Mike Greenberg (1)Besprekingen

First off I have to say that I should apologize to Mr. Greenberg. I have seen his ESPN show (Mike and Mike in the Morning) and just thought this would not be a very good book. I have not read that many novels by men that can write female relationships very well.
I have to say I was glad to be wrong.

This novel is about three women who at first glance are not connected to each other at all. However, by the second part of the novel everyone and everything comes together quite beautifully and you wish that the novel never ends.

We have Brooke, who is still happily married to her college sweetheart; Samantha who while on her honeymoon finds out that her new husband is not at all who she thought he was; and Katherine, still single at 40, but with a high powered job and salary that most women and men would kill to have living in New York.

This novel is told in two parts. Part one is setting the stage and allowing readers to become familiar with Brooke, Samantha, and Katherine.

I do want to let any potential readers know that they need to read through part one and continue to part two since everything will make sense.

At first, when I started reading though I liked the novel okay I really could not understand how these women would be connected since they didn't refer to each other at all and figured that maybe they would find out they were all married or dating the same guy or something. I was pleased to be incorrect when I started reading part two.

Out of all of the women, Katherine was hands down my favorite. Her take no prisoner's approach and little asides about things cracked me up. I think Mr. Greenberg did a very good job in nailing down all of the women's personalities and foibles and I was quite happy that I honestly did not anticipate one thing that happened in the novel (which is a good thing) and was satisfied when I completed it.

The main reason why I gave this four and a half stars instead of five was that honestly I really didn't relate to Brooke's character at all throughout part two. I ended up feeling frustrated and ready to shake her by the conclusion of the novel. I honestly found her whole resolve to be quite selfish.

I would definitely recommend!

I received this novel for free via the Amazon Vine Program.

A straight forward story that I think tries very hard to find some meaning in the story but it ultimately didn't work for me. I think it was because the final ending to the story was meant to be uplifting or inspiring but just left me perplexed and shaking my head.

The main character in this book is Jonathan Sweetwater who has everything in his life that he could want. A beautiful smart wife, two adorable children, a high paying job. Except one day he comes home early and everything he thought he knew changes forever.

I really did like the main character a lot. Jonathan begins his tale with describing the three times in his life he was hit by lightning (totally immersed in a woman) and contrasts it perfectly with how he met his now wife Claire. What was being described hit home with me a lot.

When we get to what changes things for Jonathan I thought that his discovery of his father would lead to a greater discovery of himself and what he needed to be happy. However, we just seemed to have him meeting all of his father's wives and ignoring the good advice that his mother was giving him along the way.

At times I thought the author was hinting at an ending that I think would have made this a stronger book for me but in the end there was just a cop out and things were wrapped up too neatly.

The writing really flows and I thought that Jonathan's voice was very distinct. I felt for him as I read this book and hoped things worked out for him in the end. However, things kind of just became some grand re-telling of his father's life and wives and I found it boring after a while. It may have made for a stronger book to have his father still alive and we have Mike talking to him in the end or something happening that acknowledges that though his father was afraid to be alone he was not.

I read his previous novel and really did enjoy it and would recommend that book, "All You Could Ask For".

Please note that I received this book for free via the Amazon Vine Program. This book will become available on January 20, 2015.

This was a random pick from the library's paperback section. I should have left it there. It's really not a great novel. In fact, I nearly quit part way through Part 1, but Part 2 seemed like a bit of an improvement so I kept reading. None of the people in this book are anything like any people I know (or would want to know), and I suppose that's the main reason I didn't find the story at all interesting. On the other hand, if you're rich, smart, self-centred and successful and live in New York this could be just the book for you.

It took me awhile to start this book, mainly because of the topic. It was a very inspiring story. Yes, it was extremely sad overall. I am totally amazed that Mike Greenberg has a unique and authentic woman's voice - not what you would expect from a "Jock". Not only a woman's voice but 3 distinct voices of 3 totally different women who get the diagnose of Breast Cancer. Thank you for writing such a beautiful story so much more than just a diagnose- a story of friendship, support and love from perfect strangers who share a common link to a devastating diagnose.

