Dear Readers—
The first thing I want to do is thank everyone for bearing with me as I work through some semblance of a structure for this Substack. It’s always a WIP, but for now my plan is to focus on three distinct post types:
Reading Diary: Just haphazard thoughts and updates on my life in books, with a healthy sprinkling of sports, pop culture, and more. FYI, this is what you’re reading right now!
Good Book Hang!: This is a biweekly post that goes through a bunch of random/fun categories. It’s a way to hang out with our favorite books—i.e., my answer to sluggish book reviews (think Ringer Rewatchables for books). It’ll be a mix of classics, new/popular books, and my personal favorites. See the first one on A Confederacy of Dunces.
Book Adventures: Wherein I choose a random reading challenge (find the Great American Sports Novel) and write about my journey.
We’ll see how this cadence works.
One of the books I read this week for my Great American Sports Novel search was The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant by Douglass Wallop (later inspiration for Damn Yankees). I had a fun time with it, even though it’s not the sort of all-encompassing book that you’d think has potential to be the GASN.
That said, making deals with the devil for bizarrely positive sports outcomes got me thinking about my beloved 76ers. Between the collapse of last season and the Brown/James moves, it got me wondering who in the city of Philly made a deal with the devil. You’d think it’d be the owner, but I’d guess Josh Harris already had some agreement with Lucifer. It wasn’t me, but I’m happy to be the beneficiary.
I finally got my annotated Ulysses copy, and to tell you the truth, it hasn’t done much to up my enthusiasm. The writing isn’t speaking to me, and ending Chapter 4 with an outhouse visit didn’t help. Might not be a DNF, but also might not be in a rush.
On the other hand, I’m getting into C&P in a way I didn’t think I would because Brothers K wasn’t my favorite (though I’m thinking maybe I should revisit).
Purchase/find of the week: Squeeze Play by Jane Leavy. The first (and possibly only?) instance where one of the authors tells me to include their book on my list of possible Great American Sports Novels.
GASN count: 18
TBR:
East of Eden
Don Quixote
Black House
Sense and Sensibility
I didn’t forget about all you beautiful people who voted for DQ and BH! Sorry I failed all those who picked Ulysses. I swear I’ll read these two!
Until next time, thanks for reading!
— Matt
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