Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #58979 in Books
• Published on: 2007-04-18
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Brackley Sumner, TRIBUNE
'If you are looking for a seriously fine piece of writing and have a rudimentary understanding of a game which involves using a stick to hit a little white ball into a hole several hundred yards away, then PREFERRED LIES is worth reading.'

Review
'Greig's purely struck prose is not the only strength of this book. For one thing he has excellent taste in golf courses.' (Lawrence Donegan THE GUARDIAN )

'one you should look out for is novelist Andrew Greig's PREFERRED LIES. To describe it as a tour of the Scottish golf courses is to do it a grave disservice, as it is really a book of 'life thinking.' (Giles Foden CONDE NAST TRAVELLER )

'If you have, or ever have had, any interest in golf, buy this book and read it. Buy it for your loved one, your lost one, the Saturday morning medal deserter . . . They and you will love it, inhabit it, and possibly be transformed by it. It's the best book about golf I've ever read.' (Tom Moreton SUNDAY HERALD )

PREFERRED LIES is satisfying, demanding, allusive and provocative. I finished it not merely wishing I was as good at golf as Greig, but also as good at learning from it.' (Rick Gekoski SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY )

Greig....., has crafted a wonderful book about how it feels to be alive, in which the game of golf is a conduit for sensation. Here, golf isn't a metaphor for life - it is life. Sculpted in luminous prose, which echoes his work as one of Scotland's leading poets and novelists, this is a beautiful, affecting piece of work.' (Mike Aitken THE SCOTSMAN )

a wonderful and wise book, quite unlike any golfing book you will have ever read before. (Dermot Bolger THE IRISH TIMES )

'Thought-provoking and moving.' (Doug Johnstone THE LIST )

'PREFERRED LIES feels like quite a special book.' (Tom Cox THE INDEPENDENT )

'Greig writes engagingly. His observations are sharp, sometimes zany.' (Michael Lister THE TLS )

'he does have an ear for the way people talk and express themselves on and off the course.' (Ian Dunlop THE SPECTATOR )

'a triumph..... his beautiful prose and wry observations will keep you reading into the night.' (GOLF PUNK )

'The pleasure of this book is no doubt down to the fact that the author is an accomplished writer' (GOLF INTERNATIONAL )

'If you are looking for a seriously fine piece of writing and have a rudimentary understanding of a game which involves using a stick to hit a little white ball into a hole several hundred yards away, then PREFERRED LIES is worth reading.' (Brackley Sumner TRIBUNE )

Tom Cox, THE INDEPENDENT
'PREFERRED LIES feels like quite a speical book.'

Customer Reviews

Inspiring.
This is a book about life told through golf. It's a memorial to Scottish courses, and a memoir to loss, recovery and revival of the spirit. A fine book, intended for golf lovers rather than fanatics and for people who might never swing a club who read to understand something of living. Uplifting and inspiring.

Extraordinary Essence
"Preferred Lies", like a once-in-a-lifetime round of golf on a special golf course, is something one savours as you move through it. Andrew's wit, insight, depth, humour, and choice of words delight the reader with their imagination and intention. It is an honest book - and therefore one that was easy to relate to and come away with impressions and thoughts that shall last. This is a work of art that comes not only from Andrew's creative and entertaining spirit, but from his heart. That is the highest recommendation that I think one can give for any endeavour.

Deserves Sports Book of The Year
I'm Scottish, my folks live in the Highlands, I now live a city-professional life, and oh yes, I love golf! OK, so I'm biased, but this book I bought took me on a journey that had golf as a metaphor for life itself, how to live it, see the positives, take risks, and to appreciate the time we have with one another, and the memories that remain and linger.

Andrew Greig is to be congratulated for a deeply touching piece of work, that encapsulates so many things we all find ourselves too busy to either give time to, or remedy. If this doesn't win the William Hill Sports Book Of The Year, then there is something wrong somewhere.

I would highly recommend this book for anyone who feels they've lost touch with their past, or need to feel they belong in the world, and he plays some bloody good courses too!