An entertaining fun little quick read. Nothing major or super exciting. A few interesting good quotes. Never really listened to their radio show or watched their TV show, but seen bits and pieces of it at work. Not bad for 50 cents from a book sale.

Jonathan Sweetwater has it all. A wife he loves, two beautiful children and an amazing job that gives him privileges like playing basketball with Michael Jordan. What he didn't have was his father Senator Percy Sweetwater in his life since his 9th birthday. Jonathan comes home early and thinks he sees his wife having an affair in their spare bedroom. This sets into motion Jonathan wanting to know more about his dead father so he sets out to meet all of Percy's wives and learn more about him. What he doesn't expect to find along the way is himself. This book is beautifully written. It covers around a week or 2 of Jonathan's life. I found it very fascinating and pulled into Jonathan's life. Well worth the read.

I won this book on Goodreads.

The title pretty much says it all. Humerous at times but predictable.

Rehash's most of what they've said on the radio the past 3-4 years.

To be honest, not sure I would have picked this off the shelf if not for my local bookstore having this as the Lunch Book Pick for this month. Although, I do find the title of this book a winner introduction! You will really like Jonathan Sweetwater, he's a good son, a wonderful father and a faithful loving husband. He wakes up on Monday to a perfect life - by the end of the day - he's not so sure. - There are also quite a few quotes in this book that are worth repeating!! Give this one a try! The back of the book offers an excerpt to his other book --- "All you could ask for" .... I have to admit... I am hooked and I definitely have to get that book too!

Reviewed for Shelf Awareness, January 2015

http://www.3rsblog.com/2015/02/book-talk-my-fathers-wives-mike-greenberg-shelf-a...

Jonathan Sweetwater seems to have it all: a great job, a perfect family, and a wonderful marriage. His childhood wasn't perfect as he hadn't seen his father since his ninth birthday. His mother was wonderful and supportive and his father, although a powerful political figure, had been married six times. After coming home early one day and witnessing an event that has the ability to tear apart his "perfect" life, Jonathan goes on a quest to find out more about his father.

Imagine arriving home early from work and seeing someone that looks like your wife and another man getting dressed after a tryst in your guest room. Do you confront your wife and ask what is going on or do you ignore it? This is exactly the situation Jonathan finds himself in when he arrives from work early one day before going out-of-town on business. Most people would either ask what is going on, hire a detective to find out what's going on or jump to conclusions and end the relationship damn the circumstances. Jonathan does hire a detective to find out what's going on, but he also decides that now is the perfect time to learn more about his deceased father, the great senator, Percival Sweetwater III.

Mixed in with business trips over the course of a two-week period, Jonathan meets with his mother and his father's other wives. Ostensibly these trips are to find out more about his father, but the more Jonathan learns about his father the more we realize he is trying to find out if he is anything like his father and striving for something that cannot be obtained, perfection.

Although I enjoyed reading My Father's Wives and found it to be a rather fast-paced read, I did find it be somewhat predictable (no I won't give you the exact details but there is quite a bit of foreshadowing in Jonathan's interactions with one other character). Jonathan's quest for more information may be a bit more literal than most, but it is interesting to read about his struggle to learn more about his father and in turn about himself. I found most of the characters to be completely realistic and reasonably well developed. I wish the author had placed a bit more attention on Jonathan's wife Claire and who she was as a wife and mother (we learn quite a bit about Claire before their marriage but not enough about who she is now), but this deficiency doesn't detract from the overall story. There aren't any bad guys in this story, just humans showing varying degrees of human weaknesses. If you're interested in reading about a modern quest for truth, then you'll definitely want to read My Father's Wives.½

This book begins when the main protagonist, Jonathan Sweetwater, comes home from work early one day only to find his wife of twelve years apparently having an affair with someone in the guest bedroom. In shock, he leaves the house and sets off on a business trip, trying to figure out what to do.

