Rating: 
Summary: Totally Awesome!!!
Review: I had the wonderful pleasure of meeting Rick Bragg this past weekend at the first annual Louisiana Book Festival in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and I have to say that he's a living doll! I bought this book to get his autograph and read it in one sitting when I got home. This man has a God-given gift for writing about people, places and events closest to the heart and soul. I highly recommend all of his books....[...], this one is worth the price just for the cute picture on the cover!
Rating:
Summary: Totally Awesome!!!
Review: I had the wonderful pleasure of meeting Rick Bragg this past weekend at the first annual Louisiana Book Festival in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and I have to say that he's a living doll! I bought this book to get his autograph and read it in one sitting when I got home. This man has a God-given gift for writing about people, places and events closest to the heart and soul. I highly recommend all of his books....[...], this one is worth the price just for the cute picture on the cover!
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding
Review: I know little of Rick Bragg beyond his tellin' of life in All Over but the Shoutin'. The man may be an angel; he may be a complete jerk. I care little. What matters most to me as a reader is that Rick Bragg has a gift. Folks who talk about such things likely say that he has a "distinctive voice" or that he "communicates the experience through his prose" or some such thing.Maybe so. What is bottom-line, unalterable, sure 'nuff true is that Rick Bragg possesses the gift of story. This man, be he sinner or saint (or most likely some of both) can use words to paint a picture of life like very, very few are able to do. Pain and joy are equally layered on his canvas and it is all the more meaningful, all the more touching because the words, like the lives they expose, are quite real. It is a gift. We are lucky indeed that he shares it with us.
Rating:
Summary: Journalism As It Should Be!
Review: I never could stand aesthetic writers, those who would have you believe that life is full of "please" and "thank-you." That's precisely why Bragg is one of my favorites. I can trust him to tell the truth. I have always believed that it would be great to sit on the porch with Bragg and pick his brain. But after finding "Somebody Told Me," I am filled with a sense, for the time being, of utter satisfaction. Here is what journalism should be; one would never line a birdcage or wrap fish with any of these stories. I was so in love with this book, I bought a second copy and sent it to a friend. If you know a fledgling writer, this is the book that will provide the best example of what a real journalist's work should do, pierce the soul.
Rating:
Summary: A lesson on feature writing!
Review: I picked up this book after reading his wonderful book "It's All Over But the Shoutin", an endearing tribute to his mother. This collection of essays from his days as a journalist to the place he won a Pulitzer Prize, The New York Times. When Bragg writes a story, a few words or phrases he uses give that extra zing to bring the story to life, some dimension to the characters, and most of all, you can't help picturing those words to vivid and heartfelt images. Bragg has the ability to make you feel part of the story. He is conversational, casual, and descriptive. He writes about people, places, and covers another side of events. And, it is this compilation of words phrases, metaphors, etc., in a sentence that sets him apart from average writers. When writing about a man whose continuous crime is to get a square meal without paying, Bragg writes: "He is a thief who never runs, a criminal who picks his teeth as the police close in." You can just picture that so well, the criminal callously waiting for his arrest after another satisfying unpaid meal. Also included are some national stories including a few on the OKC bombing, The Susan Smith Trial, and some disturbing events in Haiti. Equally interesting are stories from New York. If you have an interest in writing special feature stories, essays, here is your teacher. If you just enjoy excellent writing, and entertaining stories, this is the book for you. ......MzRizz
Rating:
Summary: Somebody Told Me
Review: I'm about to finish my undergraduate degree in journalism, and I really wish someone had given me a copy of this book back in high school. When I began college and said the words "literary journalism" when asked what I wanted to do, I was told there was "no place for me" in newspapers. Through Bragg and many other wonderful writers I've discovered in the past few years, I now know that simply isn't true. Bragg's book should be required reading for any journalist who considers themself, first and foremost, a storyteller. Bragg is one of the very finest order, and his work far transcends the date at the top of the newspaper page it's printed on. I will keep it in close reach always, most importantly for the spark of inspiration it provides.
Rating:
Summary: Front-porch storytelling, front-page stories
Review: It never stops amazing me. I had the good fortune to work with my close friend Rick Bragg in reporting some of the stories that appear on these pages, and I've read most of these stories a dozen times. Each time, though, they still have the fresh emotion of the people because no one can bring out those people's stories like Rick. Even after being there, the tales seem more real in his words. If you enjoyed his best-selling memoir, "All Over But the Shoutin'," then this collection of his best newspaper stories should keep you satisfied until he releases the follow-up to "All Over," which is already in progress.
Rating: 
Summary: Good writing is good writing.
Review: newspaper writing, I think, often gets a bad rap, if it manages to get any rap at all. We look to the newspaper daily for information and occasionally entertainment. It is on very rare occasions that one would look towards a newspaper for "literature". After having read "All Over But the Shoutin', I remember thinking "Damn - I wish I could read the stories." Thankfully, someone at the University of Alabama Press had the good sense to recognize that I was not alone in my yearning. These stories indeed go beyond being simply informative and reach a level of literature that most periodicals are sorely lacking these days. Beautiful storytelling and amazing insight make it clear that Bragg comes from a long-line of great Southern storytellers.
Rating:
Summary: It doesn't get any better than this
Review: Rick Bragg writes in the introduction to SOMEBODY TOLD ME that he was tickled to death that somebody wanted to put his newspaper stories into a collection. Well, he was not much more tickled than I was, since I've been trying to track down his stories since reading his wonderful memoir, ALL OVER BUT THE SHOUTING. The little snippets of his stories that were reprinted in the book simply whetted my appetite for more! Whether Rick Bragg is reporting on the big stories like those of Susan Smith and the horrible dragging death in Jasper,Texas, or the little ones like the ice tea contest he is able to get to the human heart of every story and leave an indelible impression on the reader. I don't think I'll ever forget the story of Dirty Red--it broke my heart. There aren't many books that I read and hold onto to read again. This will be one of the few, just for the joy of reading such finely crafted prose. If I could, I'd give it 6 Stars!
Rating:
Summary: It doesn't get any better than this
Review: Rick Bragg writes in the introduction to SOMEBODY TOLD ME that he was tickled to death that somebody wanted to put his newspaper stories into a collection. Well, he was not much more tickled than I was, since I've been trying to track down his stories since reading his wonderful memoir, ALL OVER BUT THE SHOUTING. The little snippets of his stories that were reprinted in the book simply whetted my appetite for more! Whether Rick Bragg is reporting on the big stories like those of Susan Smith and the horrible dragging death in Jasper,Texas, or the little ones like the ice tea contest he is able to get to the human heart of every story and leave an indelible impression on the reader. I don't think I'll ever forget the story of Dirty Red--it broke my heart. There aren't many books that I read and hold onto to read again. This will be one of the few, just for the joy of reading such finely crafted prose. If I could, I'd give it 6 Stars!
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