Ball Books

I would recommend this book to anyone who is a Lucy fan. Knowing that it is an autobiography makes it more interesting. You can almost hear her voice as you read through the lines. Her life wasn't all roses. Lots of pictures for us to enjoy. Get the book. You won't put it down.

I quite enjoyed this one. It is Lucy's "lost" autobiography--that is, it was only discovered and published after her death in 1989. It was found tucked away in the files of her former attorney, discovered when her children were processing her estate. Apparently, Lucy had begun an "as told to" book by dictating for two years to a talented secretary who transcribed her tapes and even traveled to her hometown to interview her childhood friends for their memories. The resulting product is the history of Lucy from her birth in 1911 to Christmas of 1962. It is written in the present tense, and many of the readers who knew her commented that it was in her "own voice." When Lucie got to listen to the tapes, she even discovered that her mother had been accurately quoted for once! A warm picture emerges of an ambitious but essentially normal comedienne who was very family-oriented and hard-working. Her father died before she had a chance to know him, but she was raised lovingly by her mother and maternal grandparents. She goes through stints of modeling and starring in movies, about which time she meets Desi Arnaz. He played the Cuban firecracker to her more low-key character, and the sparks flew. They went on together to produce the most beloved television show of all time and to rule over the empire of Desilu Productions. But they found themselves not too compatible in the end--he was working too hard and given to explosive rages, and his drinking and many infidelities didn't help matters any. He humiliated her publically on many occasions, and that was why she eventually wanted a divorce. But she remained fond of him, and put this book away because she was afraid that its revelations would hurt him. She went on to meet and marry Gary Morton and found happiness with him for many years until her death. But Gary is only a small part of this book--you walk away struck by what Lucy and Desi achieved together that neither could have achieved alone.

Lucille Ball abandoned this book in 1964, out of concern that its contents would hurt Desi Arnaz. She then forgot about it (as did everyone else in her life, it seems), and it sat neglected in a box of papers until the mid-1990s. This is a phenomenal book, and easily the best I've read so far regarding Lucille Ball.

Love, Lucy should be read along with other biographies in order to get a balanced perspective (Miss Ball tends to be a bit circumspect, though not as private as I expected her to be, regarding her own shortcomings and her private life), but on the whole it is a fascinating glimpse into a legendary life when it was far from over. She had only recently divorced Desi Arnaz and was in the heart of working on The Lucy Show at the time she abandoned the project, and was still terribly active in the running of Desilu.

Lucille sometimes remembers things in a way that makes her seem a bit more moral than she really was. She doesn't discuss running wild and being naughty in her teen years, but since she had young children of her own at the time of the writing of Love, Lucy, I don't suppose I should have expected her to do so. Who wants to display their shortcomings to their kids and then say "don't do that!"

What is most beautiful about this book is the discussion of her love of Desi Arnaz and their marriage. Even though the marriage didn't survive, they adored one another and continued to do so until the ends of their lives. The quote that made me laugh out loud, and I could HEAR Lucy saying it was "It was not love at first sight; it took five minutes."

This is a wonderful book. I hated for it to end. You should read this and A Book, by Desi Arnaz. I was captivated.

I just received my copy of Lucille Ball's autobiography "Love, Lucy" last night and I have not been able to put it down since. The Forward by Lucie Arnaz in the beginning of the book made my heart melt and once upon reading the first three an four chapters, I felt like I have got to know Lucy better. I highly recommend this book to any Lucy fan. You won't be disappointed.

A very good book that has problems and solutions for issues with horses. All of his books that I have read have been well worth reading and this one is no exception.

This is a book for someone who is already a horseman and is looking for clearer ways to think about his horsemanship. While probably not for everyone I find this type of book much more helpful than the "do this and then do that" type of material.
If you liked this book you'll like True Horsemanship Through Feel by Bill Dorrance and Leslie Desmond

Mark Rashid really has a way with words! And with horses.
He makes you feel right there with him, and learning everything
right along with him. Very enjoyable reading.