For some reason never adequately explained, he decides he will find the answer by meeting with all the wives (a total of six including his mother) of his late father, who left Jonathan’s mother the night of Jonathan’s ninth birthday. Jonathan takes off, ostensibly on business trips, to meet up with these women and ask them about his dad.

At the end of his quest, he makes a decision about his marriage that has more to do with what he figured out about the affair rather than anything to do with his father.

Evaluation: The author has skill in writing prose, but perhaps not so much in plot construction. I didn’t see how the various subplots had anything to do with the main story arc. At one point, Jonathan says to one of the wives: “I feel like there was some answer I’ve been waiting … for, but when I finally tried to find it I realized I didn’t even know what the question was.” Substitute the word “plot” in the place of the words “question” and “answer” and that is a perfect summary of my reaction to the book. But it could well be that other readers will make more sense of it than I.

When you see things on the news about people who are on their umpty-umpth marriage, you wonder a little bit about them, don't you? What drives them to continue to marry person after person when their previous marriages have ended unhappily? What do they expect to find in their latest marriage that they haven't found yet? And when there is a child or children involved, how does this serial monogamy affect them? In Mike Greenberg's newest novel, main character Jonathan Sweetwater's father was a person like this, marrying six wives in total, and being too busy in those relationships to be in his son's life. It is the quest to learn who his father is, coupled with a staggering blow to his idea of what his own marriage is that drives the novel onwards.

Jonathan is a high powered banker type who lives quite well. He has the perfect wife, the perfect children, and the perfect life. He is not only successful in what he does, being a favorite of the boss, but he comes from money and is the only child of the famous, liberal, late Senator Percival Sweetwater III. But being the Senator's child has left emotional scars and a strong desire to be a better father and husband than his own father was. Percy, you see, walked out of his son's life on his ninth birthday, when he left Jonathan's mother, wife number one, for wife number two in the eventual line of six. Mostly Jonathan doesn't pay any attention to this sad past but when he comes home from work early one day and catches a glimpse of a naked man in his guest room with a woman who can only be his wife, thinking that his life is shattered, rather than confront his wife, he is suddenly obsessed with tracking down his father's former wives and trying to learn from them who Percival Sweetwater III really was behind the legend and how that has formed Jonathan's own character.

The connection between his wife's infidelity and his father's lifelong search for the perfect woman is tough to make. In all of his searching for explanations about his father, Jonathan doesn't really seem to find any answers and he waffles between worries he's too like his father or not at all like his father. His encounters with Percy's ex-wives all seem to follow a similar pattern and do little to shed light on the real man. Interestingly, none of the ex-wives seem particularly surprised by Jonathan's appearance in their lives despite his never being a presence while they were married to his father nor do they have much personal or revealing to say. They certainly can't speak to how Percy's behaviour might have formed Jonathan's character or why that would lead to his wife having an affair. At the end of his quest, he thinks he can explain why his father married each of the women but that still doesn't really connect to his own marriage and relationship.

In between searching out Percy's ex-wives, Jonathan occasionally returns home and agonizes over his own marriage and the mystery of how he could have seen what he saw. The mystery of this is actually not a mystery at all to the reader, who has easily sussed out the ending long before Jonathan has a clue. As a result, the novel's outcome is completely predictable. The secondary characters, especially his wife and kids, are one dimensional. His billionaire, hard-partying, basketball playing boss is more well-rounded than they are. And his father's wives are not terribly well distinguished from each other. So when he draws conclusions about why his father married each of them, we just have to take his word for it that this one worshipped him but wasn't bright enough and that one was too intelligent and not worshipful enough, etc. because his brief interactions with the women don't show that to the reader. The concept, what we each look for in marriage, what perfect really means, and whether or not it is even possible, is interesting but I'm not sure it quite got there in the end.½

The novel has an interesting theme of chasing perfection.

