A friend’s husband corrected me when I said I’d “never seen that before.” _His_ father would always point out that ‘never seen’ was enough, didn’t need the ‘before’. I’m not going to stop saying it, though – I like intensifiers (also exclamation points! and ellipses… )(smile)

About the calendar: Albom isn’t taking down a paper calendar here. (I agree that if he’d done that, he might deserve a pass.) One problem with Albom generally he spells out so many obvious things; it seems to be part of his appeal.

But because Have a Little Faith is reasonably short, any overexplanation doesn’t slow down the book as much as it did, for example, Chronic City, which I reviewed last week. And I’m glad to have comments like yours, because I know from having reviewed Albom before that this post is likely to get thousands of visitors, a lot of whom may agree with you more than me.

Thanks so much for your comment!
Jan

On the first page, Albom has Al Lewis telling him he thinks he’d be a “good choice” for his eulogy. I didn’t mention the frequent self-congratulation mainly because the book has so many other problems. And I wonder if this is one of those cases where the egotism masks a deep insecurity — if Albom is trying to reassure himself of his worth as much as others. But I’m glad you brought it up because I’m sure it will turn off some people, and you’ve warned them.