ya gotta believe

NY Mets 2006 NL East Champions!!

I believe in the church of baseball. I've tried all the major religions and most of the minor ones.I've worshipped Buddha, Allah, Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, trees, mushrooms and Isadora Duncan. I know things. For instance, there are 108 beads in a Catholic's rosary and there are 108 stitches in a baseball. When I learned that, I gave Jesus a chance. But it just didn't work out between us. The Lord laid too much guilt on me. I prefer metaphysics to theology. You see, there's no guilt in baseball. And it's never boring, which makes it like sex...It's a long season and you gotta trust it. I've tried them all, I really have, and the only church that truly feeds the soul, day in, day out, is the church of baseball - Annie Savoy Bull Durham

photo credits: George Eastman House/ Lewis Hine as used in Baseball: An Illustrated History. Ward, Geoffrey C. and Burns, Ken. NY: Knopf, 1994. 103.

September 06, 2006

Wow! Three in a row!

I posted my RfP Wednesday three whole weeks in a row. I am putting them up over at Overdue Books as I try and drag my bookblog back to life.

This week's RfP Wednesday entry was Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro.

michelle | 02:51 PM | comment (0) | trackback (0) | view »

August 23, 2006

RfP Wednesday - a desert island book

Vacation week this week so I got to tackle a favorite book that I don't read often. I don't like to read it unless I can really take the time to savor every last bit.

Which book?

A Prayer for Owen Meany - John Irving

I find that no one reads this book and walks away thinking, "Meh. It's ok." You either love this book and carry it with you forever after you read it or you cannot stand this book and wish to torch it so that no one ever reads it again. There appears to be little middle ground.

Me? This is probably my all-time favorite book. I sometimes forget why I love this book so much and just throw the title out there out of habit when someone asks me my favorite. This year I saved Owen Meany for camping when I knew that I could sit around the fire and get reacquainted with Owen, Johnny, Dan, Hester the Molester, Sagamore, Mr. Fish, Grandmother and all the other residents of Gravesend. It's a book that I want to immediately start over when I turn the last page but I try and space my readings out enough so that I can be surprised all over again.

I guess this isn't much of a review at this point. Yes, you get that I adore this book, but will you fall into the "love it" or "hate it" camp? How can you define what makes a book a favorite?

At it's heart, Owen Meany is a book about reading--about reading not only books but everything around you. Owen teaches Johnny to read, to take the time, to focus even when it's difficult and really read not just skim the pages.

While the narrator of this book grows up during the decade where all his friends were drafted to serve in Vietnam, this is not by any means a book about Vietnam. It was eerie how well the book continues to speak of the stupidity of government and the distortion of politics that are "made for TV."

I own about six different versions of this novel including my treasured leather-bound, signed copy! But I enjoyed the afterward in this edition.

I may one day write a better first sentence to a novel than that of A Prayer for Owen Meany, but I doubt it. I have a feeling for first sentences, and I've written some pretty good ones..."I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice--not because of his voice, or because he was the smallest person I ever knew, or even because he was the instrument of my mother's death, but because he is the reason I believe in God; I am a Christian because of Owen Meany." The semi-colon helps, but the clause that follows it was a risk' doubtless there were some readers who'd had it up to here with Christians and stopped right there. I don't blame them. In the United States today, there is an excess of Christian bragging--too many holier-than-thou zealots in politics, too much righteous indignation in God's name--but that's another story. What makes the first sentence of A Prayer for Owen Meany such a good one is that the whole novel is contained in it.

If you've read this book than you will know that it is true. That first sentence will bring it all back--the murder weapon, the nativity pageant (how could anyone forget that??), the shot, Watahantowet, OWEN'S VOICE. If you know me you may be scratching your head a bit about my favorite novel being one where the narrator claims to "be a Christian because of Owen Meany." Owen Meany did not believe blindly in religion. He never tried to convert anyone or force his beliefs on anyone. He sneered at those who only believed in "beliefs" without questioning, doubting or learning more. He never veered from what he believed to be his destiny, but he never followed along without question. We could all use a little Owen Meany in our lives.

I know I still haven't done justice to a description of this book. Just read it. And hopefully you will be one of those who always carries a bit of this story with them.

This was most definitely a reading for pleasure book. I can't resist one more quote by Owen. He is frustrated with Johnny's complaining about reading Tess of the D'Urbervilles.

