The Highlights: The Best of Frank Keating - Tapa dura

reading this compilation of [Keating's] work is to be reminded what a great reporter and perceptive interviewer he could also be, and just how much he loved his work. As one colleague put it: "He didn't write too much about [sport's] technique or language. He wrote about its soul. (Simon Refern Independent on Sunday)

Sport isn't about putting a ball into a net or over a bar or into a hole. It's about the people who are trying to do those things ... [Frank Keating] understood that truth, which is what made him such a great sports writer ... Most of the pieces report on those friendships rather than on matches: by portraying sportsmen as they were off the pitch Keating revealed what made them succeed on it ... The writing itself is sublime. (The Spectator)

a lovingly compiled anthology of some of the best articles from the late Guardian columnist's extraordinarily prolific career... Frank's articles give the impression of a man who has won the lottery and can't believe his luck. His joy at being where he is, with the job he has, in the company he keeps, spills out of every sentence he writes. They display, too, an encyclopaedic knowledge of his subject and an elephantine memory for its minutiae. At the same time they sizzle with verbal pyrotechnics... he uses adjectives, adverbs and similes in daring and dazzling combinations to conjure up images that are rich, remarkable, and, above all, right. (The Cricketer)

[Keating's] wonderful prose lives on in this collection of his work...if you miss the evocative imagery and charming turn of phrase which Keating brought to Rugby World, this is the book for you. (Rugby World)