100 Ways to Beat the Blues

This book is great! I found that I could relate to stories by Garth Brooks, Loretta Lynn and Willie Nelson, to name a few. I am impressed by the wide array of people who have attached themselves to this book.

I follow Carl Hileman's work and was lucky enough to run accross this book, inlcluding comments from Hileman and other greats. The book was full of insight and an array of stories, thoughts and comments to help us all.

Having already given several copies of this book to family and friends, I will undoubtedly be giving several more, spreading the gift this collection offers. It includes pieces poignant, lush, hilarious, hypnotic, both timely and timeless, as well as a handful that are just plain fun. Among my favorites are the ones that weave traces of grace across one's reckoning, like Paul Sylbert's "The Jack Daniel's Blues," Cathie Pelletier's "The Sunday Blues," and "The Map-Crease Blues" by David Logan. The blues pulse through us all, and this book captures magnificently their rhythm, the individual works offering collectively a broad range of perspectives and generating a connection among a variety of writers and readers. As a result, reading the collection effects a fine and mighty cadence as personal measures beat, for a space of time, in exquisite accord. There is a harmonious beat-of-heart to be found in 100 Ways to Beat the Blues, and it is a gift to all who share in it.

Sometimes funny, sometimes contemplative and introspective... you'll appreciate this book. It's interesting to delve into the minds of people you've read about for years by reading their own thoughts in their own words. And C. Ritzo (below) is right... the quality and value of the non-celebrity writers' perspectives are at least as satisfying as those of the big names.

Tanya offers a wide assortment of great ideas to beat the blues. My favorite was by some guy named Brad Christensen who has a very interesting and rewarding hobby: Hilarious reverse scams against those Nigerian spammers who offer us 20 percent of the millions they don't have. He feeds them all sorts of bizarre tales and sends them on wild goose chases. Good work, Tanya and Brad!