration reads the player statistics in a manner that is not done by baseball fans and broadcaster.  For example, if the player’s batting average is .275, instead of “two seventy-five”, the narration says the batting average is “point two seven five.”  Otherwise, the narration is okay, but it still was strange to hear this.

Link: After Jackie: Fifteen Pioneers Who Helped Change the Face of Baseball: Copeland, Jeffrey S.: 9781557789488: Amazon.com: Books

Review of "The Summit"

Sticking with the mountain climbing theme, this is the second book that I have read or listened to about this deadly day on K2.  This time there are many observations from a Sherpa who was on the mountain on that day.  Here is my review of "The Summit"

Title/Author: “The Summit: How Triumph Turned to Tragedy on K2’s Deadliest Days” by Pat Fahey with Pemba Gyalje Sherpa, narrated by Pat Fahey

Rating: 4 of 5 stars (very good)

Review:  August 1, 2008 is believed to be the deadliest single day on the mountain K2, which is sometimes called the “savage mountain.”  It is considered the most dangerous mountain for climbers, even more so than Mt. Everest.  As noted in this book, 1 in 4 climbers eventually die in their expedition to reach the summit of K2 compared to 1 in 11 climbers on Everest.  This book tells about the tragedy of that day from interviews and also the stories of one of the Sherpas on the mountain that day, Pemba Gyalje Sherpa.

This is the second book I have read on this tragedy – the other one was an account from a survivor of the American team attempting to summit K2.  At that time, there were several nations with teams attempting to climb the second highest mountain in the world.  In addition to the Americans, there was a Norwegian husband and wife part of a larger team from that country, as well as teams from the United Kingdom, Serbia and South Korea.

This many climbers led to many issues that the climbers and Sherpas had to address, the biggest of which was that in the short window of good weather to get to the summit, there was a logjam in the bottleneck on the safest path to the top.  While there was a very good account of the attempt so set the fixed ropes in the proper place, that did not go as planned and was just one of the many issues that resulted in the deaths of the 11 people.

Why I chose this particular part of the book for illustration purposes is that I felt it was the best example of the full picture the listener will get while listening to the book (or reading it if that is your preference). While it does take a little bit into the book to fully understand Falvey’s narration, once that is done, the accident and what led to it will be described in full with excellent observations by Pemba.  It is a little more technical than the other book I read on this disaster, but nonetheless it is still an excellent account of the deadliest day on the savage mountain.

Link: https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Summit-Audiobook/B00KIZRULE?ref_pageloadid=0ZSIURFmuc6sdO3r&pf_rd_p=80765e81-b10a-4f33-b1d3-ffb87793d047&pf_rd_r=BZSB53VC827AKWF613TM&plink=qIG2Fd3evjWH51gj&pageLoadId=DluDQYLaZv20lRTD&creativeId=4ee810cf-ac8e-4eeb-8b79-40e176d0a225&ref=a_library_t_c5_libItem_B00KIZRULE_5

 

Review of “A Damn Near Perfect Game”

 Back to baseball here, I found the audio version of this gem and decided to play it during some dead times during the workday. Here is my review of “A Damn Near Perfect Game.”

Title/Author: “A Damn Near Perfect Game: Reclaiming America’s Pastime” by Joe Kelly, narrated by L. J. Ganser

Rating: 4 of 5 stars (very good)

Review:  Sometimes the best view of a topic, be it sports, occupations or anything else, comes from someone who has actually experienced it and has done so in many different ways and levels. This short book by Joe Kelly, a relief pitcher who has been with 4 teams, most recently the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2024, tells readers and listeners why baseball is such a great game and also the ways it can fix itself. 

This isn’t a complete criticism of those today who feel the game is boring , too slow for today’s younger generations or similar well-worn reasons published on why baseball is not as popular as other sports. Instead, Kelly approaches this two sided. Yes, he does give suggestions on how the game can improve its appeal to younger people. The best part of this approach (and of the entire book for me) was his very productive interview with current MLB commissioner Rob Manfred. That was very enlightening and not at all what I expected. 

The other way that Kelly approaches the task is what one would expect from the title. He extols all the aspects of the game that he believes makes it so good. There are far too many individual points made about this to list them all, but we’ll just say that any reason that fans have said why they like the game is covered in some way in the book. This can come from Kelly or from one of the many famous and not-so-famous people who share their stories on the game.

Speaking of stories, Kelly shares many of his own. There is a little bit of autobiographical material when he tells his rise to the major leagues. But the best is early in the book when he made his famous “pouty face” At Carlos Correa in a 2020 game between the Dodgers and the Houston Astros. Strange as it may seem, he uses this story to tell of his love for the game and why it is so good.

Listening to the audio version of this book, I not only enjoyed L.J. Ganser’s narration, but I felt I was able to connect with the stories told. While I am not one this book seemed to be trying to reach, it is one that any level of baseball fan should enjoy and who knows, it just might convince some that baseball truly is a damn near perfect game.

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Damn-Near-Perfect-Game-Reclaiming/dp/1635768896/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0 

Review of “Why We Love Football”

 Seeing that Joe Posnanski wrote a book about football in a similar manner as he did about baseball, I had to get a copy. And like his baseball book, I chose to listen to the audio version. Also like the baseball book, it turned out to be the right thing to do.  Here is my review of “Why We Love Football.”

Title/Author:

“Why We Love Football: A History in 100 Moments” written and narrated by Joe Posnanski

Rating: 

5 of 5 stars (excellent)

Review: Joe Posnanski has won several awards in his career, including the Casey Award in 2022 for the best baseball book, “Why We Love Baseball.” It was so successful that he decided to follow the same format and title for America’s most popular sport and like the baseball one, this book is excellent whether in print or on audio.

The latter is how I chose to consume this book and it turned out to be a good choice. Posnanski is a very good narrator and his enthusiasm for the game shows when he is describing these 100 moments that describe people’s love for the game. He includes all levels of football- mostly college and professional, of course, but covering them all gives a more complete picture.

There are many moments that even casual fans will remember if they were around when they occurred - the Immaculate Reception by Pittsburgh’s Franco Harris in 1972, the costly interception thrown at the end of Super Bowl XLIX by Russel Wilson of the Seahawks, and the return of a missed field goal by Alabama for a touchdown by Auburn in the 2013 Iron Bowl rivalry game. These and many other moments will bring back memories, both good and bad, for any fan.

It was also nice to see lesser known accomplishments make their way into this book. The best one for me (and there are several) is about the best female football player to ever strap on shoulder pads, Linda Jefferson. Having read about her amazing accomplishments earlier, I loved it when I heard the chapter on her and that Posnanski included her in the book.

No matter how much interest a reader has in the game of football and whatever level of football is their favorite, they are sure to be able to find at least a few of these stories they will enjoy. It’s what makes a book like this great - one can skim or skip some parts, devour others and come away feeling like they have learned something new about America’s favorite sport. 

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Love-Football-History/dp/0593475526/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=