Proud Daddy

.

The Big O just completed what will, in all likelihood, be his last-ever Little League game (he's going on a weeklong backcountry backpacking trip and missing the rest of the All-Star Tournament; if they win, he could be back for the NorCals then on to the West and the Little League World Series!). He pitched great. Eight up eight down, then a comebacker that hurt his catching hand. After four more outs (and no additional runners), he was moved to right field to give his bruised hand a break.

In the first inning, he took a bases-loaded ball four to walk in the first (and only necessary) run. The mercy rule ended the game halfway through the fifth inning, 14–0.

(He did bat once, after his injury, and his coach had him lay down his first bunt of the year. He almost beat the throw, but not quite.)

I was thinking about it, and since the post-season began, the Big O's pitching has been exemplary. The post-season is the three-game series to win his league, the Tournament of Champions, and the all-star series. The first series his team went 2–1; the second, 2–1; this one, so far, 3–1. In games O has started, his teams have gone 7–1. When he did not pitch, they were 0–2. Wow.

Keep it alive, kids! He'll be back all healed and filthy in just one week!

As an addendum, some words from his coach.

Not the top player in any tool, but in the 90th percentile on all of them.
A curveball no player on any team can see.
By far the best overall player in the league.
A really good kid.

Allow me to comfort you with failure and sin and escape

.

047) The Natural by Bernard Malamud, finished March 28

Knock another baseball classic off the list! I'm done early enough, maybe I'll fit in a nonfiction baseball book this year as well. We'll see.

This book is exceedingly modern---it's heavy with the Arthur imagery and the time symbolism and the symbolism through sex and the ending is very modern as well. This is stuff that often annoys me---and I'm not about to claim this is one of the greatest novels evah, but this book managed it all in a short 237 pages, so we'll forgive it.

My version included a couple nice intros (only one of which I read before the book) which get into the symbolism of the novel but which, for me, may have been of most interest because they were written thirty years after the novel which was written about that long before the events of the novel---in otherwords, they engaged in recursive nostalgia. They were well written and interesting and incisive, but they assumed a certain sort of lived experience shared between themselves and those who might pick up The Natural and read their introductions.

Obviously, I'm too far removed from Babe Ruth or the Black Sox to even have any inherited nostalgia---it's all book-lernin to me. Which isn't qute the same thing. But I think the novel does just fine without those elements. In fact, having those memories not be personal perhaps allows the book to be even more mythic in its scope.

Could be.

At any rate, it's a tragedy. And somehow I did not expect that.

(Incidentally, I haven't seen the movie since I was a kid, say around eight. I remember very little. But now that I've read the novel I'll have to rewatch it.)

maybe twenty days



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046) Let Me Drown with Moses by James Goldberg, finished March 26

If I make time for it, I hope to write two reviews on two different sites about this poetry collection.

I might say so now, but this is the first book I've read on my Kindle and I can't figure out how to access my notes....

seven months



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045) Kaptara Volume 1: Fear Not, Tiny Alien by Chip Zdarsky and Kagan McLeod, finished March 25

Okay. So imagine a Frazetta imagining of The Princess of Mars + Masters of the Universe + Douglas Adams-lite jokes + Sassy Gay Friend + Xanth + my high-school experience of making up stuff to make each other laugh (minus all the sex jokes because we were remarkably clean kids).

I can see why people talk so highly of the gentlemen who made this volume.

say a week



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044) The Big Book of Exit Strategies by Jamaal May, finished March 22

This is the longest of the single-author collections I've read this year, but it's also one of the strongest. It does have one flaw (some sets of poems are clearly just variations on each other) but it's okay because they do draw out and expand upon each other, even if I doubt they were originally meant to be placed beside each other. (That said, were I May's editor, I would have axed some of them.)

The book is remarkably coherent as a whole considering how long it is (~120pp). Although some of the poems were a bit too obtuse and others needed tightening, I enjoyed this book. Well done.

nineteen days

Previously in 2017

Stuff you didn't know about me

.

086) A Wolf at the Door and Other Retold Fairy Tales edited by , Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, finished August 31

I forget why I ran this book down. Perhaps I just saw Neil Gaiman's name then noticed Gregory Maguire and Patricia McKillip's names as well and thought, hey, why not? Dunno. The point is that I'm glad I picked it up and I quickly switched from planning to read a couple stories from names I know to eagerly reading one after another.

For a YA collection, the variety was terrific. From retellings that stayed very classic to modern settings to postmodern deconstructions. A little bit of everything. Some of my favorites were from writers I didn't know (and one was from a writer I only knew from her introduction to book #085).

Frankly, the best book of fairy tales I've read in some time.

over two weeks



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085) Castle Waiting by Linda Medley, finished August 30

I loved the for-a-buck Castle Waiting novel I picked up at Escapist. When I learned more was available, I availed myself of the library. This volume includes a prologue, then what I had already read, then more. (I've put volume two on hold and am eagerly anticipating volume three.)

Having just read the Castle Waiting I own, I had planned to skip those chapters during this read. But the writing and art (and thus the characters and scenes) are so friendly and likable and inviting that I couldn't say no to an invitation to travel old roads with them again. And I'm someone who pretty much never rereads anything any more.

The charms of Castle waiting are largely mundane, domestic. People about their daily lives. And yes, this is a fantasy novel so everyday life includes sprites and golden eggs, but these aren't great heroes about derring-do. These are people. People so richly drawn that they feel like friends. An afternoon at Castle Waiting would rank high among my travels were I Thursday Next and tired of Jane Eyre.

maybe two weeks



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084) An Amorous Discourse in the Suburbs of Hell by Deborah Levy, finished August 30

This is a novel in verse, I suppose, in dialogue form, "He" and "she" taking turns speaking. "He" is a mortal man and "she" is an angel. Eventually they get on each other's nerves. She gets most of the best lines. Ultimately, however, it's pretty hard to tell what this is all about. Maybe this is a Poe issue. Although short enough to be read in one sitting, I'm not sure I was able to cram the whole thing in my brain at once. I could blame this on it being too literary, but I don't think that was the problem. The fact that sometimes I would forget who was talking was a bigger problem---only two characters? They should be more distinguishable. Anyway. Complaints aside, if you're looking for a manageable bit of book-length poetry, you could do much worse. Plus, it'll look cool on your shelf.

one morning and afternoon



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083) Women at Church: Magnifying LDS Women's Local Impact by Neylan McBaine, finished August 30

ORIGINALLY POSTED ON
BY COMMON CONSENT

Neylan McBaine's name seems to be a bit like Joseph Smith's---known for good and evil (though without the same kind of among-all-people reach). It's fascinating how to some she is Moses come off the mountain and to others she's Uncle Tom. I think she's sensible enough to reject both those labels, but if those were the only two options, I would choose the former. But if she is Moses, she's more of a Greek Moses, not with anything written in stone, but with a wandering series of questions and reasonable answers and followup questions that lead to a seemingly inevitable conclusion.

