EasyW's Book Nook

As part of my winter hibernation, I've been reading like a muthafucker. About 2 weekends back, I finshed up both Charles Alexander's fine account of pro baseball in the depression Breaking The Slump, and I also blew thru the Hard Case Crime pulp fiction Little Girl Lost by Richard Aleas.

Breaking The Slump is a fine example of the baseball narrative style that has made Alexander one of- if not the - finest living historical baseball author. Covering the period of the late 1920s to the early 1940s, Alexander, a professor of History at Ohio Uinversity, goes beyond the stats (though there are plenty of those) and looks at a variety of economic, business and personal factors surrounding the game at that time. There are plenty of quirky stories and also some good, lenghty chapters on both the minor and Negro leagues at that time. I give my highest recommendation to this wonderful book.

In a completely different genre - out of pure curosity - I picked by the pulp fiction Little Girl Lost by Richard Aleas. I normally don't read these types of books, but for reasons I can't explain, this one interested me. It turned out to be just what I needed - a break from all the high-brow lit I'm usually into. This is an outstanding hard-boiled crime novel that can easily be read in a long weekend. The stroyline revolves around a dead stripper and her ex-boyfriend detective. The ending has a twist, but you saw the film Body Heat, you can guess where it ends.

To the pleasure I found with Little Girl Lost, I also read another in the Hard Case Crime Series - Grifter's Game by Lawrence Block (orginally published under the title Mona back in 1961). This was also pretty good, and with another surprise ending.

My winter reading list is still fairly packed. I'm currently reading The Brazilians by Joseph Page. Its just a cultural and historical essay on the people and culture of Brazil. I think I've read parts of this before, and its such a big book, I probably won't have the chance to finish it before its due back at the library. I'm also still reading The Worldly Philosphers by Robert Heilbroner, and plan to begin notable baseball scribe Leonard Koppett's study of great managers - The Man In the Dugout - later this week. Still have to finish Angela's Ashes and am re-reading parts of Crime and Punishment as well.

All this before May, when I need to start in on Walden. I'm cursed by the need to read.