Catching Luke (The Outlaws of Baseball B...

Luke had been a major league baseball pitcher but an injury had interrupted his career  but he wasn’t taking it easy  with his wild ways on his motorcycle and being a player. He now owned a bar but had a very good person managing his bar. Lara knew to stay away from guys like Luke. Lara is a physical therapist and doesn’t go out with her clients. Lara knows Luke is hot and has a deep attraction to him. Luke wants Lara but he can’t get Lara to do as he wants  her to like he seems to be able to do with other women. Lara gives into sexual relationship with Luke but she knows it's not forever or serious. Besides Lara is still hurting some from her previous relationship. I really enjoyed this book. Sometimes I chuckled while reading this and sometimes I choked,up. I loved the description of Idaho. This is an easy to read very pleasurable read. This has a good plot and fast pace. There is a lot of action. I love the interaction between Lara and Luke. I love the characters and the ins and outs of this book and I recommend.

Odd pairing of a hipster nerd and a closeted jock. Unexpectedly good and disappointingly short. Tom Mendicino is a talented writer.

Somewhere in the past few months I got in the library queue for this book and when it came available, I had no recollection of how it came to my attention. I almost let it slip by when I decided to give it a quick listen, just to justify moving onto something else. Happy surprise, The Wisdom of the Earth turned out to be pretty excellent. It's a coming of age story wrapped in a semi-historical (I have a hard time thinking of 1985 has historical) setting with themes of environmental stewardship, family, healing, acceptance, community, outsiders and homophobic attitudes. It's filled with both simple and complex characters, and portrays the tension that can happen in a small community with divided loyalties.

This is a debut book for Christopher Scotton who seems to have a vibrant career that has nothing to do with writing or publishing novels. And reading his author bio, he seems to have channeled many formative experiences into The Wisdom of the Earth. Here's to hoping that he is not a one hit-wonder.

So it's fall and I decided to read a baseball themed book. Baseball is one of those sports that is a strange blend of physical, psychological, and zen and I think it makes for a good story backdrop. I had no idea I how fantastic this would be.

The Brothers K is the great American novel of the late 20th century that you have never read. What happens when you mix a baseball playing father with a Seventh-day Adventist mother? To start, you get six kids, four brothers and twin sisters. Throw into the mix an atheist grandmother, reconstructive surgery, the Vietnam war and coming of age, and you get a touching, funny, poignant and simply wonderful family story.

I have never read "The Brothers Karamazov" so I cannot draw any parallels, I will leave that to the fancy NYT reviewers. I have read Jonathan Franzen, and I did recognize a similarity in the somewhat indulgent characterization and storytelling style. That comparison might be the kiss of death for some readers, but for me it's a definite plus.