BOOKS THREAD

Bissinger/La Russa 3 Days in August; interesting stuff

 

Jonathan Eig's Al Capone book is very good.

 

Finally!

 

Foreign policy wonks or those who enjoy political memoirs are directed to The World As It Is by Ben Rhodes. Really good look at life in the trenches of foreign policy during the Obama administration as well as what it was like to work and travel with the president.

 

Anyone read this:



I'm halfway through after buddy of mine harped on this. Hockey town somewhere in Sweden (could be anywhere); some really vivid scenes, highs and lows of life.

 

Ordered "We had 'Em All The Way, Bob Prince and His Pittsburgh Pirates."
Old book written by a local author.
Terrible.
I thought it would be about Bob Prince and the games he called with stories - insider and out - on his days as broadcaster. Nope. It's a bunch of schmaltz, singular interviews and about what a great guy Prince was, followed by background on the folks speaking about Prince.
There are some nice photos, but I got through 124 pages and still have No real idea why he was fired from KDKA. I'm not sure the author even tried to ask anyone.

Not worth the $4 I paid.

 

When I was a kid, I saw a book about the history of pro wrestling, Whatever Happened to Gorgeous George? My parents wouldn't buy it for me, and then I didn't see that book for years. I finally found it at a library used book sale and bought it for $1, and didn't get my money's worth. It was not a good book. I'm really glad now that my folks didn't buy it then.

 

No Quarter: The Three Lives of Jimmy Page is a superb music bio by Martin Power. There are no new quotes from Page, Plant or Jones but there is plenty of detail and loads of quotes from those who worked with, played with and covered Page throughout his career.

The first third of the book covers Page's childhood, his time as one of the top session guitarists in England (with loads of great nuggets on records he played - and didn't - play on) through his time with the Yardbirds. The next third is all Zep, all the time. While Zeppelin's story, in all its debauched glory, has been covered many times, Power takes a different road, focusing on the music, both on record and on stage, providing a rundown of every album with lots of good stuff on how the songs came to be. The final part of the book looks at his post-Zep life, with looks at the Firm, his dalliances with movie music, David Coverdale and the Black Crowes, his reunion with Plant and his endless attempts to get the band back together (including looks at the messes at Live Aid and the Atlantic Records anniversary show and their successful one-off a few years back).

This is a hefty bio - 700 pages - but well worth a read.

 

Charlie LeDuff's Shitshow. He tells the stories behind the stories he told on his The Americans TV spots.

 

Mark Leibovich's new one, Big Game: The NFL in Dangerous Times is must reading for NFL fans and even those who aren't. A sobering, but at times entertaining, look at the league as it is now and where it might be headed. This isn't so much a focus on the players, although the author's bromance with Brady shows up often, instead he hits all the big league events and talks to Goodell, other league execs and high-profile owners like Kraft, Jones and Davis. Lot of great stuff in here on the Rams and Chargers move to LA, the Raiders move to Vegas, CTE, concussions, Trump's effect on the NFL, Deflategate and more.

 

It doesn't come out for a few months, but I read Tommy Tomlinson's The Elephant in the Room recently and was really moved by it. I know Tommy, but I still think the honesty, the sadness, the joys in a bite of cheeseburger, the struggle to be someone better than you are... I think this book would hit home for a lot of people here.