Easy to read and understand makes all horse people really open their eyes!! I just got the book this afternoon and am almost finished with it a definate MUST READ for horse owners!!!!

Mark Rashid's story format is very mindful of my days under the spell of cowboy and farrier story tellers. Mr. Rashid is absolutely generous in getting a point across without shaking a finger or being cryptic or evasive. He softly delivers the idea and lets the reader sift out their own application.

I love the 'old man'. I actually think I might have known him, in probably about 20 different people who counseled me in my early horse days. Whether the old man is/was a real person is superfilious as he functions as a terrific metaphor providing the conduit for learning and understanding.

But,actually he really is a very, very real personality in the cowboy and farrier world at large.

Words cannot express how completely awesome and spine-tingling this book is. I saw Marshall Ball on the Oprah show several years ago and was so in awe of him that as soon as the show ended I got in the car and drove to the bookstore to buy the book. It will make you smile, cry and laugh; it really left me with the lessons of 'miracles do happen' and 'you never know what someone can do until you give them a chance'. It's a definite must read.

Marshall Ball is exquisite. With the simplicity of a child and the wisdom of the ages, he speaks with a profound understanding that could only be Divine. Marshall cannot speak, so he uses an alphabet board to point to each letter. This is a painstakingly long process. He was born with a disease that keeps him confined to a wheelchair. At age nine, he was evaluated at school with a twelfth-grade reading level. I was pleasantly inspired by Marshall and eagerly await more writings from him. My favorite quote from Marshall is: "Can we free the world to think perfectly about the listening and marvelous children?" I highly recommend this book.

Recommendation:
A great book for traveling on a journey with a special child. If you have a special child, get this book, because you may learn more about your child, and their own journey and thoughts. If you don't have an special child, then get this book and learn about the blessings that come with the pain and challenges of the journeys that parents of special children travel.

Book Review
Marshall writes, with physical assistance, of things we cannot see, or imagine in our busy and cluttered lives. Yet, these are the important, and permanent things that life is determined on, not the urgent and unimportant.

His poems are very good (fantastic considering his age and issues) and offer a mature, yet spiritually innocent viewpoint that remains objective and not caught up with our worldly challenges.

Marshall is here and suffers in order to fulfill God's purpose of helping us, and those who need spiritual assistance.

How Marshall Helped Us Learn of Our Daughter's Thoughts, and Experiences:
We have a daughter with severe cerebral palsy who cannot speak or walk an had just finished two weeks of therapy in Chicago and were catching a plane for the ride home. This was two years ago, so she was four at the time. By accident, I packed her reading books, so we stopped in the book store to find a book to read. We accidently came across Marshall's book and I explained to my daughter that Marshall was like her, and could not speak or walk, and was just a few years older. Then, I asked her if she wanted to get Marshall's book, she got very excited (happy).

On the plane we read the first few pages and came across this part of Marshall's poem...

Even though my individuality finds
sweet knowing perfection, I listen
for the answers to wishes from above.

So, I asked my daughter if God spoke to her about her wishes and prayers. She just about jumped out of her skin!!! It was like finally!!!! Someone knows my secrets!!!! Yes, I speak to God and He speaks to me!!!!

I was startled, and asked her some poorly developed questions. After a couple of months, I thought about the questions I asked and also her answers, and I realized that I really did not learn what I thought I had learned. (We have to ask her questions, with two or three answers for her to choose from, then ask additional questions to further determine her correct and precise answers).

Because I only want the truth, regardless of the issues, I spent some time to relaly think about the questions, and alternative answers that could be gleaned from my technique, then began to ask her more precise questions to nail down her responses.

What I found is that she did speak to and hear from God every night. That she did remember her personal journey (died at birth for 35 minutes), and remembered seeing God when she died. She did not remember being in the hospital, being taken off life support, or anything else.

But, when she died, she went to heaven, and was not given a choice, but was told to return to her Mommy and Daddy (which she wanted); and she was told that her purpose was to help a lot of children who were in need. (...) She came back to us - obviously - and now is a bright 6 year old who goes to full inclusion school, has many friends and lots of fun. Yet, she cannot speak, or walk, yet. (But is making great progress!)