Here I jump in and wonder if audience bias plays a role in how things "seem." Do I, Theric, find McBain convincing because I already assume that part of the Restoration is ever greater equality of the sexes and surely excerpts from the Nauvoo Relief Society Minute Book will be added to the D&C any Conference now? If I were one of those Twitter Stake trolls who make fun of the women giving talks during #ldsconf, would this book help me see past my sociopathy? Or, more importantly, if I were a well meaning bishop to whom it's simply never occurred to ask a woman for feedback on my Mother's Day plans, could this book increase empathy and lead to openings in my ward's spiritual growth? Or would I nod wisely and wink at my counselors and just keep on keepin' on? Buy one for your local chicken patriarch and let me know.

Regardless, this is a valuable book---and I think most people desire to see the Church grow in the direction of inclusion. Wily as she is, McBaine has grounded her discussion in what is currently allowed by the Handbook of Instructions, those blue and red books leadership is obliged to follow. Her strict adherence to these rules---even though they are merely temporarily immutable---makes her ideas both immediately implementable and, presumably, less horrifying to the conservative.

That she is swearing by the book as currently constituted brings her credibility that gives her ideas weight they can gain in no other way. Thus, when she screws up her following-of-the-book, she risks damaging her credibility. Here's an "unimportant" example---indeed, the only one I noticed:

...a ward council meeting officially includes ten men: the bishop, his two counselors, the executive secretary, ward clerk, high priests group leader, elders quorum president, ward mission leader, Young Men's president, and the Sunday School president. Three women are included: the presidents of the Relief Society, Young Women, and Primary. Priesthood executive council (PEC) consists of all ten men from the ward council, with a potential invitation to the Relief Society president. The Young Men president is a permanent member of the priesthood executive committee, but the Young Women president is not even on the list of potential invitees.... the presence of twenty male voices in the two meetings is counterbalanced by the voice of three female voices (maybe four if the Relief Society president attends PEC). [43-44]

McBaine's point is that men have far more representation in ward-level councils than women. It's an important point that deserves discussion. And so she does. Here's my problem with what she's said (and note I already know I'm being persnickety): Aaaactually, the Sunday School president isn't invited to PEC either. Not according to the Handbook. So it's reeeeally 19:3.

That doesn't change the nature of the problem at all. Not at all. The problem is that if someone's reading this book under duress and looking for reasons to dismiss McBaine's arguments, this sort of petty mistake can lead to all sorts of uncharity.

Another mistake that threw me out was the story of a young Primary girl who wants to sing about the Armies of Shelaman. It's a charming story about a young Provo girl who was sick of being just a girl in a room overwhelmed with stories of boys and who carved herself a place. She's just a kid but she feels neglected, and the story is powerful proof that we need to lengthen our cords.

My problem this time? That story didn't happen in Provo. It happened right here in good old Berkeley.

Now look: I believe these were simple, editorial oversights. And they're the only two such errors I noticed. But the fact I found any makes me wonder how many I missed and any errors---but especially Handbook errors---damage McBaine's grounded-in-the-Handbook ethos. In fact, someone more cynical than me could think of reasons why those errors might be intentional (19:3 might be bad but 20:3 is worse and everything must sound as awful as possible) (this story works better in Provo---admit it was Berkeley and most saints will reject it as hippy nonsense), and the fight against any perception that she's manipulating facts is absolutely vital to the book's success.

But enough about that. Let's speak of the book's successes.

The first and greatest success, I think, is simply the massive collection of stories. We learn from each other, and if a woman would like to participate in her child's name and blessing but has never seen a mother do so before, how will she know she can ask? who to ask? what to ask for? Women at Church shares several different ways women have already participated in this event. Suddenly we have options.

The same can be said of past successes at getting women's voices heard in councils, finding equal(er) footing among their priesthood leaders, supporting women in their stewardships, empowering women to use their strengths within the body of Christ, etc. The book is loaded with useful tales. And some cautionary ones as well.

Stories are vital for building empathy, and empathy is the only way out of this rut we're in. Only by loving our neighbor as ourselves can all of us become one. Jesus didn't teach with stories by accident, you know.

I don't want to get into the (in my opinion) frustrating history of the Relief Society, nor do I want to debate the ultimate value of Correlation---even though both these stories are fascinating and vital---but I do think it worth mentioning that McBaine touches on both. She's not controversial---she more relays the facts than comments upon them---but, even without moralizing, that history helps us understand that our latter-day trajectory is sending us towards women with authority and power, rib-cracking hiccups notwithstanding. I can only believe that Women at Church is best understood as a helpful reminder of where we're headed and a kindly suggestion of where to step next.

This might be the historical "moment when [we] have gone to the edge of the light" and must step "into the darkness [only] to discover that the way is lighted ahead for just a footstep or two." Our wards and stakes might be stumbling forward at different paces, but we can all make sure that the direction is, in fact, forward. And this little book can help.

two-plus months



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082) The League of Outsider Baseball: An Illustrated History of Baseball's Forgotten Heroes by Gary Cieradkowski, finished August 25

This is one of the best collection of nuggets I can remember reading. Every story fascinates and Cieradkowski's art is terrific. I just got distracted after that last sentence, adding things I learned to Wikipedia. It's an hour later.

