BOOKS THREAD

[Gold]

Friend: I think the US and Soviet Union set off full-scale nuclear attacks, and those of us who survived came on the space ark to this new version of earth.

 

[Flying Headbutt]

I'm reading Life of Pi right now. It's a book I'd have never in a million years found for myself, but it's reaching me with some profound things at the right time in my life. Has made for a nice birthday present some 60 pages or so in.

 

[buckweaver]

Just finished "The Given Day," which was absolutely fantastic -- can't wait for the movie to come out, if they ever make it -- and picked up "For The Thrill of It," on Leopold/Loeb and also on recommendation from some fine SJers. I'm already enjoying it so far.

 

[Moderator1]

I'm following in your wake on that one.
Gave The GIven Day to The Queen when I was done, she's struggling to get into it. She likes Lehane.

 

[finishthehat]

I believe I read somewhere that The Given Day is part one of a trilogy, fwiw.

 

[Herbert Anchovy]

I'm thinking Team of Rivals, in capable hands, would make a very good HBO Films miniseries. The casting alone would be something.

 

[Birdscribe]

I'm thinking Team of Rivals, in capable hands, would make a very good HBO Films miniseries. The casting alone would be something.

It absolutely would, LJB.

Sam Watterston as Lincoln, Stanley Tucci as Salmon Chase for starters. I'm sure more will come to me later.

 

[Double Down]

I'm thinking Team of Rivals, in capable hands, would make a very good HBO Films miniseries. The casting alone would be something.

It absolutely would, LJB.

Sam Watterston as Lincoln, Stanley Tucci as Salmon Chase for starters. I'm sure more will come to me later.

It's not Team or Rivals, but HBO is doing a mini-series about Lincoln's assasination, and David Simon (The Wire) and Tom Fontana (Oz) are the ones putting it together.

http://www.tvsquad.com/2008/09/18/hbo-plans-lincoln-assassination-mini-series/

 

[Ben_Hecht]

My sig other bought me The Chicagoan, a loving monument to the short-lived New Yorker knockoff which centered around the City of Wind in the late '20s-early '30s. Excerpts, a ton of covers, the reproduction of one entire issue, etc., etc., etc.
Anyone here of a certain age who loves the city in question will wonder how they
ever lived without this volume, after spending about ten minutes with it. Have
already isolated enough signature lines to last me for the next ten years.

 

[Herbert Anchovy]

bird, good suggestions. Waterston has a face that emotes a distinct yet uncertain sadness. Who would play Douglas for an episode? The comely Kate Chase? An arrogant jackass the likes of G. B. McClellan? The series would be a slam dunk.

 

[Moderator1]

One of my resolutions was to read more this year. I have not been good about that. I need to start being good about that.
That, among many other things.

 

[writing irish]

My sig other bought me The Chicagoan, a loving monument to the short-lived New Yorker knockoff which centered around the City of Wind in the late '20s-early '30s. Excerpts, a ton of covers, the reproduction of one entire issue, etc., etc., etc.
Anyone here of a certain age who loves the city in question will wonder how they
ever lived without this volume, after spending about ten minutes with it. Have
already isolated enough signature lines to last me for the next ten years.

Any Cubs or Black Hawks stuff in there?

 

[jakewriter82]

Can anyone suggest a book, or books based on real sporting events with parts that are fictionalized?

The sporting event itself is based on what really happened, but the fallout from it is fictionalized. Sorta like Phillip Roth's "The Plot Against America".

I haven't been able to find one, but I'm writing a story in that vein so I'm looking for anything like that to check out.

 

[buckweaver]

"Blue Ruin" from Brendan Boyd -- fiction based on the 1919 World Series -- fits that bill, jake.

The Robert B. Parker book "Double Play" is based on Jackie Robinson's first season. I paid $5 for it in a Walgreens bin, and it was, umm, worth about that price. But it's easy to get through.

"The Last Days of Summer," by Steve Kluger, is a much better read. The story's straight fiction, but one of the protagonists is a fictional player on the 1940-41 New York Giants (baseball, not football).

I highly recommend "The Given Day," by Dennis Lehane, which I just finished reading. It includes a lot of real-life characters, including Babe Ruth, and the first chapter is a fictionalized account of a pickup game between the 1918 Red Sox and Cubs against a group of black ballplayers. Read that first chapter and you might get a good sense of what you're looking for.

 

[PCLoadLetter]

"Blue Ruin" from Brendan Boyd -- fiction based on the 1919 World Series -- fits that bill, jake.

The Robert B. Parker book "Double Play" is based on Jackie Robinson's first season. I paid $5 for it in a Walgreens bin, and it was, umm, worth about that price. But it's easy to get through.

"The Last Days of Summer," by Steve Kluger, is a much better read. The story's straight fiction, but one of the protagonists is a fictional player on the 1940-41 New York Giants (baseball, not football).

I highly recommend "The Given Day," by Dennis Lehane, which I just finished reading. It includes a lot of real-life characters, including Babe Ruth, and the first chapter is a fictionalized account of a pickup game between the 1918 Red Sox and Cubs against a group of black ballplayers. Read that first chapter and you might get a good sense of what you're looking for.

At this stage, I think "easy to get through" should be the review blurb on the cover of everything Parker writes. I usually get the impression that he spent about as much time writing it as I did reading it.

 

[Moderator1]

Robert Parker, Chapter 1:

Hawk came by the office. He sat down. We each had a beer and talked about the case.
Then we went out. He hit someone. I did, too.
We had another beer.

Chapter 2

Pearl greeted me at Susan's door. She was happy to see me.
I made a fancy meal. Susan picked at it. We had wine.
Then we did it with me cracking wise the whole time. Pearl snuggled between us.


Seriously, aren't they all like that these days? 70 or so chapters per book, along those very lines?

 

[pressboxramblings07]

Currently reading: 1776, by David McCullough. After I'm done, I think John Adams is up next.

 

[CUinthenewsroom]

Anybody read The Snowball about Warren Buffett? I'm just starting it. He's an interesting character, so I am excited to dive in ... but it's over 800 pages, not sure it will keep my interest the whole time (especially with Lehane in my queue as well).

 

[PCLoadLetter]

Robert Parker, Chapter 1:

Hawk came by the office. He sat down. We each had a beer and talked about the case.
Then we went out. He hit someone. I did, too.
We had another beer.

Chapter 2

Pearl greeted me at Susan's door. She was happy to see me.
I made a fancy meal. Susan picked at it. We had wine.
Then we did it with me cracking wise the whole time. Pearl snuggled between us.


Seriously, aren't they all like that these days? 70 or so chapters per book, along those very lines?

Chapter 3

Hawk and I worked out together at a really old school gym. Then we rode in a car with a variety of really tough guys. Hawk and I talked about wine and sang show tunes. Inconceivably, no one in the car questioned the nature our relationship. Then I went home and watched enchantedly as Susan ate a single pea with a knife and fork.

 

[Moderator1]

Chapter 4

Then Quirk knocked on the door.
Whaddya got, he said?
Nuthin, I said, lying only a little.
Then I hammered Susan again. She made little murmur sounds while Pearl spun in circles on the floor.