Without reading Marshall's book, I would never have thought to ask these questions, and would have never have learned my daughter's secrets.

As heralded by such masters as Eckhart Tolle and Don Miguel Ruiz the earth at this time is graced by a number of awakened divine flowers of consciousness which grace us with their tremendous healing power and gentility. Marshall Ball is no doubt one such light in our world. His healing gift is through the power of his words. In these important documents of our time [Kiss of God & A Good Kiss] Marshall Ball uses his gentle and seemingly simple use of the English language to incite a healing effect that evokes deep emotions and directly effects the heart. Short of a miracle, both of Marshall Ball's books are a collection of communications poetically expressed and clearly echo teachings from A Course in Miracles, Eckhart Tolle's Power of Now and Stillness Speaks, and the Conversations with God books, none of which have been a source of study for this young man of 17. It seems Truth is spoken again by another source of pure love, but here, with heavenly gentleness and a poetic voice that can lift and heal the coldest of hearts. I highly recommend reading and studying both "Kiss of God" and "A Good Kiss" as material for spiritual study and personal growth. May this gentle heavenly force continue to grace us with his divine wisdom and healing voice.

This book will touch you. There is a simplicity and purity of thought, but there are deeper more profound meanings there for you to discover on your own. Marshall is a special child of God, as we all are in our own way. Love and listening are prevalent themes in Marshall's short poems and prose. I am a grown man with grown children, and I am not prone to tears, but many of Marshall's words brought tears to my eyes. I know God talks through Marshall. Share this book with your friends and family.

this book covers everything about aba even bob costas said this book has it all so he wont write on about his time in the aba. 2 chapters on wackiest team ever spirits of st louis and tells of the greatest money deal ever by the silnas that will go on for ever. have read over and over and still enjoy can pick up book any chapter and start reading fun to read and very interesting

I rank this book right up there with "The Bronx Zoo" and "Thin Ice - A Season in Hell with the NY Rangers." It is a captivating book that is very difficult to put down once you begin reading it. A++++!!!!

If you were a fan of the ABA growing up this is the book for you. For some reason I just loved the ABA. To read about the beginning of the league and all the trials and tribulations the league went through is funny. Players I remember as a kid come to life. The Doctor, Lou Dampier, Dan Issel, Artis Gilmore, Laverne Tart. They are all here. The only challenge is that the book is narrated by many former participants and at times it is hard to remember who each person was. However, this is a minor criticism. This was a great book to read and brought back a lot of memories.

If Amazon was really on the ball, they would pair this book together with "Going Long," the book about the old AFL - both are entertaining, hilarious at times, and just great reads - you start to see a connection between the leagues in a way, the startup antics, the dubious franchises, and the hilarious happenings. If you are a sports fan or not, you have to get this book - it is hilarious and an absolute joy to read!

Before 24-hour sports coverage on cable TV and back in the day when a basketball fan was lucky to get one nationally-televised NBA game per week, there was an upstart league with a flashy basketball, flashier players and paychecks that oftentimes bounced higher than the ball.

Terry Pluto, a long-time sports columnist for the Akron Beacon-Journal, captures the crazy times and legendary personalities on the court and in the front offices in this oral history of the American Basketball Association.

It was a league that hit the NBA where it was most vulnerable; signing players to contracts that were unheard of at the time. For example, Mel Daniels - a number one draft pick in both leagues - opted to play in the ABA and became one of the all-time greats. There were renegades like Rick Barry and the sky-walking dunks of "Dr. J," Julius Erving, arguably the greatest player of his era.

The league went straight to the heart of the NBA for its first commissioner, hiring George Mikan as a means to gain credibility in the eyes of the stodgy national sports media. Larry Brown and Doug Moe were ABA players before becoming pro coaches. And - if nothing else - who could beat franchise names like the New Orleans Buccaneers, Minnesota Muskies, the Spirits of St. Louis and the San Diego Conquistadors (with Wilt Chamberlain as player/coach)?