Each story is bitesize---some nibbles, some a full box of nuggets---and all are worth reading. Whether its players everyone knows like Babe Ruth and Roberto Clemente, classic Negro Leaguers like Cool Papa Bell and Josh Gibson, nobodies you'll never hear of anywhere else, and people you know better from somewhere else---like an Eisenhower or a Bush or a Kerouac.

Man it was fun.

Read it slow though---no reason to speed through it and realize that some of these legends collide uncomfortably against each other.

Or that one out of every four greats was called the Babe Ruth of X.

Anyway. Don't wait for the book! Start now by perusing the original website!

over a month





Previously in 2014 . . . . :

I like baseball. I like young crushes. But I love you. And I respect death.

.

021) Love Letters of the Angels of Death by Jennifer Quist, finished March 14

a

I was scheduled to go under the knife today, but instead I postponed that in order to just go to work and, as it ends up, finish reading this novel as I walked here. (This is the first week I've ever taken the Nook out of the house and until I have some sort of wrist strap, I don't know that I will continue this process. Also, I think free epub or not, I may buy this book as a gift for my wife. Though many of our surface traits differ, this novel or marriage captures something ineffable about our own.)

Here's my AMV review (going up tomorrow). Here, though, I want to discuss the second-to-last chapter and whether or not it is a mistake or . . . not. Spoiler alert: I'm leaning mistake. I might approach the author later about the questions I raise here. If you don't want to know about the final pages of the novel though, click here.

La de dah.

La de dah de dah.

La lum.

Okay. All those people gone?

Onward!

The novel is, as the title suggests, love letters from one angel of death to another. You can get some more into why this earthy Mormon couple are angels of death, but, in a very literal sense, the husband---and narrator---is dead. So there's that. And he narrates the entire book. except for this penultimate chapter we're getting to. He seems to've been restored to a perfect knowledge of all things related to him and her and theirs---he knows details about her she does not know. Sometimes because she was too young to see herself so clearly, sometimes because things happened to fast, sometimes because emotions were too high, sometimes because they were simply too long ago. The details and loving eye with which he reads her life is moving.

Then, in the penultimate chapter, it is revealed to readers like me who should have seen it coming but did not, that he is dead. That's how he knows all this. It's not simply because of their years of marriage and emotional intimacy. It's because he no longer sees with the eyes of flesh.

And so the "reason" for the break in the final chapter is that he no longer can see her as clearly as he can see what's gone before. Okay. Ish. Maybe. But any argument you can make for that decision is undermined by the return to his speaking to her in second-person in the final chapter. There we learn that he sees her present less clearly as time goes by. But not so unclearly that he did not clearly see everything that happened in the chapter before. So why the heck the p-o-v switcheroo?

The previous chapter ends with some painfully beautiful explanations of how mothers and fathers sacrifice children into the world (I literally---and I know what literally means---was stunned at a couple points. I had to stop walking and take in what I had just---not merely read---experienced. And so the break in p-o-v allows the killer final line of the previous chapter hang in the air longer. Maybe. I mean, I can make that argument, but I'm not sure I believe it.

My best guess is that switching p-o-vs when revealing the narrator's death was to avoid waxing maudlin, but the whiplash ain't worth it. The switch back into his p-o-v is the bad kind of stunning and starts off embarrassingly epiloguey. Not to worry---Quist moves past the pat, just-so-ness of the opening paragraphs and finds the best possible ending sentence (even better than that ending the third-to-last chapter!), but I puzzle and I puzzle and I can come up with no decent reason to lapse into a traditional third-person narration for that third chapter. And even if there was a good reason, why not try on her point of view for a change? Isn't she an angel of death herself? Haven't we all but seen her wings?

Anyway. That's my big issue with the novel. I think it's still apt to get my vote for best novel in the general category in this year's Whitney's, but we'll see how that chapter sinks into my lasting impression. I don't think it can damage my otherwise powerfully positive feeling, but we shall see. We shall see.

a few pleasurable weeks



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020) The Iowa Baseball Confederacy: A Novel by W. P. Kinsella, finished March 12

Just as I read at least one scary book every October, I think I'll have to start reading at least one baseball book every spring. (Baseball's the only sport with enough good literature to support such a habit. Which is no coincidence. See A. Bartlett Giamatti's Take Time for Paradise if you doubt it's the sport's artistic value.) This particular book I picked up free (huzzah!)---and based on my recent viewing of Field of Dreams (based on another Kinsella book) and the explicit recommendation of NYU's president, I decided to read it even though I have waaaay too many other books going just now.

I'm glad I did. There were a few moments that the magical realism went to far (the appearance of Leonardo) or at first seemed to go to far (the animation of the Black Angel), but overall the magic works. Absurdity is an inherent part of all sport (and art and religion and every other worthy human pursuit), and embracing that absurdity is valuable. I have three baseball novellas in the writing or the planning, and now I think I need to think about writing a magical one as well.

Consider this novel for your own future Spring Trainings.

at most a month but surely less



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019) The Complete Peanuts: 1989 - 1990 by Charles M. Schulz, finished March 11

Another terrific pair of years. But I'm a little freaked out that the marble story isn't there. I have clear memories of reading the marble story and cutting out the strips and collecting them when my family lived in Clovis and I was in junior high. But that era is over and the marbles have not appeared.

Memory, suffice it to say, is hella unreliable.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

In other news, Lemony Snicket's introduction is a work of genius. He really is one of my favorite thinkers on art. And he captures Peanuts as well or better than any other intro to date.

over a month



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018) Captain Underpants and the Perilous Plot of Professor Poppypants by Dav Pilkey, finished ?

Yep. Another one.

a few days




Previously in 2014 . . . . :

A is for A

.

The Pirates are playing tonight. But my kids are Friday ready.

Athletics at Pirates

.

Since my return to baseball fandom, the A's and the Pirates have not played each other.

Some background:

I grew up a Pirates fan. The Pirates near misses at a World Series berth in the early 1990s is the reason I despise the Braves.