I exhausted all effort in understanding Greenberg’s estranged relationship with his father while simultaneously trying to figure out his wife’s alleged infidelity, I felt it failed to entwine the indiscretion scenario, it just didn’t work for me even after the narrative ended. I tried to view the link through male eyes, yet there is a strong unmistakeable disjointed feeling. After all is said and done the reader will be scratching their head attempting to figure it all out. The premise is interesting but the route a clear miss for this reader.

Jonathan is a likable character, he didn’t wow me in any way. His outrageous lifestyle, his shocking discovery evoked zero emotion. His lack of confrontation is a copout, and it’s no surprise this privileged man living the so called ‘perfect life’ is ill equipped to handle any trial life delivers. If what he witnessed was the worst this man has experienced in his life, I pity him when life really delivers a haymaker. His affluence was a turn off, after the discovery you realize this man hasn’t experienced harshness in any form. Clearly his perfect world is in shambles thus leading with his admitted obsession of perfection and his discovery of what perfect really encompasses.

Greenberg possesses competent writing, my issue was with Jonathan and his uber lush life and the way he handled his wife’s possible gaffe. The wife’s mystery wasn’t, the father was introduced but vaguely, a little more development would have possibly helped. A beach read of the wealthy and their frivolous issues they lack emotional capacity to handle, too manufactured for my taste.

When I first heard about this book, it sounded like an interesting story. When I heard it was written by Mike Greenberg of Mike & Mike I knew it was going on my ‘to read’ list. I expected a pretty good story. Turns out it is a VERY good story! Like many others have mentioned, I was pleasantly surprised how well the author captures the voices of the women in the story!

The story is told by three women from their alternating points of view. Samantha is a young newlywed who learns on her honeymoon that her husband is cheating. Brooke has been happily married for many years. Katherine is a high-powered Wall Street executive who has never married.

Part one of the book tells the story of these three women who have never met, and who never do meet during this part of the story. The characters are likeable and interesting. The book is really three independent stories running at once at this point, and if this was the entire book, this would be a cute story with three happy endings; basically a fun, happy book worth reading. But luckily there IS a part two because, even though I would have been satisfied with only part one, the book is so much more!

In part two, all three women are diagnosed with breast cancer at approximately the same time and all join an online support forum. It is here that they finally ‘meet’. From this point we follow the story of these women as they become friends and support each other in their battles against cancer. I like how the book shows that there is no ‘one size fits all’ treatment plan. All have different forms of cancer and different treatment options, and they make different choices about their treatments. While they do not agree about how aggressively they each want to fight their cancers, they do agree to respect each others choices.

I like how the book treated the subject of living with cancer. All three women learn to live their lives for today, and to enjoy the happy moments come along. Even though they are aware that cancer can return, they don’t stop living life. They are aware of the possibility of a recurrence but are not controlled by this possibility. This would be a great book club selection!

SOURCE: I received a copy of this book through TLC Book Tours in return for an honest review!

From The Book Wheel:

Note: I received this book as part of TLC Book Tours in exchange for an honest review.

Sometimes a book comes along at exactly the right moment and for me this was it. I’ve been so bogged down with heavy reading for school that this was all I could have asked for (cheesy pun intended). Light writing combined with a balance of seriousness and hilarity, Mike Greenberg’s novel is sure to be a hit.

I must say that I was surprised at how well the author wrote about women. Especially because this particular author is a man who works for ESPN – not exactly a breeding ground for womanly insights. And yet, Greenberg succeeds. Both insightful and honest, each of the three main characters is completely three-dimensional and approachable. I wanted to know each of these women even when I didn’t agree with them. While there are a lot of male writers who can successfully write about women, not many write about women told through the point of view of women, and this is what sets Greenberg apart and launching him into the category of men who “get it.”

For the full review, click here.