Though the final few years of operation - with a merger inevitable and the league consolidating its shrinking resources - became an abrupt climax to the ABA, the teams and players that made the jump to the NBA made for a dramatic leap in the quality of the game & it can be argued set the pace for the style and grace of Magic, Michael, Dominique and LeBron.

Out of print book came quickly and condition was very good, service was quick. I will be back.

I loved this book! The entire time I listed to this book on cassette I felt I was hearing privileged information...yet Jess Oppenheimer shared his intellectual jewels freely as if they were common everyday thoughts. Well, for him, they were. What a genius. And what a witty, creative, generous, and responsible man! If he were alive I'd write him a fan letter.

This is an excellent informative book about the "I Love Lucy" show and a must have for any Lucy fan! The cd that is included is worth the price of the whole set alone. In the cd it includes hours of hilarious episodes from I Love Lucy and My Favorite Husband starring Lucille Ball, you will also receive lost scenes from the shows on the cd. I am not much of a reader but this book you just can't put down because it is so good and of course I love Lucy! The book doesn't look thick on the picture shown on Amazon but it is a nice thick paperback book and includes lots of wonderful pictures of the cast of I Love Lucy and fun information that you may have not of known about I love Lucy and how it became to be produced.

I THOUGHT THE BOOK WAS VERY INTERESTING AND INFORMTIVE! IT WAS HILARIOUS AND I JUST COULDNT PUT IT DOWN. IT ONLY TOOK ME THREE DAYS TO READ IT. I THOUGHT IT WAS INTERESTING HOW IT TOLD ABOUT THE LIFE OF JESS OPPENHEIMER AS WELL AS THE LIFE OF LUCILLE BALL AND OTHER CAST MEMBERS FROM THE SHOW I LOVE LUCY. I REALLY LOVE THIS BOOK AND I THINK EVERY I LOVE LUCY FAN SHOULD READ IT!!!

I'd like to start with a clarification: this book is not a biography of Lucy, it is the creator's (Jess Oppenheimer) memoir. As such, there are many parts of the book that have nothing to do with Lucy, including episodes from Oppenheimer's childhood and young adult life.

However, this is still a GREAT book! It is well-written and full of entertaining annecdotes. "Laughs, Luck, and Lucy" follows Oppenheimer's slow rise to the top in the Hollywood radio industry. He describes Lucille Ball's program, "My Favorite Husband," which became the basis for "I Love Lucy." The book also includes some behind the scenes information about the making of "I Love Lucy."

The included audio cd is fun because it has clips from both "I Love Lucy" and "My Favorite Husband."

If you are only interested in information specifically about Lucille Ball, this might not be the book for you (try her autobiography, "Love, Lucy"). However, if you (like me) are fascinated with everything surrounding "I Love Lucy" and the Hollywood entertainment industry of the 1940s and 1950s, this is a great read!

Arthur Puskis is an awkward man, whose whole life revolves around the Vaults, where he works. This immense hall of records keeps track of the City's residents, and sits in a subbasement of a City government building. No one but Puskis and a courier ever enters. Puskis prefers order, so when he finds two copies - imperfect copies - of the same file, he is distressed. It worries him even more when his superior refuses to acknowledge a problem, then demands that he leave town for a week. Suspicious, Arthur begins his own quest to find the person mentioned in the file.

Although the story is written in a very easy and straight-forward manner, it manages to evoke a tone which makes it plain that something strange is going on. It's subtle, but absolutely compelling. So many questions are raised in this excerpt, that I want to keep reading just to find out what exactly is going on.

This story's strength lies in the suspenseful mood it builds up, but the characters are well drawn and the writing is not brilliant, but very good. It's an intriguing story that pulled me in even though I'm not big on sci fi/gangster books.