A few years ago Lady Steed and I moved to the East Bay and unexpectedly conceived a baseball team. Since then, I have listened to so so many A's games on the radio.

What I don't know is if I have, as Sexton describes, fully converted from my old faith. And if interleague play didn't exist, I would still be waiting.

I wish I were.

The boys and I went to Grandpa's house yesterday to watch the first game in this three game series.

I was conflicted the entire game. I was always cheering for the team that seemed to be slightly less advantaged in the moment or cheering for the team that was making an amazing play (eg). I didn't know how I wanted the game to end until the end of the eighth and the Pirates were down by one. I wanted Balfour to break the record and keep his streak intact so, sorry Bucs, the A's needed to win.

You may have noticed that I've linked to more A's stuff and dropped more A's names. With no Pirates games on the radio around here, I just know the A's players better than the Pirates crew. And so it's just easier for me to cheer for Sogard than Marte.

But both teams are at the top of their divisions! They both need to stay there! But even splitting the games (were that possible in a three-game series) isn't good enough to stay there: they both need to continue their wellll above-500 winning ways.

So right now, as I type, Gerrit Cole. Love that rookie. And Dan Straily sits waiting to stand back up. They're both pitching so well.

I swear.

If they meet in the World Series, I may end up getting institutionalized.

At least, either way, I know to wear yellow.

I got to stop typing and start listening.

There will be no rewriting today.

Oh! Hey! Moss just put the A's ahead. Cool. Darn it.

Death in a variety of colors. Also: baseball.

.

046) The Red Diary / The Re[a]d Diary by Teddy Kristiansen / Steven T. Seagle, finished April 28

The only thing I like more than a clever artistic experiment is a clever artistic experiment that results in great art.

Seagle had a copy of Kristiansen's book in a language he could not read. He wanted to publish it. But the publishing collective he was part of only allowed work by members. So he made up new words for the pictures, and the book as now available is both a legit English translation of the original and Seagle's made-up version, based on the sizes of the text blocks and the names he saw scattered throughout.

Astonishingly, both are good. If I had to choose I favorite, I might even choose Seagle's. But it's a tough call. Both are pretty great.

I'm intrigued by the experiment. I need to find a narrative artist willing to make an ambiguous visual story who will allow various writers to fill in the bubbles in various ways. Oh what fun we'll have.

Perhaps---as is demonstratively possible---we'll even make something good.

perhaps two weeks



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045) The Five Books of Jesus by James Goldberg, finished April 22

Excellent book. Read my review on AMV.

over a month



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044) The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare, finished April 20

Haven't read this since college and the thing was not organized as I imagined it might be. I've been reading it along with my students and I think it's going to enter the regular rotation. We've had so much to talk about. I think next year we read this, THEN we read Hamlet. Just doing Hamlet is tough to handle. The comedies are a breeze and this one's so discomfiting that it's easy to generate conversation. Go, Shakes!

one workweek



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043) Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Volume 6 by Hayao Miyazaki, finished April 18

(still holding off till I finish the final volume)

two or three nights



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042) Baseball as a Road to God: Seeing Beyond the Game by John Sexton with Thomas Oliphant and Peter J. Schwartz, finished April 15

I loved this book. I loved the stories, I loved the organization, I loved the arguments. Granted, I reject a couple of the religious notions but, overall, I am sympatico. I rushed through the bulk of the book. Each night another inning. What a way to spend spring training!

Two paragraphs from near the end to set the theme:

. . . I have tried to show how many of the elements we find in baseball---faith, doubt, conversion, accursedness, blessings---are elements associated with the religious experience; that inside the game the formative material of spirituality can be found. In short, viewed through a certain lens, baseball evokes the essence of religion. If we open ourselves to the rhythms and intricacies of the game, if we sharpen our noticing capacity, if we allow the timelessness and intensity of the game's most magnificent moments to shine through, the resulting heightened sensitivity might give us a sense of the ineffable, the transcendent. (213 in the ARC)

In our times it s fashionable to force a choice between the worlds of science and religion, of the mind and the soul. Either/or. This, in my view, is a false dichotomy---and perhaps in this collection of baseball stories analyzed through a lens (and an intellectual tradition) usually reserved for the study of what are obviously religious experiences can cause some to see why. I embrace enthusiastically the joys of the intellectual life; but I reject the notion that, as a consequence, I must forfeit the wonders of a deeply transformative religious life. (215)

a couple monthsish



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041) The Hand of Glory by Stephen Carter, finished April 13

Read my review on AMV.

three days



Previously in 2013 . . . . :


Books 35 - 40

040) Leprechaun in Late Winter by Mary Pope Osborne, finished April 8
039) You Know When the Men Are Gone by Siobhan Fallon, finished April 7
038) Illiterature: Story Minutes, Vol. I by Carol Lay, finished April 2
037) "Who Could That Be at This Hour?" by Lemony Snicket, finished March 29
036) Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Vol. 5 by Hayao Miyazaki, finished March 29
035) Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Vol. 4 by Hayao Miyazaki, finished March 28

Books 26 - 34

034) The New Yorker Book of Cat Cartoons, finished March 24
033) What Shat That? by Matt Pagett, finished March 24
032) Zombies Hate Stuff by Greg Stones, finished March 22
031) Jews and Words by Amos Oz and Fania Oz-Salzberger, finished March 22
030) Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, vol 3 by Hayao Miyazaki, finished March 13
029) The Princess Bride: Shooting Draft by William Goldman, finished March 11
028) The History of Joseph Smith by His Mother by Lucy Mack Smith, finished March 5
027) Scott Pilgrim vs the World by Edgar Wright & Michael Bacall, finished March 5
026) Screenplay by Syd Field, finished March 3

Books 22 - 25

025) Mortal Syntax by June Casagrande, finished March 2
024) The Roots of the Olive Tree by Courtney Miller Santo, finished March 1
023) Moby Dick by Herman Melville, finished February 28
022) Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth by Apostolos Doxiadis & Christos H. Papadimitriou & Alecos Papadatos & Annie Di Donna, finished February 22

Books 20 - 21

021) The Complete Peanuts 1985-1986 by Charles M. Schulz, finished February 22
020) The Princess Bride by William Goldman, finished February 20

