Equally charming when discussing hunting, fishing or canine flatulence, McManus is the kind of guy you’d like to crack open...
Prolific outdoorsy writer heads back to nature—and elsewhere.
Whether producing articles for Field & Stream or delivering another mysterious tale about fictional sheriff Bo Tully, McManus (The Blight Way, 2006, etc.) is always McManus: warm, sharp and above all gently funny. Over the years, he’s proven to be at his sharpest when writing about himself, and this collection of columns from Outdoor Life is no exception. A humorist first and a naturist second, McManus here mines the great outdoors for jokes and self-effacements, most of them successful. In the title piece, a succinct fishing primer, he admits that “my flycasting has been compared by a guide to having the exact same motions those of an old lady fighting off a bee with a broom handle.” His questionable fishing abilities are further discussed in “Performance Netting,” which chronicles an embarrassing day on the lake with his editor at Outdoor Life. McManus is equally amusing when he writes about the great indoors, especially when discussing his friend Fenton Quagmire, who is possessed of a large bank account and a small level of common sense. The author positions himself as the folksy storyteller next door, an observationalist in the tradition of Garrison Keillor, with a touch of Dave Barry thrown in for good measure. The only missteps here stem from the fact that this is a compilation; as such, it lacks narrative arc. Since McManus’s tone and delivery are consistently laid-back, the essays can become tedious when read in sequence. Attacked in bits and pieces, however, this is often a rewarding experience.
Equally charming when discussing hunting, fishing or canine flatulence, McManus is the kind of guy you’d like to crack open a beer and sit by a campfire with.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-7432-8049-5
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2007
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An involving and thorough look at pro golf’s crown jewel and the driven individual who created it. Clifford Roberts, the martinet co-founder and chairman of Augusta National Golf Club, pursued his vision of excellence with a single-mindedness that would have impressed Captain Ahab. As Owen (My Usual Game, 1995) tells it, however, there was a more human side to the Masters” steely cynosure. Tracing Roberts’s childhood during the financially unsteady 1890s and his coming-of-age in the Roaring ’20s, Owen reveals the emotional underpinnings of a man best known as a control freak. The son of an impractical father and a chronically ill mother, Roberts learned early how to do things for himself. In New York during the heady 1920s, he quickly insinuated himself into a fast crowd on Wall Street, where his passion for golf cemented many important business and personal relationships. One crucial bond was with the immortal Georgia-bred golfer Robert Jones, to whom Owen credits the idea for the course; the rest, he contends, was Roberts’s doing. In 1931, Jones and Roberts acquired property near Augusta, Ga., with the latter securing financing and arranging construction. At first, owing to the Depression, Augusta National foundered. Before long, however, the club established itself, mostly as a result of the Masters’ growing prominence. The tournament is unique among tour majors in being run by a private club rather than a national body, which enabled Roberts and his successors to impose their high standards on every element, from the contestants’ attire to the amount and type of broadcast advertising. While severe, this regimentation has created an event beloved by all. This sort of warmth arising from a cold adherence to discipline, Owen suggests, was the very core of Roberts’s personality. Yes, he craved control, but he also was warm, generous, and loyal; former employees interviewed fondly recall Roberts’s fairness and genuine concern for their welfare. A most enjoyable, and surprisingly moving portrait of a man and the institution he crafted in his own image. (32 pages color photos, not seen) (Author to ur)
Pub Date: April 5, 1999
ISBN: 0-684-85729-4
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1999
For those who can't get enough of Vitale on TV during college basketball's off season, this book is a slam dunk.
ESPN and ABC's wildly popular and hyperkinetic hoops maven recreates his TV high jinks in this latest roundball manifesto.
Uh-oh, baby! It's Dickie-Vee back with more slam-bam-jam, dipsy-do, dunkaroo hardwood action! Indeed, few in the TV sports game command as much (self-devised) attention as former-coach- turned-college-basketball-guru Vitale, best known for his unique patois and manic delivery (to Vitale, skilled players who can "draw, drive, and dish the rock'' are "3-D men''). Vitale's well- known enthusiasm translates well to the printed page (with the help of New York Daily News sportswriter Weiss). But without a basketball game to break up the frenetic pace, even Vitale can become monotonous. Throughout, with chapters bearing such titles as "Diaper Dandies and other PTPers'' (which, loosely translated into English, means promising freshmen and established superstars), Vitale serves up little more than page after page of his television patter. Still, he rises on occasion to capably tackle the heavyweight issues: racism in sports and the relative lack of opportunities available to black coaches ("In short, the black coaches were tired of being thought of as merely recruiters''); the changing landscape of college basketball conferences as teams scramble for bigger television paydays—and the pressure placed on coaches and players to win at all costs in order to ensure a steady diet of these windfalls. Curiously, the author's (and his colleagues') role in crating these predicaments, through their tireless promoting of amateur games as big-money spectacles, is one point that consistently eludes the usually perceptive Vitale.
For those who can't get enough of Vitale on TV during college basketball's off season, this book is a slam dunk.Pub Date: Dec. 1, 1995
ISBN: 1-57028-037-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1995
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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