Review roundup, May 7

Can’t believe it’s been five days since my last entry. Things have just gotten so crazy of late, between my book and those from others that keep arriving at my doorstep.

So let us begin:

Boston.com posted this review about Class A: Baseball in the Middle of Everywhere, Lucas Mann’s memoir about the minor leagues. Although the review clearly appreciates the book, one comment struck me as totally nonsensical (regardless of my long-held opinion of Harbach’s debut novel):

If Chad Harbach’s “The Art of Fielding” was the “Field of Dreams” of baseball books, replete with lyricism and Roger Angellesque poetry, then “Class A” could be considered literature’s answer to “Bull Durham” — raucous and scruffy, yet heartfelt and true.

Maybe I’m just dense today; maybe someone can explain this to me. Since Field of Dreams (the film version of the Kinsella story, Shoeless Joe is already a book about baseball, how can TAOF be … I can’t even get my head around how to phrase it. I hope my meaning comes through.

The Provo, Utah, Daily Herald posted this one about John Sexton’s Baseball as a Road to God: Seeing Beyond the Game. Upshot: “Sexton has written an unlikely but deeply nourishing book with lasting appeal to baseball fans who are persons of faith, and vice versa.”

This is a review? NewsOK posted about the coffee table book, Inside the Baseball Hall of Fame.

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune published this review of Edward Achorn’s The Summer of Beer and Whiskey: How Brewers, Barkeeps, Rowdies, Immigrants, and a Wild Pennant Fight Made Baseball America’s Game. Upshot: “s with that book, Achorn’s gift for storytelling shines in the climactic games of the season.” The Oregonian also did one on Achorn’s latest.

MySanAntonio posted this on my old softball teammate Tom Dunkel’s Color Blind: The Forgotten Team That Broke Baseball’s Color Line.

Since book clubs are basically group reviews of books, I’m including this entry from Baseball Nation’s Hot Corner Book Club on The Dickson Baseball Dictionary.

The Daily Beast offers this mini-review of 15 new baseball titles, (none of which is 501Baseball Books Fans Must Read etc. I know it appears ungracious, but at what point would it be appropriate to start bitching about the lack of attention 501 is getting? Have I seriously overestimated the literary appeal and utility of such a book? I don’t want to be that guy, but it is getting a bit frustrating. Just sayin’).