Books 14 - 19

019) Magic Tree House #10: Ghost Town at Sundown by Mary Pope Osborne, finished February 17
018) The Report Card by Andrew Clements, finished February 17
017) Justice (volume one) by AUTHOR, finished February 16
016) The Green Mile by Stephen King, finished February 15
015) Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl, finished February 12
014) The Silver Cord: Book One ~ Nephilim by Kevin Kelly et al., finished February 7

Books 8 - 13

013) Teen Titans: The Prime of Life by JT Krul and Nicola Scott, finished February 2
012) Batman: Vampire by Doug Moench and Kelley Jones and John Beatty and Malcolm Jone III, finished February second
011) Isaac Asimov's Treasury of Humor by Isaac Asimov, finished January 26
010) Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind, Perfect Collection 1 by Hayao Miyazaki, finished January 22
009) The Complete Peanuts 1983-1984 by Charles M. Schulz, finished January 21
008) My Letter to the World by Emily Dickinson, finished January 21

Books 1 - 7

007) Spacecave One by Jake Parker, finished January 19
006) The Antler Boy and Other Stories by Jake Parker, finished January 19
005) The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons, finished January 14
004) The Crab with the Golden Claws by Hergé, finished January 14
003) The Adventures of Tintin: Red Rackham's Treasure by Hergé, finished January 11
002) Using the Common Core State Standards... edited by Joyce VanTassel-Baska, Ed.D., finished January 10
001) Jellaby by Kean Soo, finished January 8

Time for a baseball talk A Year of Yellow?

.

Last year around this time, I was bemoaning the hapless teams our family follows. The Pirates would end the year breaking their own record for number of losing seasons in a row. The Athletics would also post a losing season.

[Review: I am a Pirates fan from childhood. The A's are our local team and the team my kids have adopted.]

Both franchises have storied histories, but their recent histories have been lousy.

This year, though, things are different. As of today, the A's have the third best record in the AL. The Pirates are the third best in the NL.

The Pirates seem absolutely destined for a postseason berth. The A's have a great chance themselves. In other words, an all-yellow World Series is feasible. I won't know how to deal with that.

But what seems certain is that neither yellow team will have more Ls than Ws this year. And that is remarkable.

Even more remarkable? The always sucky Washington Nationals look like a shoo-in to win their division and the long sucky Orioles are second to the Yankees in theirs.

This is one of the best years for baseball ever.

Is Pujols worth the money?

.

I'm reading a biography of Al Simmons right now (gift from the publisher) and it's got me to thinking about Albert Pujols and his recent run to Anaheim for lots and lots of money. Now, no question Pujols is a terrific athlete and one of the greatest baseball players of all time, but he's getting old. He failed to tie Al's MLB record of starting a career with 100+ RBIs 11 seasons in a row. Now sure, 99 is nothing to sniff at, but Pujols is slowing down. Simmons's 12th season was far off his previous marks. Injuries start to accumulate (Pujols missed 13 games last season), power gets softer and less consistent----

Now, I'm not questioning Pujols's importance to the Cardinals last season, and on the right team he can still be an important force. But he's like Simmons---one of the best batters of his generation (some said Simmons was better than the Babe) and aging rapidly. He'll still hit some amazing balls, and maybe DHing will keep him in more games, but he's not going to last forever.

I'm not saying anything new here, but reading about Simmons----

Well. Maybe the Angels didn't get such a sure thing.

Philosophy & Baseball

.

058) Take Time for Paradise by A. Bartlett Giamatti, finished August 11


This is a book about baseball. Sort of. It's supposed to be about baseball. The subtitle, "Americans and Their Games", the cover image (Fenway Park), and the number of times the word "baseball" is used on the cover (nine on my ARC), one might expect a bit more baseball than is actually featured.

But here's a list of his other books, to give you a sense of who this author is:

The Earthly Paradise and the Renaissance Epic Play of Double Senses: Spenser’s Faerie Queene The University and the Public Interest Exile and Change in Renaissance Literature

Giamatti, before becoming commissioner of Major League Baseball, was Yale's youngest president and before that a professor of literature thereat. So that's the person writing this book.

The book is broken into three sections, which I'll talk about separately.

Self-Knowledge

Even though it's not really about baseball (at all), this is my favorite of the three sections. In essence, Giamatti argues that work should be defined as that which staves off death. Leisure, in contrast, is what we do to celebrate death staved off.

Leisure includes school (our English word comes from the Greek word for leisure, incidentally --- Giamatti can never resist a chance to poke in a bit of etymology) and sport, both. Leisure activities such as these exist in a space outside death / not death. It is our original Paradise. It is freedom of mind and body.

Art and sport and study are all activities we do outside our battle with death.

Compelling stuff and fun arguments.

Community

Here we get a similar set of arguments that suggest that cities are the great artifacts of human culture and what cities mean and how sports tie into citylife. Interesting, but I'm kind of ready to see how baseball is more compelling than other sports already.

Baseball as Narrative

In this sliver of a book, this is a sliver of a section.

I have often argued that sports --- let's be specific and say football --- is symbolic warfare, two armies battling it out on the field. But that story doesn't work so well with baseball. And Giamatti makes a compelling argument that the archetype baseball calls on is the Odyssey. Leaving home and, through dangers, attempting to return home.

And then he shows why this story applies especially well to Americans. This part got short shrift, imho, but I got the gist.

And then he tells a story about the 1987 NLCS which I suppose is illustrative of his arguments and that is certainly poetically written.

And then the little epilogue which is a nice little summary. The end.

