MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Hey!! Let's get some action going! What are we reading?

BearMountainBooks · 12-22-2009, 06:46 PM

Just finished reading "Snake Jazz" by Dave Baldwin. It was a very interesting read about the author trying to make the majors in baseball. Lot of interesting history when you think about what ball players are paid today and compare it to the dreams of making it in the 50s and 60s. A true of love the game is in every chapter. I also found the sections on how black players were treated (and ignored/passed over) heartbreaking, although it was written as "just the facts, ma'am" style (ie no lecturing, just the brutal truth). It's unbelievable to look back and "see" how acceptable racist behavior was. Baldwin writes very convincingly that hard work is more important than talent. I'm not sure that applies in all cases, but it's a very motivating thought.

I appear to be on a memoir/autobiography kick because the book before that was Jim Chambers "Recollections." This was completely different--although strangely the same timeframe. This was more nostalgic, fun, "better days" type of writing about the things the author loved growing up. Some of the best comparisons were things like "bicycle helmets? We raced down the street with our pellet guns and rifles, headed for the river without a lifeguard" type of things (that was not an exact quote, but more a feel of all the safety precautions in place today that weren't even thought of.) Some of the neatest things that caught my eye? Medical advances. Diseases that were "death sentences" are found and cured--surgeries that had to be done because there wasn't MRIs; that sort of thing. The book wasn't a list of those things, just more mentioned in passing when it had to do with something that occurred in the author's life. Chamber's book was a faster read than the baseball on--more fun facts, lighter fare (plus I had to keep stopping to look up baseball terms for Snake Jazz because while I watch it once in a while, I wouldn't say I was a huge fan.)

Next up...Some friends SWEAR to me that the Jim Butcher books get good by the fourth book...the first was okay, the second was DNF for me...

12-22-2009, 06:46 PM	#3311
BearMountainBooks Maria Schneider Posts: 3,746 Karma: 26439330 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Near Austin, Texas Device: 3g Kindle Keyboard	Just finished reading "Snake Jazz" by Dave Baldwin. It was a very interesting read about the author trying to make the majors in baseball. Lot of interesting history when you think about what ball players are paid today and compare it to the dreams of making it in the 50s and 60s. A true of love the game is in every chapter. I also found the sections on how black players were treated (and ignored/passed over) heartbreaking, although it was written as "just the facts, ma'am" style (ie no lecturing, just the brutal truth). It's unbelievable to look back and "see" how acceptable racist behavior was. Baldwin writes very convincingly that hard work is more important than talent. I'm not sure that applies in all cases, but it's a very motivating thought. I appear to be on a memoir/autobiography kick because the book before that was Jim Chambers "Recollections." This was completely different--although strangely the same timeframe. This was more nostalgic, fun, "better days" type of writing about the things the author loved growing up. Some of the best comparisons were things like "bicycle helmets? We raced down the street with our pellet guns and rifles, headed for the river without a lifeguard" type of things (that was not an exact quote, but more a feel of all the safety precautions in place today that weren't even thought of.) Some of the neatest things that caught my eye? Medical advances. Diseases that were "death sentences" are found and cured--surgeries that had to be done because there wasn't MRIs; that sort of thing. The book wasn't a list of those things, just more mentioned in passing when it had to do with something that occurred in the author's life. Chamber's book was a faster read than the baseball on--more fun facts, lighter fare (plus I had to keep stopping to look up baseball terms for Snake Jazz because while I watch it once in a while, I wouldn't say I was a huge fan.) Next up...Some friends SWEAR to me that the Jim Butcher books get good by the fourth book...the first was okay, the second was DNF for me...