"The Vaults" takes place in 1930s New York City, where Arthur Puskis is a stooped, bespectacled Archivist of the police department's criminal records repository, dubbed The Vaults. His knowledge of the arcane filing system allows him to catalog and retrieve files from the vast archives. While pulling some files at Headquarters' request one day, Arthur discovers that a convicted murderer, a Mr. Lyman DeGraffenreid, has two files, one apparently created several years after the other. Puzzled and disturbed by discrepancies in the records, Arthur takes the matter to the Chief of Police, who orders him to take a week's vacation.

These first pages paint a picture of Arthur's circumscribed life. He's a methodical man whose limited world encompasses The Vaults, Headquarters, his home, and a grocery store, all within 4 blocks of one another. Now something has made him uncomfortable: one of the DeGraffenreid files is a forgery, and the mug shots are of different men. This strange discovery and his compulsory vacation motivate Arthur to break from his routine and investigate the mystery. The care Arthur takes with his files, his understanding of every nuance of the documents themselves, reveal much about the man and focuses the readers' attention on the object of Arthur's curiosity.

Chapter 2 concerns Ethan Cain, a private investigator who snaps an embarrassing photo of a prominent citizen, perhaps with blackmail in mind. I don't know where Cain's story is going, but it doesn't start as strongly as the chapters about Arthur. His recollections of college football fixing are a little tedious. But Toby Ball gives the reader a nice physical sense of his characters, and there is an exoticism in those miles of files in The Vaults that might house some devastating secrets. "The Vaults" takes us to a little dark corner of the past and finds a mystery lurking.

The Vaults by T. Ball opens with a tightly written and constructed foundation for the mystery at large.

Socially isolated and work focused Arthur Puskis is the director of the Vaults. Tucked away in the basement of City Hall most every day, Arthur has deviated little from his work-life pattern for nearly three decades. So when this meticulous man comes across a duplicated file in his system, a mystery is afoot.

Mix into this Ethan Cain (PI? Union activist?) who is on the trail of some blackmail goods. He follows his mark to seedy dive in the Hollows where he snaps the shots he'll use as leverage in the next day's strike.

Back to Mr. Puskis as he intends to use his mandatory vacation to investigate the duplication in his Vaults.

The author did a brilliant job of setting the mood for this story. Enough of Puskis and Cain were shown while doing what they do that one has a clear sense of what an odd-coupling (if they join forces at some point) they will make. The premise of the story itself, with the notion that some innocuous mistake is about to blow the top off of organized crime and its 'official' connections, truly reels the reader in.

Following suit with what has been demonstrated here, this suspense-mystery will undoubtedly find wide popularity amongst readers. Well done.

Arthur Puskis is perhaps the ultimate nerd hero. He's been an archivist in the Vaults for the past 27 years. He can tell the age of paper at a glance, so when he finds a set of duplicate files with differing photographs on a convicted criminal named Lyman DeGraffenreid, he knows something is wrong. He reports this to the Chief of Police and is told to take a week's vacation. He decides to investigate this himself.

This looks like a dynamite of a mystery. This author has a knack for creating memorable characters from the fussy, stooped archivist to colorful gangsters and crooks. Just one quibble, the exact date of Arthur's discovery of the duplicate files is not stated, but one file is supposed to be eight years old and the forged duplicate is only five. Both supposedly bear the same Social Security Number. That's awkward timing since the Social Security Act was passed in 1935 and the first Social Security Number was issued around November 1936. However, this is a fixable historical boo-boo.

I loved the opening description of the Vaults and the bit about the archivist who is the only living person to understand how they are organized. The description is vivid enough to give me an excellent idea of what these vaults are like, without being overbearing in description.

The duplicate file, a strange situation for Puskis but one that should have been deadly boring to the readers, is actually tense and intriguing, due to Puskis' understated but baffled reaction.

I liked the conversation between Puskis and the Chief, especially Puskis' frustration that the Chief doesn't understand the significance of the duplicate file.

I don't know if Puskis is a great character to carry an important part of this story, though. His work is literally everything to him, to the point that he is uncomfortable out in the open air and he hasn't taken a vacation in eighteen years. As a man with nearly no contact with the outside world, it doesn't seem like he would have much of a personality or much complexity that would make his journey interesting.