Did I like the book? Yes. Would I recommend it? Yes. It's only 100 pages and well written and smart, which is nice. I like a bit of philosophy with my sports. But it wasn't quite what I was expecting and I think it's a little less baseball than promised. So expect that. Because it's not how they're selling it


a monthish

skip to comments

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Previously in 2011 . . . . :

53-57
057) The Shining by Stephen King, finished August 9
056) I Don't Want to Kill You by Dan Wells, finished August 6
055) Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs, finished August 2
054) Moneyball by Michael Lewis, finished July 12
053) Madman New Giant Size Super Ginchy Special by Mike Allred et al, finished approximately July 9

51-52
052) The Influencing Machine by Brooke Gladstone and Josh Neufeld, finished July 8
051) Wilson by Daniel Clowes, finished July 6

46-50
050) Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut, finished July 1
049) Housekeeping vs. The Dirt by Nick Hornby, finished June 25
048) The Light Princess by George Macdonald, finished June 22
047) Half a Life by Darin Strauss, finished June 17
046) Babymouse: Cupcake Tycoon by Jennifer L. Holm and Matt Holm (siblings), finished June 16

42-45
045) Ender in Exile by Orson Scott Card, finished June 10
044) Writings from The New Yorker 1927-1976 by E.B. White (edited by Rebecca M. Dale), finished June 7
043) The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin, finished May 31
042) Unnamed book by unnamed client (MS POLICY),
finished May 27

33-41
041) Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour by Bryan Lee O'Malley, finished May 14
040) Scott Pilgrim Versus The Unverse by Bryan Lee O'Malley, finished May 14
039) Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together by Bryan Lee O'Malley, finished May 13
037) The Code of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse, finished May 11
036) Scott Pilgrim Versus The World by Bryan Lee O'Malley
035) Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life by Bryan Lee O'Malley
034) The Complete Peanuts 1975-1976 by Charles M. Schulz, finished May 1
033) Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli finished approximately April 27

32
032) Golden Gate by Seth Vikram, finished April 20

27-31
031) Batman: Year 100 by Paul Pope, finished April 18
030) The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby, finished April 9
029) iZombie: Dead to the World by Chris Roberson and Mike Allred, finished April 2
028) A Sense of Order and Other Stories by Jack Harrell, finished April 1
027) Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard, finished March 30

26
026) The Black Dogs by Ian McEwan, finished March 21

23-25
025) Stitches by David Small, finished March 20
024) Arkham Asylum: Madness by Sam Kieth, finished January 19 or 20
023) Hamlet by William Shakespeare, finished March 18

21-22
022) Red Rocket 7 by Mike Allred, finished March 10
021) Missile Mouse: Rescue on Tankium3 by Jake Parker, finished March 10

20
020) The Hotel Cat by Esther Averill, finished February 28

18-19
019) Wonderland by Tommy Kovac and Sonny Liew, finished February 21
018) Redcoat by Kohl Glass (MS POLICY), finished February 18

14-17
017) Best American Comics 2010 edited by Neil Gaiman, finished February 12
016) Little Bee by Chris Cleave, finished February 10
015) Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck, finished February 2
014) Cursed Pirate Girl: The Collected Edition Vol. I by Jeremy Bastian, finished January 31

13-9
013) Sweet Tooth: In Captivity by Jeff Lemire, finished January 30
012) Sweet Tooth: Out of the Woods by Jeff Lemire, finished January 30
011) Essex County: The Country Nurse by Jeff Lemire, finished January 30
010) Essex County: Ghost Stories by Jeff Lemire, finished January 29
009) Essex County: Tales from the Farm by Jeff Lemire, finished January 29

8
008) Magdalene by Morah Jovan, finished January 27

7-6
007) Knightfall Part Two: Who Rules the Night by a slew of DC folk, finished January 23
006) Bayou by Jeremy Love, finished January 17

5-1
005) Mr. Monster by Dan Wells, finished January 10
004) The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane, finished January 6
003) The Mystery of the Dinosaur Graveyard by Mary Adrian, finished January 5
002) Batman - Judge Dredd: Judgment on Gotham by John Wagner and Alan Grant and Simon Bisley, with lettering by the famous Todd Klein; finished January 4
001) Batman: Venom by Dennis O'Neil et al, finished January 2

A few thoughts about baseball

.

I was raised a Pirates fan. I'm not sure why my father, raised in Nephi, Utah, was a Pirates fan or how a man who never watched sports managed to pass that on to his son, but I am a Pirates fan. I watched the early-90s playoff games from my Tehachapi, California tv, mourned the firesale when the team got rid of all its best players and then lost its manager, then stopped reading the sports section when they went on the longest losing-season streak in American pro-sports history.

My boys are Oakland A's fans. This is because, hey, they're the local team. My kids have somehow made themselves into baseball nuts and the Atleticos are their team. I have no problem with this (although seriously: the American League?) and it's been fun to be reintroduced to baseball. We go to a few games a year and we have a good time. My only real memories of the A's from my childhood though are the Battle of the Bay tshirts and that earthquake.

The A's this year are not terrible-terrible. Yes, they're currently last in their division, but they're not so far back they could get caught up. Although it's getting harder and harder to imagine that happening.

The Pirates on the other hand are not only above 500 for the first time in almost 20 years, they're only a game and a half out of first place in their division. I almost can't wrap my head around it.

But if either team makes it to the playoffs, it will be a miracle against money. Consider that the Yankees pay a salary of $202,689,028 (that's an average of $6,756,300 per player, $2,100,000 median). Last year's champs the Giants? $118,198,333 ($4,377,716, $2,200,000). The A's on the other hand: $66,536,500 ($2,376,303, $1,400,000). And the Pirates a measly $45,047,000 ($1,553,344, $450,000 --- just 36 grand over minimum wage).

Now look. I'm a school teacher. You don't have to tell me those wages make little sense, but that's not the point. The point is the Yanks can buy anyone they want (well, almost anyone) and the Pirates can't, so when the Pirates make a run for the playoffs, it's big freaking news.

If you'll remember the title of this post, I'm just sharing a "few thoughts" here. I'm telling you that now in case you're expecting this post to gel at some point while, in fact, I'm about to take another tangent.

According to this article, with the new success, the Pirates are getting more people in the ballpark after years of "a steady erosion of the ballclub's fan base". Yet the numbers they threw out surprised me. According to the article, they're averaging "22,695 [fans] a game, up from 19,919 last season" and on "On Monday, the Pirates played in front of a fourth consecutive home sellout".