Picked this book up from a book exchange shelf where I left a BookCrossing book. It's a relatively new publication, and the cover blurb sounded interesting. I absolutely loved the first half, stories of three strong women, who actually may not have known their strength, but come into their own. Loved how the author would finish a section on one, and segue, using the same phrases, into the story of another. These were funny, smart, strong, vibrant characters. Even more fascinating is that it was written by a man, but really felt "right".

The second half of the book dealt with the circumstances that bring the three women together. That was harder for me to read (in fact, I did skim read some of it, because I'm a wuss.) It was indeed an interesting exercise, and I applaud Mr Greenberg, as a man, tackling a tought subject, in the writing of the book, the profits from which go to a foundation the author and his wife created for research to combat breast cancer.

Sports show host of Mike and Mike forays into the world of chick literature. He does this, he explains, because his wife had a close friend with cancer and his book tells the story of three women with a similar diagnosis. Before the midway part of the book when these women meet there are a series of one to two page vignettes in a seemingly endless rotation between the lives of the three women. It does settle down a bit after their stories become intertwined. This is a book that would appeal to someone who bores easily (adult ADD) and would prefer Cable Headline News as opposed to something that goes into more depth. That said it is creditable effort for a first time novelist and I give him bonus points for trying to be a "sensitive" man.

This novel is an amazing accomplishment; a story of three unrelated women written by a guy who works at ESPN. To me, he gets the voices of the female characters quite well. Until the second half of the book, you don't know why we are reading the stories of these three lives. Powerful, moving. Made me bawl in a few places. And because I live in one of the most beautiful parts of the country and have experienced some of these experiences, I get that I have all I could ask for. Kudos to Mike Greenberg.½

When I heard that Mike "Greeny" Greenberg wrote a book, I figured it would be a sports book. Then I heard it was a novel, so I thought, 'oh, a novel about sports.' Then I read the description- a novel about three women dealing with breast cancer. Wait, what?

Greenberg had a friend who had breast cancer, and he was amazed that her three best friends, one of whom was his wife, surrounded this woman with constant love and never left her side. They went to her doctor appointments, her chemo treatments; they were with her at all times.

This so impressed him, because he didn't think that men would be so present for their male friends. His friend succumbed to her cancer, and he wrote a novel about three women who each get a diagnosis of breast cancer. The proceeds from this novel go to the V Foundation in his friend's name to aid in cancer research. (The V Foundation is named after famed North Carolina State University coach Jim Valvano who lost his battle with cancer at age 46.)

I can't believe a man wrote this book. Greenberg captures the voices of these three very different women so incredibly well, he must eavesdrop on women often. And take notes.

Samantha is newly married to an older man and on her honeymoon in Hawaii. She is blissfully happy, ready to start her new life when she finds a photo of a naked woman on her husband's laptop.

Katherine has just turned forty, a hard-charging career woman whose last serious relationship ended badly many years ago. Now the most important man in her life is her faithful driver Maurice. Her administrative assistant has set her up on a blind date with a handsome, eligible man- who happens to be twenty years older than her. How old does she think Katherine is anyway?

Brooke is happily married to Scott, and mom to two children, living in the suburbs, trying to figure out what to get her husband for his birthday. She is a good wife, a good mom and likes her life.

The first half of the book sets up each of these three interesting women's lives, all facing different daily challenges- work, home, family, loneliness. We become invested in them, and compare our lives to theirs.

Then they each get a diagnosis of breast cancer. Each woman reacts differently, and the reader is left to ponder how they deal with her individual diagnosis. The women do not interact with each other in the first half of the book, but they later meet on breast cancer message boards and we are able read their messages to each other, and see their relationships develop.

I had to admit I was skeptical about a novel some would call "chick-lit" about breast cancer written by a male ESPN host, but Greenberg does a terrific job here. I wanted to know more about these women's lives, and I found their reactions to their illnesses fascinating.

They each respond differently, and the way one woman deals with it will probably cause some lively discussions in book clubs, for which this novel would make a good choice. It definitely made me think about how I would react, and upon reflection, it also made me try to be less judgmental of other women and the choices they make in the lives.

