Summer lovin’

July 31, 2019

I don’t engage in a whole of lot of “beach reading.” For one thing, I hate the beach. Love the ocean, the sounds, the smells. But lying on the sand and baking? Not for me.

Occasionally, I’ll get an email a baseball novelist asking me to take a look at his or her book. My standard is response is I don’t like to review fiction; it’s too subjective. But if they want to send their work along, I’ll take a look.

https://i2.wp.com/images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51Id2GyoqFL._SX322_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg?resize=181%2C279&ssl=1I recently received Four-Finger Singer and His Late Wife, Kate: A Novel of Life, Death & Baseball, by Arthur D. Hittner, and have to say I enjoyed it. It’s not on a par with The Natural or The Celebrant, but it does make for good “summer reading.” It’s light, funny, a page-turner, as the saying goes.

The overall premise — a former star athlete who, due to various circumstances, has been away from the game for a long time — reminded me of the true-life story of Jimmy Morris as described in film The Rookie. And due to various circumstances, he is quite successful. But then there’s the in-between and the whole deal with Kate.

The characters are pretty believable, given the supernatural aspects of the story which is saying something since I find a lot of cliched, stock figures populating books like this.

That’s as far as I’m willing to go to avoid any kind of spoilers. Suffice it to say Hittner does a nice job in presenting this fast-moving story of love, regret, and devotion to the game, despite the odds.

You can learn more about the author and his other books here.

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