writesdave's reviews
356 reviews

Terms of Endearment by Larry McMurtry

emotional funny lighthearted relaxing sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I hated the main character, one of those (being put-on accent) so-SIGH-ett-ee ladiees who is take care of and has a string of suitors in her wake after her husbands dies, leaving her enough to live on. She also gripes about her daughter and... sorry, I guess I experienced familial love differently and Aurora grated on me. I generally liked the book though because it's McMurtry and few people write as lovingly about a place and people as he does.

Anyway, I read it, never saw the movie, and I wonder why a goddamned retired general played by Jack Nicholson trails her like a puppy.

Last Best League by Jim Collins

emotional informative lighthearted reflective relaxing medium-paced

4.25

Fun read about an oft-neglected aspect of baseball—the summer wood-bat collegiate league. In the wake of "Moneyball" and "Summer Catch," Jim Collins spends a season with the Chatham A's of the Cape Cod League. He chronicles the ups and downs of one of the venerable league's charter teams, how the focus shifts from winning games to player development when the results go south.

The big reveal for me involved the scouts bird-dogging the players. We hear from scouts about what they look for in various players, such as the transition from college aluminum-bat ball to the wooden bats, how a pitcher in a run of getting lit up doesn't lose any of his luster in the eyes of the scouts if he keeps his head on straight and doesn't screw up his mechanics, and how, contrary to what Billy Beane insisted, defense does matter. Also, Collins addresses how the game has changed for scouts, from 75-year-old area scouts in food-stained Hawaiian shirts insisting on "intangibles" and "thighs" to 30-year-old crosscheckers in slacks and polos with millions of dollars at stake looking for a statistical edge.

The peeks into the Cape Cod culture add some interest, from one player's affinity for fishing to others' affinity for the, uh, social life. You also learn about the longtime coach of the A's, practically the honorary mayor of Chatham for all the summers he and his wife have spent there. Fun read to start the season, though perhaps I should have waited until the summer.

Pnin by Vladimir Nabokov

challenging dark funny relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

The World Between Two Covers: Reading the Globe by Ann Morgan

adventurous challenging informative relaxing medium-paced

5.0

The massive undertaking of reading a book from every country in the world fell to Ann Morgan, who went on one literary trip and ended up taking a different journey. I think some reviewers expected a different book and held the end product to that standard. In acknowledgement of the change in direction, I’ll give Morgan credit for realizing she had a new task. Instead of holding on to 196+1 reviews (which she did on her blog, ahem), she went deep on the arduous task of sourcing books, the publishing scene in some countries that don’t crank out a zillion books a week, and what constitutes a country in the first place. The writing is a little dry in spots, but I’ll give Ann five stars here because I respect the change in plans, as well as the new insights. Way to go!

The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck

adventurous challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Bowerman and the Men of Oregon: The Story of Oregon's Legendary Coach and Nike's Cofounder by Kenny Moore

challenging emotional informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

Mozart and Leadbelly by Ernest J. Gaines

adventurous challenging dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Best American Sports Writing 2020 by Glenn Stout, Jackie MacMullan

adventurous challenging informative relaxing medium-paced

4.0

The usual mastery from the last edition. Every parent needs to read Kent Babb's obituary for Kelly Catlin. Parenting excellence through forced perfectionism is not the way.

Bombingham by Anthony Grooms

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Excellent and harrowing account of life in pre-civil rights Birmingham from the standpoint of an 11-year-old boy in the midst of family trauma, jumping ahead to the boy as a young man in Vietnam. The prose is a little uneven at times, but the overall message of humanity and determination against the odds holds true. Underrated read on the south, too.

Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

adventurous emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective fast-paced

3.5

I understand the hate, and I do agree that the book emerged from a good deal of privilege, but I didn’t hate it. I learned a good deal about Eastern Philosophy (which means I clearly need to read more), learned about Italian food and culture, and learned about the expat life. Based on Liz’s life now, I’d say she grew. That’s all you can ask from a year in the woods (generously funded by a publisher’s advance).