What makes life worth living is not anything that might happen. It is what is happening right now. - from All You Could Ask For -

Brooke is living the “perfect” life. She has twins and an amazing husband who loves her. She works hard to keep her marriage exciting – including hiring a photographer to take nude photos of her for her husband’s birthday.

Samantha, married only two days, breaks into her new husband’s computer and discovers he has been and still is unfaithful to her. She immediately decides to stay in Hawaii (where they have flown for their honeymoon) and train for a triathlon.

Katherine is wealthy and successful in her work – but she clings to a hatred and resentment for her boss who used to be her lover and who threw her over for another woman almost 20 years ago. When she travels to Aspen for her first vacation in years, the last thing she expects is to meet the man of her dreams.

All three women who grace the pages of Mike Greenberg’s debut novel are different, and yet they will soon discover they have something in common. Something which will unexpectedly unite them, cause them to look deeply into their lives, and ultimately define what is most important to them.

There has been a lot of buzz about All You Could Ask For. First of all, the novel is penned by a man who fully embraces his female side in creating characters women will like, if not relate to. Secondly, Mike Greenberg is the voice of ESPN ‘s Mike in the Morning and has promised to donate all of his profits from the book to The V Foundation for Cancer Research to combat breast cancer.

The book is divided into two parts. In the first part, Greenberg introduces his characters through alternating first person narratives. The second part is dedicated to how these three women come together, and Greenberg makes his novel modern by including social media as the uniting mechanism. This resonated with me, a blogger who has made a lot of friends through my blog, on line community events and book clubs, and Facebook. It is the second part of the book which really hooked me.

Greenberg writes from a women’s perspective very well, although I will admit that I did not relate to all the characters. My least favorite character was Brooke who seemed almost a caricature of the perfect wife and mother. I longed for her to see herself as an individual, rather than an extension of her spouse. Samantha was the most likeable – she is the person every woman wants for a friend: loyal, giving, sincere. But my favorite character was Katherine who demonstrates a sarcastic wit and an inner strength I admired. Katherine is the character who grows the most from beginning to end. I wanted Katherine to realize all her goals and find love again.

Nobody is living better than I am; I have a duplex on Park Avenue, a driver, a chef, an assistant, and a killer house in South Hampton, and I did it all on my own. But I still haven’t gotten past what happened with Phillip and I doubt I ever will, and I wish to god he was ten times more miserable than I am. If that sounds bitchy, I guess I don’t really care. - from All You Can Ask For -

All You Could Ask For is fun women’s fiction, but it also has a deeper message about the decisions we make and how we determine our journey through life. Greenberg explores friendship within the context of the unexpected events which life throws in our path. Funny, poignant, and well-crafted, this is a novel which will appeal to a wide variety of women and the men who love them.

Recommended.½

Three very different women. Three very different lives. Brooke is the happily married mother of twins. Her husband is about to turn forty and she's decided to give him a gift he won't expect: tasteful nude photos of herself. Samantha is a young, adventurous, athletic woman on her honeymoon in Hawaii. Her husband is a politician and quite a bit older than she is. He's also cheating on her with a woman from his campaign as Samantha finds out when she logs onto his computer on the second morning of their marriage. Painful as that was, it freed her from a life and marriage that would have suffocated her. Katherine is a forty year old single career woman. She's wildly successful and filthy rich but she also tortures herself everyday by going to work for the man who broke her heart almost twenty years before. So she decides to take her first vacation ever and it changes her life and her goals. When the novel opens, Brooke, Samantha, and Katherine are each living their separate lives, in some cases working through disappointment and betrayal, but living fully. At the close of the first portion of the book, each of these three women is just at the cusp of feeling on top of the world, as if everything in their lives is almost perfect, that this very day is the happiest of each woman's life.