Cain seems like an intriguing character, although I don't know how I feel about the long description of his college football disgrace while he waits in the restaurant. I would have liked to have seen this information later, when I'm not waiting in suspense to see who he is waiting for and could give the football details my full attention.

I liked the buildup to Cain's encounter with his mark and the unexpected reason Cain was chasing after this man.

I do like where this excerpt is going; I think it will turn into an exciting and entertaining story. I would like to see the characters tightened up a bit, though, so Puskis has more seeds of a personality and Cain is presented in a more straightforward way, with his backstory saved for a less intense moment. I would look forward to reading more of this story.

This book should be a Bible for those wanting to learn how to can and those who are experienced. A great tool for those who want to preserve. Not only are there complete instructions but there are wonderful recipes too!

Nice book, but I found it to be a bit involved. I found easier recipies on line.

This book was great! I have 2 other books which I read before receiving the Ball Book but I endended up using the Ball. The visuals and instructions helped the process move along like "Balls of Fire" smoothly. I highly recommend the Ball Book.

I'm a first year canner and this book is great for me. The instructions are very clear as are the illustrations. There is a troubleshooting guide in the back with instructions for reprocessing--very handy!
There's lots of classic canning recipes as well as some contempory ones. A great variety. There are also sections for freezing and dehydrating. This will most likely be my second most used cookbook.

...if you are canning food. These folks are the experts with tested safe canning recipes for a wide variety of foods. I have only owned the book a few weeks but already used it to put up some great pickles, bush beans and seasoned tomato sauce. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in food preservation.

This book is a great compliment to Brooke Siler's "The Pilates Body." I would highly recommend it to anyone feeling like they are in a rut at the gym.

This book is the PhD level of Pilates. Brooke Siler doesn't dumb-down. Read, flag pages, highlight words, whatever you need to do to get going on this book and her other book too (The Pilates Body).

I flagged the pages for 3 different days of workouts. So the top set of flags I did one day, the set of flags on the side of pages I did the second day, and set of flags on bottom of pages I do the third day. Then I rotate back to the 1st day of flags at the top of pages. Otherwise it would have seemed too grueling and arduous a workout. I can't be stuck on my living room floor for 8 hours a day. I gotta get this done in 45-minutes then get to work. Maybe you know what I mean. Pilates, like dance, could go on forever.

This book provides the basis for a good workout, week after week, without getting bored. Anything that keeps you moving, no matter what level you use it at, is GOOD. You can use this at the beginner, intermediate or advanced level, and her pages indicate this too.

This book was recommended to me by my physical therapist after I went to her for a back injury. It's really helpful because it shows the correct way to do so many things - gym stuff, daily life things, etc. I highly recommend this for anyone suffering from back pain, it's a great tool.

Some great tips to get you using Pilates principles in everyday activities, and to sneak in a mini workout while queuing at the bank! Very practical.

A little repitition if you already have Brooke's earlier book "The Pilates Body", but well worth it.

I don't recommend this (or any other pilates book, for that matter) to anyone just starting out in Pilates- you need to spend time with a teacher to get the technique down. But, for someone looking to suppliment their studio workouts with a home practice, this book offers a variety of routines that target different areas of the body, along with suggestions for incorporating cardio.

I loved the book. I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see what happened to the main character, "Sticky." It's not the kind of book you have to use a dictionary all the time. It's written in plain simple language.
The only draw back was the lines that were repeated. Other than that, it was an excelent story. I even got motivated to dig the old basketball out of the closet. Good show!

