OS Book Club Pt II

[WDOgF0reL1fe]

Quote: Originally Posted by Dayman

I read **** My Dad Says in a day a couple days ago. Absolutely hilarious book. I loved every word of it.

Yes!!! Im reading it right now. I CANNOT get enough. So amazing.
I am also reading Total Access. The Rich Eisen book.
Good stuff!

[matt8204]

Just picked up "Outliers" by Malcom Gladwell. Sounds like a really interesting read and was able to get it with a Barnes & Noble gift card. Don't really like paying for books anymore, lol.

[UnStOpPaBlE]

Can anybody recommend a good sports read?

[WDOgF0reL1fe]

The Total Access book is good.
Also, Next Man Up. Cant think of the author off the top of my head though.

[SPTO]

I read about half of A Disturbance of Fate which is an alternate history of what would happen over the next 20 years if RFK had not been assassinated. Unfortunately, said book is nowhere to be found here and is out of print. I'll have to see if I can find it on Ebay or sites like that. It's a pretty good read though I think the author Mitchell J. Freedman has an overly optimistic and at times simplistic view of the "future history". He sees RFK leading a re-energized America that's closer to a socialist state then anything that could ever happen.

Essentially there's a merging of the Civil and Labor Rights movement especially down south. Then there's the whole issue of the foreign policy which is very pro Third World self determination and the the quick (too quick IMO) resolution to Vietnam. So you can see that it's a bit of a Pollyanna worldview. Still it's quite an interesting book and one I hope to someday finish reading.

There are a couple other notes one negative and one of interest:

1. I really hate how Freedman writes the dialogue of those with accents and such phonetically. It's particularly bad with southern speakers and it truly breaks up the flow of reading.

2. The really interesting thing about the book is that it's not really presented as a novel per se but almost as if it's a non-fiction history book. There are instances where you'd swear it's like reading a pop history book of an RFK that actually lived. That's a remarkable achievement and one that I have to give Freedman props for.


Right now though i'm reading an oral history of 1970s baseball called Talkin' Baseball by Phil Pepe. This book was published about a decade or so ago. It's an okay read and is pretty breezy. There are a couple good stories especially about Luis Tiant, Roberto Clemente and Nolan Ryan.

[Dice]

Behold a Pale Horse by William Cooper

This book was written in 1991 BUT there is some interesting stuff that actually applies to today.

[briand23]

Quote: Originally Posted by UnStOpPaBlE

Can anybody recommend a good sports read?

Well as a baseball lover these are a few classics:

The Natural
Bang the Drum Slowly

If you are a Fantasy baseball/sports player... a fun read is:

Fantasyland

and finally... a behind the scenes/nostalgic stat buff:

Is This a Great Game or What (Tim Kurkjian(sp))

[The GIGGAS]

I just finished reading Freakonomics, and I'm planning on borrowing Super Freakonomics from a friend.