MR. HOCKEY
By Gordie Howe. (Putnam, 256 pages, $27.95.)
You don't have to be a fan to enjoy Gordie Howe's memoir, aptly titled "Mr. Hockey," but if you are, this book will hold special appeal. Written in un-fussy prose, the autobiography is filled with colorful tales about growing up one of nine children in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, during the Great Depression — from battling with his sister over a single ice skate, to trying out for his first team only because he was lent the proper gear.
Howe — considered one of the greatest players of all time and among the top five goal scorers in the NHL for an unprecedented 20 years — makes no apologies for his elbows-up style and confrontational attitude on the ice. But he's sweetly forthright about other parts of his life, admitting he used a dictionary when writing letters to the "smart" woman who would become his wife. (He says one of his few regrets was dropping out of school at age 16.)
Howe, who at 86 recently suffered a series of strokes and is in precarious health, writes that he's often asked why he was able to play for so long, and his answer is always the same: "I never stopped loving the game." For the boy who grew up skating the frozen rivers of wind-swept rural Canada, Howe writes that skating on a fresh sheet of ice in the NHL was "like being in a cathedral" and his love for hockey shines through in this intimate memoir.
COLLEEN KELLY
Mobile and social media editor
LOST IN TRANSLATION
By Ella Frances Sanders. (Ten Speed Press, 112 pages, $14.99.)
You know how sometimes you just can't find the right word? It might be because the word you need does not exist in your language. "Lost in Translation," by Ella Frances Sanders, is a quirky, illustrated collection of foreign words that have no English equivalent.
And yet as you page through this lovely book, you wonder how you got on so long without some of these words. Mangata, a Swedish word that means "the road-like reflection of the moon on the water." Naz, the Urdu word that means "the pride and assurance that comes from knowing you are loved." And a word all Minnesota cabin lovers should learn: "Murr-Ma," the Wagiman word for "the art of searching for something in the water with your feet."
LAURIE HERTZEL