Compare this to the A's. I heard earlier in the week that a home game had eleven-some thousand. And Wednesday (when they sell $2 tickets, which sold out), they only sold nineteen-some. This for a team that, at the beginning of the season, had real hopes of winning their division. In fact, before that nasty ten-game losing streak, they were #1 for a couple days. Yet their average must be below the Pirates' last year when they were pretty much guaranteed to suck. (To match last year's record, this year's Pirates can't win more than 13 more games the rest of this season.)

In fact though, the A's are averaging nineteen-something this year (probably because of the sold-out Giants games....) --- 2,000 higher than last year, which, in turn, is 2,000 less than the Pirates averaged last year.

There's been a lot of chat around here about The A's Need a New Stadium!!!! but I don't like that talk. First because I probably can't afford to take my kids to nearly as many games at a nice new (expensive) part and second because I like the old park. I like the history (four World Series wins!). I like it's old-school charm.

But it's also true that sold out, the A's sell about 9,000 fewer tickets than the Phillies sell to an average game.

But I don't like hearing about a new stadium for another reason. Viz. I don't want my kids team to move to some ungodly place like San Jose.

(Incidentally, this is punk too. When it looked like the Giants were going to have to move to Florida, the A's gave --- gave! --- San Jose to them as part of their area which somehow made their staying here possible. Now the A's want to move to San Jose and the Giants won't give it up. Punk. But, that said, I don't want the A's to move there anyway.)

I don't want to drive to San Jose! It's too far away! And now that my kids have picked a team, I don't want them to attend mostly Giants games. (Not that they would. I can't afford that. School teacher.)

And that's another thing! Summer baseball is supposed to be egalitarian! Something for all Americans! But not many stadiums are offering two-buck tickets. I feel pretty confident guessing that.

And while we're on the subject. Why are the A's games only on cable! What the crap is that? If I don't subscribe to Comcast (or mlb.tv online) I can't get tickets? I bought an antennae for my laptop just so my kids could watch the A's but of the 2,000-plus MLB games played each year, only a spattering appear on broadcast tv. So much for the proletariat.....

Anyway, of all the sports, baseball is the only one I've ever successfully cared about.

So thanks for letting me vent. I may add more in the comments in the coming weeks, but I don't plan on writing another post like this for a while.





Okay. One more thing. Why does the Pirates logo suck so much. I mean: look at this!

What is that crap? I mean --- I like the idea of using a, you know, pirate, but what's this guy?

On the brighter side, they also use this:

Anyway, click on either of those logos to see the highs and lows of Pirate logo-design over the years. It's quite a range.

The A's starters are off to a great start, but they're still losing almost everything. (In other news, I've been a Pirates fan waaay too long to take their strong start at all seriously.)

.

My boys are incredible baseball nuts (A's fans, to be specific). We don't have tv so I bought an antennae for my laptop and now we get about 50 stations mostly in HD, but you know what? They don't broadcast baseball. Maybe one game a week and those are just the game selected for national play. So maybe two A's games all year. The only way to watch the A's is on Comcast. Which angers me to no small degree. I am burning effigies of Bud Selig nightly.

I figure (since progeny notwithstanding I am not a particularly sporty guy) that there are people within view of this post who may know a hack or other Alternate Path to Baseball.

If so, I beg you to share your wisdom.

Thanks.

14th5books2009

.

My first day in San Diego for Comic Con, I had several hours to kill before I could meet up with my group and get in to the Con. So I walked over the the library and read some comics. Such books in this and the next five are marked like this:



.

070) The Juggler of Our Lady by R.O. Blechman, finished July 22

Maurice Sendak loves this book. I thought it was okay. Maybe you had to be there, in 1952. I'm not so sure it holds up. Nothing about it seems particularly fresh or original today. just a bit

069) Waterwise by Joel Orff, finished July 22

Beautiful, short, black&white meeting of old friends, perhaps for the last time, during a moment liminial for both, in which they merely float. Peppered with flashbacks and dreamy metaphors, this is a quite lovely book. not long at all

068) The Saga of the Bloody Benders by Rick Geary, finished July 22

As I suspected, The Bloody Benders is the best of Geary's Victorian Murder series that I have yet read. It ended up being an apropos choice as Geary's art graced the official Comic Con publications I would be carrying around the rest of this week. The Benders were a serial-killing family of which I knew nothing before reading an excerpt of the book in the most recent Best American Comics. I think my unfamiliarity with the tale added to my enjoyment, but Geary's straightforward reporting and distinctive art are always a pleasure in and of themselves. not much

067) 10 Books That Screwed Up the World (And 5 Others That Didn't Help) by Benjamin Wike, Ph.D., finished July 21

Wiker starts, before getting into his ten, with four "Preliminary Screw-Ups. He doesn't like Machiavelli, Descartes, Hobbes and Mill. And while he has fairly reasonable reasons for not liking them, his rhetoric got harder and harder to stomach. He rails like an am radio host and even when his logic was unassailable and even though I almost always agreed with him, I was put of by his disdain. And, basically, for all their other intellectual and moral sins, the great sins of these four in Wiker's opinion (and all the authors in the book) is that they are atheists. Atheism is the true evil on display in this book. (I will say, having read this book, that I can now make the obvious rejoinder when people say they don't like religion because it has killed so many people, viz. atheists like Hitler, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, etc, were the greatest butchers in human history. So giving up on god doesn't really seem to have solved any problems.) Anyway, I was just about to put this book down when he started mentioning Nietzsche and then he drew me back in. See, unlike the other authors in this book, Wiker respects Nietzsche. Why? Because Nietzsche doesn't shy away from any of the amoral implications of atheism. And so while Wiker is happy to agree with Nietsche when he calls himself the Anti-Christ, he respects his intellectual integrity. Some of the authors Wiker goes for are easy targets --- I mean, is there anyone left who really takes Freud or Kinsey or Sanger seriously? And others, like the essay on Darwin's Descent of Man, were actually quite enlightening. It's interesting how my high school textbooks made pains to say Darwin wasn't in favor of eugenics when his statements to the contrary are methinks-the-lady-doth-protest-too-much at best. And I had no idea Margarent Mead's work was so . . . shaky, shall we say.^* Anyway, if you can put up with his overthetop rhetoric this is a nice place to start. Just don't expect evenhandedness. The author Has An Agenda and is not afraid to push it. (But I still don't think Utilitarianism as commonly understood is such a terrible thing.) couple weeks

