Book bits

A novel about the road to college, what troops are reading, three books about baseball, and readers' picks.

from the April 3, 2007 edition

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Readers' picks

The Places In Between by Rory Stewart is the totally unromantic story of Stewart's walk across Afghanistan, from Herat to Kabul. He's either very courageous or very crazy, but I'm glad he did it, came through safe and sound, and let us go along on his journey.

– Charlotte Lindner, Solana Beach Calif.

I liked In the Company of the Courtesan by Sarah Dunant because it had a blind character (well, sort of) and I am blind. I also liked the lush setting of 16th-century Venice and the unique voice of the first-person narrator, a dwarf named Bucino.

– David Faucheux, Lafayette, La.

I am currently enjoying Reflections from the Keyboard by David Dubal. I play the piano and have taught my two young sons. So it's good to read how experts approach the piano. The book holds many pearls of wisdom.

– Majda Gilding, Weybridge, England

Who knew a book about a truck would be a good read? Tr uck: A Love Story by Michael Perry is not only about a deep attachment to a much-loved old rust bucket but also to the varied people who are an important part of Perry's rural life. This city-bred, hybrid-driving person thoroughly enjoyed this well-written book.

– Tere Ross, Costa Mesa, Calif.

I'm finishing Michael Lind's Vietnam, The Necessary War: A Reinterpretation of America's Most Disastrous Military Conflict. The subtitle is the book's thesis. Lind's view is that the war was a "proxy war" fought in Vietnam but actually waged by China, the USSR, and America. Some or many of Lind's views are controversial, but he supplies telling examples.

– John Mason Glen, Elsah, Ill.

What are you reading? Write in and tell us.

Three books about baseball

April 15, 2007 will mark 60 years to the day that Jackie Robinson donned a Brooklyn Dodgers uniform and shattered Major League Baseballs' color barrier. In Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson's First Season, sportswriter Jonathan Eig ("Luckiest Man") offers a detailed chronicle not only of Robinson and baseball history but of America itself during the season of 1947.

Are there any sports enthusiasts more enamored of statistics than baseball fans? Probably not, and that's why The Baseball Economist by J.C. Bradbury should find a natural readership. A professor of economics, Bradbury crunches numbers to help explain the sport he loves, and while his subtitle may be a bit of a stretch ("The Real Game Exposed"), avid fans will enjoy reading (and debating) his conclusions to questions such as which contemporary players are overvalued and how Babe Ruth would perform in today's game.

In a darker look at America's pastime, baseball Hall-of-Famer Dave Winfield writes: "The game I love is hurting." In Dropping the Ball: Baseball's Troubles and How We Can and Must Solve Them, Winfield explores possible solutions for some of the problems that dog the sport, including steroid use, contract disputes, player egos, and lack of diversity in baseball's front offices and fan base.

– Marjorie Kehe

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