Don Cherry's Stories And Stuff by Don Cherry with Al Strachan

Being a copy editor must be the worst job in all of publishing. Some people just have the knack for it, but I could not imagine combing through 1000s of words and 100s of pages looking for the tiniest grammar mistakes. God bless these unappreciated and underpaid word-freaks. They have to be the most meticulous people on the planet!

That being said, it must have been incredibly hard for the copy editor of Don Cherry's new book Don Cherry's Hockey Stories and Stuff.

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You see, Don Cherry agreed to the book under one stipulation. "I wanted the book to be like a couple of guys sittin' down with a few pops tellin' hockey stories." Cherry, famous for butchering the English language, wanted to tell the stories "in my own language." "I got to be me" he insisted.

So Don goes rambling on, tirades in several direction, losing focus and going off on tangents. Al Strachan transcribes it all rather than writes it, complete with all of Cherry's sentence fragments, wrong tenses, mispronounced words and names, comma splices, misplaced modifiers, past participle errors and all those other things that drove us all nuts back in high school.

And the copy editor just had to leave it all there, no doubt driving him or her absolutely crazy page after page.

The end result though is Cherry's charisma is completely evident in the book. Essentially, Coach's Corner comes to paper.

And it works.

Reading the book from cover to cover might be a bit of a challenge. Because Cherry goes all over the place (remember, "guys sittin' down with a few pops tellin' hockey stories"), there is absolutely no structure to this book. It's all just there, story after story, presumably in some sort of order but tough to determine. There is no table of contents or sections by theme, which might have made some sense. It is all just . . . there.

The critics are going to be all over this book. Cherry has no end of critics to begin with, but now with is decision to publish the book with such poor English will no doubt draw the ire from many more people, especially educators. Kids love Don Cherry. Reading this book might reinforce bad grammar habits that have long plagued North America.

I would not worry about it though. Accept this book for what it is. It's Don Cherry telling some hockey stories. And stuff. He's got some pretty funny stories here. I especially enjoyed stories of when he first got out of coaching and on TV, and how he did a speech circuit to make ends meet. In addition to being funny in some way it humanized Cherry somehow.

I think the book allows us to see more of the real Don Cherry than the character we see on TV. I think an open-minded reader will develop more respect for Cherry as an intellectual and as a family man and as a proud Canadian. The book offers basically a glimpse of this, but it is nice to know Cherry is more than just the buffoon he is on television.

My advice on this book is pretty simple. If you do not like Don Cherry, do not buy the book. You will not like it. There are plenty enough Don Cherry fans out there to make this book a best seller without you.

Grapes vs. Cherry

With the release of Don Cherry's new book Don Cherry's Hockey Stories and Stuff, the question I know people will be asking is "Which is better? Don Cherry's 1st or 2nd book?"

You see, back in the early 1980s Cherry and Stan Fischler teamed up to bring us Grapes: A vintage view of hockey. It was republished in mass market paperback form in 1999. Like Cherry himself, the book has had a cult following and has had a much longer shelf life than most books. I do not know the hard data, but it is fairly safe guess that this book would be classified as a huge success.

That book was very similar to his new release, although it at least had proper structure and, aside from Cherry's direct quotes, proper English. He told lots of great stories about his minor league days and his days behind the bench of the Boston Bruins.

In his new book Cherry understandably spends more time telling stories about his days on television. He certainly touches on the good ol' days, and he goes off on tangents outside of hockey. Don Cherry's Stories And Stuff is very much Coach's Corner comes to paper.

Lack of structure aside, the main difference is the two distinctly different Don Cherrys in the two books. Albeit, they are different only to the reader. Cherry is exactly the same guy. Grapes will always be Grapes. But Don Cherry fans across different generations see him differently.

The original Grapes book was told by a man who was just becoming popular on television, but was still best known as a career minor leaguer and Bobby Orr's NHL head coach. In Cherry's second book he is the Coach's Corner legend, as much caricature as just himself. That's all he is known as for a couple of generations of hockey fans.

If I had to rank one over the other, I would have to pick the original. Both are entertaining, but Grapes was far better structured and, though maybe it's just me, it has a higher degree of sincerity to it.

Either book provides an interesting taste of Cherry's natural personality, if only in hints in Stories and Stuff. He has become so synonymous with his Coach's Corner television character that it is nice change of pace with Cherry.

Top Ten Hockey Quotes from Shooting From The Lip

Firefly Books is re-releasing Chris McDonell's 2004 hit title Shooting from the Lip: Hockey's Best Quotes and Quips

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It is a collection of now more than 400 of the best quotes and quips in all of hockey. Some are funny, some are odd, and some are cunningly wise. All are entertaining for readers of all ages.

This is a fun book, sure to have even non hockey fans chuckling. To give you a better idea, here's a top ten list of quotes from Shooting from the Lip.

Top Ten Hockey Quotes:

10. "Guys, I don't want to tell you half-truths, unless they're completely accurate." - coach Alain Vigneault.

9. "Luc Robitaille is a great kid and good player, but ask anybody on the street and they'd probably think Luc Robitaille is a type of salad dressing." - L.A. Kings owner Bruce McNall on why he brought Wayne Gretzky to Hollywood in 1988.

8. "We only speak two languages here: English and profanity." - Penguins coach Kevin Constantine on the many languages spoken by his team.