"YOUR BOREDOM IS YOUR PROBLEM," he said. "IT'S YOUR LACK OF IMAGINATION THAT BORES YOU. HARDY HAS THE WORLD FIGURED OUT. TESS IS DOOMED. FATE HAS IT IN FOR HER. SHE'S A VICTIM; IF YOU'RE A VICTIM, THE WORLD WILL USE YOU. WHY SHOULD SOMEONE WHO'S GOT SUCH A WORKED-OUT WAY OF SEEING THE WORLD BORE YOU? WHY SHOULDN'T YOU BE INTERESTED IN SOMEONE WHO'S WORKED OUT A WAY TO SEE THE WORLD? THAT'S WHAT MAKES WRITERS INTERESTING! MAYBE YOU SHOULD BE AN ENGLISH MAJOR. AT LEAST, YOU CAN GET TO READ STUFF THAT'S WRITTEN BY PEOPLE WHO CAN WRITE! YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO ANYTHING TO BE AN ENGLISH MAJOF, YOU DON'T NEED ANY SPECIAL TALENT. YOU JUST HAVE TO PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT SOMEONE WANTS YOU TO SEE--TO WHAT MAKES SOMEONE AGRIEST, OR THE MOST EXCITED IN SOME OTHER WAY. IT'S SO EASY; I THINK THAT'S WHY THERE ARE SO MANY ENGLISH MAJORS."

Maybe I remembered that at some point. Explains a lot, yes? And the caps? No, I wasn't shouting. I was just immitating the voice of the granite mouse--a voice that just can't be immitated.

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michelle | 11:39 AM | comment (0) | trackback (1) | view »

August 11, 2006

Odds and ends and book reviews - RfP Wednesday (Friday edition)

I have started packing for next week's camping trip. Lists, lists and more lists. It's the only way to go. I am going to make a run to the library in a bit to get the most important items!

I did finish reading Until I Find You - John Irving. And so here is the Friday edition of my Reading for Pleasure Wednesday.

Until I Find You - John Irving

I adore John Irving. A Prayer for Owen Meany is one of my all time favorite books. So when I heard John Irving had a new novel out I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. At over 800 pages it is not a light read, but then again what Irving novel is? I don't mind his long-winded descriptions or sidetracks into character quirks but this one was different.

The characters were flat and the first 200-300 pages were a disturbing description of the many, many times the main character--Jack Burns--was sexually abused. But I kept reading. I kept reading because I knew in the end that there would be a payoff. There's always a payoff in an Irving novel, always a reason for the quirkiness.

Not this time. This was not worth the weeks it took to trudge through it. Kind of ironic since it is my Reading for Pleasure Wednesday. This was not really a pleasure. A few good moments, yes, but not enough to make it worth it. If you want to read Irving go read Cider House Rules, Widow for One Year or, of course, Owen Meany but there's no reason to go look for a copy of Until I Find You.

michelle | 09:57 AM | comment (0) | trackback (0) | view »

July 26, 2006

Reading for Pleasure Wednesdays - Brady edition

Yay for the first ever Reading for Pleasure Wednesday! Brought to you by Dr. Crazy. I was worried about writing a witty, sparkling review of some trendy, yet well-regarded book and then I thought--screw it. I am going to write a review of what I am really dulling my brain with this week. I needed a break, I was longing for nostalgia, I had been watching TVLand, so you guys get this as my very first installment of reading for pleasure:

Growing Up Brady: I Was a Teenage Greg - Barry Williams, Chris Kreski

That's right, it's a story, of a man named Brady. Ok, not really. It's a story about a man named Barry Williams and I couldn't resist after sitting glued to a better part of the Brady marathon in the middle of the night and Tivoing the Brady Reunion special.

I grew up in prime, Brady time. Those were my clothes (albeit hand me downs from my much cooler, older cousins) and my music(I still know all the words and most of the dance moves. That's right, I am that cool) and I longed to be Marcia Brady. Lord knows I had the hair! (Still in pigtails at that point, but the straight, parted down the middle, Marcia-look was only a matter of time).

I had heard that the book was kind of a cheap shot at the cast and more gossip than anything else and I hadn't been interested at all until I saw the reunion special. All of the castmates referred to the book as a place where they had told their own stories. I was just too nosy to let it go. After all, you know you were always curious if Marcia and Greg ever hooked up? (Psst. I know!)

The first few chapters are a bit self-indulgent--even more so than the usual tell-all type of celebrity autobiography--but after that the conversational, familiar style of Barry Williams makes it feel as if an old fried were telling you adventures from his trip to summer camp. And after all, for those of us who grew up with the Bradys, isn't that what they seem like? Old friends?

There are enough pictures, anecdotes, and behind the scenes stories to keep everyone happy and laughing and squealing out, "Oooh! I remember that one!" Mike gets mad, Greg gets high, everyone gets a little carried away with teenage crushes and we get a fun, little peak into a piece of Americana.

It's a quick, fun, no-brainer. Perfect for the summer or on the plane. If you loved them, you'll love this. It's pretty groovy.

(I started reading this as a break from the new John Irving novel Until I Find You . I usually love his novels but right now I am finding the main characters quirky traits are squicking me out instead of being endearing and unique. I am about 100-150 pages in and I will give it a few more chapters. After that, I may let this one go. Life's too short to read bad books. I hate to give up on an Irving book, but I am just not sure about this one. It's no Owen Meany .)

michelle | 08:55 AM | comment (0) | trackback (0) | view »