066) We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball by Kadir Nelson, finished July 11

Nelson's paintings are what he is (rightly) known for, but the text in this book is also excellent. He made the brilliant choice of writing in third-person plural, from the point-of-view of the players which works marvelously. The characters are heroic and the hyperbole can bump up against itself (Cool Papa Bell was so fast, no catcher could stop him from stealing; Biz Mackey had such a strong arm, no one could steal when he was catching), but that's okay: This is baseball. It is the American sport, people with heroes who are larger-than-life by definition. Why do think baseball 'roids make us so much madder than in any other sport? couple hours

Previously:

065) Hooper Haller by Dean Hughes, finished July 18 064) Stay (MS) by Moriah Jovan, finished July 15 063) The Question: The Five Books of Blood by Greg Rucka et al, finished July 14 062) Daisy Kutter: The Last Train by Kazu Kibuishi, finished July 13 061) Gravity vs. the Girl by Riley Noehren, finished July 11 060) The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy, finished July 1 059) Letters from a Nut by Ted. L. Nancy, finished June 21 058) The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling, finished June 21 057) Lowboy by John Wray, finished June 16 056) One silent sleepless night by Spencer W. Kimball, finished June 14 055) Blue Beetle: Boundaries by Sturges/Albuquerque/Coelho, finished June 6 054) [title in flux] (MS) by B.G. Christensen, finished June 5 053) Invincible Volume 1: Family Matters words by Robert Kirkman, pictures by Cory Walker, finished June 3 052) Der Ostwind (MS) by Kohl Glass, finished June 2 051) The Rumpelstiltskin Problem by Vivian Vande Velde, finished June 2 050) The Bible Salesman by Clyde Edgerton, finished June 2 049) Superman / Madman Hullabaloo! by the Allreds, finished May 29 048) Beyond Fair Chase: The Ethic and Tradition of Hunting by Jim Posewitz, finished May 26 047) Brave and the Bold: Demons and Dragons by Mark Waid et al, finished May 20 046) Atonement by Ian McEwan, finished May 20 045) Love and the Light: An Idyl of the Westland by Orson Ferguson Whitney, finished May 20 044) Tales Of The Batman: Tim Sale by Tim Sale and some motley group of writers, finished May 17 043) Catwoman: The Dark End of the Street by Ed Brubaker et al, finished May 13 042) Aztek - the Ultimate Man by Grant Morrison), Mark Millar, Keith Champagne, Steven Harris; finished May 11 041) Cypher by Brad Teare, finished May 7 040) My Faith in Frankie by Mike Carey, Sonny Liew, Marc Hempel, finished May 5 039) Janes in Love by Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg, finished May 5 038) Batman: R.I.P. by Grant Morrison et al, finished May 4 037) 1000 Steps To World Domination by Rob Osborne, finished May 4 036) 110 Per¢ by Tony Consiglio, finished May 4 035) Mendoza in Hollywood by Kage Baker, finished May Day 034) All Star Superman, Vol. 2 by Grant Morrison, and Frank Quitely and Jamie Grant, finished April 22 033) All Star Superman, Vol. 1 by Grant Morrison, and Frank Quitely and Jamie Grant, finished April 20 032) Bound on Earth by Angela Hallstrom, finished April 19 031) Batman: The Resurrection of Ra's Al Ghul by Grant Morrison and colleagues, finished April 18 030) Madman Atomic Comics Volume 2 by Mike Allred with Laura Allred, finished April 14 029) For a Good Time by K. Voss, finished April 11 028) The Greatest Batman Stories Ever Told, finished April 11 027) Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, finished April 6 026) Elegant Enigmas: The Art of Edward Gorey by Karen Wilkin (essay) and Edward Gorey (art), finished April 5 025) Owly: A Time to be Brave by Andy Runton, finished April 1 024) Blue Beetle: Endgame by John Rogers and Rafaele Albuquerque, finished March 29 023) Blue Beetle: Reach for the Stars by Rogers, Torres, Albuqerque; finished March 26 022) The Complete Peanuts 1967-1968 by Charles M. Schulz, finished March 25 021) Blue Beetle: Road Trip by various, finished March 25 020) Love That Dog by Sharon Creech, finished March 18 019) Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block, finished March 17 018) The Proviso by Moriah Jovan, finished March 16 017) An Ensign to the Nations: History of the Oakland State by Evelyn Candland, finished March 7 016) Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley, finished February 27 015) Batman: The Black Glove by Grant Morrison and Tony Daniel and J.H. Williams III, finished February 23 014) The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story by Richard Preston, finished February 22 013) Lex Luthor: Man of Steel by Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo, finished February 19 012) Blue Beetle: Shellshocked by Keith Giffen and Cully Hammer, finished February 18 011) The Joker by Brian Azzarello and Lee Bermejo, finished February 17 010) Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, finished February 18 009) Superman: Red Son by MJR&M, finished February 11 008) The Best American Comics 2008 edited by Lynda Barry, finished February 9 007) The Blot by Tom Neely, finished February 6 006) JSA: Darkness Falls by Goyer, Johns, et al, finished January 28 005) The Road by Cormac McCarthy, finished January 24 004) Poor Sailor by Sammy Harkham, finished January 19 003) The Waitress was New by Dominique Fabre and translated by Jordan Stump, finished January 19 002) Stagger Lee by Derek McCulloch and Shepherd Hendrix, finished January 12? 001) The Arrival by Shaun Tan, finished January 8

the first five, 1-5
the second five, 6-10
the third five, 11-15
the fourth five, 16-20
the fifth five, 21-25
the sixth five, 26-30
the seventh five, 31-35
the eighth five, 36-40
the ninth five, 41-45
the tenth five, 46-50
the eleventh five, 51-55
the twelfth five, 56-60
the thirteenth five, 61-65