Stories I Tell on Dates

Book 9 of my 2018 Reading Challenge

Stories I Tell on Dates by Paul Shirley

Summary (via Goodreads)
Everyone tells stories on dates. Sometimes we tell these stories to make people laugh. Sometimes we tell them to make people think. Sometimes we tell them so we can increase the chances we'll see the other person naked.
Paul Shirley's stories are about an adulthood spent all over the world: living in Spain, playing in the NBA, and having his heart (and spleen) broken. But they're also stories about growing up in small-town Kansas: triumphant spelling bees, catastrophic middle school dances, and a Sex Ed. class taught by his mother. 
They're funny stories. They're vulnerable stories. Most of all, they're universal stories, just as the stories we tell on dates should be. 

My Opinion
Although I've never met the author I still feel my 5 star rating needs a small disclaimer.  Not only am I an Iowa State graduate but my husband and I were enjoying our college years at the exact same time that Paul Shirley was there playing basketball and, as a fellow engineering major, he was my husband's favorite player.  So even though I'm not much of a basketball fan (even now I only follow ISU's entire season and everyone else during March Madness) I knew every player/coach he was talking about, even the ones he didn't mention by name, I saw pretty much every college game he referenced and we followed his career enough to be able to be familiar with his overseas and NBA career.  

Honestly, the only reason I didn't finish this book in one sitting is because I had to put it aside after reliving the MSU heartbreak/bullshit call all over again.  It's been almost 20 years but I can still remember seeing his tears of frustration and sadness as our entire floor was watching it as a group; we had dragged tvs and couches out of our rooms and set up in between the elevators of Towers.  There is no such thing as a double foul!!!!!

Even though I can't rate it objectively since it was so easy for me to find a connection to his stories, I will say that he's a great writer (I really enjoyed his first book as well) and I believe anyone would be able to relate to his struggles and accomplishments over the years.


Quote from the Book
"The stories in this book are my stories.
  Sometimes they are the stories I tell when I am trying to explain where I came from. Sometimes they are the stories I tell when I am trying to explain where I'm going. Sometimes they are the stories I tell when I'm just trying to make someone laugh."