Ten From Ren: Summer Reading

Through high school and multiple college degrees, I never made the time to actually pick up a book and read for pleasure, and it wasn't all that often I picked one up for academic purposes, either. Somehow, I survived, and upon entering the "real world," really made up for lost time. I now find myself escaping by simply plowing through all sorts of written genres. Who knew reading could be so fun, relaxing and enriching...seriously?

My two favorite times to read - on a plane or on vacation. Fortunately for me, I happen to be on the latter. Unfortunately for me, I left the book I had recently started, Paddy Whacked: The Untold Story of the Irish American Gangster at home. Honestly, the work ebbs and flows in terms of keeping my interest, but I haven't given up on it yet.

This was a problem. As was the local ma and pa bookstore without many recent releases. I settled on 3 classics: Orwell's Animal Farm (which I actually did read in high school, enjoyed and understood and appreciated the satire), Ayn Rand's We the Living (I'm a glutton, having only finished Anthem, and having been defeated by Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged - but I am determined to conquer them), and finally, Milton's Paradise Lost - the one of the three I ended up cracking open on the shore. Rather, I hammered my way through the first five books of the epic poem, realized that I began questioning existence itself and decided this was no way to relax on the beach.

At Fat Dubya's suggestion I went in search of Paul Shirley's Can I Keep My Jersey?: 11 Teams, 5 Countries, and 4 Years in My Life as a Basketball Vagabond. I am, thus far, so glad I did. Eff the classics, anything endorsed by Chuck Klosterman is classic enough for me. I find myself laughing out loud quite frequently

As for the author himself, I've never read his blog (though now I wished I did). I've also not been very interested in the NBA since 1993. Because of these two facts, I hadn't heard or read much about this book. With no expectations, and with no bias towards the subject or author, I'd say the piece is highly enjoyable whether you are a pro hoops fan or not. I’ll check in when I’m done.

In honor of vacation reading and inspired by Mr. Shirley, I present "Ten from Ren": 10 sports books I've read and would highly recommend.

Ball Four-Jim Bouton: I start with this because, despite Klosterman's insistence to the contrary in his intro, Can I Keep My Jersey has serious similarities to Bouton’s masterpiece that got his ass blacklisted from pro ball. And this is a good thing. Ball Four is a raw, unadulterated and no-holds barred piece written in a diary format by a witty, honest intellectual amongst his more physically focused contemporaries. I’m not ready to put Shirley’s piece up against this, but I like his style, humor and particularly the format.

Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a DreamI actually spoke with a former resident of Odessa and graduate of Permian. She is in her 50’s and early 60’s and transplanted in the Northeast. This is before the acclaimed TV show and just after the movie came out. I mentioned how I appreciated the fact that the book went much deeper than its celluloid counterpart, particularly the social and racial aspects. She responded something along the lines of “Mr. Bissenger had a unique vision of how our community really was, and few agree with anything he portrayed.” Fair enough. Great book none the less. And I’ll be “that guy” and give it the old “better than the movie” bit.

The Miracle of St. Anthony: A Season with Coach Bob Hurley and Basketball's Most Improbable Dynasty-Adrian Wojnarowski: Of course I am biased toward anything Garden State related, this one, like FNL is great because it transcends sports and takes a look at the struggles and hardships of a community where little is offered in terms of advancement outside of athletic success. Miracle, obviously is not in rural Texas, but rather urban Jersey City. After reading the book, I found myself pulling for these kids (well some of them), started following what they were doing in College. What Bob Hurley does, not just for his team and its players, but for the school itself, is nothing short of, appropriately, a miracle. The man is a saint.

Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game & The Blind Side: Evolution of a GameMoneyball has become a phenomenon, so I wont bore anyone with my poor attempts at wit. Blind Side brings me back to the social/high school sports element. Much different than my expectation (based mostly on MB), but still a good read.

Namath: A Biography, Mark Kriegel: Im not sure if I should credit Namath with changing the sport of professional football in ushering in the glitz and glamour of the game today, not to mention that of the modern superstar, or if I just plain should view him as a selfish dick. I’m torn between disgust and admiration.I think I’m leaning more toward pity. But he was a much tougher sonofabitch than I ever gave him credit for, and I can’t fault his taste in woman and liquor. I think his numbers were borderline terrible at times, but I think his health was more to blame than his ability.

Johnny U: The Life and Times of John Unitas, Tom Callahan: The antithesis of Joe Willie.

Raging Bull: My Story, Jake LaMotta: You want to know what I think about this book?

Eat This Book: A Year of Gorging and Glory on the Competitive Eating Circuit, Ryan Nerz: I read this one, and became an instant fan of glutton. Not to mention, I convinced myself I could set the peel and eat shrimp eating record. I earned the nickname Kobayashi for my sashimi eating prowess. But I digress. Just go eat the book. It’s fun. And amaze your friends by identifying the pro eaters on July 4 and supplementing them with little known tidbits on Eater X, the Locust and the lot.

Word Freak: Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius, and Obsession in the World of Competitive ScrabblePlayers,Stefan Fatsis: Hey, it’s on ESPN, right? If Ariel and I weren’t word freaks to begin with, this book had me memorizing “q without u words” and studying my two and three letter word lists. Really.

Honorable Mentions:

Positively 5th Street, James McManus
Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions,Ben Mezrich