And the reader knows there just isn't any way to sustain that. As the second part of the book starts, these three women, none of whom have ever met each other, are about to have their happy lives shattered by the same scary diagnosis, one that will connect them in ways they never wanted. Because all three feel alone and in need of people who understand, they all reach out to an online community to find connection, commiseration, advice, and hope. And because of their shared hometown, even though Samantha and Katherine no longer live there, Samantha, more at peace with her diagnosis and further down the treatment path, reaches out to the other two women to offer them whatever she can emotionally. And caring, supportive relationships develop between Samantha and Katherine as well as Samantha and Brooke even as they make vastly different choices about their treatment and about their futures.


Focused on the strength of women's relationships and the importance of love and support, especially when faced with a life-altering diagnosis, the novel is pleasant but unspectacular. It took an inordinate amount of time to connect the women and while each of their back stories was important, especially their understanding of what they each wanted out of life, they took up too much of the novel since the meat of the story is meant to be the women's health battle and their coming together (even though Brooke and Katherine never do). As for the characters themselves, I have to admit I spent the entire book wanting to smack Brooke for all the flat cliches she represents. As for her husband never knowing of her diagnosis, well, apparently her husband doesn't ever look at their mail because here just a simple urgent care visit generates about ten insurance and facility related notices and bills as well as obvious activity online in our insurance and bank accounts. Just not altogether realistic. Samantha is chipper and upbeat all the way along and while that makes her a very sympathetic and likable character, her lack of any despair or grief causes her to come across as very one dimensional. Katherine seems to me to be the most fully human of the three women, running a gamut of emotions while still staying true to her character as portrayed. Over all, the writing is fairly pedestrian and there's a distinct lack of narrative tension. The reason behind writing the book and the cause it supports (cancer research) is phenomenal but unfortunately the actual book itself comes up a bit short in the end.

All You Could Ask For
By
Mike Greenberg

My "in a nutshell" summary...

Three girls and their lives and the life altering way that they meet up and connect.

My thoughts after reading this book...

My first thoughts are that Mike Greenberg...the ESPN sports guy...wrote a lovely lovely book. It's profound and funny and unique and rather liberating.

These three women could be any of our friends or family. They were strong and funny and brave and valuable. Their shared life altering experience made them appreciate life. They met in a unique way and helped each other in a unique way. It was truly lovely.

But...there were also sexy bits and funny bits and touching bits. This author knew what he was writing about.

What I loved about this book...

It was lovely and touched my heart. It made me aware of struggles and life altering situations that can devastate our lives at any time. But that we have the power to survive.

What I did not love...

Health issues always freak me out but this book actually gave me some hope and a little piece of mind that if something happens you have to learn to be brave.

Final thoughts...

Dare I say chick lit with a message? I found this to be a book that shows true insight and bravery for some tough situations.

For a sports honcho, this guy can definitely write. I kept turning the pages of this threaded exploration of three women's responses to their respective breast cancer diagnoses. Women's points of view, women's ways of talking, surprising. Pleasantly. From a free-wheeling first part to a serious second part, the lives of three women intersect and interact. Each chooses her own path. Surprisingly good styling and a clear ability to write major women characters without making women readers cringe. Light on dramatic tensions, heavy on characterization. Nice work, Greeny.½

You do not have to listen to the radio show to like this book. George Will writes a very funny introduction that sets the tone for the book. You learn the history of the morning radio team, their opinions on certain rules in various sports. There are also "chime in"s from show regular's such as Bob Picozzi, Mike Ditka, Jaws, Buster Olney, Stink. Their are reprinted e-mails from fans who commented on a show topic and photographs. Lot's of photographs. This book is the radio version of tv if one did not have a tv set to watch it. The photographs could have gotten out of hand but the way they intersect with the text makes it worth it.

The surprise for me was when the subject of basketball was approached. There is a reprint of a an on air comment from former player Tim Legler and a mini essay by Mike Goldberg on Dennis Johnson that blew me away. Note: The Mike's are not known for their knowledge or love for basketball. Football is number one with them.

This book was fun to read. I enjoyed it.