The Jim Murray Reader

Jim Murray was the Mencken of sportswriting and was possibly the readiest wit in the history of sports journalism, although Lardner and Runyon still have staying power. These are short pieces, composed in the compressed time of the early edition deadline. This collection is long on snark and sentimentality, and short on details. Still, the discerning reader will have moments of recognition. Murray, who battled blindness in his last years, will earn the empathy of all myopic readers when he confesses that he has never actually seen a hockey goal scored.

Nobody is or was better at crafting sports columns than Jim Murray. This is a astounding collection. Don't buzz through it; savor each piece of his fabulous composition.

If you enjoy Jim Murray's entertaining way of writing about athletes then you will enjoy this book. Murray, as his admirers know, is the master of the one-liner. This book covers his columns from the 1960s through the 1980s and includes a variety of sports. The book is divided into two parts. Part 1 is entitled Personally Speaking with Part 2 entitled Portraits. Portraits includes columns about individual personalities in the sports world while Personally Speaking includes his musings on a variety of sports-related subjects.Jim Murray had a vast knowledge of history and music which he would skillfully include into his columns. Murray has always been my favorite sports writer so I suppose I am biased but I would even find the columns on sports I didn't care for entertaining to read as well. Whether you are familiar with the writing of the late Jim Murray of the Los Angeles Times or not you will find this an entertaining book to read. This is not a book on the life of Jim Murray. It is strictly some of his choice columns that he has written over the past several decades. I only wish this book was available in hard cover.

The book is great. I give the book itself 5 stars. I grew up in LA reading Jim Murray, and some of his best work is here. Just BE AWARE that this book is exactly the same book at the hardcover version, also being sold by Amazon under a different title, "The Jim Murry Collection." Amazon's website does not disclose this, or allow you to "look inside" at the Table of Contents, so if you already have "The Jim Murry Collection, don't buy this. If you prefer hardcover, order the "The Jim Murray Collection" instead. They are about the same price.

I grew up reading Jim Murray columns in the L.A. Times and then the Stars and Stripes while overseas. Any day without a Murray column was incomplete. Reliving those times as I read this anthology has been a wonderful time of reflection and remembering. I recall many of the articles that I read so many years ago. I can't name a sportswriter today that comes close to Murray with the possible exception of Dan Jenkins but his humor is more fictional than current. Get Jim Murray and sit back and read a few each day. You will be enriched.

Very entertaining book! Enjoy the format and Jim Murray’s award winning articles compiled in this book. King of the one liners!

I have always enjoyed reading Jim Murray's columms growing up. His tongue in check style and his "just between you and me"style I have always loved. If you are a Jim Murray fan, I would definitely buy the book. It has many of his famous sports columns in a style all his own. Then again, I have always been a fan of his.One positive note is that he has an index at the back of his book which is helpful if you wish you look up someone.

This is his old column's but still great ones. I read all I can on JIM, for since I was a little boy, my father ready Jim Murray to me a every morning. Jim, and my father are long gone, but they both are in my heart and together bring me great joy!

I loved reading articles that I read decades before and had forgotten.Murray remains the gold standard of American sports columnists, whose columns transcended sports.