While novels are a great diversion, there are times when you only have a few minutes, or your focus is fleeting, when short stories are just the ticket.
If you are a hockey fan then a book that fills the short story niche is the recent release Beauties from James Duthie.
In a telephone chat with the noted TSN broadcaster Duthie said the short story approach really fits his personality.
“I have a short attention span myself I think,” he said, adding Beauties lends itself to being put down and returned to a week later if that is the way life rolls out for a reader.
Duthie said he likes that the emotion of the stories varies too.
“I like a book . . . that I can be surprised on the next page, that the next chapter (story) might be completely different from the last,” he said.
The book is a collection of shorts that Duthie collected through interviews with media colleagues, players both the NHL and minor leagues, coaches, agents, refs and hockey parents. He basically ran the gamut of the sport looking for stories to write about.
The result is a collection of 57 stories which are really quite diverse. While most lie on the humorous side of things, I will admit a few actually brought a tear to the eye of this old scribe who tends to wear the label of curmudgeon quite well.
Like most books of short stories readers will find two or three that they label ho-hum tales and wonder why they were included, but I suspect which stories earn such a label will vary from reader-to-reader.
The author noted that the collection is one where he ended up including a piece from everyone he interviewed for the book.
“Basically everybody I interviewed is in the book,” said Duthie, adding he felt if they were willing to give “a couple of hours of their time” to share a story it should be in the book, adding to leave someone out “is not the Canadian way.”
Duthie did add stories in and about hockey everywhere.
“I think everybody in hockey, not just players ... have stories. It’s a sport that lends itself to stories more than most,” he said, adding the key was to get those he interviewed away from the sometimes mundane routine of post-game media interviews and into an environment where they could just talk hockey in a relaxed, friendly fashion.
• In Beauties, you’ll find out:
• How Sidney Crosby’s most unusual nickname came to be
• How Steve Stamkos’s dad accidentally stole Steve Yzerman’s car
• How Paul “Biznasty” Bissonette almost had the Arizona Coyotes kicked out of a Winnipeg hotel on game day
• How Wayne Gret-zky’s greatest one-liner may have turned around the Stanley Cup Final in 1985
• About the night that Hayley Wickenheiser went blind
• What Bobby Orr said the first time he saw Connor McDavid play at a rink in Toronto
Duthie admitted it was important to have stories with Wayne Gretzky, Sydney Crosby and other notable stars, because those names sell books, but they are not the best stories.
The best includes; ‘The Boy Who Came From Away’ a story that reflects what it is to be Canadian, ‘The 30th Bronco’ a story very close to home related to the Humboldt disaster, ‘Laila’s Gift’ which will make you tear, ‘Jonny Hockey’, ‘The Accountant’ and ‘Ronan’s Ride’.
What you end up with in Beauties is what might be labelled the ultimate ‘bathroom book; for a hockey fan. It can be enjoyed in spurts, and I suspect it will be a popular stocking stuffer this holiday season.
Beauties really is a book easy to recommend to a hockey fan.
“This one has done really well ... way better than I ever expected,” said Duthie, who added Beauties actually took years to go from idea to reality. “It had been in the back of my head for about a decade.”
But, with the success is a follow-up likely?
“This is the hardest I ever worked on a book,” said Duthie, who has authored and co-authored a trio of other books, adding he certainly needs some time to mull over more ‘beauty’ tales, but he did note there are lots of themes he could explore and hundreds of people out there with stories to tell.
