Wednesday, August 26, 2009

End of the line?

I've pretty much exhausted my baseball fiction library, and I'm looking for direction on what I should do next with my baseball novel review series.

I'm down to the last book on my shelf: "Box Socials," by W.P. Kinsella. I thought I had a copy of Ring Lardner's "You Know Me Al," but I can't find it.

So what should I do after I finish "Box Socials?" I guess there would be some harmony in ending the series with that book, since I started it (way back in February) with Kinsella's "Shoeless Joe."

At least one reader wouldn't mind seeing me hang it up. "Anonymous" made this comment on my review of "It Looked Like For Ever" -

Bad review, of a bad book. Matt, you reached a new low with this mess of a blog.

To which I replied:

Sir or Ma'am, you insult me! How dare you say I've reached a new low! I've reached MUCH lower lows than this!

I could also start reviewing non-fiction, but I don't really want to at this point.

I think I'd rather keep it going, though, with other baseball novels not on my shelf. And I wouldn't mind expanding my personal library in the process.

So here's the deal. I'm open to suggestions on what baseball novels I should review next. If I can't find them at the good ol' KCK Public Library, I'll try to track them down at Half Price Books or Amazon. Leave me any thoughts you have in the comments section. And remember, for right now I'm only interested in reviewing baseball fiction, not player biographies or histories.

"Anonymous," I'll take your suggestions, too, although keep in mind I don't live near any bridges off of which I can throw myself.

-- Matt Kelsey

1 comment:

  1. Since this post is 18 months old, I fear you may have already decided what to read next.

    You've already covered most of the baseball novels I can think of that are worth reading. Coover's is one of my favourite books of all, and I'm also glad to see you covered Roth's strangely neglected classic.

    Can I suggest another book you might like? Unfortunately not on baseball but a far inferior sport, Football.

    The book is 'A Fan's Notes' by Frederick Exley. It's a fictionalised memoir revolving around the author's love for the NY Giants, but the scope is much wider than that. It's quite amazingly written, and I promise you an experience not to missed, if you haven't had the good fortune to stumble across it before now.

    ReplyDelete