What are you reading right NOW?!?!

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

Thanks Sharpie - I'm going to start this tonight!

[Willets Point]

[Guest sharpie]

I'm a huge Murakami fan. "Wind Up Bird" not my favorite of his, but they're all good.

[Willets Point]

="sharpie"]I'm a huge Murakami fan. "Wind Up Bird" not my favorite of his, but they're all good.

This is why I love the Crane Pool community. I can't imagine many other sports discussion forums where someone would say "I'm a huge Murakami fan" unless Murakami were the name of a professional wrestler. I've previously read The Elephant Vanishes and A Wild Sheep Chase but that was a while back so I don't remember them well. What's your favorite(s)?

[Guest sharpie]

The latest one, Kafka On the Shore might've been my favorite book of '05.

I liked Dance Dance Dance (which is sort of a sequel to A Wild Sheep Chase but I read it first) and Norwegian Wood (very conventional for him but I liked it a lot). Sputnik Sweetheart was also good, though not as good as the others or the one you're reading now.

[Frayed Knot]

Don't get so elitist, [url=http://www.baseball-reference.com/m/murakma01.shtml]Murakami is brought up on baseball boards[/url] all the time.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

My daughter just loaned this to me because she thinks I'll like it -

[Willets Point]

Total crap from begininning to end. And yet I couldn't put it down. I just kept turning pages saying "This is stupid, this is stupid."

[Guest cooby]

Pretty good

[HahnSolo]

Gotta figure out how to link images, but I just finished...

THE FALLEN, by T. Jefferson Parker

I had the pleasure of working with Jeff on campaigns for three of his earlier books at two different publishing houses. In addition to being one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet, his novels are fantastic. He's in elite company as he has won the Edgar Award for Best Mystery novel twice, for SILENT JOE and CALIFORNIA GIRL.

I wholeheartedly recommend both of those in addition to his latest

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

I'm reading Going to Extremes by Joe McGinness, the first of four books about Alaska that I plan to read in the next two months. (McGinness also wrote one of the books, recommended by the future Johnny Dickshot, that I read prior to going to Italy.)

The author travels around Alaska and talks to and writes about the various people he meets there. A good little book. I'm enjoying it.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

Reading Frank Thomas' book inspired me to purchase The Long Season, by Jim Brosnan. This is the third baseball book I've read this year, which is a lot for me. It's rare that I read more than one or two per year. I have three more coming up that I'll probably read in 2006: Game of Shadows, Three Nights in August, and You Gotta Have Wa.

[Frayed Knot]

Not sure if Jon Krakauer's 'Into the Wild' is on your Alaska book list.

It's not exactly a book about Alaska, but the 49th state is the backdrop for a very interesting story. Krakauer - who later became famous via 'Into Thin Air', his book about an ill-fated Everest expedition - traces the story of a kid/young man who chucks it all to live among the wilds of Alaska.

Been a handful of years since I read it but it was good stuff as I recall.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

No, it's not, but I'll check it out, and maybe I'll try to squeeze it in. We leave for Alaska at the end of next month, so I may not have any openings. Thanks for the recommendation.

[seawolf17]

"Wa" is a great book; one of my favorite baseball books.

[Willets Point]

My book club's selection of the month:


It's a sweet book in kind of a hokey way. Sort of like Huckleberry Finn meets To Kill a Mockingbird.

[Willets Point]

Finally finished The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (read some other books in-between). I don't know when I'll begin to understand all that happened.

Lots of loose ends.

I'll have to sit in the bottom of a well and think it over.

[Guest SI Metman]

Just started:



Didn't realize how Metcentric it is, despite being fictional. How did we not win in '88 with Charlie Stoddard?

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

Lupica's fiction is always entertaining. And his books usually include cameo appearances by characters from his previous books, which is a nice touch for those who have read a few of his books.

[RealityChuck]

I'm currently reading Will Eisner's Contract with God trilogy, one of the greatest graphic novels ever (and the first to be billed as such). Only Maus is better.

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

Received this as a Christmas present from a friend. I picked it up an started reading through the collection of short stories and observations last week. It goes by pretty quick and it is the last of the stash of books that I received at Christmas, so I'll be heading to the library this weekend.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

cooby loaned me her copy of Game of Shadows, so I'm just starting to read it.

[Vic Sage]

hey Chuck,

at one point, we had a lengthy discussion about graphic novels. if that thread can be found, you might find it interesting.

[Guest Bret Sabermetric]

As part of my self-improvement program, I read Anne Tyler's SAINT MAYBE last night in lieu of the Mets-Cardinals game. I got jobbed worse than Traschel did. I mean, I like her and all, there's just so much I can take of that setting, those characters, that style. Write a new book awready, wouldja?

[Guest cooby]

My husband got me "The DaVinci Code" and another book about the Last Supper (it's upstairs and I foget the name) for our anniversary. I've been piecing at it.

My dream is to go out in the sun and read

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

It's aimed at a teen audience, and it's a quick read. Lupica, as always, is a great storyteller.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

I finished Heat in less than 24 hours, which is very fast for me (I'm not a fast reader in general). It was enjoyable, although a bit heavy on the MFY worship. But, in general, it's a good read for young adults as well as older ones.

Now I'm moving on to this -

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

Designated Hebrew is also a quick read. I think it's self-published - it's not the most smoothly written or edited book. It also reminds me a lot of Frank Thomas' Kiss It Goodbye - a nice little memoir by the MFY's first openly Jewish ballplayer that strives to speak highly of the people on the author's life.

It's an interesting enough little read.

Next up -



I need something light that I can pick up and put down easily, since my summer class starts next week.

[metirish]

I just picked this up, looks interesting.

[Elster88]

Just finished the most recent book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin. Pretty good stuff. I still think I like the The Wheel of Time series better.