I liked his book because it was about basketball and I have played basketball for the last nine years. I felt like I understood the book because I know a lot about basketball. It also told of a story about a boy growing up in the foster carte system.
Sticky was the main character of this book. It starts out when he is 16 years old waiting for a chance to play a pick up game at the recreation center. All the guys from the neighborhood like to hang out there. He is the only white player on the court. The other players make fun of his name. It was a nickname his mother gave him so he likes it and gets angry because they wanted him to say his real name or change it.
The book flips back and forth from his rough childhood with his single mother, to his multiple foster parents, to current time. It took him through rough and good experiences with friends and foes.
He meets a girl from high school who he likes and they start dating. They want to go to the same college so Sticky has to try really hard to get a basketball scholarship.
He learned life lessons throughout the book. Most of his lessons were learned on the court at the recreation center. There were lots of fights, laughter, and yelling, homeless people, young and old people.
I give this book a 5 star rating and you should for sure buy Ball don't lie if you don't you'll be missing out.

I'm not usually a big book guy, but I knew I had to read my boy "Cali's" first book. We play ball together at the Prospect YMCA. So I went and bought a copy to show my support. Then I didn;t read it for about six months. Well I just finished it last night. I couldn't believe how good it was. This dude can really write. And I love the story. It's sad, but in the end you feel like the main character is going to be alright. Speaking of the main character. He's from the west coast which usually means he'd be soft, but this kid has got some heart. so get get a copy of this book and support my boy Cali. You'll be happy you did.

This book starts out really slow and boring because you are blinded by all of the basketball details. So you think "here's another boring sports book" and by chapter 3 it is already unraveling into a book you just can't put down. Sticky is a ghetto and rough-around-the-edges white guy that has grown up on the streets, moving from foster pad to foster pad, eventually making it to an area where he is daily playing ball with the regular crew down at Lincoln Rec. He knows that he has to have something special to get out of this life he doesn't want to be stuck with forever. It really does suck you in and has you going through every trial with Sticky from past to present making you feel as if it were you telling the story of Sticky's crazy and hectic life.

It is a shame that this novel hasn't gotten more recognition in the literary world. True it has appeared on a couple very notable best-of lists, but it deserves more. No reviews in any major newspapers, no evaluation in the major literary journals, and no pub in the pedestrian sports books like Sports Illustrated and ESPN. That's a disgrace. It merits prominent attention from the tastemakers. Sports fans consistently beg for prose and films that are faithful and sincere depictions of the world they revere with unbridled, rampant passion. Literary folks, in turn, constantly, and quietly, whisper on college campuses, at book readings and within intellectual circles about the pathos of modern fiction. Yet, here sits on the shelves of Amazon a debut, which should be considered groundbreaking and ingenuous to these two separate sets that could not be on further ends of the flavor spectrum.

A reader can feel simultaneously honored and stupefied by the prose of de la peña. Honored because a stranger is ushered comfortably into a world of truth and stupefied because this same candid world can feel so foreign to our "normal" emotional barometer. Venice, CA is a magical place to anyone who has stepped off the well-treaded boardwalk and into the tangled vines of class, dreams and race on its narrow, overgrown streets. de la peña not only steps, he stomps into these neighborhoods, pulling no punches as he acts as a literary translator to the hieroglyph of Venice culture on the papyrus of constricted beach walk-thrus, unrecognized sandy ghettos and voiceless orators of working-class ethos. This author is a troublemaker.

Venice has always been an eccentric enclave by the sea that attracts and rears troublemakers. Usually these so-called troublemakers are castaways from the mainstream. Aging hippies, counter-culture punk-rock surfers, gangsters, skaters, and visionary "deadbeats" historically have made Venice their home. These folks had no place in Outback Steakhouse Americana, so they found their way to a milieu where they could safely and loudly challenge the status quo. After all, Venice had the first major pocket of African-American owned land in Los Angeles (Ghost Town) and Dogtown essentially birthed the X-Games lifestyle here. Folks come to Venice to find themselves and then let the world know that they are here in the most unique and idiosyncratic of voices.

Sticky is a hoarse foster kid that needs to be heard. On the surface, he is a typical Venice knucklehead, looking to throw down with society because that is what is expected of a troublemaker who's been dealt a foldable hand. But dig deeper with de la peña and find a wounded soul in need of a venue to squeeze out some kind of meaningful expression. Like most Venice residents, he burns to take on the median with defying, counter-culture articulation. To do something meaningful, this kid with literally nothing needs magic and, luckily for him, he resides on the streets of a magical enclave.

