Amazon’s top book of the year is a stunner

November 8, 2011 · 5 comments

To me, at least.

Amazon.com has selected Chad Harbach’s The Art of Fielding as Best Book of the Year.

Seriously?

I haven’t read any of the other top nine books, but I’m sorry — and with all dues respect — I can’t believe that TAOF is the best title, out of the hundreds that have been published this year.

Of course, there’s no way of knowing how much the pre-printing publicity played into this. I was exchanging emails with my daughter, a freshman in college, about what courses she might take in the spring. One of them was an art history course. I offered my opinion that one of the things I never liked about culture is the elitist tones set by the cognoscenti ; that if you don’t like or “get” something they’re raving about, then you’re an idiot.

Well, I have to say that I just don’t “get” TAOF. It’s certainly a fine book, but I just don’t understand all the buzz it’s garnered. I guess I’m just an uncultured idiot.

Nor is my poor attitude lessened by the Vanity Fair/e-book “making of” project, which I will read shortly. But I guess that’s the nature of the beast these days. I may have to retreat in my opinion once I’ve read that, but I doubt it.

 

 

 

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{ 5 comments }

1 Mark Ahrens November 9, 2011 at 7:59 am

Ron,

I read TAOF and really enjoyed it.  However, I don’t really consider it a sports book, and I think it is just a coincidence that baseball is involved.  The backdrop could just as easily been tennis or basketball, or a literary society for that matter.  IMO, the book is really about a study of characters, each flawed in unique ways and the interactions between them. 

I enjoyed the book more once I disabused myself of the notion that I was reading a book about baseball.  As a preference, I tend to lean more toward non-fiction than fiction.  That made it all the more surprising that the pages of TAOF turned themselves–that’s all I can ask for from a book.

Was it the best book of the year?  Who is to say?  I enjoyed it…that is good enough for me.

2 Anonymous November 9, 2011 at 9:08 am

You’re right, Mark. it could have been about anything sport or — since it’s set at a college — a pursuit of academic study. I guess that’s my objection, that it has been touted as a baseball book and compared with the works of Malamud, Coover, Kisnella, et al. Of course, you could argue that since baseball is the great metaphor for life, are any if them really about baseball?

3 Mark Ahrens November 9, 2011 at 10:34 am

I don’t put TAOF  into the metaphorical category of Malamud or Kinsella at all…so that comparison rings hollow to me as well.  To me, it was a work of fiction set around a Wisconsin college town.  I agree with your objection and  think TAOF should be evaluated strictly on a fictional scale and skip the loftier, baseball-centric comparisons.

4 Tim November 13, 2011 at 7:37 am

I’ve been reading your blog for awhile, and first let me say I enjoy it.  I love the sheer amount of baseball publications you can reference, always giving me something new to read.

That being said, I’m just as baffled that “The Art of Fielding” would win a top prize in anything, and I would consider myself a bit of an elitist with books.  I’ve read some of the others on the list, and Harbach’s book certainly is not in the same class.

Frankly, the book itself is nothing special.  Both I and a friend who read it were both completely baffled that anyone would rave about the book.  So you’re not alone in wondering what other people are seeing in this subpar effort.

5 Anonymous November 15, 2011 at 1:07 pm

Thanks, Tim. I’m not saying it’s a “sub-par” effort. It’s actually quite enjoyable. It’s just that I didn’t think it was “the great American novel” that so many have made it out to be.

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