"Inside Edge" v. "Frozen Assets"

I just treated myself to both of these books. They arrived today and I'm looking forward to some good FS reading while the snow is still on the ground. Any recommendations about which one to read first???

I know what I'll be doing this weekend!

Thanks in advance for your recommendations!

DG

I bought and read "Inside Edge" a few years ago. It's really interesting book. I like Christen Brennan's writing. I saw the "Frozen Assets" at a local book store about two weeks ago, and I read briefly a few pages. I did not purchased it.

Read both and I'd start with Inside Edge.

I've read Inside Edge and skimmed through Frozen Assets.

Frozen deals much more with the business and behind the scenes(from a business perspective).

Inside Edge mostly just deals with stuff behind the scene.

Although, personally I prefered Edge of Glory to Inside Edge.

I read both books. Both were great but I liked Inside Edge the best.

I'll have to say Inside Edge, too. There was some interesting tidbits here and there in Frozen Assets, but a lot of stuff I just kind of skimmed and one chapter I just skipped entirely. Admittedly, I was kind of hoping for a little "dirt dishing" there but since as editor of International Figure Skating, the author has to maintain good relations with everyone, so there wasn't any. :\

I agree with Lulu that Christine Brennan's second book, Edge of Glory, is far better that her first, Inside Edge. I have a theory about these books (just an impression that popped into my mind when I read them). It seemed to me that Ms. Brennan started out in Inside Edge to write an "expose" of the sport focusing on such shockers as, all these pretty little girls aren't so nice after all, and some of the men are gay (!!!) But while she was doing the research, she fell in love with the sport, and especially with Michelle Kwan and her family, and so she wrote Edge of Glory as a sort of chronical of Michelle's rise to glory, culminating in her gold medal victory at Nagano.

Oops. I don't think Brennan ever forgave Michelle for messing up the grand climax of her book.

I didn't care much for Frozen Assets at all. Another book that promised some sort of inside scoop, but said nothing except what is general knowledge (Michelle gets lots of money off endorsement contracts.) To tell the truth, Mark Lund is not among my favorites. He seems quite full of himself, in my opinion (please, mark, get a different picture for the editor's page of International Figure Skating -- one that doesn't make you look quite so much like a bad George Clooney imitation). I get a big kick out of the fact that he always votes himself onto his list of the 25 most influetial people in figure skating, LOL.

A book that I did thoroughly enjoy was Culture on Ice, by Ellyn Kestnbaum. (Dr. Kestnbaum posted a time or two on the old GS.) Don't be put off by the neo-feminist jargon on the back cover or the introduction. Actually the book (an expansion of Kestnbaum's doctoral thesis in theater) comprises a analysis critical of the traditional feminist view of the sport as presenting submissive women as sex objects to be gazed upon by audiences of powerful men (for starters, most figure skating fans are women). Fascinating book.

Mathman

I agree with Mathman's assessment.

I haven't finished reading Culture on Ice, yet.

I'm in the middle of Culture on Ice, too. Its a great book, but it is a doctoral thesis so it isn't the least bit "fluffy" and gets rather both technical and philosophical. Still a great read, though.

The Toller Cranston books are hilarious....and revealing!
One is called "Ice Cream", (I think) and another one is something like "If Hell Freezes Over, should I Bring My Skates?"

Amazon.com had them last year - you can read sample chapters.
Sorry, but I thought Brennan's were a bit of a snooze - really lacking on the "revealing" or "inside". Haven't read Lund's but have yet to hear a postive review.

I have read "Inside Edge", "Edge of Glory" and "Frozen Assets", and thought that they all were very readable. From Brennan´s books "Edge of Glory" is my favourite, because it is about Nagano Olympics and skaters preparing for them. I also found "Frozen Assets" very interesting as there so many comments by the skaters and also matters about organizing shows and tours. Steve Disson´s ( http://www.dissonskating.com/our_events/index.htm )
comments made a very good impression, in my opinion.

Marjaana

I liked Inside Edge and Edge of Glory. I just finished Frozen Assets and wondered why I wasted the money. It was okay, but the format got on my nerves. For every sentence he wrote, there were five quotes from skaters. It also jumped from one subject to another and back again. I preferred Brennan's writing style.

Welcome to the forum, Icewriter. Are you really a writer?

ITA about the writing style of Frozen Assests. The most annoying thing was, as you say, almost every paragraph started out with long quotes which were not attributed until the end. "'Blah, blah, blah, ......' shared Nancy Kerrigan." So we didn't know who was speaking until after we had read the whole paragraph.

Mathman

Thanks for all the feedback!

...and also the other book suggestions. Guess what I'll be doing this weekend! (besides watching 4C)

Thanks,

DG

Thank you for the welcome Mathman! Yes, I am indeed a writer - of the freelance variety. I wrote articles on FS competitions for my local paper as well as an online magazine (now folded) before my daughter arrived. I have been so busy with my toddler, that I haven't had an article published in some time.

'Frozen Assets" did irritate me with the quotes. I kept asking myself, "Is this a book or a magazine article?". And you were right about the very LONG quotes. Worse, you might begin reading a paragraph with Scott Hamilton's views and then hit a LONG quote assuming they are still Scott's views, only to find that they came from Paul Wylie. I do think it was full of very interesting quotes, facts, and opinions. The format, however, left me cold. But again - nothing new!