Jim has always been one of my favorite actors. Born in 65, I grew up watching "The Rockford Files" every Friday night with my dad. I remember seeing "Support Your Local Sheriff" at the horrible old Metro movie theater in Abilene, TX, when I was pretty small and--in junior high--I got hooked on watching "Maverick" on the late-night reruns.

This book is a fun way to re-live Jim's life and career. Even when he's telling about the painful parts, he manages to do it in a warm way that sometimes makes you laugh and sometimes puts a catch in your throat, but it's always interesting. Jim is willing to admit his faults, too, but somehow they just serve to make him seem more human. Bret Maverick and Jim Rockford weren't James Garner, but there was a lot of Jim in all of those characters. There's a lot of Jim in all of his characters and, after reading the book, you'll see why that is.

One thing that I found especially interesting is that Jim describes himself as a curmudgeon, and it's obvious there are some people he doesn't like, but he never sounds vindictive. It's usually just a simple, "We didn't get along"; no recriminations, no telling about what a lousy SOB this person was. Just a gentlemanly move on to other topics. And the people he liked? He's effusive in their praise. Towards the end of the book when he mentioned that he was unfailingly loyal to his friends, you have no problem believing that.