7. "He's the kind of guy who will stab you in the back right to your face." - St. Louis Blues superstar Brett Hull on coach Mike Keenan.

6. "We have only one person to blame, and that's each other." - New York Rangers defenseman Barry Beck.

5. "I've never had major knee surgery on any other part of my body." - Saku Koivu.

4. "Getting cut in the face is a pain in the butt." - Calgary Flames' Theo Fleury.

3. "Wayne came over to the bench one day after seeing (Zdeno) Chara, and said 'That's why I'm quitting.'" - Rangers coach John Muckler, laughing about Wayne Gretzky's comment on Ottawa's 6'9" defenseman Zdeno Chara.

2. "Tell him he's Wayne Gretzky." - Oilers coach Ted Green, after Shaun Van Allen suffered a concussion and couldn't remember who he was.

1. "How would you like it if, at your job, every time you made the slightest mistake a little red light went on over your head and 18,000 people stood up and screamed at you?" - Hall of Fame Montreal Canadiens goalie Jacques Plante.

Like I said, there's over 400 of these quotes compiled by best-selling hockey author Chris McDonell. He's also penned books like Hockey All-Stars, The Game I'll Never Forget: 100 Hockey Stars' Stories, and For the Love of Hockey: Hockey Stars' Personal Stories.

Shooting from the Lip is of the highest production quality. It is beautifully laid out, with excellent use of color and fonts. There's 30 full color photographs, the quotes are organized by various themes, although there is a handy index as well.

I can say without doubt that Shooting from the Lip may be the most entertaining book of 2008.

Hockey Now by Mike Leonetti

Firefly Books and super-author Mike Leonetti return with the fifth edition of the annual book Hockey Now!

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Hockey Now! celebrates the best players in hockey today. Hockey's most dynamic stars are all profiled, including Sidney Crosby, Alexander Ovechkin, Jarome Iginla, Martin Brodeur, Roberto Luongo, Vincent Lecavalier, Ilya Kovalchuk, Dion Phaneuf and Zdeno Chara.

In total there are 74 profiled superstars in the 176 glossy paged softcover 5th edition. Each superstar is fully featured with a 2 page well-written biography and the exciting and rich photography. I really liked the sharp, clean hockey card layout. Career statistics might be a nice addition, but the fun facts box insert is a great touch.

This fast-paced book is an excellent Christmas gift idea for any puck enthusiast, but especially for the younger or newer/casual hockey fans on your shopping list. That being said, hardcore hockey fans should also consider this title. I know I really enjoyed the biographies and the presentation.

2008 Hockey Book Reviews

Black And Gold
Black Ice
Canada On Ice
Don Cherry's Stories and Stuff
Habs Heroes
Hockey Now!
Hockey's Top 100
Honoured Canadiens
Ice Warriors
Meaning Of Puck
Montreal: 100 Years Of Glory
My Greatest Day
Night Work: The Sawchuk Poems
NHL Guide & Record Book
Official NHL Hockey Treasures
Open Ice
Patrick Roy
Reflections 2008
Road To Hockeytown
St. Michael's College
Saving Face
Shooting From The Lip
Unbeatable Martin Brodeur
Ultimate Book Of Hockey Lists
100 Great Cdn Sports Moments

Also See
2008 Paperback Releases
2008 Hockey Books For Kids
Bargain Books at Chapters
2008 DVD Releases

Classic Hockey Book: Hockey Play By Play

Buried by all the 2008 releases, it's easy to forget classic hockey titles and recent gems. With that in mind I've decided to feature classic hockey books on the weekend.

This weekend I wanted to start with Jason Farris' Hockey Play-By-Play: Around The NHL With Jim Robson.

Robson played an important formative role in my youth, cementing me as a hockey fan because he was the best play-by-play man in the business. I wanted to pay homage to Robson, and to Farris' museum-like independently published book. Read the full review.

The Hockey Tree by David Ward

Heavyweight children's author Robert Munsch is the favorite to win top children's hockey book billing in 2008, but there is some notable competition.

I especially like The Hockey Tree by David Ward with illustrations by Brian Deines. It is published by Scholastic.

It's a great story about a family outing playing hockey on a frozen pond.

With Humboldt Lake finally frozen over, Owen and his sister Holly can’t wait to get down to the lake for a day of hockey. They race back and forth with their dad, passing and shooting, enjoying the great Canadian game.

But then they lose their puck into an ice fisherman's hole! Owen and Holly are dejected that their day of hockey has come to an early end. But the game isn’t over yet. Dad has a plan. But they have to find the perfect hockey tree.

I won't spoil the plan, because I thought it was a real ingenious idea. Perhaps the folks out on the frozen plains of Saskatchewan know all about such hockey trees, but for this west coaster I had never heard of such a brilliant idea.

And while the story is simple and nostalgic, Brian Dienes soft illustrations really create the perfect atmosphere for the book. Readers of all ages will appreciate Dienes' work.

This 32 page book is actually the paperback release of the 2006 original book. It is a highly acclaimed title, winning such accolades as Resource Links Best Of The Year 2006, Shining Willow Award 2007 and OLA Best Bets 2007. It was also nominated for the Chocolate Lily Award in 2008.

If you have a youngster in your life, The Hockey Tree would be a great addition to his or her library. The book is listed as aimed at 4 to 8 year-olds.

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