Basketball, and more specifically the sports' necessary skills honed on the streets, has long been a barometer of heart. Many have stepped on asphalt or hardwood with sick talent only to find that their heart shrank to the size of a pea when the crowds unnerved them. Fear pumps through blood streams at half-court and great talents evaporate on this hallowed proving ground when bodies surround it. You see one can't hide from a crowd. Crowds are an exposure of truth: You either got it or you don't. Venice is known for its crowds as much as it is for its magic.

Sticky finds magic in the soft touch of worn synthetic leather. Between the fading lines of a rundown court filled with Venice troublemakers, he waves a wand made of magical fingertips and stands out from a crowd of dreaming hoop players. In a world of fast-paced, kinetic movement, Sticky is able to curb a debilitating obsessive-compulsive disorder because he sees a playground game in refined slow motion. He thrives on court vision and instinct. And instinct is the main artery of navigation, just like Lincoln Blvd, that runs the width of Venice. A kid with instinct can survive out here. A kid with instinct can throw it all back in the face of the proverbial man. Alva did it on his skateboard, Dennis Hopper did it on his camera, and Sticky will do it with a beat-up basketball stolen from a group home. The question is, as it was with Alva and Hopper, can he simultaneously do it with meaning and go unscathed.

de la peña deconstructs race and class in this book with a hand gentler than Morrison or Wright. Racism and classism can be cruel and there is a sense of the tragically absurd in the cruel life that is Sticky. Humor eases him into questionable mentoring and pushes him into painful rites of passage. That's always been the genius of special works. Hit us with humor and twist the knife in the gut of our protagonist. Denis Johnson does it, Spike Lee does it, and Joe Strummer did it.

Sticky is a lonely ship navigating the treacherous Venice canals without supervision or necessary guidance. His advice comes at the bottom of a forty proof guttural throat or from the high-pitched nasal whine of an overbearing liberal do-gooder. But, like all of us in this life, advice is only that, advice, and Sticky must make his own way with just the truthful eloquence of a honed skill set to drive him. In this case, that skill set is on a basketball court.

de la peña has put together a powerful memo that puts the powers-that-be on notice: The voiceless will not sit back without voice any longer. There is something daring to this work. It is tangible and magical. Ball Don't Lie will not leave you apathetic.

de la peña should be considered an innovative auteur. He has exposed the ironies of the daily morality, politics and race in this country with a slight of hand that would make the thief in his lead character proud.

Ball Don't Lie is homage to the power of a writer's observation and recollection of environment. It ranks alongside The Bluest Eye as a genuinely groundbreaking first novel. We should all hope that this extraordinary work is the first installation in a powerful chorus of prose to come. It should be a notable book in the New York Times review. It should be mentioned in Sports Illustrated. People are sleeping on this important piece of fiction, but that should be expected. After all, it is about Venice: The land of counter-culture and in-your-face expression. Ball Don't Lie may be overlooked, but it cannot go ignored.

I work in daycare with children mostly between the ages of 18 months and 3 years, and they just LOVE this book! They call it "the boom book" because when the wombat jumps to make noise when he falls down, we always say "BOOM!" all together. They also love the page with all the funny faces, and we have to take 10 minutes to make all the faces together. A must have!

Mom, dad, and 18 month old toddler all fell instantaneously in LOVE with this book. The illustrations are extremely cute and the text is funny. Would probably work for babies and older toddlers too as there is not too much text and it has a nice rhythm.

Its hard to find a book that makes me laugh as much as my toddler, but this is one! I instantly fell in love with it. It has great lines, and beautiful illustrations. Best of all is the ending. You will love this book, too.

My 9 month old son wants to read this book over and over! And the illustrations are so beautifully done and interesting that I don't mind~ It's a must for any child library!

This has become one of my favorite baby gifts, especially for rolly-polly little boys. Everyone I've given it to has commented that it has become one of their favorite books also. Fun reading rhymes, cute pictures.