Tag / Jim Bouton

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2015: The Year In Books

2015booksWith another year coming to an end, it is time to take a look back at the 31 books I read over the past year, an increase of 8 from last year and my highest total ever, surpassing the 27 books I read back in 1992.  Of those 31, 11 were non-fiction and, of the 20 novels, only 3 were TV show tie-ins.  Only 4 of the books came from the “to-read” drawer, and 11 were e-books.  I read a nearly 9200 pages, the most in 1 year since 1992 and my second straight year reaching the 9000 mark.

Once again, a majority of the books I read this year were by authors I’ve never read before. The 19 authors that I read for the first this year were:
Kurt Vonnegut
Jim Bouton
Melissa Joan Hart
Patton Oswalt
Erle Stanley Gardner
Doug Sohn
Kate DeVivo
Paula Hawkins
Jayson Stark
Scott Reifert
Oscar Wilde
Jeff Katz
Felicia Day
George Carlin
Max Allan Collins
Ann Brashares
David Lagercrantz
Graham Greene
Mary Kubica
Martin Short

The ghost writer for Richard Castle was the only author I read multiple titles from during 2015.

Ten books I read were released this year, while 3 of them were released prior to 1980, with one, The Picture of Dorian Gray, dating back to 1890.

Finally, the breakdown by month.  Vacations in March, November, and December certainly helped pad their totals a tad bit. Continue reading →

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Book 2 (of 52) – Ball Four

Ball Four - Jim Bouton

Ball Four – Jim Bouton

The year was 1969, and an aging pitcher, trying to reinvent himself as a knuckleballer, chronicles the ups and downs of his season with the expansion Seattle Pilots in this seminal baseball book.  Jim Bouton broke all the rules by telling the real stories about what happens in behind the clubhouse doors and, in the process, ruffles some feathers and finds himself blackballed from the game he loves.

Bouton gives a day by day account of his year with the newly christened Seattle Pilots, starting in spring training and taking us through the long season, including his late August trade to the Astros.  This edition includes epilogues from the 10 year anniversary, which covered his comeback attempt in 1978 with Ted Turner and the Braves, the 20 year anniversary, and the 30 year anniversary, covering the death of his daughter and his finally being invited back to Old Timers Day with the Yankees.

45 years after its initial release, some of the shocks are no longer shocking.  There have been plenty of tell-all books since, but this was the first.  As a baseball fan, I’m surprised I never read this earlier.  Now, I’m glad that I did, not just for Bouton’s story, but for the chronicling of the Pilots one and only season.