I have been busy, so reading hasn’t been as much of a priority this week.
Postseason baseball is a special time for me. I’m full of superstitions and antics people seem to forget about the second the Yankee season is over. Like my partner had no recollection that I tie something around my neck and call it a victory cape as I run around the house skipping after every single Yankees Postseason win. Except I do this every year. I’ve even done it at restaurants multiple times. Gotta celebrate those wins.
Yesterday, I let go of the idea of a win. We had a rookie on the mound, and I just couldn’t let my heart be broken. Add to that the fact that I had to call the cops to get them to shut down a four am party on our block and I was going into this game ROUGH.
That rookie put on the best pitching performance in a Postseason game ever. Eight innings and twelve strikeouts. UNHEARD OF. Our bats were out and making things happen. Our defense showed more heart than I had ever seen. My exhaustion quickly melted away into the electricity of an old fashioned baseball game, the likes you don’t see often enough. And my excitement for baseball went into overdrive. That win has my head back in the game, and I’m so ready to see this team full of heart face the Blue Jays.
With all of this, I’m definitely more focused on baseball than reading. But I still have read a few things.
Reading Social Media News
Speaking of AI, YouTube is making a huge difference with AI search engines. We get super focused on social video and tend to forget how important YouTube is. From Shorts to the more traditional videos, YouTube can help you with every kind of search engine. Moderation on all fronts and spreading some love around on channels can go a long way.
Reading Books, Books and More Books
Past
I left Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout feeling glad I read it. I did not expect that. There was a chattiness about it that really reminded me of a small town and where I grew up. It felt like dipping into another place and time. Unfortunately, it just hit me at a bad time, so I never fully gave myself over to it. In other words, anything I felt wrong with this book says more about me than the book itself. And frankly, a lot of books I read are the same way. Score: B
Buckeye by Patrick Ryan, on the other hand, seemed to suffer from a lot of issues. I used to work for clients in the area that it’s supposedly set in, and so I know a lot about that area. That worked against me. I knew too much to find much of the story believable for that part of Ohio, and I just didn’t think the author had any sense of place. The story suffered for that lack of place.
And someone in my book club brought up the change in voice. Because I was trying to blast through the book, I missed this. But I did wonder why it was so easy to read at the beginning and then became a slog. There was a change of voice from one that felt totally believable to one that was mediocre at best. Someone said that the author had spent two years editing it and maybe it had been edited too much. Score: C+
Present
The library has started sending me hate emails about The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami. I finally have time to sit down and read it. And by the time I’m done with it, I fully expect to get hate mail about another book. Because I currently have way too many library books in my possession. It’s a problem. I don’t plan on quitting any time soon.
What are you reading? What books are you looking forward to?